MK v Havant

I'll try and keep this one reasonably short and sweet as it's currently 9:41am and I'm sitting on my sofa drinking coffee and eating protein pancakes (no biggy). Saturday saw us line up against Havant HC following a rest period of 4 weeks due to Christmas. An early dusting of snow throughout the week meant the game being pushed back to the later time of 1pm, with everyone arriving pretty much on time thanks to Myles attending another 12 year old birthday party and Luke attending a school fixture. So off to a good start... also this week saw the return of MKHC fan favourite Nick "Nandos" Anderson (due to an injury even though he hasn't played hockey since before Christmas). Rumour has it Nandos picked up a nasty cut on his little finger earlier in the season and following surgery and loads of holidays is finally making his way back to full fitness. Good to have you back lad.

After a long while sitting around taking the piss out of each other and waiting for Ben (who needed to drop the kids of at the pool) we eventually got out and work our way through a vigorous warm up. Everyone seemed pretty enthusiastic and after a rousing team talk from our dairy selling captain we pushed back.

We started quite well knocking the ball about a bit and working hard enough but struggled to make any real impact and always looked susceptible to being caught on the break. Andy and Grant had their hands full at the back as the Havant front line moved around a lot. As the half went on we started to get a foot hold in the game. Ben and coops working well keeping the Havant wingers at bay. We were able to mount our own attacks. Building from the back we put the opposition under pressure, which resulted in a short corner. A deflected move which somehow didnt end up in the back of the net due to the big toe of the travelling keeper. The forwards were working tirelessly stretching the pitch getting into the D but unfortunately we werent able to put the ball in the back of the net. As time ticked away Havnt began to exert a little more pressure in our own 25. This pressure resulted in a number of corners. Corner 1 charged down, corner 2 saved, corner 3 charged down (this seemed to go on for an eternity). However on the 8th Corner Havant did finally make a break through with a Drag Flick. Alex still isnt quite sure how it went it but his excuse being it caught the wind and eluded everyone, swerved round a few sticks, looped over coops and straight into the goal. A bit of an annoying way to concede but to be honest it had been coming. The rest of the half was pretty un-eventful and we went in 1-0 down.

With Ginges half time team talk ringing in our ears and the threat of early subs with Vince, Eric and Tom eager to get involved we went back out for the second half. Straight away we put the Havant defence under pressure. Working our way up the pitch Mikey "lacking goals" Goalson won a free hit on the edge of the D. Jamie took the ball and crashed it across goal to which Mikey expertly deflected into the path of Frazer McColl who calmly guided it into the net. Havant knew they had a game on their hands, with the pace not dropping, both teams had opportunities from corners to put the game to bed. With neither team scoring the umpires decided across the Microphones that they had had enough. Cards were dished out for both teams. Unfortunately for MK ours were yellows and not greens. After mid season de-brief on Wednesday Ben decided to wanted to add to his current yellow card collection by playing football and Ginge decided that his busy work schedule resulted in a much needed rest with a tackle that wouldnt go a miss in a village football match (he insists he was going for the ball). The loss of players had an effect on the team, Havant broke forward from the half way line, isolated the defence creating 2v1 and putting the ball in an empty goal. With time ticking away MK tried in vein to get back into the game. Still fresh in his memory the majestic Ian Cooper decided he wanted to get in on the action once again. Scoring down at Havant for the 1st time in 16 years he found himself in the opposition 25, more impressively found himself in the D. With the ball bouncing around, coops unleashed a rocket of a reverse stick shot which some would say was destined for the top corner, but on this occasion trickled onto the back of an MK foot. Ultimately MK came up short against a Havant team for the second time this season.

So onwards and upwards, there's still plenty of hockey to be played this season and plenty of chances to get the points we need. Brush this one off and get back to the performances we know we can deliver.

Special mention goes out to Ali McColl, Tom Murtagh and Mikey Gilson on their engagements this season.