Mens 5 vs Surbiton Mongooses

Evening chaps, just wanted to send out a bit of recap of yesterday’s game, which is apparently already being described in hockey history textbooks as The Massacring of the Mongooses. 

Tonnes of positives to take away, and a great example of what can happen when we have really good availability, and players are really up for it. 

*Player performances*

Matt: Just an absolutely dominating performance from start to finish, Matt offered pace, directness and great positioning both defensively and going forward. Made the game look so ridiculously easy at times, giving us an instant outlet at 16s, and generating all the success we had down the right hand side. A deserved runner up MoM.

Rob: won everything that came his way - the Surbiton forward line weren’t even getting scraps. The Pringle’s consistent, accurate long passing ensured we moved instantly from defence to attack, and he won the physical battle too. Gave us a real platform. 

Dave F: marshalled the back four superbly, and I lost count of how many times he nipped in front of a forward and stole the ball. Made sensible decisions all game long and didn’t give the oppo a sniff.  

Maj: obviously England Hockey rule 17a subsection 6 says that under no circumstances can Maj be praised (it’s for his own good) but I’ve got to say he had a great game yesterday. A seemingly telepathic relationship with Kris brought lots of success up the left, and aside from one or two errant passes, I thought his all round game - especially ball control and through balls - was top drawer. 

James: just a really impressive game. We were very strong up the right wing and all of this came through James. Cutting in from the line I think he beat the first man every time, opening things up for the forwards, and putting the Surbiton defence on the back foot. Very high standard of play in terms of stick skills, energy and positivity, and deservedly got a couple of MoM nominations. 

Tom: what can you say about this man? With his reach of 63 feet, tenacious tackling and ability to turn defence in to attack, Tom was at the centre of all our success up the middle. Really liked the way he was always making himself available, plus he notched goal 2 of his Epsom career! A deserved MoM nominee.

Rich: a veritable perpetual-motion machine of a man, Rich was just everywhere in this game. Crucial to breaking up Surbiton attacks, but also lethal with his forward passing, he absolutely dominated the middle third of the pitch. Also garnered some MoM nominations. 

Kris: looked positive and aggressive from the whistle, and played some of the best passes of the game. What I loved about Kris was his vision - he scanned the field and made jaw dropping passes almost without looking. Grade A performance with a couple goals thrown in. Was also in the MoM running. 

Jack: always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and created all sorts of problems for their left back. And has anyone in the history of hockey ever been _so_ one on one versus a goalie? And what sort of a man then cuts inside to tomahawk it into the bottom corner? The cherry on the cake. 

Alex: played an invaluable supporting role up top, taking on players and creating acres of space around the D all game. Really impressive skills on the ball, always driving towards goal, and got into some killer positions. With players like Alex, we _will_ beat teams in this division. 

Lawrence: not only did the boy score a hat trick but he was all over the pitch winning balls, making himself available, and firing off laser passes around the Surbiton half. A very impressive positioning game, too, dropping off but also bombing on, and he looked like scoring every time he got the ball. A thoroughly deserved *Man of the Match* award. 

Spike: the fact that I touched the ball once in the entire game - and that was in the last second - speaks volumes for how much we absolutely blew away this Surbiton side. Having been pretty busy so far this season, it was nice to be able to relax for a bit and enjoy what was, let’s be honest, some quality hockey. 

Dave D: just wanted to add a special mention to Dave who did more in the couple of minutes he played than plenty of players manage in a whole game. We all know Dave is an absolutely quality, game-changing player so I just wanted to wish him a super swift recovery and a great time in Australia, and we can’t wait to have him back dominating midfields in a few weeks. 

Cheers

Spike