Wyndley Warriors

In spite of the result, this was a promising performance from a team that had not played together before. For the first 20 minutes or so, we managed to hold off Sutton, even creating some good moves through Tony Dwyer down the left and Steve Leonard (welcome back!) down the right. The Sils defence held off a good deal of pressure with Ben Rice palming away a high shot and kicking some good clearances but Sutton eventually managed to slip in a goal through a a mass of legs by the LH post. A second followed before half time.

After the break, Sils managed to create some good breaks through Steve Leonard and Sam Teal while Daniel Bridges put a great reverse stick shot just across Sutton's goal. Tom Smith, William Maidment and Aaron Lawana combined well at times but the attacks were mostly mopped up by the Sutton defence.

Steve Leonard pace and persistence paid off when he managed to thread his way into the right of the D and let loose a cracking rising shot into the far corner of the net.

However, by this time, Sutton had got into their stride and were creating a lot of attacks with the Sils defence giving away free hits or missing the tackles. The slippery pitch caught out an otherwise excellent Steve Dellow on one occasion which allowed the Sutton attack to waltz past him to score. Ben Rice was kept busy with some more good clearances but the tiring Sils defence managed to let in two more to give Sutton a 5 - 1 win. This probably flattered them somewhat as Sils played some good hockey on occasion, just not often enough! Things to learn from the game:

- better coordination in midfield with players calling for the ball
- closer marking
- crisper passing
- midfield four to track back when the opposition are attacking
- don't let the pace drop in the last quarter of the game

And don't query the umpire's decision!