Braintree 3’s – 2 Brentwood Academy – 1

This one was always going to be a tougher task. We beat their 4’s last week in a close game and now on the road to face off against Braintree 3’s. Still for those there early we got to view their 4’s play Old Loughts – who we face off against next week. A bit of early scouting.

In addition, Brentwood 1’s and 2’s had both picked up wins last week at Braintree. Would this proud organisation be further motivated to get one back. If they were they didn’t show it, no welcome to hell flags flying, the good people of Braintree didn’t gather on Church St to give the Brentwood cars an aggressive welcome. So, I guess such matters were entirely in my head instead of an actual reality. Regular readers of these reports will be well aware that this isn’t a first for me to be detached from reality.

I did feel for captain Chris Minor casting my eye over whats app in the morning. The worst thing that can happen for any team is for the keeper to withdraw on the morning of the match. Get well soon Boothie but with no one available there was a decision to make. Go with 11 on pitch and defend the D or go with Ian Anderson for his second ever go in ‘nets.’ Ian Anderson was greased up and squeezed into the spare kit with youngsters tasked with pinging shots at him by way of warm up. Chris moved into the centre of our defence and Darshan Gandhi came in for his first go at defence in an adult game. None of these let us down.

The game itself was competitive throughout. You had to battle for everything you got. Given the changes and the inexperience of the Academy team we can all be proud of the performance. Darshan at left back was solid throughout, Chris Minor proved he had been watching Simon Roffe by having a passable impression of him. Plenty of front foot defending nipping in front of attackers and shouting at those in front of him. Sam Anderson stepped up and was string in defence and popped up with decent attacking intent when play allowed.

Up front the successful Jake Sanders, Alex Hull partnership got broken up. Alex called up to play for the 3’s. Jake ran the line well and had a couple of opportunities particularly in the first half. He was a thorn in Braintree’s defence, showing excellent strength and skill, just couldn’t apply a finish and he was up against some serious and experienced operators who managed to shut down his strengths. His support came from Isaac Minor and Frankie Edwards. Both did well. Isaac in particular looks more and more confident on the pitch. A couple of times winning possession and using the ball well. Frankie has been excellent so far into his first season but he does tend to have a go to move that he sticks to. In match one it was a straight driving the line, this match it was constantly looking to come inside. He has all the skills and desire required, decision making and varying play is where he needs to look to and he’ll really step up.

Braintree took the lead midway through the first half. A sustained spell of attacking mainly down our lefthand side, working the ball into the D and chaos. Rob Sanders stuck a stick out attempting to block/stop the ball, got an outside edge the ball diverting past Ian Anderson, we learnt he loves coming out and it was a simple task for the Braintree attacker to finish off. We hit back later in the first half. We won a couple of shorts but both teams really struggled to execute their short corners. The pitch was dry and bobbly, nothing could really be done at speed, the ball had to be watch right onto the stick, but once we adjusted Rob slipped across to James McKay and the finish was good enough. James has been an excellent addition to the team this year as he waits for MacKay junior to turn 13 and join the squad.

The umpires requested a chat with captains at halftime. It didn’t feel to be totally necessary but hey why not stub out any issues proactively. Our halftime talk was really about keeping our basics right. The second half started, and the first 5-10 minutes were an absolute joke. Both sides and probably umpires went to pieces. Interceptions galore, we turn over to them, they turn over to us, rinse and repeat. Utterly appalling hockey that just seemed to envelop both sides. Once everyone settled normal service was resumed and something approximating hockey broke out again. Braintree won another short corner. Their injector had taken the proactive measure of watering the injection area following a series of failed attempts. It must have done something, as they did improve. They got one out, the shot came in, it certainly wasn’t middled and wasn’t on target an inside edge off Chris Minor’s stick saw the battle frustratingly struggle over the line.

We battled on. In truth we didn’t really create anything of note, we certainly got in and around their D but didn’t quite execute the pass or move that would have perhaps created the chance. A word here about Doug Muncey and Max Bakal. Both had difficult jobs in the midfield areas. Max even found himself in the middle of midfield at the end, nearly creating a chance right at the end. We are all competitive that’s why we play so perhaps what we were asking was slightly over and above what we could expect from both. Both acquitted themselves brilliantly and no doubt will have a learned a lot from this game. Only one sub there was no hiding place and neither looked to hide away.

In a game that we probably didn’t have on our win list at the start of the season, I’m sure the bookies would have had us as second favourites and given the extenuating circumstances I thought we acquitted ourselves very well. Onwards and upwards, now to share the scouting notes on Old Loughts.

Team: Ian Anderson, Samuel Anderson, Chris Minor, Darshan Gandhi, James McKay, Gary MacDonnell, Frank Edwards, Max Bakal, Rob Sanders, Jake Sanders, Isaac Minor, Doug Muncey.

Man of the Match: Tough one most of the youth picked up a vote or two but Sam Anderson took it – a very mature performance from a player who is being moved positionally and taking on increasing responsibility on the pitch.