| Match Report |
They say when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. And so it was, assembled in Shirley, the Men's 4s were confronted by the unlikely spectacle of the Goan side arguing among themselves in the car park before the match had even begun. Nevertheless, there was a hockey match to be played, and so, on a mild October afternoon, we set to it. The arguing didn't stop, and simply spread to complaining about umpiring decisions, even if they resulted in a favourable outcome for the Goan side. Purley's greater willingness to play the ball around was rewarded with an early score from Simon Van Pelt?. Unfortunately the 1st half was disrupted by an ugly incident which led to Purley being reduced to 10 men, and the Goan side temporarily reduced. However Purley went into halftime with a one goal advantage and plenty of resolve that the negative attitude displayed by so many of the Goan players would not be allowed to prevent us playing hockey and winning. Despite being down to ten men, the greater fitness of the Purley side clearly showed in the second half and exploiting the space down the wings led to a goal from Cian Nowlan Dias and another strike from Van Pelt?, set up by some lovely movement and a great run to the base line by Marco Ricci. Goan did eventually get around to playing some hockey, and displayed some skill in doing so. However stout defending from Purley, including a couple of notable goal line clearances and some fine saves from Porter kept Purley from conceding. Without sounding overly biased, Purley were clearly the better side and the win was well deserved. Thanks to all for putting in the effort, and the Umpires for putting up with a difficult afternoon.
Simon Howers
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