Tumblers move to next round of EH Mixed Cup with another home win!

Match Report : Harry Haynes

Result : WIN 4-1 vs Broxbourne Mixed

A 4 O’clock push back only means one thing on a Sunday night under the floodlights with a little drizzle of rain, it doesn’t get much better than that if you ask me. It is unusual to start with the match report with the warm up however, it is an important part of the story.

Southgate tumblers walked around the pitch as one with the speaker blasting out the mixed playlist tunes to get everyone in the zone for the game. Seeing the opposition warming up on the other side raised some alarm bells, and at this moment we knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy game. As soon as the previous game had finished the tumblers were straight on the pitch passing the ball around getting their touch in, with some lovely relay work by all the team lead by Player Coach Lucca. With 10 minutes to go the intensity of the warm up was incredible it’s true what they say about the warm up, it really does win you the game, some great saves from VBL in the warm proved she was ready for the battle ahead, alongside some great defending from Anna and Lewis, but mostly importantly we can’t forget about Harry’s reverse rocket into the roof of the net where he left the spectators speechless as he wheeled away in celebration.

The game got off to a very fast start as Southgate looked well up for the challenge that lay ahead. Broxbourne had push-back and started with the ball but that didn’t stop Southgate from winning the ball back straight from the off with great intensity carried into the game from the warmup by a great team press lead from the front by Jess Hurley, Ella Duthie and Harry Haynes. Southgate we’re off to an excellent start after winning the ball back so quickly, playing some lovely build up hockey in the middle of the park from our superstars Ella Sherring, Roberto Gill and Lewis Hollett. Broxbounre were transferring the ball around the back struggling to get out of their 25 when Ella Duthie won the ball back with an unreal interception and then put Harry Haynes through on goal 1vs1 vs the goalkeeper where he tapped it past the keepers foot into the bottom right corner. Yes you heard it right Harry Haynes ended his almost a year and a half goal drought and as you can imagine he wheeled away in celebration in Alan Shearer type fashion.

The game kept its intensity as both teams knew what was at stake and no one wanted to go out this early in the competition. Some beautiful transfers around the back from TomTom (Tom Murphy), Will Hargrove, Megan Lockheart and Anna Richardson kept us patient until the time was right. Some lovely play down the left side of the pitch saw tomtom past the ball into Ella sherring and get ahead while Ella picked out an unbelievable good ball into the path of Harry in the D where he played a 1-2 pass into tom on the p spot, continuing his run towards the back post for a, you ready for this, back to goal through the legs first time deflection, the keeper had no chance. Shorty after the goal Southgate had another chance on the back post, this time a classic ‘do as I say and not as I do’ coaching moment from Lucca Bilyard as he was standing in the perfect position back post with his stick in the air as the ball went flying past him, it was 2-0 to Southgate tumblers at the half-time break.

At half time Lucca was going through the team talk when out of nowhere Sofia Martin arrived after having a full day of playing indoor hockey and also a football match. What a champ ! What a way to make an entrance throwing herself over the fence to come and join the team for the second half.

The second half started as James Cubin led the attack from the start, again another good start from Southgate however this time Broxbourne were ready for us this time and looked more confident and were starting to click. Good pressing from one of Lucca’s under 16 boys playing for Broxbourne saw Lucca get doubled teamed and tackled by him, but Lucca more than made up for it with some amazing tackles in the middle. Broxbourne had a couple of chances but some great goalkeeping from Victoria helped us keep the score at 2-0 and some strong tackles by Megan Lockheart helped keep the Broxbourne players at bay. With the pace of Roberto and Jess down flanks and the ginormous aerial from Tom saw him throw the ball over the top into space for Robbie to run onto and put in a beautiful ball across the goal to Jess back post where she didn’t do a Lucca and taped it home for Southgate third goal of the game.

In the second half the team worked incredibly hard right until the end everyone was doing their job. The intensity from the forward line of Olivia Jeeves, Jess and James won the ball with their hunger to win the ball back for the team. Some great patients and experience from Will Hargrove at the back helped us move the ball round quickly and calmly. Distributing the ball to Anna and Megan for them to fire the ball down the line into the midfielder to work their magic. Towards the later stages of the games in classic Southgate fashion Will Hargrove lost the ball to the Broxbourne attacker as he went through on goal and scored a reverse hit into the bottom corner at a very tight angle making it a very difficult shot to save.

Just a massive thank you to our manger duo on the sideline Olivia Richardson and Mitch Reed for all your support and help running the bench. And not to forget about our amazing supporters Louie Sadler and Todd Lomas for all your support on the sideline.