Points to be raised from our trip across the city:

• To make sure he got himself into his coaching mind-set, Hollywood took over a changing room all to himself to have some quiet time before the game.

• There was big pre-game chat about the awesome mid-week training session and how brilliant we were now going to be at short corners (so long as Danny Loy was on the pitch to push them out). So high was the confidence that Anns bought himself a second stick! Sadly, he’s still not involved in the routines…

• The Pitchlette was well utilised by the South Men’s 2s for the warm up; however, there not enough bibs for Hollywood’s mini game. Coops - rectify this swiftly! (Editor’s note: 12 pink bibs have now been ordered)

• Summer signing Adam Knightingale took the opportunity to catch up with his old teammates before kick-off, building bridges.

• We did travel with a mighty squad of fourteen, a manager and an assistant manager - can’t imagine that had anything to do with the locality! Everyone knew this was a squad game and the rolling subs didn’t disrupt the flow of the match.

• In the first half, there was space all over the pitch for us to attack in, but try as we might we couldn’t seem to get through the last lines of defence, despite playing some decent hockey.

• We finally woke up after a good break-away goal by Nomads. This spurred us on and we responded quickly. At the break-down of a (well-rehearsed) short corner, the ball pinged around and fell to Wizard, who reverse-slapped it in. Bang! 1-1 at half time.

• One of our short corners in the first half resulted in a combination of the ball and/or Coops’s stick smashing into the face of an onrushing defender. Kudos and respect must go the Nomads man as he sported a significant lump on the chin for the rest of game which he battled through.

• So keen was Wizard to join in the half time discussions that he leapt into the huddle – or just leapt on the floor - yearning to hear the pearly words of wisdom that would be delivered.

• Into the second half, where we took control against the tiring eleven Nomads – the match day squad was used well as we were able to continually keep the pressure on. The lead was inevitable, and through fantastic build up play and some skill, Harry was able to put the ball on a plate for Father of the Year, Dan, to tap into an empty net. So successful was this that the trick was repeated minutes later. 3-1 was the final score, which was not an unfair reflection of the balance of play.

• More to mention from the second half: as the wait goes on for Hollywood’s first goal, his case is not helped by his ma-hoosive swishing airshot when presented with a chance. A slightly “tired” Barney had to have a nap in the corner. Not wanting to be left out, Walshy also took an opportunity to have a lie down.

• Overall we actually played quite well…

(Another Editor’s Note: Oven, inviting and collating comments on Whatsapp is not a match report in the truest sense.)