Rio Gold Medallist denies MK with MOM performance

In seasons gone by Milton Keynes, would not have welcomed an away trip to Havant for the first game of the season, on paper the task looked tricky to say the least. Havant have finished second in the South Prem in the past two seasons, narrowly missing out on promotion to the National League, they have a wealth of home grown talent complimented with the additions of several overseas stars. MK’s recruitment net does not cast as far afield – Daventry, Northampton and Oxford is about as far as realistically possible.
After last season’s club record 6th place, the team had in fact retained the vast majority of the squad (only really swapping one Northerner for another – Charlie becomes Charlie2) whilst making some savvy acquisitions, this was illustrated with an excellent pre-season – with the teams only defeat coming in sudden death flicks in the first round of the cup. The club travelled down to Havant in buoyant mood, with a genuine belief of gaining all three points. It was to be a Saturnalia of hockey, however preparations were dealt a blow, due to the selfishness of drivers on the M25, causing, what can only be described as bonkers tailbacks, which consumed most of the roads around the M25. The long of the short of it is – I took an eternity to arrive at the pitch – some cars arrived/passengers arrived in a better state than others – however some drivers showed some skills the late great Colin McRae would have been proud of.

With limited preparation time Milton Keynes began the game well. Havant pushed a high press on the MK back line, resulting in numerous attacks, however MK repelled these at every opportunity with debutant Alex White a commanding figure in goal. Pettefer, Anderson, Cooper and Craig looked comfortable at the back with another debutant Myles Locke slotting in at the back providing some added Northern Steel (much like his chinos…). As the half progressed Milton Keynes really grew into the game and started to threaten the Havant 25 – our resident Mario brothers (Frazer and Ali McColl) working tireless to close down and harass the Havant back line. This pressure was rewarded with several D penetrations and short corners, unfortunately the Havant Goal remained untroubled. Approximately 10 minutes before HT a swift Havant counter attack resulted in the first goal. Havant broke swiftly with a reverse stick shot coming off the inside of the post falling kindly to a Havant attacker, the attacker then was allowed a free shot at goal – this deflected off White’s pad into this authors leg – 1-0 Havant. Havant had had the better of the first half and took a deserved HT lead.

The second half was a different a different story, where MK were outstanding and it could be argued dominated Havant. Chance upon chance was created (12 short corners in all) however Argentinian International GK Tomas Santiago was in inspired form and was rightly awarded Havant’s MOM. For all MK’s dominance MK found themselves 2-0 down after a rebounded short corner was fired in across the goal, it could have easily been three however a plethora of players missed a far post tap in.

Tireless running from Gilson, Watkins and the McColls was supplemented by the organisation of CoachLuke and Captain Murtagh, with Northedge (on second debut) showing tenacity filling in wherever required. The MK team were zealous in whatever they did and theIR zealousity was finally rewarded with minutes to go. After a blatant Havant yellow MK sneaked a goal back through the unlikeliest of scorers – Cooper was able to tap in after the ball found its way to him on the goal line – his second goal at this standard and first since making is debut in 1st team hockey 16 years ago! Some have called it dubious, some have said lucky, but at the end of the day we respect the umpires’ correct decision to award a goal. The remainder of the game could have been very different, however Santiago and the Havant defence came out on top.
The final whistle brought massive disappointment to the MK boys, who really deserved at least a draw if not the win (a paraphrase from Havant’s report) this really goes to show what an exciting season we are in for. MK look to bounce back at home to Hawks on Saturday 8th October 12.30 start at Woughton.