Won 9-1
Scorers: Simon Hurlow, Reef Upton, Chris Upton, Dom Aeissame (3), Dave Upton (3)
MoM: Ashvik Padhi
With thanks to team sponsor MMil http://www.batchelorcoop.co.uk
A bumper weekend for the Batchelor-Coop Millers in sunny Sittingbourne, with the Millers coming out of the blocks hard. Having sent his first-choice striker abroad for an intensive training camp in Egypt, skipper Sharratt finally gave Dave Upton his opportunity to start at centre-forward. Leading the visitors’ trademark high press he had an immediate impact, turning over possession to win a penalty corner, which was duly converted into an early lead, two minutes in. Within four minutes, the score increased to two, this time from open play, and it felt like the day was going to be a good one. Miller’s debutant, Ashvik, was impressing at right-back with marauding overlapping runs and silky skills driving into the D along the baseline.
A third soon came from another penalty corner, fifteen minutes in, and then a fourth was disallowed; the ball having been adjudged not to have left the D before the initial penalty corner shot. Sittingbourne blotted the copybook, ever so slightly, by pulling one back just before the break, very much against the run of play. Still, skipper Sharratt was his typical sanguine self at half-time, but he succinctly summed up the second half objectives: maintain momentum and make sure we score the next goal.
His troops obliged, and the goals flowed thick and fast after the break, a mixture of open play and penalty corners: the pick of the bunch probably being a drag-flick from Reef, and an absolute rocket from Chris, playing like a man in his prime, as he undercut the ball into the net from the edge of the D. And so, the day ended with goals for Simon, Reef and Chris and a hat-trick each for Dom and Dave.
Dave Upton further cemented his credentials as a ‘first-choice’ striker in the bar, with two jugs of Birra Moretti. Ollie Neal now finds himself under increasing pressure on his return from North Africa, especially with an interim manager in charge this week.