The match began with an incredibly strong start, with our only problem being that this strong start was not from the stags. With Basingstoke sneaking 3 goals through in the first quarter while our own Mr Bennalick scored one. It set the scene for a hard game to come. During Q1 our discipline did remain strong although Mr James thought he should lead by example and concede a penalty in the last 30 seconds wrapping up the action of the first 7 minutes.

Frankly the second quarter was rather disappointing except for one club Pres who pulled off an incredible stunt of launching the ball at 2 defenders and a goalie multiple times before somehow the ball miraculously ended up inside the goal. Now there was an open, perfectly positioned, dashing and skillful TJ waiting for a selfless pass from a humble elder but today was not his day. To continue the theme of shots entering the goal through seemingly impossible gaps Mr Alvarez shot from a crazy angle somehow morphing the ball through the keeper. With the other events of this quarter preferably forgotten the score was brought to 3-10.

Switching ends and mindsets for the second half we really started to show our better side with goals from head coach Mr Thomas, our brand-new Egyptian import Mr Hassan also there was some divine intervention allowing the club pres to score a stupidly lucky lob catching Basingstoke’s keeper off guard. Ending this quarter with a far more respectable quarter score of 3-4 this was also due to increased defensive discipline and more importantly switching to the lucky side of the pool.

Although still being on the lucky side of the pool we did not capitalise fully on this in the final quarter letting our guard down and our tiredness getting the better of us. This caused two issues, one of a slower more sluggish defence and the other of poor discipline. The latter issue was so perfectly displayed by Mr Wilkes when he decided to fight with a 17-year-old and then went on to remain in the pool having to be reminded of his exclusion by the ref. Our only goal of this half came from Mr Hassan bringing the final score to 7-16.

Overall, the match is one to be learnt from showing that when we work together many great things can be produced and also when there is no defence, goals are scored against us.

Written by Tom Weekes

MVP – Ed Wilkes for his really funny crossbar rebound goal (even though he also got told off for fouling a child aggressively) 

Dick of the day – Jack James for forgetting which team he was playing for multiple times and attempting to start his own airline with the ball

Goals/Majors:

Sam Ellis 0/0

Tom Weekes 0/0

Elliot Oldham 0/0

Finn Thomas 1/0

Sam Cross 0/0

Andy Hibbetts 0/1

Ed Wilkes 2/1

Jack James 0/2

Oli James 0/0

Fernando Alvarez 1/0

George Lea 0/0

Youssef Hassan 2/0

Luke Bennalick 1/1