Men’s PB v Ess (R7)
Result – KEW 1 – ESS 2
1st vs 3rd match, and a result in Kew’s favour would have put a good gap between the two teams, making it a probably ‘two horse race’ at the middle of the season. But it wasn’t to be. A golden opportunity was definitely missed in this game, and TEM now sit only one point behind Kew.
A soft goal against Kew early in the game meant we never settled into our form of hockey, and it proved difficult to regain the necessary confidence in simple possession and passing hockey. In our individual endeavours to break the game open, we forgot to reward the leads of our teammates, to be patient until high percentage opportunities presented themselves, and tried to force the issue ahead of time.
It was not surprising when we went 2 goals down with 5 minutes to go in the game. A late goal to Ben Osmond narrowed the margin but it was too little too late.
It could be said that the experienced group who made a difference last week were missed this round, but as with any seconds team that has great youthful enthusiasm, this group should bounce back in the next few rounds to re-establish themselves as a top 2-3 team.
Best Players: Alderman, McKay, Scales, Lumb
Goals: Osmond
Next game is against top of the table Camberwell, at Elgar on Saturday 13th June at 2:00.
