What Does Meatloaf Know About Hockey ?

Another heavy defeat for the Mighty Fours as the league season restarted after the winter break. With no friendly last week it was reasonable to expect that the Sils may be rusty, but this was not the case at all.

At times the flowing hockey, both across the pitch and down the flanks, was some of the best that the Sils have managed this season. However, the brutal reality was that a younger,faster and fitter Hampton put the Mighty Fours under pressure from the start, and from pressure came chances, luck and two goals inside the first 15 minutes, despite a concerted effort from Sils to mark their opponents and protect Yogi.

Although Hampton doubled their lead at halftime, Sils worked hard and with increasing purpose down the left flank, with Jake Johnstone, Alex Milne and Felix Scott combining well, or the right flank with Steve Aylin and Mike Bettridge varying 16 hits and using David Higgins and John Harrison to force attacks down the right as we tried to create openings for Dan Bridges and his sidekick, Keith Willetts.

Hampton managed another four goals in the second 35, but this was more a reflection of a team that had more left in the tank. Composed defending from Charlie Russell, Steve Aylin, Mike and Dave, with several excellent saves from Yogi as Sils snuffed out a succession of short and long corners, showed that the Mighty Fours are indeed a better unit than the score suggested. However, whilst Meatloaf may think that “Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad”, I don’t. Shape, Purpose & Discipline are three core foundations to success, and with moments of indiscipline resulting in cards for Tony Dwyer (green, perhaps a little unlucky) and John Harrison (yellow) it meant that the Mighty Four played almost 10 of the 70 minutes without a full XI on the pitch. We have to address this part of our game if we are to kickstart our campaign next week. Otherwise it could be “Much Ado About Nothing”(again). The choice is ours.

That we did not muster either a long corner or short corner was a reflection of how starved our forwards were. However it did not dampen their spirits with Keith and Dan full of running into the channels and playing deeper when needed, in order to collect some lovely through balls from Alex, Felix and the impressive Jake, who was still recovering from a virus.

MOM - Jake Johnstone

Fine kitty sadly rises by £30 in the last two games : JH £20, Tony £5 & Chris Smith £10 but discounted to £5 as he was not aware of the fines system before he cleaned out an Edge attacker just before Christmas.

Next up, a six-pointer home game, away to Stratford (5.30pm @ Sils rejected by opponents and league, so we are 3.30pm @ Henley College). Remember to wear Home shirts and bring your “A” game for a match that will define our season ????

#supportthecauseofthemightyfours