MISFIRING DYNAMOS DRAW A BLANK

BOEHC Dynamos 0 Burnt Ash Men’s 7s 2

Sometimes it just isn’t your day, and the Dynamos would have sensed this before half-time when just about everything that could go wrong did ... and how. The line-up had a reasonably familiar look about it, and of the two teams on show the Dynamos played the more enterprising hockey in the opponent’s half, but failure to capitalise on periods of superiority usually come back to haunt those guilty of such generosity, and so it proved.

Barely five minutes were on the clock before a calf injury forced off defensive stalwart Mark Farrant, leaving son Tom Farrant behind at right back, and causing an immediate re-shuffle in central defence. Louis Brown was again positive in possession at left-back, but it was the energetic Matt Southgate’s burning desire to get on the score-sheet that proved costly after quarter of an hour, sadly at the wrong end of the pitch, and in the cruellest of fashions. Having done well to initially parry a goal-bound effort after a short corner, the ball then turned into a heat-seeking missile, spinning with the ferocity of a Shane Warne googly as it zig-zagged backwards and flew off the defender’s stick and past the keeper. Being the pro he is, however, he just got on with it for the rest of the game, as he has done all season for the Dynamos. When Burnt Ash went 2-0 up courtesy of a wicked deflection over the prone body of keeper Mikael Kiviniemi (who had the original shot covered), lesser teams might have crumbled, but the Dynamos have learnt to cope with adversity - as well as success - this season, and continued to press forward, with James Elliott as always at the heart of things.

If there was a lesson to be learned, however, then it was the basic one of trying to play around opponents, rather than dribble through them, especially when opposing defenders are on average at least a foot taller. As a result, possession was surrendered far too frequently, and the home team spent too much time in the spring warmth chasing a game they should have managed better, especially as a couple of the visiting defenders had the mobility levels of traffic lights. Burnt Ash rarely looked like extending their lead after half-time, but how the home team failed to score in one second-half melee will remain a mystery to all those present.

Outstanding performances were put in yet again by captain David Leverton who as always led by example, and Chris French, who proved that “egg-chasers” can indeed make the successful transition to the noble art of hockey. Neither of them deserved to end up on the losing side, and thanks as ever must go to the off-field management team of Gilbert, Whitney and Brown (which does indeed sound like a disreputable back-street law firm!), for all their tireless work behind the scenes and for rounding up a couple of the Club’s nomadic “usual suspect” mercenaries on a regular basis to make sure that the Dynamos’ fixtures always go ahead.
It would be great for the team to round off the season in style next week-end in Maidstone and notch up a landmark tenth victory of the season ..... after all, this is a team that does not believe in drawing matches!

Team:
Mikael Kiviniemi (GK), Louis Brown, Mark Farrant, Tom Farrant, Tim Walters, Matt Southgate, David Leverton (C), Harry Southgate, Will Godsiff, James Elliott, Zac Gauge, Chris French and Stephen Gilbert.

Man-of-the-match:
Chris French.

Umpires:
One from Burnt Ash, plus Chris Brown for BOEHC, both of whom did a grand job.