SEVENOAKS WITH NOWHERE TO HYDE

BOEHC Highwayman 2 Sevenoaks Men’s 7s 0

The men from Sevenoaks have truly become a bit like the acorns associated with their name – very tough nuts to crack as far as the Highwaymen¬ are concerned. Back in 2014 – 2015 it was very much the Dr. Jekyll version of BOEHC which turned up to these fixtures, resulting in high scoring (by both teams!) games which the men in red had generally won quite comfortably. But wind the clock on to 2016 – 2017 and ..... enter Mr. Hyde stage left. In the last three games the men from Kent had outplayed the Club, restricting them to a total of three goals and handing out a bit of a four-goal thrashing before Christmas in the reverse fixture. The question was therefore a simple one: could captain Steve Gilbert get the magic elixir of team selection right so that the correct version of the Highwaymen turned up on Saturday?

Well it certainly seemed he had got the mix of ingredients bang on at the start, as the home team unusually took an early lead on four minutes, Ali Burnett’s great work in the D allowing the ever alert Greg Dowse to tuck the ball away for a well deserved goal. And for once there was a good balance of raw material available to the team management, with the immovable force of Steve Miller returning to the centre of defence and Jamie Rendell turning in his best performance yet for the Club at full-back, thus allowing the mercurial Mr. Cleall to step up to the base of a five-pronged midfield diamond ... the Highwaymen’s tactical prowess knows no bounds these days. The usual suspects in midfield were joined by the returning Simon McDonald, whilst it was also great to see the legend that is Tony Johnson make a belated first appearance of the season in goal for the hosts. All of this still enabled the team to give debuts to young Ben Corsie and Back-to-Hockey triallist Matt Robinson, both of whom could prove to be real assets to the team in the longer term.

However, the early alchemy did not quite live up to its promise, possibly because of the very warm pitch-side temperature in the upper 60s°F, as the Highwaymen’s sense of robbery skills and ball retention turned more to a charity box carried by the erstwhile Mr. Hyde. As a result the home team had to work much too hard in a game they should have been controlling, as Sevenoaks started to easily match their hosts in terms of possession, if not always territorial advantage. Having said that, the statistics suggest that the result was more comfortable than it really was, as the visitors did not really trouble the home keeper with a real effort of note on target during the whole game, nor force a single penalty corner throughout the entire 70 minutes. This was also the sixth game on the trot where the team had got to half-time without conceding a goal, although only the second during this sequence where they also made it to full-time with a clean sheet. This is not just down to the defence, however, and shows that the team as a whole realises that simply trying to outscore the opposition is not really going to be the best way forward at present.

For the first 10 minutes of the second half it was clear that somebody had actually administered the antidote to the magic potion, as things got even more chaotic, but the Highwaymen weathered the storm and settled the match with one of the goals of the season from Steve Bowles. Having been forced off midway through the first half with a sore ankle, he returned to the fray to smash an exquisite shot into the top corner form the right of the D to quell the home team’s jitters, and suddenly it was Dr. Jekyll back on show again, with some sweeping passing moves using the width of the pitch and stretching the tiring visitors from Sevenoaks. Both Ben Corsie and first-name-on-the-team-sheet Josh Clark began running with more purpose at the away defenders, and the former richly deserved his man-of-the-match award on debut. The latter, playing with his usual chronic knee problem, was probably in enough pain before being flattened by a Sevenoaks defender approximately 18 inches taller than he was, but at least there was no damage ..... to the pitch! But joking aside, Mr. Clark picked himself up, dusted himself down and just ran at them again – great stuff.

Nonetheless, it would not be the Highwaymen without a fitting late piece of needless drama, although this one at least showed that Mr. Hyde has a good sense of humour as it verged more into the realms of comedy. Clearly straight from the training ground, the home team proved that it is indeed possible to turn attack into defence through sheer ineptitude on the last play of the day. A short corner injection to Player number 1 (the names have been omitted to protect the guilty) resulted in him leaving it to Player 2 who was also leaving it to Player 1, resulting in the ball rolling nicely through to Player 3 who, via both feet, was then nutmegged by said ball which subsequently travelled through to Player A (an opposing forward) to start a breakaway that was only halted by the full-time whistle. Mmmmm ... better check the ingredients on the bottle, methinks!

And so the team still finds itself in 4th position in the table with next week’s local derby with second-placed Brombecks next on the agenda. Due to goal difference after yesterdays’ games and the remaining fixture pairings, it now appears that a runners-up finish is virtually impossible, although it is actually theoretically possible for the team to finish either 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th or even 7th in the rankings, so tight is the division this season. There is therefore still plenty to play for, however ... two wins would see the Highwaymen finish a guaranteed third and with a record haul of points at Division 3 level ... time to “Stand and deliver!”

Team:
Tony Johnson (GK), Tim Walters, Jamie Rendell, Steve Miller, Ben Corsie, Greg Dowse, Richard Cleall, Steve Bowles, Alastair Burnett, Josh Clark, Simon McDonald, Matt Robinson and Stephen Gilbert (C).

Man-of-the-match:
Ben Corsie – an excellent debut for the Highwaymen, with plenty of pace, tenacity and hard work.

Umpires:
Mark Ainley and one from Sevenoaks – both did well in an easily marshalled game between teams that get on well with each other and generally enjoy close matches. The jury might be out on Mr. Ainley’s beard, however!