HOLCOMBE FEEL THE FULL "G" FORCE

BEHC Highwaymen 4 Holcombe Men's 5a's

Very odd indeed.  Against a team without a league win all season and rooted at the foot of Division 1, the Highwaymen - currently sitting fourth in Division 2 - would have fancied their chances in this mid-season friendly, but the score does not really reflect the fact that the visitors were dominant from start to finish.  When your luck is out, however, it really is. Already three down by the time they scored a consolation effort, Holcombe nearly equalised the home team's first half opener with a deflected shot that thudded against the bar early in the second-half, but it was simply not to be.  For all their domination, shots on target were few and far between, and Steve Miller directed his rearguard troops well. The back four defended stoutly against the four short-corners they had to face too, which was fortunate given that the visitors enjoyed about 70% possession and territorial dominance.

But perhaps the current 2019-2020 vintage of Highwaymen is better suited to playing away and relying on the counter-attack. The team is coming to the end of its two-month league exile from Avery Hill, so this rare "home" visit probably felt like an away game anyway.  The team certainly played like it was an unfamiliar surface, treading on the ball, fluffing hits and generally struggling for the opening quarter.  It was certainly against the run of play when man-of-the-match Tony Mitchell scored a smart opening goal which seemed to spark the home side into life.  The visiting keeper pulled off a trio of good saves to keep the deficit to a single goal at the break, whilst the home side dealt well with the luxury of a 14-man squad, the player rotations for once appearing as seamless as Ed Smyth's non-regulation shorts.

A second opportunist effort from Sammy Chana settled things down a bit, and a fourth from Ravi Wickramasuriya provided the icing on the cake, with Matt Robinson unfortunate not to add to the tally thanks to the Holcombe keeper's continued diligence.  In between, however, came the game's stunning cameo. Despite being partially unsighted at the time, the match correspondent was informed by one reliable eye witness that Stephen Gilbert's goal resulted from a mazy run in the D, bamboozling defenders in his wake and leaving the keeper stranded with a tomahawk into the roof of the net from ten yards.  Another less charitable version implied slightly less movement, no one between himself and the keeper and a distance of somewhere between ten inches and ten foot, but a goal is a goal and Mr. "G" Force is now officially the team's second-highest scorer of the decade ... possibly hence his somewhat coquettish and provocative reclining pose in the team photo above.

So 4-1 did indeed flatter, and the team will need to do a lot better in midfield when not in possession against younger teams in the second half of the season.  Next up is Ashford, the same fixture as for last season's post-Christmas resumption, and a game the Highwaymen lost somewhat tamely in 2019.  Bring it on ...

Team:

Tom Conway (GK), Tim Walters, Phil Kinch, Steve Miller, Stephen Gilbert, Ravi Wickramasuriya, Ed Smyth, Nim Kalsi, Tony Mitchell, Sammy Chana, Pat Gainey, Nim Kalsi, Matt Robinson and Tony D'Cruz.

Man-of-the-match:

Tony Mitchell - the team might even have lost without him, simple as that.

Umpires:

Richard Cleall and the visiting umpire controlled a very good-tempered, but fast moving affair admirably throughout.