Gritty performance from Men's 1st produce's a great draw against IOW

Match Report Petersfield 1’s V’s Isle of Wight 1’s 21/10/17
Result Petersfield 1 -IOW 1

With the the south coast being prepared to be battered by Brian with gale force winds and heavy rain, Petersfield Mens 1’s where preparing to whip up a storm of their own!!! So with an early start to get over to the island the team meet at 7:15am ready to head down to Portsmouth for a day trip to the Island! We prepped well as P Vickers turned up with plenty of sausage for breakfast!! Good start to the day!! But there was concern as we where missing one member of the team, P Edwards!! After some digging we found out he was in the bath with his laptop unaware he was late!! More on this later!!

So the team arrived at the port and set sail on some rough high seas over to the island!! We had fun on the ferry, and as a fairly new team it was perfect bonding time which we did very well, as we all wondered how Edwards managed to be so very disorganised and get lost to the ferry rendering him “unavailable”, DOD in my opinion but alas we will make him pay for it in the future!! Bath Boy!!

So we arrived on the island and went and got ourselves prepared in slightly under par changing rooms, I would say we came out dirtier than we went in, how does that even work!!! As captain Grinsted and VC Clay gave some words of strategy and encouragement for the game, we got our heads into whipping up this storm against the opposition on the pitch, as we played through Brian!

As we took to the pitch every one was fired up for a good games hockey, and ready to commence a blustery battle against IOW. With a last few blustering words from our ferocious captain to get us ready for the battle ahead. Locked and loaded, sticks in, the might cry cam from the team 1, 2, 3 FIELD!!! We where ready to fight through the wind and rain!! The whistle blew and them game was on!!!

The first half was full of exciting strong play from Petersfield, where we moved the ball around like flashes of lightning, with some devastating play where we sliced through their defence but to na avail!! Thor’s hammer wasn't quite ready to quash IOW keeper! Play after play Petersfield pursued to find the back of the net with no success!! Grey controlled the middle like Zeus was controlling the weather , he managed the middle of the park well along with Hawkins. Captain Birdseye (Rye) and Marlow produce some fine displays of hockey from the back line with some crushing runs forwards and some solid tackling. Clay managed to throw so solid aerials with the wind up to Atkinson which seem to split their defence quite nicely. Atkinson and Hind worked well together like strawberries and cream on a summers day and it proved to be match made in heaven in the second half!! Smith had a very good half, he wasn’t tested too often but when he was he was like Ares the God of war, smiting any one down who came to do battle with him!! The first half came to a close and the scores where tied!

After a quick team chat at the half and some more words of wisdom from Grinsted the team where ready to commence battle again during this furious storm!! The boys huddle in again and the cry if 1, 2, 3 FIELD echoed across the barren Island striking fear in the hearts of the opponents.

Petersfield had the push back and the battle of middle earth, or the island as its know commenced. Snorlax came on up top AKA P Vickers, and played a great holding game which stunned the defence and played some lovely releasing balls to the wingers. Terry had another blinder in the midfield again this week and threw the opposition with his silky skills and sensual distribution! We continued to play well, but the IOW managed to get a cheeky short corner from a stray Petersfield foot. As we lined up we knew what was coming, and it did, a rocket of a drag flick put top right hand corner which no man could have got to! So 1-0 down Petersfield lifted their heads as they new they didn’t deserve to be down. We continued to battle on but alas another short. We lined up, Go, Rye and Marlow where out like a pair of whippets and ran the flicker down enough to put him off and set it high and wide!!!

So Petersfield found a new gear and started knocking at the goalies door!! Finally, then it came after some superior level headed play from the team!! Hind picked up the ball in the middle of the park and waltzed his way through the opposition and bought the ball onto the reveres side, took a leaf out of Atkinson’s book, and released a tomahawk missile cross to Atkinson. What happened next was pure magic! As the ball rose towards Atkinson the D (from here on Atkinson’s stick shall be know as Thor’s Hammer) he wound up Thor’s Hammer to shoulder hight and connected sweetly with ball, sending it like a lightening bolt into the back of the net!! Nobody saw that coming!! Strawberries and cream strike again!! There was a little todo afterworlds from the Oppo with the umpires, but the umpires know quality when they see it!! Goal awarded!!

The game continued on until the final whistle! A solid draw which the team should be very proud of!! A great show of gritty determination and passion. We moved the ball around cleanly, and played some superb hockey!!! Excellent result, every man carried their fair share of the hard work and every one supported one another picking each other up when heads began to drop!! Well done boys, Proud to be PEEF!!

Final result Petersfield 1- IOW 1

Man of the match: B Terry
Champaign Moment: J Atkinson for Thor’s Hammer Goal
DOD: T Clay just because

Team: D Grinstead (C), T Clay (VC), J Atkinson, P Vickers, C Hall, B Terry, H Hind, N Grey, J Edney, S Marlow, L Hawkins, M Rye, A Smith (GK)