Sils beaten 8-4 by Khalsa at St Nicholas Park, Warwick.

The 4s travelled to St Nicholas Park in Warwick to play the return fixture against Khalsa 4s. Having beaten them by nine goals to three in the first encounter and with Khalsa lying second from bottom in the league this would seem to be an easy fixture. However Khalsa, despite losing most of their games, thrashed third placed Edgbaston 7s by six goals to one in the last game before Christmas. As the score line shows they also thrashed us in this, the first game after the Christmas break.

This was only the second time that Sis had been beaten in the league and the team looked very dejected after the final whistle. The score line seems to indicate that Sils performed badly but that is not the case. In fact we played very well and there are many positives to take from this game which should give us confidence for the remaining fixtures. Read on…

We always try to get straight into the game right from the start to apply pressure before the opposition settle with the intention of gaining the initiative and snatching an early goal or two. This strategy could not have worked better and we scored three excellent goals inside the first ten minutes. The first came when Alex Willetts fired the ball into the D, Andy Rush deflected it at pace towards the far post and Tony Dwyer smacked it into the back of the net. The second came in a similar fashion when Shaun Bates smashed the ball into the D at high speed and John Harrison deflected it straight into the back of the net. This was followed by a well worked goal when the ball was passed around the circumference of a very crowded circle to find Murray Creed on the far post and he scored from close range. Andy Rush also went close to scoring with a very good snap shot. This was an excellent start which took Khalsa somewhat by surprise. The importance of these early goals cannot be underestimated because from this point onwards the game became increasingly more difficult for Sils as Khalsa began to settle into their stride.

Khalsa were definitely unsettled by our strong start but they were still able to match us goal for goal using their excellent short corner routines. They used a well-practised and effective drill with such confidence and precision that they were able to fire the ball home leaving Yogi with no chance of making a save.

Twenty minutes into the game and John scored another excellent goal. He was heavily fouled as he approached the D but managed to maintain his momentum. The umpire signalled advantage and John powered into the D and slammed the ball home. It should be mentioned that this was also an excellent piece of umpiring. Scoring four in the first half would normally finish off most sides, but not Khalsa.

They had three highly accomplished players who stood out from the rest of their team. It would be these that provided Khalsa with their success. As the game progressed so did their influence. As well as being very skilful, fit, composed and tactically astute they were also excellent team players and they were extremely difficult to beat.

One of the three playing at the back was able to launch a succession of aerials from within their 23 straight to a waiting forward inside our 23. Quite a feat. He was so accurate that it was almost as good as a set-piece and these aerials were very difficult to deal with. It came as no surprise when they eventually scored from one. Their forward took just enough pace off the descending ball to allow it to run on into the D. He simply followed it up and knocked it straight into the goal. They completed their first half tally with a goal from open play and by half time they were leading by one goal. With the score at 5-4 we were still very much in the game but the pressure against us was building.

Throughout the second half the three players mentioned really turned up the heat and the Sils midfield and defence found themselves under considerable pressure for sustained periods of time. There were times when all eleven of our players were back inside our own half attempting to break down their attacking play. We conceded a further three goals during the second half. One came from another well worked short corner, one came from open play and one came from a penalty stroke. The stroke occurred when Yogi had little choice but to close down an attacker on one side of the D. The attacker quickly switched the ball to a waiting forward on the other side of the circle and he struck a ferocious shot towards the roof of the net. Shaun got behind it and stopped it from going in with his shoulder. It looked as though he had been shot but he didn’t even flinch. Obviously it is better to concede a penalty stroke than a goal because there is always the chance of making a save. Unfortunately the stroke was taken so well that it left Yogi with absolutely no chance of making a save.

Despite the pressure we were never out of the game. We managed to mount a number of decent attacks. From one short corner Andy beat the keeper with a superb drag-flick only to see it parried by the one defender left on the line. With Andy working down the left, John working down the right and Alex, Shaun and Murray pressing through the centre we still posed a threat. Unfortunately we couldn’t quite manage to find the net again.

In the end we were beaten by a very strong side, the strongest we have faced so far. As a team we never gave up and everyone got stuck in. Yogi made save after save. The defence and midfield worked their socks off. Shaun was strong and robust from start to finish. Alex worked tirelessly throughout the game and chased absolutely everything down and John pushed forward down the right at every opportunity. Even with very limited service in the second half Andy still produced some very impressive solo runs. So despite the score line this was a very good team performance against a much superior side. Even though we lost we still scored enough goals to stay in second place by virtue of a better goal difference than Edgbaston 7. It goes to show how important it is to score as many goals as possible regardless of the result.

Playing as well as this and scoring four early goals would surely be enough to beat most sides. So take heart - we can do it.

Man of the Match.
Both Alex and John were in the frame for Man of the Match with John getting the nod on the strength of two excellent and important goals.

PS
Losing Simon to the third team was unfortunate because we definitely missed him. Having him in the centre with Alex would have made such a difference. I also hope we are injury free for next week after Shaun, Dave and Alex all took hefty knocks.

Late Post
Another positive outcome that I forgot to mention was that we effectively neutralised the aerial threat in the second half by following Shaun's half time advice on just how and when to close in on the defender. It worked a treat.

Very Late Post at Yogi’s request.

Yogi’s email regarding his conversation with Khalsa in the dressing room after the game includes a reference by them to ‘Boodha’. Intrigued I did a little more research and sent him this reply.

After a little more digging 'boodha aadamee' बूढा आदमी translates as
old man, geezer, gaffer, greybeard, special one....or did I just dream the last one up?

From,
कीथ ....Keeth - or ‘feronia elephantum'! Not so sure about the alternative!