A robbery was reported yesterday in Spalding…

Well quite an afternoon to report on. A very different team, new captain, lots of usual players missing, master B Cotton bringing up his hangover breakfast en-route to the game (probably not the first Cotton to achieve this)…we were optimistic though especially with Jack and Tom J bolstering the ranks. However…

Let’s not say too much about the first half. The goals we conceded were largely self-inflicted, as result of coughing up the ball in the wrong places. Not solely at fault of course, but the other master Cotton did not have his best half of hockey - but the way he bounced back in the second half did him great credit. Note also to our defensive unit that saved if from being even worse denying the Spalding team from 6-7 short corners that we also conceded plus a number of excellent saves from John.

So 4-0 down at the end of the half. The half time talk from the skipper was notably more upbeat than it should have been, largely because he thought it was 3-0 at the time. But there was a general mood that the oppo weren’t that great and if we could do some basics better, there was a way back into the game. We just needed to score first.

Quite a transformation…that rare beast of a team actually doing what they discussed in the chat. Looking after the ball, moving it more, less carrying it into contact. Simple game really.

We quickly won our first short corner of the game. Now scoring goals has not been the forte of the 2s this year. And having no one normally involved in short corners made our approach, let’s say more conversational. After some discussion we agreed Ganja might as well have a shot. Nothing mercurial, just simple inside the post, 4-1. Another short corner soon followed and this time the discussion was let’s try a left slip. The captain managed to produce a “Felix style” low flick inside the left post. 4-2. Two corners, two goals.

Now I'm not quite what happened with the next goal. I think it might have been a break down the left from Jack but it ended with Sam getting the ball to Murray who finished well at the back post. 4-3.

The equaliser came from an amazing finish from Arthur. On the reverse (not easy when over a certain age), from the tightest of angles, in-off the GK. 4-4 (the captain still being the only person on the pitch who now thought we were ahead). By now the Spalding team were getting increasingly fractious, largely with themselves, clearly wondering what had hit them.

And to the glorious finish, I think Tom J stepping in front of one of their desperate attacks and breaking forward to again, find the Sam-Murray axis for Murray to slot it away under the keeper. 5-4

For those not playing, they were kept on the edge of their seats by Jackie's live text updates. For those playing, they enjoyed sitting down in the dressing room to around 100 unread messages

The umpire at the far end was looking for some sort of slope in the pitch to explain how all 9 goals had been scored at one end. But there we were, hanging on for the last few minutes and the robbery was complete. One of the most amazing turnaround games I think most of us have ever played in and a fantastic 35 minute effort from all.

MoM Ganja and Murray; DoD Ben C for the breakfast incident