Match Reports from Saturday 8th November
West Bridgford 5th XI 0-6 Men’s 4th XI
Goals: Rob Tee (3), Max Wilkinson, Ed Arnold (2).
Having had a tough couple of weeks the fours headed to a blustery and rainy West Bridgford to meet their 5s in a crucial game that could get the season back on track.
With the rain slowly disappearing the game was started and Saint’s controlled the middle of the park from the get go and exerted pressure on the Bridgford back four. With more possession and the pace to threaten in the forward areas the break through goal came early on when Rob Tee wove his way through the defence and slotted from P spot range. With the added confidence coming from the goal Saint’s looked dangerous and in total control until a certain centre mid fancied stopping the ball mid aerial and gained himself a yellow card to drop Saint’s down to 10. With Ed Arnold working hard to get DOD and taking the unwanted rest ball possession was the aim of the game and just get through the yellow card period. Thankfully West Bridgford couldn’t take advantage of the extra man and with Saint’s back to a full outfit the chances started to come. After a few wasted chances the second goal came again from that man Rob Tee poaching a goal from just in front a very annoyed captain Sam Robinson’s stick at the back post after a great assist from Max Wilkinson. Two goals to the good and some complacency crept in to the game and Bridgford managed to carve out a couple of chances and brought a top class stick save from Scott Bashford to maintain the team’s first clean sheet of the season. With this chance giving a kick to switch the team back on the control in the centre was re-established and the momentum returned to Saints. With Rob trying to find that elusive hattrick goal the rebound fell to Ed Arnold who slapped home to make it 3-0 and make up for earlier incidents!
Going into half time the message was lets go again, 0-0 and time to win the second half. West Bridgford came out of their half time talk fired up and had some spells of pressure and were on top for the first 10 minutes of the half. Having weathered the storm of Bridgford pressure the team switched back on and returned to form and grasped the momentum and control back. With some backchat to the umpire resulting in Rob Tee having a cuddle with the umpire to avoid a card we cracked and we’re well worth the lead. With the opposition now tiring we created more and more chances and with a bit more composure in front of goal and less letting go of sticks mid shot from Sam Robinson it could have been more. We were rewarded for this pressure when Max Wilkinson slid a shot under the keeper on the reverse that trickled in to the bottom corner to make it 4-0! Having been on the end of a couple of heavy defeats recently we looked to add a few more and help that goal difference and when the defence parted leaving Ed Arnold free at the top of the D he duly obliged and smashed it bottom corner, nearly made up for the card! With 15 minutes left and 5-0 up Scott Bashford felt this wasn’t enough and left the Bridgford striker on the floor and limping off injured! Looking for another goal Jamie Cochrane gave a mighty war cry to stroll out of defence and all looking so good until that final pass. The last 10 minutes Bridgford managed to create a few chances and looked dangerous but this left gaps at the back that Rob Tee managed to take advantage off and complete his hattrick to seal the MOM award.
MOM – Rob Tee for his hat-trick
DOD – Ed Arnold for thinking this was lacrosse and not hockey resulting in a card
Squad: Scott Bashford (GK), Joe Wightman, Jamie Cochrane, Jim Phipps, Adam Wright, Nigel Down, Ed Arnold, Sam Robinson (C), Lewis Winter, Rob Tee, Max Wilkinson, Ali Bowden, Tim Riches