Result : 4-0 Win (1-0 halftime)
Match Report : by Joergen Jaehnig
This Sunday afternoon should become a long and cold but also successful one for the U18 boys against a strong Bromley & Beckenham side. Starting with the journey – whilst not the furthest, arguably one of the longest ones in the hockey calendar – some of the team had decided to take the scenic route via land and sea to make the most of the trip. Having arrived and roaring to get onto the pitch we were informed by the hosts that the match was delayed by 45 mins.
The lack of on-site facilities at what felt like -25 degrees was quickly overcome though by converting the cars into high end seat-heated, tunes blasting changing rooms with ultimately the team talk being held from window to window. With such first-rate match prep, it took the boys in red a few chances to get into their usual rhythm but in the 19th minute there was finally no stopping the Gate anymore. The second penalty corner of the match was brilliantly trapped by Noah “I-never-trap-PCs” Lavy and Lucas Jaehnig converted his drag flick top bins. On the follow the boys could have extended their lead with Tom Murphy rattling the crossbar with his PC but the halftime score remained 1-0. The second half should then prove to be a masterclass of Hockey domination.
The defence stood rock solid not allowing a single penalty corner during the whole game – in fact Veysal “I’m frozen” Demir did not have to save a single shot – with Sam Marshall sealing off the left channel, Josh “The Road Runner” Chandler dominating the right flank (beep, beep) and Lucas “The Rock” Jaehnig picking off each and every opposition attempt to enter the circle. Tom Murphy provided the aerial cover and Vivek Dongha, Jackson Trathen and Giles Woodland initiated the counter attacks. One of those found Daman Bansal in the 44th minute who, running rings around his defenders for the whole match got a shot off on target which Oscar Prior then brilliantly deflected into goal. 2-0 to the boys in red and with that the opposition seemed to realise that there was nothing to gain for them on that day – especially, as the never tiring forwards Ruben Straat, Jack Levene and Nayan Bhundia kept forcing the opposition defenders into making mistakes.
The Southgate boys seemed to be winning every 50/50 in that second half, one of which led to the third goal. Noah Lavy put the icing on his outstanding second half cake by winning the ball on the halfway line and a sprint over half the pitch saw him rounding the keeper and coolly putting the ball into the goal (54’). The 4-0 resulted from another PC with Tom Murphy marking the final result (58’). With 3 points in the bag, there was only one worry left …. after providing 5 Star pre-match accommodation in his electric car, would Paul’s battery charge be sufficient to return to North London… (to be revealed in the next edition of U18 Boys Match Reports).
Many thanks to all the parents who made their way to B&B on this very cold afternoon, James Marshall for sorting all the admin and Neil “The Ferry” Prior for impeccable umpiring.
Goal Scorers: Lucas Jaehnig, Oscar Prior, Noah Lavy, Tom Murphy
MOM: Giles Woodland