THUMBS UP FOR BARE BONES HIGHWAYMEN

BEHC Highwaymen 3 BEHC Dynamos 2

The Highwaymen concluded their hectic pre-season schedule (which saw action on all five Saturdays in September) with a narrow victory over their divisional stablemates, the Dynamos, in an excellent and open game played in the unaccustomed surroundings of St. Dunstan's College's facility in Catford. The ground and clubhouse are both first class, although the brand-new pitch clearly needs to settle in a bit, as it had a bit of a slow Barnes Wallis bounce to it, allied to a fifth-day wearing wicket at The Oval. The fact that it was as dry and sandy as a kangaroo's jockstrap probably didn't help either, but no matter: it was the same for both teams who played some enterprising hockey on a warm, sunny afternoon.

Matchday manager Mark Ainley's challenge was not so much one of shuffling resources, as his pack only comprised the bare eleven bodies, but more one of finding a formation that could do the job. With only one recognised defender at his disposal, along with an eclectic mix of multiple midfield talents, this was no easy task, but as usual, he came up trumps. The reshuffled defence with Chris Bernard at right back and Greg Dowse in the centre did a fine job, the former eschewing the temptation to go marauding forward too often, before once again succumbing to a hamstring-esque tweak, the latter as ever showing he is the chameleon genius (no, not the "comedian"!) of the squad, fitting into just about every position on the pitch - including goalkeeper - with consummate ease.

Ravi Wickramasuriya once again found himself with a hard shift ahead, as well as the figure of his son, Ben, in the opposition's goal, and he actually had the honour of an assist for the Highwaymen's equaliser from a penalty corner, an event almost as rare as the venue for the fixture. But it was his central midfield partner, Andy Rose, who shaded the man-of-the-match vote with a command performance for the full 70 minutes.

The last thing the "home" team needed to do was to turn proceedings into an end-to-end "runathon" by conceding needless turnovers of possession: against younger*, fitter, well-drilled opponents, with no substitutes, and with a pitch-side temperature north of the mid-70s°F, this was clearly not the preferred option. So naturally enough, this was ultimately the one selected. This of course meant that the team's Saga rep, keeper Tom Conway, was kept busy once again, turning in yet another magnificent performance which oozed confidence, mobility and control - he is rapidly becoming one of the Highwaymen's most prized assets.

But ultimately it was the team's "3-G"-Force that had the last word. Captain Stephen Gilbert could so easily have bagged a couple more far-post goals to add to his season's opener last week-end, but was sadly unable to convert. Graham Green covered just about every blade of sandy astro on the pitch in a selfless performance of pure Duracell-Bunny energy. As the game became more and more stretched, he just ran even further to compensate - phenomenal stuff. And then there was the third member of the triumvirate, Pat Gainey, who smacked in the first goal against the run of play on 19 minutes, and then nailed the victory with a sweet winner on 69, from which there was no comeback for the "visiting" Dynamos.

In between, Matt Robinson netted the second from the aforementioned short corner (gasp!), and nearly entered himself for a further goal-of-the-season contender with a burst into the D from the left followed by a wicked tracer-bullet shot that looked destined for the top right-hand corner, until keeper Ben Wickramasuriya's left mitt turned it over and behind.

In truth, the Dynamos will feel somewhat hard done by, as they were absolutely excellent going forward, with captain/manager Chris Brown pulling the midfield strings, ably assisted by Andy Cooke and a supporting cast who all seemed to know their roles. Neither was the perennial "youngster" (hence the asterisk above), Tony D'Cruz, a mere bystander, as he contributed to a number of attacks by stretching the Highwaymen's left flank to the limit. Both Dynamos goals came from shorts, the first converted under somewhat controversial circumstances by Brown as the home defence believed the extended whistle was to signify the last play of the half, not the actual penalty corner itself. The second was deservedly nudged in by the impressive Ben Baker, who once again had a very good game.

So where do the Highwaymen go from here? Well, "Ashford" is the answer, for the team's first ever fixture at Kent Open Division 2 level. After four pre-season friendlies the scorecard reads: won 2, lost 2, scored 13, conceded 13, so maybe a mid-table finish is on the cards - who knows? And for those who believe that right-hand gloves are a waste of time for defenders, just check out the photo above for what can happen even when wearing one!

Team:
Conway, Gilbert (C), Walters, Wickramasuriya, Robinson, Rose, Dowse, Bernard, Green, Gainey, Sphull.

Man-of-the-match:
Quite a few hats were thrown into the ring this week, but the ultimate winner was Andy Rose for his outstanding contribution from the centre of midfield which even silenced his most vociferous critic, Hector.

Umpires:
Mark Ainley and Richard Cleall kept the game moving well, which was not easy in such an end-to-end encounter, whilst also keeping their cards in their pockets and their caustic comments to a minimum.