Nomads Twos edge out Spalding 2-1

[Ed: from the keyboard of Morty]

My goodness. Where do we start, on a topsy-turvey day of May weather in February, and on-field relationships stretched to breaking point in the hot sun?

I guess at the beginning.

Its midday and it’s a good turn out, with more than ½ an hour to the start time, there was at least 11 Nomads ready to go. This is unusual but good. Surely a positive omen. Apart from Chris, of course, who opted to play 3s rather than risk missing the bus again and being played at LB.

Somehow, this week Ellis took up the LB mantle – presumably something he said to the skipper in a previous life. Fair to say he didn’t seem over-enthusiastic and proceeded to be rubbish for the opening ¼ and thus secure himself a place in the middle of the park from where he went on to make an excellent, and crucial, contribution.

This rather confused our planned substitutions. Even though our keeper John stayed on the park, there was never any hint of insubordination against the Coach’s master plan, indeed his contribution was paramount to the eventual result.

Back to the start though. Our own Mr Motivator (aka Mutu) got us all jolly ready to go this week. Music, Churchillian speeches, the lot. Unfortunately all this enterprising verve had Rick believing he could waft past 10 Spalding players and score from the opening play. And we all really know that ain't happening. Ball lost to the 3rd of the 10, who promptly moved the ball up the other end and came really close to scoring after all of, well, 30 seconds. Thankfully some last ditch defending and goalkeeping prevented this embarrassing opening for Nomads, saving Rick’s blushes, and the succeeding short corner was also dealt with. This theme persisted throughout the half. John made his usual quota of excellent stops and Matty and Spence defended heroically at times (surely due to the Churchillian exhortations at the start), ably helped out by Thom and latterly Young Leo – who had by now taken over the LB role.

Nomads had some promising breaks but not enough passes were sticking, and the Spalding short-corner count was growing, though unproductively. On one such break, Arthur Long-Stick-Meadows waltzed his way from half way into their D, only to run out of steam and miss the goal [Ed: tamely dribble the ball at the keeper] rather than find an open Mutu on the far post.

At some point midway through the half, Rick was ‘Huchued’ by his Big Zimbabwean team-mate (was it something I said – he also destroyed my pre-match banana?) and took a brief rest until the stars stopped spinning. Fortunately with good availability, Nomads 2s were boasting an almost unprecedented number of subs (4), which ultimately helped make a difference in the heat of a Cambridge February.

Part of the reason for the abundance of riches was the return of two experienced Nomads for this week and last. Two, whose hockey careers have both been played at higher levels than Div 4, who have additionally represented the red side of Cambridge hockey, and who combined here on the fields of Coldhams in a spectacular, or combustible, fashion. I am talking, of course about the 2 Ms – Mutu and Matty.

We all know that Matty chirps with the best, and that Mutu sometimes plays on the edge of reason. Last week there were calls from team-mates to sub him after the first few minutes I hear to prevent a card. This week, it took until the mid-point of the second half for Mutu to raise the stakes and after an expletive-ridden rant in the direction of the other M, he then decided to volunteer himself for a card, so he could leave the field and calm down. Extraordinary. Fortunately we have in our midst the President (aka Tim), who showed off all his measured diplomacy skills to remove Mutu from the field, somehow without a card.

Much like Kyle Sinkler, I think Mutu quite likes a bit of jousting to get himself going, and remarkably he returned to the fray a few minutes later as if nothing had happened and happily set about the task of helping to win the game.

So, on to the hockey. The second half followed a different course to the first. Nomads had gone to the break (only) a goal down after a long ball to the young Spalding lad up front resulted in him beautifully cutting inside and converting a reverse stick strike that seemed far harder to execute than many other of their numerous chances.

After the break Nomads took control of the game, with the defence resolute, and the hardworking midfield gaining dominance. A nice passage of play with Thom and Julian down the right hand side ended with Arthur picking it up in the inside right channel, funnelling it to Angus on the P-flick spot who finished first time, unerringly into the corner.

A second followed with about 5 minutes to go when Rick ran through the middle, found Max at the top of the D. A nice piece of stick-work and then a perfect pass to Ellis, again amazingly unmarked on that P-flick spot, whose first touch set himself up for another confident finish past the sprawling keeper. I know all this because the Big Zimbabwean records it all on his tripod/iPhone. Otherwise I do tend to forget. Anyway, the massed ranks on the side of the pitch went wild. Ellis himself celebrated wildly and made some point about his position in the side (not being LB), and the dysfunctional family that is Nomads M2s were suddenly all smiles again.

Remember folks, it’s a thin line between love and hate.

Mutu and Matty patched things up via WhatsApp (it’s the 21st Century after all) and Nomads celebrated a win in a game similar to many others they haven’t won this season. It is good to win though. Matty won MoM, with honourable mentions to John and Spence – hard to split them really they were excellent throughout and set up a platform for us to go and get a much-needed win. [Ed: further honourable mentions to Rick for end-to-end support of the attack and scurrying back to defend]

And Spalding were a decent team with a good attitude. They weren’t happy about something in the build up to our first goal, but I think they were wrong (as proven by detailed analysis of the match video post-match). They refused to get pithy and the game was played in a good spirit (other than the Nomads' own internal combustion). So we gave them apple pie in the Brook (returning the favour from their crumble). Though no custard.

Oh, and Mutu won DoD, almost uncontested, despite both Thom and Rick forgetting shoes and having to travel home in their sweat-soaked astros.

Enjoy! It will probably be 3 degrees and raining by next Saturday.