Hard-working Sils go home empty-handed

A game that contained more greens than a vegetarian would eat at Christmas, saw a re-invigorated Mens Fours suffer a second successive league defeat.

Three green cards and a yellow - all issued by the same umpire - detracted from what was otherwise an entertaining match. No points or goals were taken from the game, but there were many positives for Sils to reflect on, notably a promising debut from the young Brandon Munemo, a number of important saves from Jogi, and a much-improved workrate across the whole team.
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Sils started brightly with Aylin and Bettridge combining with the midfield to create a number of good chances and short corners that saw Willetts and Higgins test the opposition keeper. The first half continued with some exciting end-to-end action, with Sils pushing hard for a goal, with Munemo going close on a couple of occasions towards the end of the first half.

At half-time - and for the first time in a very very very long time - Sils were carrying two green cards, given to Higgins and Dwyer.

The second half saw Sils play some of their best hockey of the game, and perhaps of recent weeks, but it was Old Hales who took the lead early in the second half, and they doubled their lead with a fortunate shot that was mis-hit and looped into the net past an advancing Jogi. As the game moved on, Sils pressed forwards for a goal and this created a number of opportunities for Old Hales to counter-attack. However, the Sils defence (to a man) held tight, frustrating the opposition and limiting them to several long-range shots. As the game progressed, so too did the quality of Sils play, and their self-belief. A succession of quick, short passes were regularly interspersed with some great long balls to the Sils front three, as the team created chance after chance. Willetts was unable to convert a great chance following a cross from Matt Lyons; Munemo created several chances, pushing through the Hales defence with ease at times; the Hales keeper managed to claw a reverse-stick shot from Higgins around the post, but it was Dwyer who was the unluckiest Sils player, first hitting the post with a well-timed strike and the keeper beaten, before then picking up a yellow card from the umpire with ten minutes of the game remaining.