The 4s holding out for a well battled 1-0 win

Another damp afternoon of hockey lay in wait for the Mens 4s, this time in not so local Rickmansworth. Ricky now playing at the Royal Masonic School for Girls (fun fact, part of the 90s CBBC show ‘The Demon Headmaster’ was filmed there). Sadly the 4s were missing the ever present Danny Danny Wilson Hall who’d decided to go and tell Santa what he really wanted for Christmas.

With all the team assembled and after a quick discussion about who had the most grey hairs (you’d be surprised by the findings of this in-depth study) the game got underway. The first ten minutes was end to end stuff with attacks at both ends being snuffed out by solid defensive play. Gully unlucky to have a goal ruled out and Paul Bardenn and Coverdale lucky they invested in good shin pads after taking substantial knocks to the lower body. The first half ended goalless with Shefford just having the better of the play despite a late surge from Rickmansworth.

The second half was again a cagey affair, Tom Joannouu providing a useful outlet on the left wing and double 0 France dictating the midfield. A Grant Maxted short corner hit the backboard but only to be ruled out as the second umpire deemed the ball not to have left the D. With the game heading towards a stalemate Barden snr picked up the ball in the final third before running the width of the D bursting through and finishing with a tidy reverse that Zach Christodoulou himself would have been proud of!
Shefford looked to be holding out only for Ricky to have two shorts corners in the final minute of the game, again Barden snr clearing one of the line with a tuck drop and roll combination. The 4s holding out for a well battled 1-0 win against another stubborn side!

Shout outs to Barden jnr and Stone who also provided some cracking link up play on the right wing and Sam Giddings who somehow played in every position on the pitch in the space of about 20 minutes. One game left before the winter break, only the high flying top of the league West Herts….what could go wrong!