Home win for Magicians

The Magicians first game back after the Christmas break, and we were looking for vengeance against Eastcote who pummelled us at their place (admittedly we only had 9 players for most of the game). We had 14 this time and it made a world of difference with strong subs in defence, midfield and up front all of whom were regularly rotated in by our coach for the day, Rod.

We started strongly and the game quickly settled into a good rhythm of end to end flowing play. There were chances at both ends, and Eastcote hit the post with a solid shot, but we denied them a goal. 20mins in and we managed to get a short corner, which Dave Merriman quickly injected to Tim, who fired off a shot and scored. However, it was (rightly) disallowed by the umpires as it hadn't exited the D. The Magicians were putting together some excellent passing hockey in the midfield with Don, James, Mark, Derren and Rob making quick accurate passes and feeding Ollie, Tim and Yuvraj with some good balls. After many good incursions down the left, we transferred to the right and Rob took the ball down the wing before passing up to Ollie who feinted towards the corner and then into the D before firing a lovely ball up to Don at the top of the D. Don unleashed a crunching sledgehammer of a shot at goal, high and right. It had 'goal of the season' written all over it, but unfortunately their small, young keeper incredibly managed to stop it. It dropped for Tim, who slid the ball under the keeper, but it went 2 inches wide. And so the first half ended 0 - 0.

Coming out for the second half we knew the first goal of the game would be critical. We started with a similar pacey end-to-end game, and as in the first half, there was some really strong defending by Randy, Oz, Dave Taylor, Dave Merriman and Colin and many crucial saves by Tyler in goal. Eastcote again hit a post and had numerous shots either on target and saved, or going wide. At the other end we also had numerous chances and a short corner but Ollie's shot was blocked. We were pressuring well though and spending more and more time in the Eastcote end, attacking repeatedly. After a good number of chances were squandered, Derren picked up the ball at the top of the D and slid a nice ball to Tim on the left, which he expertly swatted into the goal for 1-0.
It was still an open game though and Eastcote continued to have good chances, but they couldn't breach our strong defence. Towards the end of the game, we were awarded another short corner and Oz stepped up with an awesome drag flick, sealing the game for us 2-0, which is how it ended.

Man of the match - Oz, for a great goal, solid defending and playing in the rain.
Worthy mention - Yuvraj, for some lovely skills and great tenacity.
Thanks - Dave Dunford and JC for umpiring.
Match report - Tim Brennan.