Drew 1 – 1
Scorers: Paul Sharratt
MoM: Teddy Ridings
With thanks to team sponsor MMil http://www.batchelorcoop.co.uk
An early start for the Millers this week on all-weather one, and a chance for everyone to reacquaint themselves (albeit temporarily) with that shiny, burning orb of light in the sky. A vociferous home crowd emerged bright and early, alongside the sun, and the club-house terrace boasted a veritable throng of home support basking in the morning’s early rays.
The home-side, buoyed by the clement conditions, had the better of the opening exchanges but were lacking a clinical final touch to take an all-important lead. So, it was with some dismay that a flurry of short corners, as the half-time break approached, saw T-Wells put the ball in the back of the net; coincidentally this occurred at exactly the same moment that one sun-worshipper on the home bench was heard confidently espousing: “Not to worry, they’ve hardly proved deadly from a short corner so far….”! However, our pundit’s comment proved to be accurate and the goal was duly disallowed, after a short discussion, as the first shot was deemed too high and so the score remained 0-0 at the interval.
It was perhaps Ollie Neal drawing an unfavourable comparison to the George Graham Arsenal side of the early nineties, which provided the impetus the home-side needed for the second half although, arguably, other more positive half time comments should take the credit. Either way, the Millers came out from the break with renewed vigour across the pitch. Despite this, they still found themselves behind, early on, following the break-down of a T-Wells short corner routine which unfortunately fell to a T-Wells player to slot home.
Losing Martin Long-Castro shortly after, to a twisted ankle, was a second bitter blow. However, the Millers were playing much improved hockey this half and Teddy, Reef and Tom were all playing with confidence and with a seemingly boundless energy. It was a somewhat audacious Paul Sharratt ‘short corner special’ that brought them parity though, playing his straight strike with trademark deception borne of a heavy back-spin. The T-Wells keeper reacted to where he anticipated the shot would be coming in real-time only to find that the ball was following a marginally different trajectory in the space-time continuum; and realising, fractionally too late, that he’d over-compensated somewhat as the ball gently trickled between his outstretched kickers.
The game entered the final ‘all-out attack’ phase as both teams tried for the winner. The home side created a number of good opportunities to take all three points: most notably Ollie Neal forcing the keeper into an unorthodox ‘helmet-save’ as he went for a lob shot, but, alas, the honours remained even at the final whistle.
Their exertions over, dangerously early in the day, the Millers retired to the bar to carry-out a rigorous rehydration routine and discuss the conflicting results-based evidence behind Maynard’s Law (which states that: ‘the quality of a second-half performance is directly proportional to the quantity of Jelly Babies consumed’) and whether it should, in fact, be re-named the Maynard Paradox.
Thanks to Phil, Andy and Jack for umpiring and to Ben Lawford for orchestrating a vocal home crowd.