Gravesham & Welcome Mens Unicorns 0 - 4 Old Williamsonians Mens 5's

7th October 2017

Gravesham & Welcome Mens Unicorns 0 - 4 Old Williamsonians Mens 5's

It looked a bleak day ahead, as the game approached and we only had 10 players and no Umpire! But the late arrival of young Tommy McGrath and the not so young Dave Routledge were greeted with sighs of relief. Dave, thankfully available as an umpire, was still sporting the red face of someone who had clearly been enjoying a recent holiday. The game started brightly for the 5s, attacking the more "experienced" Gravesham team. OW's took an early lead when Captain Marvel Gilham struck in a short corner, provided by the virgin injector Harvey. Two further goals followed from short corners with Hilton and Harvey benefiting from well worked/improvised routines. The goal from Harvey being self-confessed as "stolen" from Mick Hilton in reward for a beer. Opponents' attacks were slow and laboured and the defence, probably the youngest combined defence in hockey history, kept the attackers at bay. Baldwin got a fourth goal in the first half with a sweet strike and confused the younger players by announcing his "hat-trick goal". The half-time talk was directed towards the importance of keeping a clean sheet. The youngsters did a great job in defence and used whatever they could to keep the ball out of the goal, be it stick, foot or body and head in the case of "Big You" Yousif Ahmed. Attacks were few and far between during the second half, as the opposition piled on the pressure, but they could not break the youngsters resolve. Solid performances from O'Shea jnr, Hatton jnr and Martin with Jack Steventon deservedly given Man of the Match on his first full game for the club, showing a marked improvement on last weeks performance and fitness. #UTW