Won 4-1
Scorers: Kevin Pang, Tony Jones, John Aikin, Luke McGee.
MoM: Gary Wyver
DoD: N/A
The Friars were in Maidstone this week, delighted to see the latent firepower of the returning Mike Barton and Geoff Philpott in their line up, alongside Gary Wyver guesting in goal.
Using their pace the Friars’ wingers Kevin and Luke created chances upfront from the get go, but the Maidstone keeper rose to the challenge, denying a number of blistering strikes seemingly knocked flat by one shot and using his face mask to save another!
The Friars took the lead when Kevin P scored from a well worked move that started from defence.
The Friars are not known for the polished excellence of their short corner routine, but step forward Skipper Tony Jones (80 next year!) who scored an unstoppable deflection sprinting to the near post.
An excellent long ball from Luke on right wing found Aikin who had moved into space behind the defence. Two touches and his trademark backhand strike was clinically executed bottom right, taking the score to 3-0 at half time.
Maidstone got one back soon after the break, their youngsters marauding over a defence that had stiffened up a bit while munching Jaffa cakes. However, the Friars counter attacked almost immediately with Luke McGee scoring his first goal for the Friars.
All in all it was a competitive match played in the right spirit with quality hockey played by both sides.
The Friars defence (Biggles, Geoff, Mike, Jamie, Gary) was very robust, and linked well with Hugo, Sam and centre-half Tony Jones in a proactive midfield. Some say the ‘big hit from the back’ has no real place in the modern game, but for the Friars the ability to selectively launch a counter attack from the depth of defence proved invaluable. The forwards (John A, Kevin P, and Luke M) worked hard with interceptions, pace and guile to create many opportunities. The only injury this week was to Jamie who somehow found himself accidentally head butted by a youngster in a tackle.
With a bare eleven players it is fair to say some of the more seasoned Friars were exhausted by the final quarter with more than one heard to mutter “is it over yet?”.
The final score at the whistle was a 4-1 win for the Friars and a cracking start to their league campaign. Beers followed in the clubhouse and a match tea that let’s just say made us appreciate the sheer culinary brilliance of our ladies back at Polo Farm all the more….