A new club to visit, and a shiny blue pitch to enjoy.

So we did.

Excellent open hockey in the first half resulted in a rapid fire Rob Barton hat-trick and a brace from midfield energiser, Roland Li. The usual selection of whizzy crosses from skipper Greaves kept the Braintree defence worried but their defence and young, but more than capable, keeper kept the game alive.

More of the same in the second half? Not exactly. The spirited Braintree team persisted, but couldn’t score, with man-mountain Naka Adigwe in goal swatting away players and stray hockey balls calmly, behind the solid defensive wall of Messrs Bridge, Ali, Grove & Ho. Ky Ho bravely used his knee to block a cross but hobbled on til the end. The away team lost a bit of shape and seemed to forget what had worked in the earlier period, but this didn’t prevent man of the match Thomas Grove slotting in his first goal for the club from close range as he positioned himself coolly two yards from goal to await the anticipated cross from the ever-marauding Simon Jelley. That man Barton bundled in his fourth of the day shortly after to wrap up the scoring.

It was a game where the midfield was the key. Avi Sharma, Wilco Dijkstra, Jack Chalk and Roland Li had command throughout. When the ball was controlled, passed early and accurately to a purple shirt, there were some lovely moves opening up the opposition. When it wasn’t, there weren’t.

Thanks to travelling umpire, the authoritative Sean Gardiner, guest defender Keiran and the Braintree club for playing in a good spirit, and welcoming us to their domain. Afterwards they were keen to suggest further games between these teams. Bring it on.