Brentwood Academy – 1 Waltham Forest (4) - 0

Waltham Forest travelled to Brentwood for the early slot push back for a very mid table clash. Early morning rain had subsided and left the pitch playing very fast. A couple of changes for Brentwood. The Anderson clan were moved to cover gaps elsewhere in the club and we welcomed back Martin Hastings and Rob Musk.

As can probably be seen from the result this was a battle, in the nicest possible sense. Whilst the Academy got back into the routine of having the better of the very opening of the game, first real attack and D penetration Waltham Forest settled the quicker and dominated the opening exchanges. This was helped by first Rob Musk declaring he was having a stinker of a game turning into a turnover machine and then your correspondent, who in getting his excuses in, had spent the entire week under a duvet with man flu. Some might say it was a miracle akin to water into wine that he made it onto the pitch but that would be for others and not for me. Anyway, the congestion in midfield was not to his liking and a radical gameplan rethink necessitated that both players switch to the very basic simple hockey – this meant the steady and reliable Simon Roffe seeing a lot of play coming back to him.

As noted above the middle of midfield became essentially like Brook Street roundabout is on most days, a congested mess. Both teams packing 3 players into the space and trying to play through there. Waltham Forest were generally the more successful and our defence had to be on their guard. In the middle period of the first half a number of chances came and went for the Forest side. Flashes across goal, a few that cried out for a forward on the post but despite all of this Richard Boothe in our goal had relatively little to do.

We had our moments. The attacking treat was very Minor dominated. Isaac Minor back in for his first game in a few weeks showed exceptional movement and James McKay played a couple of lovely passes to get Isaac away and creating our best chances. I almost linked with Chris Minor later in the half. It was this same duo that came together for a moment of farce later on. Off a short corner the ball comes to Chris Minor top left of the D. He hits a shot, I as the injector had moved into position for a deflection. The issue was the hit normally comes in from the top of the D centrally, so if the ball comes to me a deflection is almost certainly putting it back on course to the goal, Chris had changed the angle, which I didn’t appreciate ball struck, heading towards an empty part of the goal until my muscle memory kicked in, got a deflection that took the ball agonisingly across the goal hitting the opposite post and skewing away to safety. Chris was very clear in making his feelings felt as I jogged back past him to set up for the Forest hit out. Dear reader it wasn’t positive feedback.

Half time came and the brains trust rightly identified the obvious issues we were having in trying to move the ball through the middle. Get it wide was the call.

I thought we played better in the second half. It took a while to settle down as Waltham Forest came at us hard in the opening minutes but Rob and I had settled down and Martin, Doug, Dilshan and Max out wide got into good supportive positions and we started to make inroads. The goal came from a Rob Musk (out wide but deep) playing a ball into the D. There was a bit on controversy as to whether the ball came in high, but following a deflection of a Waltham Forest stick, the ball dropped kindly to Chris Minor who made no mistake finishing from a few yards out. The ball may have been above shin height entering the D but it definitely wasn’t dangerous. Goal stood.

As would be expected Forest came back at us hard but we were solid in defence. Disciplined picking up, marking, runners were properly followed, and it was a pleasure to be so involved in a battling team performance. The asking the umpire, ‘how long left?’ came in early in this game, a full 15 minutes from the final whistle, but we battled through. We had our moments again Isaac was a terrific out ball and worked tirelessly to chase some lost causes. The post-match hot dog well earned by all.

Whilst my individual performance left a lot to be desired this was an enjoyable victory. It’s one that pushes the Academy right up into the top half with other results ‘going our way.’ We battled hard and its one where I think the youth will have got a lot from. There was plenty of good hockey played and discipline was required to get us across the line. Fair play to Waltham Forest as well, they played a massive part in making this an enjoyable match, we couldn’t have complained if they got a draw, and we look forward to the away fixture next year.

Chelmsford at 10am next week.

Team: Richard Boothe, Fraser McLauchlan, Simon Roffe, Rob Musk, Max Bakal, James McKay, Gary MacDonnell, Chris Minor, Dilshan Gandhi, Martin Hastings, Doug Muncey, Isaac Minor, Rob Sanders.

Man of the Match: Doug Muncey. Put simply Doug’s best game yet for the Academy. Stronger in the tackle, took up good positions and was always available. Won a short corner and looked better all round. A real step up. Props to Isaac Minor as well, showed speed and make some excellent runs.