Crazy maths lesson 3 x 4 makes 7 out of 8

M4's impressive run of results continued with an emphatic win over lowly Sutton Coldfield, but on this occasion Sils struggled to reproduce the flowing hockey that they have played in recent weeks. The bright spring sunshine seemed to have a soporific effect on both teams, with the first half characterised by unenforced errors and a lack of ball speed.
Against this background, Sils enjoyed the majority of possession in the early exchanges and took the lead after ten minutes from the first penalty corner of the match. As last week, Simon Russell controlled a swift injection from John Harrison before rifling the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net. That this was the only goal of the first 35 was not because of a lack of chances for the home team. Although M4 struggled for fluency in their approach play, they did have several opportunities to double their lead, with notably chances falling to Dave Higgins (whose shot was cleared off the line), Andy Rush and Keith Willetts (both with efforts that went narrowly past the post) and Tony "Dracula" Dwyer (think about it, what doesn't the Count like?!) who failed to connect with a pass from Dave Higgins, when just a yard out, and with the goal at his mercy.
During the halftime teamtalk all agreed that the performance was lacklustre and that a stepped improvement in concentration, ballspeed and work rate was essential for the second 35. That, and a minimum of three additional goals.
As has been the case in so many matches this season, M4 raised their game after the interval, and doubled their lead shortly after the restart from their first penalty corner of the second 35. This time, Russell switched the ball back to John Harrison, who slotted the ball home after the Sutton keeper had blocked his first effort. From this point Sils took complete control of the game and it was no surprise that Andy Rush notched his first of the match, and Sils' third when he forced the ball home from close range ten minutes later.
Sutton threatened occasionally, but only forced Yogi into two saves of note, one of which was an excellent block of ball (and man) as the M4 keeper raced out to meet the Sutton striker at the top of the D, before reminding him in no uncertain way, whose playground the D belonged to.
Sils scored their fourth and final goal of the game from the next phase of play, with Rush bagging his seventeenth of the season in his inimitable style, weaving past defenders before skilfully wrong-footing the Sutton keeper. As the full-time whistle blew five minutes later, M4 reflected on a result that put them up to third in the table, but a performance that was below-par. Hey-ho though, there were several games in October & November when the performance was better than the result, but Sils ended up empty-handed. On this occasion though, it was very much the other way around. However, we'll need to pack our A games into the kitbag for next week's trip to Bromsgrove.

Two highs : (1) Yogi's trip to "Clean Sheet City". He has applied for a 4 week visa to stay there and we're hoping for a postcard on each of the next three Saturdays in March. Well done big guy (2) Timing : if you are going to have an off-form day, make sure it's against the weakest team in the League, as yesterday.

One Low : Tony's trip to "Maresville". A nightmare miss that has made everyone forget about the "pink-on-purple" combo that he sported recently.

And finally, we are reaching the point where we will need a new match report writer (next season). The puns are getting worse and worse each week, I think I am coming down with something serious !!