Brentwood Academy – 5 Old Loughts 6’s - 2

The overnight frost caught a few of us off guard with this early start time but following a pitch inspection all was well and Old Loughts were given the green light to travel. It was certainly the right decision, there would be no issue with the pitch.

I’m happy to report that the pre match warmup and ‘lace’ exercise were conducted in a much better manner this week. We all at least looked like we had held a hockey stick before. With a few enforced changes some introductions were required but once underway we looked like a team that had been playing together for years. The Academy again were on it from the start. It was good progressive hockey. We were doing exactly what the captain ordered. Nice easy passes to players in space, progressing the ball up the pitch and working well for each other. The Academy really dominate the first 15-20 minutes of play. We kept the ball moving, attacked with width and defended tight. The first goal was well deserved when it came. Nice movement into the D, the ball came back to me unmarked at the top of the D, my shot straight into the keeper pads but Tom Lilles (aka Salmon) was on hand to pounce on the rebound and knock into the net. The second followed not to long afterwards. A rare counterattack this time. Neat movement in the D by Jake, picked out by Rob and just as I thought Jake might have taken it a little wide, he whipped in a shot hitting the back of the net. 2-0 and it was no more then we deserved.

However, you can rely on Old Loughts to not throw in the towel, at least not before half time. They had a couple of handy players in midfield looking to control that area and decent pace and skill out wide with a couple of their younger squad members. They had their moments and scored the first time they really got behind our defence and to be fair it was a lovely finish by their striker leaving Boothie with no chance. At 2-1 it wasn’t comfortable and then Loughts had their big chance, their striker through again one on one and Boothie did brilliantly to stop. Goals change games and so do big saves. Had they equalised at that point who knows which way the game would have gone. With that wake-up call we got back into our stride. Bruce Lewcock having departed with injury and a reshuffled back line with Julian Colman dropping in. We got back to our game and we were rewarded. Rob Sanders drawing defenders to the top of the D slipped the ball to his left to me, and I was delighted to hear the sound of ball on back board.

3-1 at halftime and an upbeat team chat. The second half was for the most part a more even game but we restricted the Old Loughts chances and I think we all knew the next goal would be important. We got it. A period of pressure where we won our first short corner and indeed the first short corner of the game. Whilst we failed to convert, we managed to keep Loughts pinned in their D, Salmon had a shot, heading wide left, I was posted up on the left post knocked it down and half volley into the corner. We could all breath a sigh of relief. But this Loughts side weren’t done yet and got in behind our defence for a third time and a beautiful deflection from their forward into the corner brought them back into it. Moments later they had a short corner (the short corner count would finish 3 apiece) but we saw it away without to many alarms, a goal then would have made the last ten or so minutes very interesting had they got it to 4-3. As it was, we saw out the game in relative comfort as Salmon capped an excellent team performance pouncing on a loose ball in the D and finishing with aplomb.

The Academy team would go and make it a double victory scooping victory at the club quiz later in the evening. It was unfortunate that one member of the team, who got a bit to carried away with his two goals then disgraced the team with father/son rendition of ‘Islands in the Stream’ that lacked the composure and base level of skill displayed buy the Academy earlier in the day.

Team: Richard Booth, Fraser McLauchlan, Bruce Lewcock, Martin Hastings, Julian Colman, Gary MacDonnell, Rob Sanders, Chris Minor, Max Bakal, Jake Sanders, Tom Lilles, Doug Muncey, Isaac Minor, Darshan Gandhi.

Man of the Match: Fraser this week. All youngsters played a part and contributed but Fraser was integral in good defensive work, excellent positioning and popped up a few times in more offensive areas as well.