Report by: Phil King (Tour Sec.)
Game: Southampton vs. Exeter (02/12/17)

After a nice afternoons drive, 8 loyal gentlemen were ready for battle against our close rivals Exeter. Cheered on by one or two fans, we knew it was going to be a big game after our previous encounter which resulted in a 9-8 victory.

The game started with Ali and Tom scoring a goal each, however, these were both cancelled out by the opposition. During the first quarter, it was clear that we were not tired with the arc being set up nicely for a few attacks and general positioning not being too bad. Pretty standard first quarter – not too much to say….

Quarter 2 started with us attacking the shallow end (1.5m instead of Jubilee’s measly 0.9m). We performed well here earning a couple of man ups, in which we couldn’t set it up properly. When we shot, they were either wide (Neil…. Still better than 10m over the goal tho) or bounced awkwardly and went off target. Defence could have been tighter in this quarter as we conceded 4 goals. Phil K defended well at points against Exeter’s Hungarian player, even stealing the ball off him and countering. Whilst King sped (slowly) down the wing with the ball on the counter, Ali won us a man up which he then scored off moments when the vital assist came in.

Quarter 3 started with us playing with a man up straight away due to Exeter playing some naughty polo. During this quarter, we began to tire however Big Chris set Tom up with a nice little flick in for one of his two goals in this quarter. Ali also added another to his tally. This quarter ended 9-6 to Exeter – let’s move on.

After his big team talk in break between Quarter’s 3 and 4, Phil C swapped into an infield position in the hope he would provide some fresh legs. After about 2 minutes, he forced Sam back into the pool for himself to have a break. Poor Sam had been busting his gut in the pool for the duration of the game and wasn’t even granted a breather by Dictator Cumner. Phil C wasn’t the only tired player at this point with general play starting to lack. Our defence, usually as strong as Fort Knox’s security (a slight lie), began to fall apart securing Exeter an unfortunate win. Proving we had not wasted the afternoon, Ali scored in the final second of the game to give us some solace.

On the way home, Mark requested that former-DJ Cumner played some Christmas hits after losing shotgun in Tom’s girlfriends car. For his request, he had to endure some Bublé until we got to McDonalds. After filling up in McDonald’s, both cars hit the road again. Chris’ drive was about to be cut short as he decided he wished to pull over by the side of the road as his Audi decided it couldn’t be bothered to get back to Southampton on its own accord. Gone midnight, the final few Big Boys returned to Southampton via a tow vehicle. Forget the SUSU minibuses or cars for transport to games, I suggest the club buys a tow truck as it’s the second time I have been in one this year on the way back from polo.

Things that went well:

1. Positioning was good at points – setting up the arc or man up attacks
2. We were able to draw the foul and get man ups
3. Continued to try our best despite being tired/ hungover/ unfit/ all 3 previously mentioned

Ways to improve:

1. On man up, we need to do something and not waste it (Stag ring any bells??!!)
2. Need to press harder, reducing space between us and the attacker
3. Be aware if someone is about to try and swim off us

Man of the Match – Ali. For scoring in the last second of the game

Dick of the Day – Aleandro for ‘not feeling well’ after what can be presumed was a heavy night before and not actually playing