Lost 5-1
Scorers: Fouhy
MoM: Ambrose
DoD: Bean
With thanks to team sponsor M1 http://www.canterburyhockeyclub.co.uk/patrons
The men’s 1s set off to Exeter on Saturday afternoon to begin their pilgrimage in what was dubbed ‘The Battle of the Cathedrals’.
Some made it further than others with captain, Tom Deg only making it as far as Ramsgate before his car would get stuck in second gear… a worrying omen for what was to come perhaps?
After a dry burger on Saturday night amongst the hustle and bustle of the ever popular Taunton Harvester, and some second rate flat whites on Sunday morning in Exeter, the boys descended upon Exeter Cathedral.
Clad in their Canterbury Hockey Club kit, they soaked in the grandeur to a chorus of murmurings: ‘that’s the Canterbury Cathedral lot’ from the Exeter Cathedral locals.
Full up on culture, they headed to Exeter University and prepped for the game in what was already a pretty rowdy atmosphere thanks to freshers stawpedo-ing bottles of wine to warm up their vocal cords.
The game started quickly for the home side and they soon took a two goal lead despite the best efforts of Man of the Match, Ambrose Davies in the net.
Canterbury managed to play themselves back into the game, counteracting Exeter’s silky hands with some fine passing of their own. This led to a couple of corners that were unfortunately to no avail.
Chances continued to rain down on both goals, with Ambrose pulling of a ‘worldie’ of a double save, first with his glove before launching a leg up into the air to tip/toe (who knows) the ball away from goal!
The second half came and much like the Alfa MTO, Canterbury had a stuttering start conceding two early penalty strokes that were duly converted.
There was something for the travelling fans of Canterbury (thanks for those who did make the effort! Hugely appreciated) as well as the young TikTok crowd in Exeter, when Nathan Fouhy pulled one back for Canterbury. The Exeter fans were torn: ‘the other team just scored… but I just asked for a selfie with that guy’. The conundrum of a modern sports fan hey!
Despite probably (definitely) knowing better to leave the ball after the whistle blows, Tom Bean earned himself the right to sit on the sideline twice in the closing stages to take DOD.
A final goal for Exeter made it 5-1 on a day where CHC never really got out of second gear, putting us down to fourth and 5 points back from top spot in what is a tightly packed top of the table.
The winter break is now upon us and gives us the opportunity to reset and go again after Christmas. Having now played the relegated prem team twice and with home games to come against the two other teams we’ve lost to this season, spirits are high and we are excited to see what we can do come February.