Half a Dozen Please

Petersfield Mens 1st XI Vs Petersfield Veteran's

As the sun rose on what seemed to be a bright Autumnal morning, the wind rustled through the trees, gently swaying the limbs from side to side as the feeling of a battle like no other was on the horizon. It was a battle to test the minds and wits of the team, in preparation to the forthcoming war set before us, as our goal of pushing for promotion was almost upon us to win Hampshire Division 2.

But today, we faced no ordinary opposition! We faced the men from within our own club who have been the previous spear heads for the men's section, in their prime a force to reckon with, even now no man on the pitch was going to stand back to the team of the Victorious Men's Vets who went undefeated last year and came away with their respective league title. They may have aged but their wit and skill on the ball was second to none!

So… the battle lines were drawn, we were huddled into a group by our fearless Daniel Grinstead. As he stoked the fire of passion within us and set the battle plan, we were ready for the battle to commence!

The first half was a cracker. The 1st team had a fairly solid structure and good pace to the ball as they zipped it around the pitch creating some magical movement cutting open the Vets defence to score some beautiful open play goals. But, we had our moments of mental laps where we lost structure and cohesion and that cheeky skillful side of the Vets team cut through forcing some penalty corners and some areas of concern for us! Despite the set play advantage, we feared not. Our new recruit, Alexander Smith, the King of goal, swung his sword of carbon fibre and stopped everything thrown at him, and stood strong!
The play went fairly cleanly back and forth. Lee Harris, Peter Lane and Patrick Edwards ran beautiful channels up front, creating havoc with the Vets defense and constantly put Vets keeper Mark Broadmeadow under pressure, and it was not long until another goal was scored but the 1st’s.

Another recruit, South African born Niall Gray, along with some of our long standing mens 1st, Daniel Grinsted, Josh Edney lay command in midfield, quashing many attempts to burst through the middle, thwarting those skillful vets. Whilst at the back we had Luke Hawkins holding and commanding the left hand side of the pitch, Tom Harding making some solid and not so solid Tackles, Will Atkinson and Tim Clay holding the center. At the end of the Half it was 4-0 to the 1st team thanks to goals from Lee Harris and Peter Lane.

The second half was much of the same, a true battle of the men in an inter club game! Pride was the biggest thing at stake and no man wanted to walk off the pitch coming second! The 1st Team came out hard and scored a screecher of an open goal within the 1st Min after a string of passes from back to the front, displaying team play in its finest light. However, the Vets got a Penalty flick after Paul Vickers used his baulk to stop the deflected ball and added another after the Veteran striker finished his second shot after Alex made a fine first save. The Men's 1st, at 5-2 up towards the end of the game. It was becoming clear that the summer had caught up with the squad, legs and fitness were beginning to dwindle, but we held our ground and Niall Gray scored a cracker of a goal which Patrick Edwards, the cheeky bugger tried to pinch as it flew into the side netting. Final score 6-2.

A good game had by all and a great pre-season training game against a side that had great movement and cohesion. A promising start for the 1st team, where they hope to build on for the future as they look for promotion.

Scorers: Harris 2, Grey 2, Lane 2.

MOM: Alexander Smith - great opening game as keeper
DOD: Clay/Vickers - using their bodies not sticks!
Team: Smith, Harding, W. Atkinson, Clay, Hawkins, Edney, Grinstead (C), Soper, Lane, Edwards, Harris, Vickers & Gray.