Won 2-0
Scorers: Alex Ricketts, John Aikin
MoM: Chris Hendy
DoD: not awarded
With thanks to team sponsor MFri
A little late this week..
It was a lean & mean machine of exactly eleven Friars who lined up against Blackheath on a sunny afternoon in South London. With skipper, the one and only Tony Jones, struck down with “man flu” and many others absent it was time for our VC Brian Hurlow to step up.
The defensive line of Brian, Biggles, Mike Barton & Alex Ricketts held firm with Trigger as usual marshalling the defences and making some great saves that would have troubled lesser keepers. So clinical was Trigger that the force which he expelled Blackheath shots from the D injured Alex on his foot (that takes some doing for a unit such as him) and the skipper himself Hurlow. Very risky when you only have 11 in your team.
There was tireless work in the midfield from Chris Hendy, Nick Tan & Bert Andrews.
Some early chances were created, which was encouraging, but nothing found the back of the net.
The wingers James Norman and Harry Lomas put in a good shift supporting the attacks, but also tracking back defensively, while John Aikin lurked (as he does!) deeper in the opposition half.
The score at halftime was 0-0 & the usual Jaffa cakes & motivational team talk were forthcoming.
Shortly into the second half the Friars having at last cottoned on that “upgrading” is not going from economy to business class won a short corner that was clinically and aggressively converted by Alex Ricketts despite hobbling heroically up the pitch!
10 minutes from time a great burst from the midfield by Nick Tan saw him set up John Aikin to convert with some nice 3-D skills in front of goal.
The evergreen Hendy, enjoying a new lease of Back to Hockey Life after a few years lay off, and upping the average age of the Friars still further, was awarded Man of the Match.
Overall it was a good natured duel between two evenly matched sides.
The final result was a two nil win for The Friars – a much needed victory and our first in the league this season which hauls us off the foot of the table.