Nomads Twos keep their pristine home record

Report by Morty
Thus far it has been a team and season of contradictions persisting. Old yet young; winning yet losing, retro yet modern.

The retro move this week saw a reuniting of old comrades at the heart of the defence, when Woody and Moots reinstated a partnership dating back more than a decade. Additionally the venerable Fieth and Mort started in midfield, with a single decade of hockey representing less than a quarter of their hockey careers.

Yet for nearly half the Nomads’ squad on Saturday, a decade represents about two-thirds of their total years on this earth, as they named a team containing 5 schoolboys. It looked a strong line-up.

A rare luxury of availability meant an unprecedented 4 substitutes languishing on the sidelines as the game began. Despite an extended warm up, whilst we awaited our long-travelling opponents to locate and navigate to the Coldhams Fortress, Nomads still managed an initial line-up of 10! Clearly something was wrong with this, and confusion ruled around the exact back-four line up.

So a common beginning to a Nomads Twos match then, and despite a strong opening period, this week there were no early goals to enjoy.
Also languishing on the sidelines were a smattering of first teamers, at least those who could find nothing better to do with their Saturday afternoons, after their trip to Wisbech was cancelled early.

They must have been impressed with the opening pressure and intensity from the Twos, right up to the point, in the first few minutes, when the ball arrived on Rick’s stick invitingly in the opposition D. The resulting shot was reassuringly rubbish, and provided a reminder of why we usually keep him away from the sharp end of the pitch. But the approach play was incisive and threatening and Alford were hanging on.

Despite much Nomads’ pressure, the first quarter remained goal-less and Alford managed a few forays of their own to keep the much vaunted back four on their toes. Mostly these threats were snuffed out early, but every now and then Nomads required the expert intervention of one of their home-grown youngsters, as Leo mopped up a couple of breaks with his usual calm, and skilful aplomb.

But it was our other ever-present youngster this season, Dom, who finally broke the deadlock with a fine snap-shot from the top of the D after a nice interplay involving Alex Maynard and Mel. And not long before half-time, a deserved second followed from, or all things, a short corner. Alex Maynard's consistently excellent injection saw Paul’s reverse stick shot stopped illegally on the line, and the resulting penalty flick was expertly dispatched by said striker.

We all know a 2-0 lead is very dangerous for Nomads Twos and so the sometimes confusing talk at the break focussed on a myriad of interesting topics, but principally, NOT GIVING IT AWAY!

As we know, whatever we say at half time, and what we then put into action the minute the game restarts, usually bear little resemblance, and parts of the second half showed less accuracy and an Alford side determined to make a game of it, having been outplayed for most of the first half.

So a more disjointed second half performance with occasional bright moments and occasional scares proceeded. Our young debutant, Mikey, finally got to spend some quality time on pitch, in the right half channel, and proceeded to buzz up and down that touchline in a state of perpetual motion. He almost scored, he took on opposition players from wherever they came, he called the short corner routines and he even attempted drag-flicking one whist Paul was taking a break. He has a bright future that lad if only he had a bit of self-confidence!

A comedy, goal-mouth scramble occurred with the ball flashing around (and finally underneath) the Alford goalie. Nomads' front line (plus some of their defenders) seemed to delight in throwing themselves on the floor - it was with some all-round relief that the umpire (Spence) decided to blow for a short corner to stem any more vaudeville slapstick.

Anyway, amongst all Nomads’ attacking play, Alford sneaked in behind our defence and scored. How did that happen? The slack marking was blamed on another defensive substitution and re-shuffle, apparently. But the immediate response from Nomads was good, as they promptly went up the other end, and a break involving Alex, then Gianluca bursting into the opposition 25, lead to Alex having a shot well saved by the Alford keeper, only to fall to Paul on the left of the D, who powered a rapier shot into the backboards to restore the 2 goal advantage.

There was still time for Nomads to allow Alford one further gilt-edged chance (spurned), and 3-1 it finished. The result elevated Nomads to fifth in a very tight league table, with a very symmetrical record thus far this season – won 4 (all at home), lost 4 (all away). The quest for an away point will continue at high-flying Peterborough next Saturday.

Leo Fox bagged MoM for a fantastically neat and unflustered defensive masterclass of a performance. DoD this week was harder to call, but there were a few candidates: Moots for some interesting choices of when to dribble out of defence; Rick for his shooting; Ellis for his dummy spit at not getting the ball in the D from Alex; Alex for not giving the ball in the D to Ellis; Skipper for the confusion as to who was playing where and when at the start of the match; and Paul for something he said or did (there is always something he said or did).

And legend status for Dave Spence, who umpired this, and the previous match too. Plus he and Doc trialled the new umpires’ mikes and handled the game excellently. Thanks guys.