1st Team Vs Redditch

In game 4 of the season Old Wulfs took on a Redditch side that were undefeated in the season. Preparations for the game could have gone better for Old Wulfs with Dave Ward having to pull out through Illness and Louis and Shave deciding a late night drinking session till the early hours of Saturday morning was the perfect way to prepare for a tough match.

Despite this and the very short warm up time on what can only be described as a beach of pitch (including sand dunes) Old Wulfs started off well, passing the ball around keeping possession and probing away. Against the run of play Redditch struck first, choosing to play a counter attack style of hockey, they sat back and pounced on Old Wulfs cheaply giving the ball away high up the pitch. Redditch hit their striker early and he and another Redditch play passed their way around an isolated Colin in goal for 1-0. 2-0 quickly followed as Old Wulfs did not deal with an aerial ball and again the ball was passed around Colin, despite him holding up the striker in a 1 on 1 situation. Old Wulfs had a life line handed to them as Griff broke into the D and was upended deliberately by a defender and a penalty stroke was awarded. However, Ablard placed his stroke wide. 2-0 at half time but Old Wulfs still felt they could get a result out of the game.

The second half continued in much the same style as the first. Old Wulfs on top and keeping the ball and Redditch happy to Old Wulfs have possession. Old Wulfs made progress down the wings however when in and around the D they ran out of ideas and came up against a well-disciplined Redditch side. Old Wulfs won a couple of short corners but couldn’t score from these opportunities. Old Wulfs had an early warning in the second half not to forget their defensive duties as Redditch pounced on an Old Wulfs mistake. Colin saved the initial shot and the rebound was goal bound until Ben on the line calmly brought the shot down and cleared the Old Wulfs line. In the last 10 minutes Od Wulfs continued to press to find a way back into the game, but as time disappeared the task became even harder. An error in midfield found the ball being passed straight to the Redditch centre forward and he scored to make the score 3-0. A fourth goal soon followed a miss trap allowed the ball to bounce through to a Redditch player who miss hit his shot into the ground and past Colin.

Redditch ended up winning 4-0 when in truth the score line rather flatters them. Redditch deserved their win they had more desire to win 50/50 balls and found the pitch more suited to their playing style, aerials or hitting the ball through the midfield. But in the truth the game was much closer.

Man of the Match: Ben Humpherson so a strong defensive display and his heroics on the goal line

DOD -  this is joint award for both Owen and Louis for going out drinking the night before a match!