A stormy day for our U16 boys.

Report by Nettie Cooley

12 lads along with their Devoted Parents, (including a few mums this time) headed off to Warwick for their final game in Group B of the East Midlands Tournament.

Not wanting to boast we knew the lads were in good form, and desperate for another win, to keep us top of the table and to win all three games. Would only having one sub make it harder?

With Mr Dale being unable to attend due to this pesky covid virus, Karl stepped up to manage the team. 

Moments before pushback the opposition were heard saying, “We’re were gonna smash this lot”

I think we expected a challenging game as Warwick boys seemed to have an abundance of players, six subs in total, would our lads tire and feel the pressure?

As storm Eunice was departing, we were being greeted by the start up of storm Franklin, the gusts made for an interesting game, and often assisted with moving the ball quicker and further, with Jack scoring our first goal within three minutes, a second goal followed in quick succession.  With a constant round of player changes from the opposition who seemed to be switching players every five minutes, our lads remained focussed, by half time the score was 5:1 to the Saints and the Warwick boys realised that we were not going to give them an easy game and we were in fact smashing them.

The Devoted Parents who appeared to all be spread out around the pitch were cheering on from the side lines, whilst trying their very best to remain upright, and that’s before they went to the pub.

The lads re-grouped talked tactics and swapped some playing positions around and were ready for the second half, which could be more problematic as we were playing into the wind this half.

Warwick applied a bit more pressure, but the lads didn’t give up. Young Mr Barnwell took a ball to the back of his foot, forcing him to sit out the rest of the match. A little agitated by this his hockey stick somehow seemed to fly through the air, and boy did it travel some distance. Leaving us with no subs we didn’t want to give anything away.

Both teams scored two more goals in the second half, with young Lochie stealing a goal by getting his stick on the ball that Harry had volleyed in.  We’ll let the lads fight that one out. 

Final score 7:3 to the mighty Saints.

The lads will now play in the final against the winners of group A towards the end of April, hopefully the weather will be a little kinder, but then it’s not hockey if you’re not cold and wet.