'DERBY' SUCCESS FOR HEATHENS

The Heathens arrived for an early Saturday morning meet in Beckenham at HSBC's sports ground. Whilst the Heathens were still arriving New Beccs 2s were well into their warm up. Once all had arrived to the former BOE training ground, the Heathens set about their quick warm up and few short corner routines.

Captain for the day Jonny Lewis gave a morale boosting team talk and set the starting line up; Sam(GK), Tino(LB), Jonny(CB),Tom(CB), Stu(RB), Dave C(LH) , Dave F(CM), Chris(CM), Rhys(RM), Andy(FW), Toby(FW), with Martin and Alex on the side.

Blackheath won the toss for push back, the whistle went and the game was off. Within what felt like a few seconds Blackheath had lost possession and New Beccs were on the charge. They had come fast out of the blocks and it was fair to say the Heathens were taken a bit by surprise, however the defence and midfield quickly woke up and soaked up the attack. With a few loose and soft passes across the back the defence causing unnecessary dodgy moments, they pulled themselves together and got in to the normal swing of things.

After the initial attack from New Beccs, Blackheath got the ball passing around the mid field and strong runs from both Dave C and Chris were able to get the play up the field. Chris was able to to get a shot off in the D and the Heathens went 1 up, this rattled New Beccs. After the push back the forwards and midfield were now the quick ones out of the block, closing New Beccs down and winning possession. It was now the Heathens who found themselves applying the pressure, this caught the oppo by surprise. Blackheath had a few scuffed chances and some good shots but their keeper made some good saves denying Blackheath again and again.

It wasn't long though until the Heathens found the back board again through a great counter attack, started by Tino with strong push up the line to Dave C, who got it up in to the D and Toby was able to put it passed the keeper. 2 Up.

This time New Beccs came forward playing the ball down the wings and causing a few issues for Blackheath but nothing that was really causing any problems. It is at this point we must introduce the New Beccs player number '3'. The ball had been hit though to '3' but Tom was there to make a great if not crunching tackle. The way '3' went down yelping you could have mistaken it for fox a crying in the night. Some individual play from a couple of the New Beccs players found the ball coming across the Blackheath D. No fear the players must have thought, as Tom was there to pick it up. Tom and number '3' hooked sticks and Tom apparently denied a goal scoring opportunity, so an unexpected flick was given.

New Beccs striker stepped up and put it top left, Sam almost got his stick on it but it was now 2-1. The Heathens were not going to let this run against play disrupt them. Almost immediately after the push back Tom sent a few long balls up to Toby who held the play up fantastically well, allowing midfield to get forward. One came flying across the D, Andy had the chance to make it 3, he swept at it, connecting with it but the ball cruelly spun away and went wide just past the post. A few moments later Blackheath were again on the attack, Dave F found himself with the ball in the oppo's 25, he took it across the top of the D and then let swing, no way was the keeper stopping that one, this player showing why he is the current Neeson holder. 3-1

The Heathens went into the break feeling good, apart from the flick which was really against the run of play they were in a good place, but had to keep it up. Basically the team talk was keep doing what we are doing!

Blackheath thought that New Beccs would come out hard as they had in the first half, but it never really came. With one counter that New Beccs had, Jonny was clearing the ball on the left when he slipped on the wet astro and didn't get up. Doh! (This has happened before in Heathen games leading to losses in the past, but not this time). With Jonny unable to continue there was a quick re-shuffle of the back line with Martin dropping into left back and Tino taking up the mantel as CB and keeping an eye on '3'.

Blackheath kept pushing forward, both Chris and Dave C making good runs. New Beccs now kept trying to go through the middle as opposed to down the wings which had been their game plan in the first half, but coming down the middle they ran into Dave F, Tino and Tom, they weren't going to get through there, but they kept trying. '3' was getting more and more wound up.

Clearing the ball from the back, Martins début for the first time this season, he went on one of his classic runs, wining a free hit within their 25. Martin self passed and drove into the D, passing 1,2,3, maybe even 4 defenders on his way. He wound up and smashed the ball, which deflected up off a defenders stick and as if in slow motion, made it up and over the keeper just crossing the line. Rhys was there on hand to steal it in case it didn't make, but it did just manage to trickle over the line with the goal going Martin. 4-1.

Another push back for New Beccs, the ball made its way to '3', this time he was tackled by Dave F a good strong tackle but '3' didn't like it and was all up in Dave's face, not knowing Dave is a Glaswegian this was probably not the best idea. Tempers flared and '3' received a green. Play continued and there was more chat, Tino gently just reminding New Beccs every so often that it was 4-1. It wasn’t long until there was another clash, this time Chris picked the ball off '3' and was then promptly stick tackled by '3', this in turn lead to another card. He was already walking off when he was called back so the umpire could actually show '3' the yellow.

Now it was pretty much one way traffic from the Heathens, the ball being sent forward constantly. One fell just in front of Andy within their 25. Andy was running on to it, at the same time the keeper came out and kicked it clear. Andy looked over to the umpire and said “that was out of the D”, no change from the umpire as Andy was getting redder and redder he thought wisely and took himself off before maybe getting sent off. With the constant pressure Blackheath won a short corner, after a few missed stops on previous shorts due to the skipper being on the side line, a slip was decided on and what a good choice. The ball pushed out and then slipped left to Dave F who struck it in. 5-1.

Great team result all round, notable performance from Tino stepping into Jonny's shoes in the second half. Dave C and Chris H both creating opportunities by making great charges with the ball; maybe could do with releasing the ball a bit sooner Chris :-) Rhys running backwards and forward all game and Toby’s efforts for picking up the ball and holding it up. Reports back from the bar afterwards heard apologies from '3' for getting a bit too wound up and also hearing that this was the first game that New Beccs had conceded any goals from open play.

MOM David F