Valence arrived at Sevenoaks for an afternoon push back, just as Noah turned the hosepipe on. Luckily for Valence, the previous game was running late, giving Noah time to refill the rivers, turn the taps off and Mother Nature time to summon the sun and give us a beautiful afternoon in which to play hockey.
Valence continued with their new formation (4-5-1), which gave more protection at the back, and more opportunities for the midfield to break forward with confidence, supporting Lone Ranger Wills up top.
Valence conceded a number of short corners in the first half, and Young had several world-class saves to make, but generally Valence were comfortable, despite a lot of wayward passes from the whole side.
The new formation allowed the wide men (Duncan Field and Alastair Robinson) to be more attacking. Field, causing havoc down the right, put in a wonderous cross perfectly to Duncan Wills’ stick, but in true Cockayne-style, Wills managed to put his shot against the post, despite the goal being completely open.
Luckily for Valence, Wills, unlike Cockayne, was not stuck in the defender’s pocket and continued to cause problems. Short corner won and short corner injected by the soon-to-be-departing-for-foreign-soils, Morgo, and up steps dead eye finisher, Wills, to strike the balls so hard the backboard had a crack in it.
The first half continued to ebb and flow, with both teams creating opportunities, but Valence the most likely to score a second, but 0-1 it remained at half time.
Second half continued in similar vein, and the toys continued to be thrown around by the home side as tensions mounted, aided by the perennial wind up that is Morgan. One of these moments resulted in one of the home players having a brief rest to think about his misdemeanours.
One of the second half attacks found Edmed the Younger in the middle of the D, to accurately finish into the bottom right corner.
The game was then held up for what seemed like an eternity, following Captain Courageous Hall taking a nasty fall backwards, courtesy of accidental play by the ‘Oaks forward. Head and ground were well acquainted with each other, as Hall tried to regain his footing, only to crumble like Wilder following a Fury right hand. The ‘Oaks umpire did a quick concussion test, which demonstrated not that he had concussion, more that he wasn’t able to follow simple instructions, something his wife would agree with.
Anyway, match continued. Now being 0-2 down, 'Oaks were pushing more men forward but thanks to some last-minute scrambles at the back, were kept out. At the other end, Valence were finding more space and but for some good defending, could have increased the lead.
Match finished 0-2 to Valence, and back to the club house for after match teas and refreshments.
Thanks to both umpires, who, despite protestation from the home side, officiated the match admirably.

Goals: Duncan Wills, Stuart Edmed.

MOTM: Charlie Tucker.

Team: Stewart Young, Nick Hall (c), Adrian Gander, Alex Hodges, Charlie Tucker, Chris Sheldon, Alastair Robinson, Duncan Field, Tom Morgan, Stuart Edmed, Duncan Wills, Jack Sheldon, Simon Myers.
Umpires supplied by Sevenoaks.

Next week the League programme pauses for half-term; on the 29th October the 2nd Xl are away against New Beccehamian 2nd Xl at 10.30.

Match report by Nick Hall.