Mens 3rd XI
Matches
Sat 17 Nov 2018
Kettering 4
2
2
Cambridge Nomads Hockey Club
Mens 3rd XI
Men's 3rd XI: Gilchrist or Boycott - How You Gonna Live?

Men's 3rd XI: Gilchrist or Boycott - How You Gonna Live?

Peter Jarvis22 Nov 2018 - 23:45
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Most enjoyable game of the season so far sees Nomads share the spoils once we eventually reached Kettering

During the early 2000's Australia reinvented Test cricket. They decided that whatever the state of the game, they were going to score at 4 an over when batting and set aggressive fields when bowling, and simply back themselves to come out on top against whoever they were playing. By doing so they took the draw out of the equation and won 16-odd Tests in a row, in the process changing Test cricket from a game where you try to grind the opposition down over 5 days into one where you first and foremost go out and try to win, usually inside 4. Their lasting legacy is that most teams today try to play in a similarly aggressive fashion, and that Test cricket is a massively better sport for it.

In a similar vein, Cambridge Nomads 3rd XI's attempt to reinvent hockey as a game of all out attack and a devil may care attitude to defence continues to gather pace. It may have said 4-4-2 on the teamsheet, but the men in white were unafraid to flow seamlessly from a 2-6-2 to a freestyle 1-5-4 and back to a more defensive 3-2-5 as the situation demanded, or even if it did not. The result? Some fantastic passing hockey, loads of possession, two goals scored, two goals not very well defended, and by far the most enjoyable game of the season so far. Adam Glichrist or Geoffrey Boycott? These are the calls you have to make in life.

It all began around 9:15 at Cowley Road, which is not an hour where you are going to see Jez at his best. His meticulous and highly individual preparations for the game had begun on Friday night, and continued throughout a journey which was somewhat extended by roadworks on the A14. He carefully conserved his energy for the game by spending the entire trip laid flat out on the back seat of Dan's car, he got his aerobic system going nicely by repeatedly moaning softly to himself, and created a heightened sense of poise and balance by trying to make the car stop spinning. Once in Kettering, he spent those last vital pre-match minutes slumped perfectly still in a corner, before making sure that his contribution to the team would be as effective as possible by announcing that there was no bloody way he was playing centre-mid today and could he swap with Woody at centre-back. That, gentlemen, is a professional at work. Watch and learn.

In the absence of Rich and Dave, Dan volunteered to put the pads on, in part as a means of resting his poorly foot. Whether deliberately standing in the way of a hockey ball is quite the solution his physio recommended we will leave to him, but we were all very grateful that someone was doing the job so thanks for that Dan.

Jude lined up alongside Jez at centre-back, with Mike and 50 mintues of Matt on the flanks. Josh, Chris, Woody and Julian across the middle, and the 8 goal pairing of me and Will up front. Sukhi poised to come off the bench, what could possibly go wrong? Not much as it turned out. We picked up where we left off against Wisbech, showing that we could still move the ball quickly against a stronger side and one allowing us a lot less time and space. The ball was fizzing around very pleasingly, we were getting into the circle, some nice deflections and shots came and went but unfortunately were either off target or found the solid barrier of a Kettering keeper enjoying a very good half. Our defensive game plan of hoping that our last defender could put in a desperate last ditch challenge was not being tested very often, and though we were not exactly comfortable we had enough of the ball to be feeling confident about getting the result.

Then it did all go horribly wrong. A long ball out from the back left us horribly exposed one on one at the back, Kettering broke into our D, but thankfully someone managed a horrendous stick tackle to concede the short. Dan saved the first shot, got down well to block the follow-up, but was then left a little stranded shuffling along on his arse towards a young Kettering forward who showed great composure to lift the ball over Dan and into the back of the net. A 1-0 scoreline which left us feeling a little aggreived at half-time, and left the skipper suggesting to the team that maybe we should pay some attention to defending over the second half.

Then came the captaincy masterstroke. I came off for the start of the second half (no, wait, that wasn't it), and asked Josh if he fancied a go up front. Eyebrows raised, "what, me?" but like Duncan Fletcher picking Marcus Trescothick, I had to back my hunch and forward he went. Just how masterful a masterstroke this was quickly became apparent when Josh latched on to a loose ball on the right of the D, lashed it goalwards and saw it hit the backboard off the keeper's right foot. Geddin, 1-1, and now surely we could start the comeback.

We continued to play good possession hockey, even after I came back on, but Kettering had other ideas and we were finding it more difficult than we had in the first half. Eventually we conceded again when their right winger found his way to the goal line, pulled it back across the goal after we had blocked his first attempt, and found an unmarked forward who was left with a not totally straighforward tap-in but one he was not about to miss.

To our credit we continued to believe and continued to pass the ball around. We got our reward about 15 minutes from the end when Chris slapped one goalwards, the keeper failed to deal with it, and Josh - who else - nipped in behind him to make damn sure that the ball really would complete the final centimetre of its journey over the line. He felt a little sheepish about claiming it, but just as a mathematical theorem is credited to whoever puts in the final piece of the jigsaw of proof, a goal goes to he who touched it last. Besides, I wish to claim that I made the tactical change which resulted in both our goals.

It was in the end slightly ironic that for all our very good play on Saturday, both goals were in the end rather scruffy affairs. However, just as with England against Croatia, I think it is a fair point that if you have a lot of possession, if you spend time in the opposition 23, then eventually chances and goals do come through one route or another. Besides, it said 2-2 on the scoresheet at the end and that is good enough for me.

And so we entered the final quarter of the game all square. I had said during my half-time talk that as they had 16 to our 12, we could expect that we would find this period hard going and we needed to be aware of that and to concentrate on just doing the simple things well. However, I am never very sure whether anyone is listening so I thought it best to offer up a couple of examples at this point, just to be sure they had got the message. Firstly, an attempted Hollywood pass from left back right across our own D to Mike on the right. Of course I duffed it, let in their centre forward, and got bailed out by some desperate defence and Dan's speed off the line. Example 2: midway between halfway and their 23, I rejected the simple ball to retain possession and decided instead to lash it head high into the D on the basis that I had seen a forward standing behind two defenders who had left a gap of a good metre or so. Free hit, straight down our end, and further opportunity for everyone to show off their desperate defensive skills again. So there you go kids, that's why I say keep it simple when we are tired.

Despite these efforts, we couldn't manage to concede again and nor could we score. So points shared, and on the balance of play the right result. I think we did have more possession over the match, but we were not as strong as they were defensively so we'll take the lessons and the one point and come back next week. But what a fantastic match that was. Fiercely competitive, never nasty, and some pretty decent hockey amongst it all. Well worth putting up with the A14 delays for that one.

Match details

Match date

Sat 17 Nov 2018

Kickoff

11:00

Meet time

09:45

Instructions

Meet Cowley Road at 9:45 or at the ground by 11:00. Note that there is a Christmas Fair on at the school which may make parking tricky.
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Kit Supplier - Mr Cricket Hockey
Physiotherapy - Injury active