Staines 2 vs Maidenhead 2

A beautiful February Saturday, clear blue skies, and warm sunshine - perfect weather to watch an exciting match against Staines. We started out very strong, focused, controlled, well timed passes taking us more and more into Staines' half. Thankfully we had James back to play for us, so with more strength in our strike team, we took a 1:0 lead in the first 5 minutes of the match! This wasn't well received by our opposition who, I think , had walked onto the pitch believing this would be a "slam dunk" for them.

Towards the end of the first half Staines won a short- corner, taking the score to 1:1, but we managed to score again just before the half-time whistle, creating much excitement for those of us supporting - we were 2:1 up at the end of the first half!!!! Judging by the silent huddle of the Staines team, they were clearly in a panic, and strategising on how they could win back the lead.

During the second half, Staines had raised their game - not only with the hockey, but also with the shoulder barging and other such "tactics". We were lucky to have two great umpires, who were completely impartial, so most of their shenanigans didn't go unnoticed. However, another awarded short corner was converted taking the score to 2:2.

With only 5 minutes left to play, things started to get a little chaotic. We lost our formation, so still battling, but not quite so organised. We were also tiring, but Staines were not. They were determined. So determined that their challenges to the umpires calls were numerous, and even if the umpire didn't call, they did - much arm raising and shouting. Their captain, took Matti Temink out, and proceeded to claim that Matti had "got him in the eye with a deliberate elbow"...thankfully the umpires had also seen his move and gave him a card. Matti had to sit out as the tumble had caused quite a twist to his knee. As if the card wasn't enough, the Staines Captain still strode over to Matti and decided to have "another go". Luckily Matti knew enough "Staines dialect" to encourage the captain to go away ;-)

With only 3 minutes to go, the crowd supporting both sides were yelling support. 2:2 - would one team score to take the match?

Sadly, we lost to a short-corner awarded in the final minutes. The victory cry lead by the Staines Captain was reminiscent of a tribe of Wildlings having won a battle against the night walkers (GOT)...a little extreme me thinks...talk about sore winners!!!!