Valence 2s secure strong win

As with all clubs, selection and availability is the toughest job during the week. And this was no different, especially considering Skipper Hall was enjoying the sights of Berlin whilst trying to complete this erroneous task.
Landing home on Friday night, after a very tough week, the Skipper published a very strong squad of 12. Unfortunately one less committed team member decided “sod it, it’s Friday afternoon and I fancy a beer”. 10 beers later, the hazy message came through to say “I don’t think I’m gonna make it tomorrow”.
This, of course, threw the whole match-day plays into disarray. Questions like “who’s going to carry the water bottles” and “the bench will be cold without him there” and “who’s going to do the fluffing” were banded about. The squad were in bits. Luckily, when everyone realised who this mystery drunk was, there was a general cry of “thank f… it was only him” and we all went about our Saturday morning with a collective sigh of relief.
(For those who wish to know who the mystery man was, he was the one wearing the tampon and celebrating his DOTD award below). Point to note, he was so hungover at 13:30 that he was also a no-show for the supporters’ bench. Poor form was the collective agreement.
And so onto the match. The one positive to come out of this was that there were no awkward conversations at the pre-match chat about who might be starting on the bench.
Valence had a very unusually good warm up, commandeering the home practice area, trying not to wear each other out. Luckily half the squad were looking on with disdain, whilst chatting about current affairs, so there were some fresh legs for the match.
And so the match started with Valence unusually on the ascendancy from the first whistle. Both teams were passing well and opportunities were being created at both ends. Luckily Valence’s defence were having a storming game, well marshalled by the evergreen Trigger. This was fortunate really as Goalkeeper Mackay was chilling with a book, and never really got involved in the game.
Both sides won a number of penalty corners, with most of these being cleared out well. The only exception to this was one bullet strike from Sheldon Senior almost breaking the backboard. 0-1.
Play continued in the same vein, with both sides playing very well, but Valence were the ones having most of the joy in the opposition D. Sheldon Senior unselfishly (take note Cockayne) squared the ball to a waiting Hodges, who finished clinically for 0–2 just before half time.
Half time came and everyone looked around for the water boy, only to realise he’d still not sobered up. So back to getting their own drinks. Team talk was to continue with what the team had been doing and more goals would come.
And so the second half started in a similar vein with both sides enjoying good possession. Both defences clearing everything out, and luckily for the team, Mackay had finished his book midway through, so he also got involved. Well, he collected the ball from behind the goal a couple of times.
Both sides won several more penalty corners. Valence cleared their lines on every occasion, but a well worked routine saw Sheldon Senior rocket another strike into the goal. Clearly Old Wills didn’t believe that lightening could strike twice.
On a normal match, a card would automatically get you the DOTD award, but luckily for Tragett, a pulled hamstring sustained whilst enjoying a chilled rest watching his teammates “blowing out of their arses” was sufficient punishment. Oh, and because DOTD award was no longer up for grabs.
The match ebbed and flowed, but Valence put the nail in the coffin, with a 4th goal, and 2nd for Hodges following a good team move.
4-0 was the final score, and every Valence player had put in a real shift and played exceptionally well. The result was a reflection of a complete team performance rather than any weakness in the Old Wills side, who also played well - this was probably the best performance of the season.
Special thanks to both umpires, who managed the game very well.
And special thanks to Charlie Tucker for winning the DOTD award before the day had even started.

Goals: Chris Sheldon (2); Alex Hodges (2).

Team: Ross Mackay (gk); Adrian Gander; Nick Hall (c); Steve Parker; Ben Tragett; Tom Willson; Andy Barr; Jack Sheldon; Alex Hodges; Chris Sheldon; Chris Stille.

Match report by Nick Hall. ‎

Next week the 2nd Xl play a postponed match at home on the Senior Astro against Gore Court 4th Xl at 09:45.