BDHC (3) v Cambs City 4 (0)

It is telling that as the final whistle blew in this Div 2NW hockey classic, the opposition were overheard remarking the following:
"Where are these guys then?"
"They're 3rd"
"What? Third in the table??"
"Yeah, don't ask me how...."
To which the simple reply given was "Because we keep winning games."

In all honesty the above exchange was entirely good natured and our current league position entirely proper to ponder on given the previous 70 minutes performance. It smacked of one of those games where things are just not quite there... a missed trap here, a bobbly pass there and you're heading for the quicksand (Watch The Replacements with Keanu Reeves for that particular nugget of sporting wisdom!)

But it is to this teams credit (that in itself is rapidly becoming our catch phrase this season) that they have developed a resilience to work through not only bad patches, but bad games, and in truth this wasn't such an awful performance, it just felt like it to play in!

Perhaps the omens were there.... Bill Gray being woken up an hour before pushback having convinced himself it was a 3pm start.... Robin's car breaking down and not making the game at all! Injuries to Joe Garner and Hugo Brill whilst several others in the team were playing held together by gaffer tape and string.... Those are the games that when you get off to a bad start, a team can quite quickly implode if they are not willing to work for each other.
It took 35+2 minutes for Andy Briault to break the deadlock; a penalty corner on the halftime whistle was cleared out of the D but kept in at the 25, recycled and Joseph Moisey's cross / shot was deflected in by Briault for his first goal of the season. The jig of delight in celebration worth waiting the full 20 games for!
Just 2 minutes into the 2nd half and the Dragons were 2-0 up. Alex Hutton was switched on and alert to intercept a hit out from the back and his ball into the D went via Moisey to Callum Howitt lurking at the back post for a tidy finish.
From that position things were still a bit frantic and it would be easy to moan about not scoring further goals until Joseph Moisey's 3rd goal killed it off with about 10minutes to go, though that would miss the point that the team continued to try and play the right way, to pass the ball rather than take on too much, to support each other with and without the ball, and in doing all this they continued to create some excellent chances for our headbanded centre forward to miss (that's for taking the mick out of my carabiners!) which on another day would have seen double the final tally.
A partisan report I know, and it would be remiss to think the opposition did not have a hand in shutting down what has been a free scoring Dragons forward unit. City played well at both ends of the pitch, and though Ady was not over worked, they created several good chances, and had their short corner unit not suffered the same calamitous fate as ours, the score line could easily have been reversed.
But this is our match report so let's concentrate on us! :)
As against Long Sutton last week, it was gritty not pretty, but it can't always be free flowing total hockey and if nothing else it was entertaining for the Dragons die hard fans up on Mellowes Mound.
With the battle for 3rd place well and truly on, I'll take a 3-0 home win thanks.
MOTM -Joe Allen - stepped into right back as if he'd been playing there all season.