Our second and last friendly saw us playing for the first time on the relatively new St. John’s astro, which is a lovely facility, right in the heart of Cambridge. But on this occasion one not helped by about 24 hours of heavy rain, which had only cleared up around mid-morning on game day. The most obvious problem this caused, that it was too wet for the groundsman to re-mark the circles or penalty spots, was not the most serious. The faded lines were actually visible when you were close enough to make such things important, but more unhelpfully the rain had left a treacherous sheen on the pitch that lead to a number of pratfalls.

After watching our midfield work their socks off for 70 minutes, the M2s game ended and we could take to the field (well played Matt, Olly and Andy F, btw. None of you looked out of place in higher company). We had a bare 11 for our match with Herr Kommandant opting not to ask one of the 2nds to hang around as a sub because we also need to work on our fitness and work rate, which had been rather shoddy last week. This time it was there from the off, with effort off-the-ball as we went forwards having people in position and available for the pass, whilst good communication and decent defensive work-rate meant we were tracking the Walden attackers.

At some point in the first half (don’t remember exactly when, so let’s say half-way through) we took the lead with a neat move. A free-hit in the right channel was quickly taken by Rob, who feed it out to Rupert on the right flank. Rupe drove into the 25 and then crossed to the top of the circle, picking out JT. JT controlled, turned onto his reverse and did his best Barton impersonation by sweeping goalwards, accurately finding the right corner of the goal with enough lift on the ball to beat the ‘keepers dive. In the pub after the game, I discovered that Rob was trying to claim this goal (see Lemon of the Match); my last memory of him in the move was taking the free-hit near the halfway line!

Other first half action was pretty even, with both ‘keepers asked to make a number of saves. We should have converted on a couple of goalmouth scrambles, at least one of which came from a short. Walden came close with a shot off the outside of the post, although Neil and Lino were in attendance if it had been on target and another quick counter attack that Paul sprinted back to break up by jabbing the ball away just before the shot could be taken. At half-time there was one goal in it and it was anybodies game, which felt like a fair reflection of proceedings up until that point.

It was a different story in the second half, as we overran our visitors, scoring a number of well worked goals and cutting through on other occasions. The skipper can claim credit for this, as he felt there were weaknesses in wide areas that we weren’t properly exploiting, so made a formation switch. Mourinho would have been proud, if his teams were the sort to waste energy winning 6-0 rather than getting to 2-0 and shutting up shop.

The goals came at regular intervals. Variously;

2-0 - Rob was again sharp in getting us moving by taking a quick free hit. He found Tom, who had the space in front of him down the right channel to outflank the Walden defence. Having forced them to turn (always a defenders nightmare), Tom crossed to the penalty spot for Rupert, in ahead of his man, to deflect home.

3-0 - Move started by Ali, from a sideline ball on the left, just inside our own half. He managed to thread it past/between/through/under some Walden sticks to pick out JT in space. JT drew the defence towards him and found Rob, spinning into the right channel. Again clear space had been created for an unchecked advance into the circle, and being a goalscorer Rob eschewed crossing in favouring of shooting from an angle, rapping the ball home under the ‘keepers dive.

4-0 - Counter attack launched by JT up to Stu, on to Rob and we were in 3-on-1. With support from Tom and Rupe on either shoulder, Rob drew the last man and chose Tom on his left. Tom’s initial shot was well saved, but the rebound fell kindly back to him for a tap-in.

5-0 - Shortie, slipped and then feed back to injector Rupe, who pushed home at exposed near post. Neat and tidy, why can’t all out shorts be as smooth as this one? [possible answer: maybe they are when games are already won, but not when the pressure to convert is high!]

6-0 - By now time was running out, and the spine of our team was showing the effects of the match; first sweeper Johnny B started to cramp up and then central midfielder JT joined him (both made sure everyone knew it with some rather affected stretches). Due to Ali’s iron insistence on no subs, they soldiered on through the pain. Centre-back Paul was feeling fit as a flee however, as he proved when launching a coruscating run from his own half, beating a number of men on the dribble, taking some more out by playing a one-two with son Tom, and then drawing the last Walden man and slipping to Rob, in the left channel on this occasion. Rob steadied himself and drilled the ball into an inviting gap at the near post.

Lino, in goal for us, saw little of the action during the second 35, which is reflective of the balance of the game in this period. However, the two passages of play that did come his way probably could easily have ended with a Walden goal. In the first, a counter attack that saw Lino cut out of the game by a good passing option was snuffed out by a key last ditch tackle from Neil. In the other, our visitors could consider themselves seriously unlucky. Another counter generated a lifted goalbound shot that got past Lino and struck Paul, covering behind him. The rebound fell to an attacker following up, but the whistle had already gone for a short. Arguably, this could have been a flick as, although Paul was a couple of metres from the goalline, there was probably no other defender with a play on the ball. Paul also suggested that it might not have been a foul at all, as it hit him on his hand, which was on the stick handle. If play had continued, the follow-up would have surely scored... To compound matters, the resulting short produced a fiercely struck shot that was rocketing into the bottom corner until Paul brought his stick down on it at the last moment, deflecting it wide.

The final score felt a little harsh on Walden, but 6-1 or 6-2 wouldn’t have done. We earned our half-dozen goal return with our attacking in the second half, which was very well put together. Triangles and movement off the ball were in evidence and long head-down dribbles that culminate in possession being turned over were absent. Maybe that was a result of the slippery pitch, which meant no-one wanted to dwell in possession of the ball for the risk of ending up sitting on ones arse as an attack went the other way? Whatever the reason, if we can execute that simple pass-and-move hockey regularly, then we are in for a good campaign. It is on a positive note that we say ‘Roll on the league season’.