Men's 2nd Team Vs Old Wulfrunians 5ths

Old Wulf’s 5ths    2 v 2   CoBHC Men’s 2nds

Goal scorers; - Munib Altaf and Sean Brookes

A glorious sunny spring afternoon, combined with a fantastic game of hockey (by two evenly matched sides) gave a well-deserved boost after a long season.

 The game started very positively for the visitors. Their play was controlled and the team played good passing hockey. The wingers of Sean and Lindani were causing problems for the home team by staying out wide when CoBHC had possession and tucked inside when the team lost possession. This helped make a compact midfield which proved difficult to break down. The runs in the warm sunshine soon took its toll and both Sean and Lindani needed rest breaks throughout the game to build up stamina ready to go again. The team had one substitute and initial plans of only swapping strikers soon changed with Matt taking the defensive roll on numerous occasions, to allow Edan to cover the winger’s roll. It was very pleasing to see the team self-regulating problems and adjusting whilst in the middle of a game. Matt took the roll in defence with gusto and played some brilliant tackles and clearance passes to a waiting midfield. When Edan did slot back into defence he, along with Paul and Jahed defended robustly keeping all attacks to a minimum. The game was well balanced and most of the play was in the middle of the pitch where Jordan took on the sweeper’s roll. He defended particularly well supporting the back 3, and turned defence into attack on many occasions getting the ball out wide. The central midfield this week was manned by Munib and Ben. A tough challenge which they took on, and certainly bossed the central areas for long periods. One criticism was that the central players tried to break through the home team’s central zone and not utilising the width that both wingers were offering. The visiting team gradually started to get the upper hand and Mathew was found in dangerous areas where he managed to get some great crosses into the “D”. Mathew used his experience by linking up midfield with the strikers, by dropping off either side to be an excellent pass option. He then waited for midfield support and pinged in powerful crosses. Numerous close shaves unfortunately didn’t result in goals but by the middle of the half he set up the two goals. Munib picked up one such cross and deftly went past a defender and shot a “Bobble cutter” It wrong-footed the keeper and it slowly rolled in. 1-0. Soon afterwards another cross from Mathew was left by Anthony in the “D”, as Sean whispered leave it, so that he could tuck it inside the back post. 2-0. Anthony the high striker worked hard in his roll of disrupting the home team’s 16s and pressuring their back line passes from the back. I think if he had been a little luckier with the hard driven crosses, he may have got a hat trick in this game. The home team with ten minutes left in the first half began to get good chances and hit the post twice and Jack had to save lots of point-lank saves. A man of the match performance even before half time.

The CoBHC team were feeling very positive at half time with a relaxed team talk in the sun. It was emphasised that play needs to go wide at every opportunity, and the runs from the wings need to stay wide.

Within minutes, the visitors nearly got a telling third goal but it went agonisingly wide when Anthony set up Ben, whose shot went wide. Soon afterwards the ball came to Anthony but the ball ran away from him, so his shot drifted well wide. For a long period both teams were again evenly matched. Chances were happening at both ends of the pitch as large swathes of space began to materialise for players to drive through (for both teams). Eventually, tired legs in the visitors’ midfield gave the home team an advantage and they started to get good long balls to willing runners in the central areas. Again, the visiting defence worked hard to stall the attacks, but they became more frequent. The visitors began to give lots of short corners away and eventually a well hit pile-driver went straight down the middle giving Jack in goal very little reaction time. Mathew, seeing his team fatigued, dropped deep to support the back three. Still the attacks by both teams never dried up and  chances occurred throughout the half. The Captain, Paul, decided to keep the team shape the same throughout this half even though the team could have gone defensive for all three points, but all the CoBHC players where doing positive stuff and Paul didn’t want to snuff this positivity out. Old Wulfs had a few new faces in the later stages of the second half, who turned the balance towards the home side. With 3 minutes left an unforced defensive error by CoBHC gifted the home team a short. From this resulting short a great keeper’s save was instantly pounced on by a striker. He shot but Paul tried to clear the advancing ball but another striker “tackled” it over the line. Both teams in the final minutes tried hard to get the three points, but CoBHC only managed to get a deserved point which every player worked hard to attain.

The City of Birmingham HC 2’s are having a brilliant season, I Quote from an old pro “in all my years at the club I have never experienced so many wins for the Second / Fathom team in a season ever!”.  It’s just unfortunate that in the last few games player availability has dwindled due to serious injuries and work commitments. It would have been wonderful to finish this journey (Season 21/22) with the players who started it, but the best laid plans… etc.

These last two weeks have been unusual, as this was probably our youngest second team (average age wise) fielded all year, and I’m certain the youngest in this division. Everyone worked hard and produced excellent individual performances and positive team play. The slick short passing is developing and with a settled team these many early sparks will surely ignite.

Jack won the Man of The Match from our team for his excellent keeper saves.

The last two games of the season start next week at home to Bournville at 2:30, then at Finchfield again in Wolverhampton.