Won 3-1
Scorers: Ricketts, Barnes (2)
MoM: Archie Barnes
The Friars found themselves in sunny Bexley for a mid-afternoon encounter with Burnt Ash 6s. The south London traffic was much easier to navigate than the multiple maze like steel mesh cages surrounding the hockey pitch.
After the maze challenge the awaiting astro was one of those where the Friars‘ aging knees and backs just ache on sight, and hearts sink at the prospect of a joyless, bounceless, bone crunching surface. But how would the Friars fare?
Quite well as it turned out.
An increasingly well organised (yes we know that’s strange coming from The Friars on the pitch) short corner routine (masterminded by councillor Ricketts) delivered two goals. The first was a blistering strike from Alex himself (his first for the club when not wearing lovely green nail varnish apparently). This gave the Friars an early lead, but Burnt Ash equalised just before half time.
Archie Barnes capitalised on a goal keeping error to score his first for the Friars and restore our lead. There then followed a second short corner where the youngsters executed a textbook training ground move, with Isaac Stroud beating the runner at the top of the D followed by a firm push to where Archie was lurking with an angled stick to secure his unstoppable second. 3-1 to the Friars and a great demonstration that the youngsters bring not just pace to the Friars but their own guile as well.
All in all it was a good natured encounter with Burnt Ash and a very pleasing first league victory for the Friars.
As a school report might say – shows sign of consistent improvement with the first 3 league games going Loss – Draw – Win in that order. Where do the Friars go next?