Men's 1st Team Vs Edgbaston 6ths

Edgbaston M6     0  v  5    City of Birmingham M1s

Goalscorers: Noor Zaman x2, Abrar Baig, Alex Makepeace x2

CoB travelled to University of Birmingham Hockey Pitches to play Edgbaston in what was a lovely Saturday afternoon. A warm day in the sun and the final away game of the season.

A gentle warm up under the sprinklers and some passes to get used to the Astroturf, seconds before the whistle, news broke from the Visitors’ bench of supporters that the Top team had lost, meaning the fate of League Champions would be in our own hands if we played our game this week and next.

Both teams played well in early exchanges with CoB distributing the ball well out wide, using full backs David and Mat, with Scott as Central man in the back line. Junaid and Jeevan enjoyed early success on the wing, with Alex, Ash and Kyle putting balls into them well. Noor and Abrar started to create space up front to help open up the home side. 

Early on, an exchange of play between Alex and Scott fed the ball to Jeevan, a deft touch outside the 23, carried the ball to Noor, who whilst controlling the ball caught a touch, with the home keeper letting the ball into the goal thinking there was no touch!

CoB continued to press with more chances, Noor, Jeevan and Abrar hitting the target but the keeper equal to it. Alex saw a short corner go agonisingly wide, only to redeem himself with a lovely reverse coming off the left-hand side. 2-0. 

In the second half, the defence pushed up further onto the half way line, David and Mat getting themselves involved in the opposition half. Junaid had a shot parried into the air with Kyle reaching and crashing the crossbar, only to find Abrar waiting to pounce and tap the ball in. The free-flowing play continued with Alex taking a quick 23 into the D and crashing it through the Keeper’s legs. The game was neatly finished off with Abrar hitting a clean reverse towards goal, deflected in by Noor.

A huge thank you to Vinny Burton who was present taking photos of the team throughout the first half.

Next week, CoB host Harborne at Home in the final game of the season. Will they clinch the league on the final day?