Won 3-2
Scorers: Neal, Long-Castro (2)
MoM: Long-Castro
With thanks to team sponsor MMil http://www.batchelorcoop.co.uk
The Batchelor-Coop Millers travelled up the A2 to face Sittingbourne in Saturdays late fixture. A sizeable travelling crowd was in attendance for this match, a reflection of the more ‘youthful’ demographic of the team; although, on this ocassion, it could easily have been attracted by the quality of the hockey (certainly in the first half)!
Despite the hosts having their music blaring, during warm-up, and a pitch-side coach in attendance, Canterbury were in complete control, dominating posession and creating numerous chances. A short corner, won in the first two minutes, was ably converted by Ollie Neal for Canterbury to take the lead. Continual turnover and great interplay across the pitch by the visitors, resulted in a second goal, within minutes, with a well taken shot from Martin Long-Castro. The chances continued to come and Rhys Jones was most unlucky to be denied, on several ocassions, by (very) last-ditch goal-line saves and clearances by a desperate Sittingbourne defence.
Reef Upton was impressive in midfield on his Millers debut and the defensive line was ably marshalled by Chris Goulden in goal. The only ‘fly in the ointment’ was a Sittingbourne goal, just before half time, from a rare defensive error which left Goulden outnumbered at the back. This meant that the encounter was a lot closer than it should have been at the interval. However, a recurring theme this season has been the positive nature of the half time talks. This has seen skipper Sharratt switching-up his cultural references, and approach, to better communicate with the post-millenial ‘Tik-Tok’ generation: something that has also benefitted some of the older team members with short attention spans.
Sittingbourne came out of their half time talk with a noticeably increased level of aggression, which made for an interesting second half. Luckily, spare sticks (and players) were available on the sidelines for the visitors and the Millers didn’t allow the oppositions change in temperament to disrupt their play or, more importantly, their demeanour. It was, therefore, dissapointing when Sittingbourne managed to equalise through a well-taken reverse stick effort. However, resilience and perseverance are now the central tenets of the Batchelor-Coop Millers. And so it was that Will Adams made a marauding run up the right wing and completely ‘juked’ the opposition (see footnote for Skippers explanation) with what he later modestly described as ‘anti-skill’ (impossible to defend against); this subsequently allowed Tom Newell to set-up Long-Castro for his second of the day. With only minutes left on the clock this also turned out to be the winning goal. Rhys Jones was unlucky to be denied his name on the scoresheet during the second half and Tom Newell was notable for another great, and unselfish, performance up front. Overall, a rather good all-round team performance.
Footnote: ‘Juked’ (past participle): to deceive or outmanouvre someone using a feint.