Men 1XI
Matches
Sat 21 Jan 2017  ·  Premier Division 1
Oxford Hawks
3
3
Milton Keynes Hockey Club
Men 1XI
Milton Keynes comeback to get a draw away to Hawks

Milton Keynes comeback to get a draw away to Hawks

Mikey Gilson30 Jan 2017 - 09:13
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https://www.mkhockey.co.uk/tea

Defenders Defend Attackers Get the Girls...or so it seemed

A cold frosty training session, playing something more similar to Ice Hockey prepared us perfectly for the rocky, icy terrain that awaited us at Oxford Hawks. The team arrived in their drip and drabs, living up to their “most environmentally friendly club” goal set at the beginning of the year. Most arrived on time, some did not. By some, one's’ first guess would jump straight to the ever late, often hungover but always manages to find time to buy a premium coffee...Myles ‘Mad Dog’ Locke. Instead it was frequent latecomers, Alex White and Ben Northedge (whom it apparently warranted a DoD vote). So after turning up mere minutes after the late alarm echoed throughout the clubhouse, the team decided to practice their silky ice hockey skills on the oppositions pitch, to discover a man Lawnmowering the artificial pitch…

After a brief team talk, which included a team sheet mapped out on a mirror that wasn't legible for anyone other than Coach Luke (who even struggled); a customary warm up involving everyone avoiding hitting the ball for as long as possible because it was too cold and a poor short corner warm up the team were ready for the match or so they seemed…

The first half whistle, both teams looked raring to go. On one side, you had a team that wanted to maintain their local record whilst on the other hand a team that wanted to avenge it. As soon as the first whistle went, MK couldn’t make head nor tails of the pitch, failing to string two passes together and were incidentally found to be on the back foot. A gap found between two white shirts allowed the ball to be whistled to the edge of the D, Oxford took the ball on their reverse and slotted home comfortably to take an early lead.

1-0

But all isn't lost, the team needn’t be disheartened, after all it is a marathon not a sprint. So whilst Luke was busy encouraging MK to regroup themselves and hit ‘Reset’ on the game, Oxford capitalised via a bobble pass under a stick to fall in the hands of their attackers. Following a drive down the right hand side and cutting across baseline, a simple pass across the keeper allowed Oxford to double their lead.

2-0

By this point, reset had been pressed and the team had been regrouped. “It’s time to bring in our secret weapon!” Luke whispered to Tom, a plan that was 10 years in the making that had only been deployed once before during the beginning of the season. Ian Cooper has been called many things in his lifetime and ‘weapon’ has been used once or twice, but ‘secret weapon’ was new even to him. In past, defenders were never allowed to stray past the halfway line “defenders defend, attackers get the goals, attackers get the girls” was often told during his hockey career. On the bench, Coops checked his tinder account...no matches; he checked his POF inbox...empty; Even Grindr...no luck. Ian wiped away the tear that began to run down his cheek and exclaimed “enough’s enough, this defender is scoring!” so on the pitch he scurried and to the oppositions D he went. Like a fish out water, he flapped around and positioned himself next to the post. As the ball was passed across the pitch Tom Murtagh found himself in a position to crash the ball...but it was to an unlikely sight. The ball shot across the pitch and hurtled towards Ian who had already braced himself with his eyes tightly shut, he felt the rattle against his stick, but did he score…

2-1!

Ian checked his phone once more, he had matches and dates flying in left right and centre but there was to be only one date for him that night. The bravery and tenacity Coops showed left Tom Anderson blown away.

The deadlock had been broken and MK seemed to have found a working formula. Finally, Luke's “score sh*t goals” mantra was making more and more sense and the goals kept on coming…

This time it was the turn of Vincent Pretorious who figured Coops idea of standing on the post is the way to score goals, but he decided to mix it up and stand on the other post. The ball flurried through a wall of red and white shirts to ricochet off of Vincent's stick and into the back of the net.

Half Time

The half time team talk went by and no player needed reminding of the task in hand, they knew the score and knew what they had to do.

As the match continued, fans started to arrive cheering and jeering in their usual fashion. But MK were not to be interested in their childish ways. They quickly worked their way up the pitch and found themselves in a position to earn a short corner. With Tom Murtagh off the pitch and previous struggles during the short corner warm up, up steps yet another defender...Myles ‘The Mad Dog’ Locke. Since joining the club, word has gotten around every club in the south league that this infamous northerner is a force to be reckoned with. “I came here to chew gum and kick ass” he said as strutted up to the top of the D “and I’m all out of Gum!”. Needless to say there was only one possible outcome for the following events…

2-3!

All MK needed to do was to hold tight onto their lead. But this didn't stop us from continuing to apply the pressure. A crash ball through the top of the D deflected off of Fraser McColl’s stick for a certain 4th goal. Only to find an ever present Liam Foster putting his body on the line and slide onto the back post, for him to instead deny Frazer...surely a DoD winner? Evidently not, apparently lateness is much more of an offence. I'm not bitter…

So MK kept holding on, we were told to deny them a goal by any means. This was something taken more literally by some over others. It's safe to say and using the picture evidence of the Oxford players impromptu colonoscopy, Ben Northedge was lucky to avoid a yellow card.

Eventually, the pressure continued to pile on and despite the often unstoppable force of Andrew Pettefer, Luke Stone, Myles Locke,Ian Cooper and Alex White’s best efforts Oxford found their way on via a well worked short corner drag flick.

3-3

To summarise, considering the poor start 3-3 was well deserved and could have been easily more.

Man of the Match - Ian Cooper

DoD - Ben Northedge a decision decided by arm wrestle that was won by close second Liam Foster.

Match details

Match date

Sat 21 Jan 2017

Kickoff

TBC

Attendance

20

Competition

Premier Division 1

League position

2
Milton Keynes
4
Oxford Hawks
Team overview
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