St Albans

Get on A1(M) in Lemsford from Sandpit Ln, Coopers Green Ln and Great North Rd/B197

17 min (7.2 mi)

Head north-west on Waddington Rd towards Drovers Way

85 ft

Turn right onto Drovers Way

0.2 mi

Turn right onto Catherine St/A4147

190 ft

At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto St Peter's St/A1081

0.2 mi

Turn right onto Avenue Rd/B651

161 ft

Slight left onto Stonecross/B651

384 ft

Turn right onto Sandpit Ln

2.0 mi

At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto Coopers Green Ln

3.3 mi

At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Great North Rd/B197

0.9 mi

At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto the A1(M) slip road to Stevenage

0.4 mi

Get on Thrapston Rd/A141 in Brampton from A1(M) and A1

44 min (40.2 mi)

Merge onto A1(M)

16.0 mi

Continue onto A1

4.0 mi

At Biggleswade South Roundabout, take the 2nd exit and stay on A1

2.3 mi

At Biggleswade North Roundabout, take the 2nd exit and stay on A1

2.8 mi

At Sandy Roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto London Rd/A1

 

Continue to follow A1

4.1 mi

At Black Cat Roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto Great N Rd/A1

 

Continue to follow A1

8.1 mi

At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Great N Rd/A1

 

Continue to follow A1

2.6 mi

Use the left lane to take the slip road to Thrapston Rd/A141

0.4 mi

Follow A141 and A1123 to California Rd

17 min (9.0 mi)

At Brampton Hut Interchange, take the 4thexit onto Thrapston Rd/A141

 

Continue to follow A141

2.2 mi

At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit and stay on A141

0.6 mi

At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Spittals Way/A141

0.5 mi

At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit and stay on Spittals Way/A141

0.6 mi

At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto A141

1.6 mi

At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto Huntingdon Rd/A1123

 

Continue to follow A1123

3.0 mi

Turn left onto Hill Rise

0.3 mi

Turn left onto California Rd

 

Destination will be on the left

0.2 mi

St Ives Hockey Club

Ivo Centre, Saint Ives PE27 6SJ

 

*Huff puff puff* Shovels on socks, shinpads in the car park lot. Ah! Hockey players! They’ll know the way to the pitch. Why are they so bloomin’ slow *Grumble grumble* Gosh darn it! There would have been a short cut from where I had parked the car and not followed the players into the changing rooms… *Huff puff puff*

‘Hey Johnny! You alright? What’s the score like?’ ‘1-0 to us, but we’re making hard work of it today.’ Sub-on for a headless run around, not quite sure what I was doing.

A pitch that made mud feel quick, and a physical opposition gave us a much harder run than the score-line really needed to be, but some solid runs from our forward line and mercurial quick passing hockey gave us the 3-1 win we sorely needed in our push for the promotion places.

I may not be able to tell you much more about the game, but we do have a lovely album of photos from our team photographer and if you care, you have detailed directions from St Albans to the St Ives Hockey Club.

The first goal was scored by Chris Walsh whose powerful shot ricocheted into the net off the keeper and a defender. They equalised early in the 2^nd half from a swift counter, only for us to reply within minutes from a counter-attack of our own, with Alistair Smith finding the side netting to finish a slick move. The final goal was from an improvised short corner, where Joe Whittaker snuck in a rebound of the keeper’s pads. Man of the match went to Adam Cately for his all round performance including his consistent aerials. Lemon went to Dan Loy for turning up late, and handing in a late match report to boot.