TRICK OR TREAT?

BOEHC Dynamos 1 Gravesham & Wellcome Men’s Unicorns 0

Reporter Tim Walters

If anyone thought that the hastily assembled home team would resemble a badly stitched together Hallowe’en monster, then they were in for a pleasant surprise, as the home team turned on the style in the bright early morning sunshine, taking an early lead through an exceptionally well-worked goal finished off in style by Harry. The sketchiness of the description owes less to the number of passes involved in the build-up than it does to the fact that the correspondent failed to make it to College Meadow for the 10.00 push-back. Nevertheless, this should not detract from an excellent overall first half-half display, where the team’s youthful development players combined to great effect. Some of the hockey belied the fact that this was a Division 4 fixture, and a number of multiple-pass moves around the back four and down the right wing suggested this was a well-drilled outfit rather than a bit of a scratch team.

The home team’s shape generally restricted Gravesham to a succession of long hopeful passes which were either intercepted or allowed to pass harmlessly through. Louis had a fine debut at left back, and Roman was as solid as ever between the posts, where he fully deserved his clean sheet after some effective kicked clearances and a couple of useful stops down to his right-hand side.

In terms of constructive criticism there was a distinct element of Beauty and the Beast about the performance, and the players will have learned as much from the goalless second half as they did from a generally dominant opening 35 minutes. The beauty of the latter was not matched in the former, as the more seasoned campaigners in the home team’s ranks dug deep to literally “beast out” second-half parity after the visitors reshuffled their line-up to pose more questions and wrestle a greater share of possession and territory as a result. Phil Kinch excelled in an unfamiliar central defensive role and Peter Robinson carried on his fine early-season form despite suffering a nasty finger injury just before half-time, but the team will need to learn how to win ugly in order to prosper in the weeks and months ahead. Champagne hockey sometimes needs to give way to a more pragmatic lager shandy variety.

But overall this was marvellous stuff, as the home team fielded a side where the age difference between the oldest and youngest players was a “mere” 65 years, and in the process recorded a first “real” victory after the opening day walkover due to Maidstone’s non-appearance. The team now sits comfortably mid-table and is starting to settle with a core of committed players which bodes well for the future. Man-of-the match David Leverton particularly caught the eye, as he was equally effective at both right-back and in left midfield, his versatility being borne of necessity due to injury reshuffles during the match, but acting captain Stephen Gilbert shuffled his resources shrewdly throughout and can take great credit for the result.

The last word goes to the opposition, as it appears the Dynamos are rapidly winning friends in the league. “It’s nice to play a proper team in a competitive match played in the right spirit” was the verdict, as certain squads in Division 4 appear to be fielding more ringers than one would normally find in Notre Dame’s bell-tower. With all four matches (three league games and one friendly) thus far being decided by single-goal margins, it looks like the Dynamos are indeed on the right track and have every chance of making it through the full season as a competitive unit this time around.

Well behaved teams were gently controlled by the two umpires. Special thanks go to Joni Coleman.

MOM David Leverton

The Squad – Core members David and Will, Matt and Harry, Louis, Richard, Roman plus Simon, Phil K , Tim, Stephen, Irish Pete and Tony d’Cruz.