Defeated, but not downhearted!

Saturday was a miserable day. On the bright side, it did save us watering the pitch and the GK was happy with "the slide" in the D.

Things got off on the wrong foot when Henley were awarded a short corner - yes we had been practising in training last Tuesday! However, our goalkeeper stepped out of the way of the flicked ball, and the first goal was scored! He was nearly awarded DOD for this however, throughout the match, there were far more deserving candidates!

We went on to "get a grip" and the next 15 minutes consisted of some great control of the match by us. Some good, simple passing technique got us up into Henley's D, awarded a short corner, which we converted into a goal!

With the score at 1:1, it looked like we were staying in a strong groove. We maintained a strong presence in Henley's half. Sam made a fantastic break away into Henley's D, no defenders in there with him. Could this be our chance to take the lead? The pressure was too much, and Sam hit a shot that would have been none too shabby on the Fairway of a golf course, but sadly was too high for a hockey goal.

When the pressure seemed to be mounting, Henley started questioning umpire decisions. It seemed their GK had lots to say, which almost got him sent off (!) a quiet word with their captain put a stop to that.

Henley, on the back of a few challenged umpire calls scored their second goal. Where were our defenders that time?

Our GK redeemed himself with a great save when Henley were awarded their second SC. So we ended the first half with Henley 2:1 up.

During the second half Henley, although winning, strangely became even more vocal towards the umpires, spending a great deal of time arguing rules. With another short corner awarded to them, they managed to take their score to 3:1

Two more short corners awarded to Henley got them one more goal with one saved. Sadly, the vocality towards the umpires seemed to bring us into a state of disarray, allowing one more goal, taking Henley to 5:1

A round of two more short corners which we successfully managed to defend the first, but the second took the score to 6:1

Small consolation for our team, who fought valiantly...we will have "cut our teeth" this season with the four strongest teams in the league. Here's hoping we see more balls in the back of the opponents goals as we progress through the season.

DOD awarded to Sam for the fairway-worthy drive above the goal when he had an open opportunity to score. Our GK came a close second for stepping away to allow the ball into the goal, and for not keeping his legs closed (!)
MOM to Scotty for a very solid defence performance and exercising huge restraint towards a member of the opposition who was a little testy (!)