HIGHWAYMAN PASS THE PAYNE BARRIER

Sevenoaks Men’s 7s 4 BOEHC Highwayman 1

This was indeed a painful defeat, a third on the trot which dropped BOEHC into mid-table obscurity and well and truly ended the early season gallop which had seen the team soar to the top of Division 3 last month. At this rate, a further reversal in the last match before Christmas could see the team drop into the lower half of the table with negative goal difference, a situation which would have seemed improbable a mere fortnight ago. If the team was flying high as a jet fighter then, it has now well and truly crash-landed like a terminally wounded Zeppelin. Plucking some positives from the wreckage with the wisdom of hindsight, the spine of the team performed reasonably well, with Tom Conway in goal again turning in a good show which should not have included picking the ball out of the back of his own net on four separate occasions. Similarly, the returning Oli Payne led the line as always with aplomb and scored a fine goal to end the team’s three-hour-plus goal drought. And the ever-reliable Richard Cleall picked up another man-of-the-match award for his never-say-die attitude which kept the team going forward, right till the end.

Statistically, it was an odd defeat in a game about as lopsided at Boris Johnson’s quiff: the home team dominated possession by a ratio of about two to one, but mainly as a result of the visitors’ inability to hold on to the ball; alternatively BOEHC won about twice the number of short corners as the hosts, and got off about three times as many shots as a result. The difference was purely in execution: three of the four goals conceded resulted from an uncanny knack of turning promising looking attacks into desperate defence, as the Highwaymen were undone by sucker-punch counters. It is a year since the usually reliable and shell-shocked defence let in four, although in theory the team could have matched their opponents but for an unerring ability to seemingly put every effort a foot wide of either post.

The usual defensive unit of Phil Kinch and Steve Miller were joined by debutant Alex Godwin, who grew into the game well after he had acclimatised to his new surroundings. The midfield quartet rotation around the magnificent Mr. Cleall encompassed the usual suspects of Peter Robinson, Greg Dowse, Steve Garth and the now officially “capped” Josh Clark, resplendent in his senior kit as the team’s new number 104. And up front, Sammy Chana and captain Stephen Gilbert assisted the aforementioned Oli Payne.

Hockey can be a cruel game at times, often turning on the smallest of incidents, and if the team rode its luck a bit in the opening five games of the season, then it must have met a few black cats on its travels since. After smartly cancelling out Sevenoaks’ half-time lead from a series of penalty corners at the third attempt, it seemed that there might be a momentum shift in the game and a change in fortunes. But a sloppily conceded short at the other end a mere four minutes later put paid to any such hopes, even if the feeling persists that the Highwaymen are a just a fluky mishit, untidy goal, scrappy escape or stroke of outrageous fortune away from getting back on track again.

Currently the Highwaymen are a bit more Adam Ant than Dick Turpin, so it is up to the team’s management to ensure that the home derby welcome for local rivals Brombecks next week-end is more “Your Money or your Life” than “Prince Charming” ...

Team:
Tom Conway (GK), Tim Walters, Phil Kinch, Steve Miller, Alex Godwin, Peter Robinson, Richard Cleall, Mark Ainley, Sammy Chana, Greg Dowse, Steve Garth, Josh Clark, Oli Payne and Stephen Gilbert (C).

Man-of-the-match:
Richard Cleall – led by example throughout, but without much support, help or luck.

Umpires:
Mark Ainley drove through the cold, foggy early morning murk for a 10.30 pushback and whistled fairly, consistently and well throughout. The Sevenoaks umpire had a good game too, assisted by players on both sides generally owning up to unseen misdemeanours.