CONCENTRATING ON THE LEAGUE ...

BOEHC Men’s Vets 1 Bexleyheath & Belvedere Vets 2

Just as the invigilators were recently trying to work out whether the “winning” ticket had actually been through the washing machine or not, so team coach Ders Baillie must have been struggling on Sunday with the lottery he had been presented with in terms of a cup squad. The names on the team-sheet certainly did not seem to fully correspond with the row of eager faces limbering up on the College Meadow pitch, but at least there seemed to be enough of them to put out a full team plus a couple of substitutes. And Mr. Bartlett Snr. had at least turned up too to handle touchline matters during the game, a true Captain Mainwairing to the (in part) Dad’s Army paraded on the pitch.

But there was no reason to panic, as the team was still able to field a backbone of BOEHC talent, with Dave Golbey, Ders Baillie, Chris Brown, Andy Bartlett and Andy Couves providing the rich seam of quality down the middle. As usual, they did not disappoint, and the game was surprisingly well-balanced for the first 25 minutes, despite the visitors fielding a couple of ex-National League players in their ranks. The “Home Guard” had to rely on rather more meagre, rationed resources, however, although most of these played either out of their skins or out of their respective comfort zones. Paul Whitney’s huge endeavours eventually found reward in the second half, and Peter Robinson performed admirably on his Kent Vets’ Cup debut. Mark Ainley completed the midfield complement, whilst Ravi Wickramasuriya, Stephen Gilbert and Steve Miller rolled back the years as well as the Sunday morning duvet covers after playing a Vets’ league match a mere 22 hours earlier.

The home side did actually have the ball in the visitors’ net after 23 minutes, but unfortunately it was an initial shot from a short-corner which also cleared the backboard. As the pace quickened BBHC suffered a green card for an over-zealous challenge, but the game, whilst highly competitive, never got hot under the collar. On a “player-coefficient” basis, the visitors clearly had a considerable edge in both quality and depth of squad, and this was always likely to catch up with the home team eventually. Despite being reasonably comfortable for the opening exchanges a quick-fire double in the last 10 minutes of the half put the visitors firmly in control at half-time. In truth, the Club was two or three quality players short of winning this tie, but a half-time reshuffle with the available resources certainly made for an intriguing second half.

If Andy Bartlett was the beefcake on the home team’s ration card, then the industrious Graham Green was perhaps a more modestly sized veggie burger by comparison in pure physical terms, but certainly not in terms of either heart or the ability to chase down lost causes. “Shagged” he may have been by the end, but not before he had flattened the shag-pile of most of one half of the College Meadow astroturf in the process. Despite people now playing by necessity out of position, legs tiring from two games in two days and having to chase a deficit for 30 minutes the home team adopted a shape which somehow seemed to work. Even if chances for the Club were reasonably few, the visitors were unable to muster a single shot on-target after the break, and with 10 minutes left Paul Whitney’s efforts led to the award of a penalty flick, possibly because a defender was left disorientated by the pink and blue “pavement-pizza” pattern on his adidas trainers. Step forward Andy Couves to dispatch the ball with aplomb and ice-cool efficiency into the bottom left-hand corner. Game on …

And so to the frenetic and controversial finale … with BBHC reduced to 10 men by a award of a yellow card the home team managed to sustain a bit of pressure and looked to have indeed forced a penalty shoot-out when a ball was cracked into the D, apparently deflected by Andy Bartlett’s stick and then diverted past the keeper by a visiting defender. Without being able to go upstairs to the TMO (or check the “snickometer”), however, the decision stayed on the pitch with the two umpires, who after a lengthy debate decided that the score was still 1-2, not 2-2. The final whistle ended the debate once and for all 60 seconds later.

As the home squad did not have any Germans in the team it was probably a minor relief that penalties were ultimately avoided, even if the Club just about deserved parity after a gutsy and wholehearted effort from a team which added up to far more than the sum of its constituent parts. Without doubt the “better” team won, which is not to say that it absolutely deserved to do so on the day, but that is hockey in a nutshell.

Well done to all concerned … the leaders on the pitch, as well as the mere mortal followers and desperate hangers-on. Even if the 2016 cup run was much shorter than desired, the Club’s reputation was enhanced in the process, which is ultimately something than can be salvaged from the disappointment of defeat.

Team:
Dave Golbey(GK), Steve Miller, Tim Walters, Peter Robinson, Ravi Wickramasuriya, Mark Ainley, Ders Baillie, Chris Brown, Andy Couves, Andy Bartlett, Paul Whitney, Graham Green and Stephen Gilbert.

Man-of-the-match:
No vote was taken due to fatigue, but they were all heroes to a man.

Umpires:
The umpires did well overall in a fast-moving game and were not scared to brandish the cards where necessary. Did they bottle the one major decision at the end? Almost certainly not – they gave what they saw … or rather not what they did not see.