Won 5-1
Scorers: Rhys Jones (2), Harry Ledger, Ally Alexander …………… and oh nearly forgot John Aikin.
MoM: Simon Triggs – a shoe-in!
DoD: John Aikin for missing at least 5 goals.
This week it was the vice skipper – Brian ‘Moose’ Hurlow’s 68th Birthday – he was meant to be on a narrow boat celebrating with his missus but he decided to play hockey instead – good man – got his priorities in the correct order! With Jonesy clocking 80 years a couple of weeks back the Supreme Leadership of two the Friars tallies up to 148 – shades of the old Soviet era when everyone in the politiburo was over 70! However The Friars has no politburo but is rumouredto have a Kitchen Cabinet Whats App group which determines selection policy, MoMs, DoDs, the size of brown envelopes, transfer fees etc it is not quite as bad as The Politburo (for goodness sake get on wiht the hockey-ed!)
Unlike most Friars games the match started with a bang as after just one minute young Rhys Jones in only his second senior match scored a cracking goal which even his international cricketer Dad would have been proud of. The Friars continued with attack after attack and after 15 minutes John Boy Aikin had 5 sure shots but the Holcombe goalie only needed to watch 4 of the 5 whistle harmlessly by a post with the fifth bringing out a half decent save. Aikin retired to re-set his malfunctioning radar. Holcombe, to their credit came back strongly bringing the very best out of Simon Triggs with at least 3 magnificent saves in quick succession. Aikin then got an easy chance to get on the scoresheet with a penalty stroke and the score at half-time was 2-0.
Full of half-time Jaffa Cakes the Friars then proceeded to put the game to bed with 3 goals in the next 15 minutes … from another youngster Harry Ledger, Rhys Jones again and middle-aged Ally Alexander. So Ally playing in only his second game of hockey ever has now scored in each of those games and he is not even a forward. He fits in well with the Friars and uses his elbows to good effect which the umpire had to gently explain the rules about.
Other noteworthy moments were Mr P Dowling looking not too bad after a 3 year lay-off showing he still has the skills though not the fitness, plus he’s quite happy to have a chirp with an umpire after the game – no change there then! Alex Ricketts showed off some very fetching nail varnish after the game (see pic) which meant **************************************************** (this bit has been redacted by the editor as this is a family read). Philpott, Barton, Ricketts & Ward at the back also did their bit to keep the Holcombe midfield at bay and the two youngsters Harry Ledger and Rhys Jones were always showing a clean pair of heels. The match was umpired passably by Kevin and Geordie and thanks to Holcombe for a very friendly but competitive game.
So after a cracking 5-1 win The Friars are resigned to promotion as barring a miracle they will end up second in the league and a torrid season awaits in 2023-24. They drowned their sorrows with Brian’s Birthday Party of free flowing Gadds and some excellent sausages and chips from the redoubtable Tea Ladies to whom many thanks as always for their good humour.
Squad: John Aikin, Mike Barton, Brian Hurlow, Tony Jones (C), Geoff Philpott, Phil Dowling, Alex Ricketts, Simon Triggs (GK), Chris Ward, Rhys Jones, Harry Ledger, Ally Alexander,
