A marker put down..............

On another warm and stuffy afternoon, the 2's continued their build up to the season with a convincing win against league rivals Burnt Ash. The two sides will meet on the opening day of the actual season in 2 weeks time and both sides were keen to put a marker down at the same time as gaining valuable pitch time and getting familiar with hockey once again. The BOE boys started brightly as Archie flew down the wing only for his excellent cross to evade everyone in the D. The BOE boys would have a couple of short corners but to no avail and Burnt Ash defended well. A great deal of the game was being played in the middle 3rd of the pitch with both sides struggling to penetrate the others defensive zones but it was indeed the home team that broke the deadlock on 18 minutes when a tame strike found its way through a crowd and off a BA stick to put them 1-0 up. The BOE boys came roaring back and with the very next attack forced a short corner with Will Powell taping in the rebound. 1-1. Both sides were putting in a vast amount of effort and as the temperature remained at 'humid', the game started to open up. BOE were finding some joy down the right and when the ball eventually fell to Jimmy Morrison he would locate Edd Thorogood in the D for a deflection, 2-1 and just about half time.

The second half was a much more solid affair as BOE held tight and looked to hang onto the ball more, catching the opposition on the break. BOE did fashion a few chances but it wasn't until Andy Slack unleashed a great strike inside the D that came back off post & Keeper to land at the feet of Archie to make it 3-1. BOE will feel they should have scored 3/4 more with Clover, Slack, Thorogood and Archibald all going agonisingly close to wrapping up a good victory. The fitness levels are almost there and the boys are starting to play some nice hockey, the final warm up game see's them play Old Wills next week and then its back to Burnt Ash for the season to start for real.