Old Silhillians 5 - 2 Olton & WW 5th XI

So it was a sunny Trafalgar at the John Harrison Memorial Bowl on Saturday. Captain Simon Russell was able to field a strong team as we prepared to face the local rivals from the tenements of Olton. Dan Jones was back, and the youth were well represented.

Nelson said in 1805 'England expected every man to do his duty'. Well the 3s stood up in a big way on Saturday, and were able to inflict a setback to Olton who fielded a good team of young and old.

The game was fast-paced from the start, and it was great to see the younger players using their nous to outflank the experience of the visitors. The considerable pairing of the senior Russell and the senior Barton kept Olton at bay. Russell was especially impressive as he was feeling 'tired and emotional'. The attack was very impressive, and Jimmy, Harry and Dan were always a handful. One, then two, goals were scored and Olton were struggling to get a handle in the game. Jim had to make just 2 saves in the first half - and it was a team of happy campers who listened to the captain's address at the half time caucus.

We knew that Olton were going to come out at us - and so it proved. Sils scored a fourth goal, and seemingly were cruising toward hockey nirvana. However, Olton scored two quick goals to provoke some concern amongst the capacity crowd. Fortunately, the team held firm and added a fifth to take us back into calm seas. As the final whistle blew, 5-2 was a deserved win and 3 points.

So many good performances. Jimmy, Dom, Ollie, Charlie et al. Clutz gave a good second half performance (probably not as good as the first - Ed), and Sam was a deserved Hero of the Week. So it is a break from action this week, and the team is heading off to the Winter Training Camp in the Tora Bora highlands. Action resumes in November.