Not quite sure I’m going to do this ever ytime I play, but here’s a little about yesterday’s match vs Hamble.
Our team (Salisbury), turned up with a large squad of 15, many of which were juniors, and it became apparent quite quickly that we would be up against it. Hamble were compact, fit, strong and well drilled as a team. They also play a higher standard of hockey than we do, and the fact that they’d been training together really showed. I’m by no means making excuses, Hamble were by far the better team, but considering the slightly mixed up team that we had, we did our best and certainly performed better in the second half, than in the first. Credit must go to Matt our goalie who, it has to be said, made many quality saves to keep the score into single figures. Rob Major did a great job in the centre of midfield, without whom the score again could have been very different. The defence were constantly under pressure, and every time Hamble broke, their players all worked so hard off the ball for each other, that their player with the ball almost always had at least two options….something every team should try to do….take note Salisbury. We will, I hope, be working on this at training this week!
Despite losing 7-0, at 0-0 we had a few chances to go ahead, something unfortunately for us we couldn’t take. I honestly don’t think that if we’d have scored it would have made any difference to the final result as Hamble thoroughly deserved to win, but I had a good time despite the fact that I ache beyond belief today (taking my daughter training, and ending up running around coaching, has only increased the pain….albeit it was well worth it to see her rushing about with all the other minis, learning all the basics of the game I love so much).
To sum up….much to work on before the league games start…but hopefully training as a team starts on Thursday evening, and I’m confident that once we train together, and everybody has a better understanding of their roles, particularly the younger, slightly less experienced players, that we can perform well as a team in the weeks to come. Bring it on…can’t wait!!