Monarchs lose despite battling performance

The 4s played what was their first league game of the season given that there was a 1st week walk-over v Gerrards Cross who were a no-show. The team have deservedly been promoted to Division 7 after some great performances last season and this match displayed a lot of the same level of hockey that served the team so well last year. Albeit with some welcome new additions to the team, the formation of 3-5-2 remains and for most of the match, this served the team well with a lot of counter attacking play. Amersham did start off very brightly and whilst putting pressure on our defence early on in the match, this forced a mistake with some passing across the backline which allowed one of their attackers in to score. But after that early setback, the whole team responded well with some good work at the back by Mike, Nick and Bruce to stem the flow of attacks, turning the ball over quickly. Some good work from the forward line earned us several short corners and JC’s injections with Tim’s shots were getting closer to getting us our opening goal. Overall, the team really held their own in the first half and you would not have been able to tell who was the newly promoted side as all over the pitch, we were competing extremely well. In the second half, there was much more of the same strong forward play with further opportunities coming from some good work along the wings by George and Wayne, getting the ball in early to the forward line. Clint was his usual battling self and unfortunately collided with one of the Amersham players in what could have been a nasty head injury but thankfully, he remained unharmed but we lost him for the rest of the match. Throughout the second half, Amersham's younger players were starting to find more and more space and we were kept in the match thanks to the defence putting in some great last ditch tackles, but were mainly saved by Connor in goal who made some outstanding saves! Unfortunately, as tired legs crept into the match, Amersham did finally wear us down with 2 more good strikers but the key thing was that the whole team did not give up and we were well rewarded when Tim scored with a great strike from a short corner late on and we also hit the post from another short corner. 3-1 was a little flattering to the opposition but all in all, the team can be proud of their performance in what was our first match in a higher division. Well done especially to George for his continued running throughout the game, Mike M for stepping in to help us in defence and to Connor for a unanimous man of the match performance. Next up, South Berkshire at home.

Match Report: Viren Walia
Man of the Match: Connor McGovern