Lost 0-3
MoM: Not awarded at the time of going to print….
With thanks to team sponsor MMil http://www.batchelorcoop.co.uk
Sevenoaks hosted the Batchelor-Coop Millers this week in the (n)ever-appealing 4pm push-back slot, at Holly Bush Lane. The visitors started with the pace and energy of a team determined to end their recent two-game run of losses. The Millers customary high-press was creating good opportunities from both open play and penalty corners, but the Oaks keeper was in outstanding form to deny them each time.
A rare foray out of their half saw Sevenoaks create a good overload opportunity, the resulting shot was well-saved by Triggs (the younger) in goal, who pulled off ‘a worldy’ (‘outstanding’: for the older demographic) reaction save. However, an unfortunate freak deflection, just before the break, caught Dave Upton full in the head; forcing him to leave the field of play bandaged up like 80’s footballer Terry Butcher, with blood streaming from the wound.
Sevenoaks switched their tactics in the 2nd half, catching the Millers out, early on, with a well-worked team effort to go one up. Undeterred, the Millers continued to press and forced a string of penalty corners: two saved on the line by the post-man and the other was another class save from the keeper. Fate (clad in orange) seemed to be favouring Oaks though, when what should have been a 16yard hit to Canterbury, was awarded as a penalty corner to the oppo, leaving the Millers suddenly two down!
The Millers didn’t give up but it was perhaps unsurprising that a third goal snuck in for Oaks, when what looked to be a great defensive tackle, at the top of the D, ended up changing the course of the initial shot, and completely mis-footed poor Oly in goal.
Another tale of missed opportunities and ‘what could have been’. To add insult to injury, skipper Sharratt found himself defrauded of a fiver, by an aging hustler pulling a slick 2-bit card scam, in the Oaks clubhouse. The Millers can only hope to finish on a high (unlike the economy after Liz Truss’s famously short tenure) at home to BBHC this coming weekend.