POLISH IN BECKS ...

New Beccehamian Men's 4s 0 BOEHC Dynamos 2

The BOEHC Dynamos are really starting to look like a team rather than a scratch 11, and this was overall a pretty polished performance in the wind-tunnel that was masquerading as New Beckenham for the early 10.30 pushback on Saturday morning. Some astute coaching and match-play advice from Chris Brown is starting to reap rich dividends with his (predominantly) young squad and he must have been delighted with his young charges as they eventually recorded a fairly comfortable away win after the first 50 goalless minutes.

This is the third time the Dynamos have kept a clean sheet this season, and credit is definitely due to the euphemistically described "experienced" back line, where Phil Kinch is clearly thriving as a central defender and human fog-horn, with Peter Robinson doing likewise at right back, albeit at far lower volumes. Young Louie Brown at left-back also proved he is not just there to keep the average age down, and turned in his most enterprising and consistent performance yet, covering every inch of the HSBC astro on his side of the pitch. And last but by no means least Roman Buckle continued to show what a valuable asset he is to the Club in all of the BOEHC teams he has represented. The sign of a good keeper is how he reacts when he has a relatively quiet game, and the home keeper passed this test with flying colours, providing the last line of defence in the melee from hell in the second half (assisted by a smart goal-line stop from Mr. Robinson, and blocking with his pads in the only one-on-one which came his way late on. The Dynamos did not concede a single penalty corner at their own end, whilst some pretty smart routines at the other end almost led to Phil Kinch scoring, despite the fact that these were less rehearsed than the average karaoke song in a South London pub.

The midfield were tremendous, and on any other day James Elliott might have felt justifiably miffed at not getting the man-of-the-match award, which was a close-run vote as it was. His performance belied both his years and inches (i.e. a lack of both), although the latter may have meant slightly less fractional drag against the fierce prevailing wind. He richly deserved his goal following a short-corner on 55 minutes, although on this occasion he did not have to tack against the breeze, just attack the ball on the reverse stick. David Leverton also put in an inspired performance as the pivot at the bottom of the midfield diamond, and was as much in evidence doing some of the less sexy mopping-up work as he was driving the team forwards. New Beccehamians actually changed their tactics at half-time to try and neutralise his influence, but that did not stop him from popping up at the vital moment after the ball had cannoned off the post to show how vital a finish from one metre can be when nobody else has managed to score. Daniel Blanchard was again a regular source of some excellent approach work on the right, whilst young Josh Catton made some useful contributions on the left.

Up front is where all battles are ultimately won, and although two of the more "established" academy products, Stephen Gilbert and Tony D'Cruz, fought bravely throughout, it was their debutant colleague Chris French who stole the headlines with a memorable and swashbuckling performance, which included a brilliant but correctly disallowed effort, the shot which led to the first goal and a plethora of other telling cameos. For a recent convert from the sport of egg-chasing there can seldom have been a better debut, which just goes to show ... the age-old adage from King Harold, The Duke of Wellington and Top Gear is always true - NEVER trust the bloody "French"!

With one game to go before the Christmas break the Dynamos sit comfortably mid-table and cannot fall below a comfortable sixth place. NBHC were wonderful hosts and both the home umpire and Tino officiated extremely well in a tightly-fought and highly entertaining encounter, where some of the hockey from the visitors was textbook stuff.

Team:

Roman Buckle (GK), Peter Robinson, Phil Kinch, Tim Walters, Louie Brown, Daniel Blanchard, James Elliott, David Leverton, Josh Catton, Stephen Gilbert, Chris French, Tony D'Cruz.

Man of the match:

Chris French.