Fine margins indeed, but the Club could have no complaints on the day, nor for the post-Christmas run of form which saw the team finish third, their lowest league placing since October. Nothing but a win would do for the hosts, but it was their local derby opponents who made the early running, keeping the defensive trio of Phil Kinch, Chris Bernard and Stuart McDonald on their toes in a fairly tense opening period, and coming close with a shot that flew to safety off the near post. It says much about the season that once again it was a defender who grabbed the headlines with a man-of-the-match performance, on this occasion keeper Mikael Kiviniemi, the fifth player to stand between the sticks for the Vets, who was rather unfortunate to be beaten by a shot through a cluster of bodies after 15 minutes to give Burnt Ash the lead. On two further occasions he batted away airborne efforts, and even came out on top in a scene straight from a martial arts film, as the visiting striker’s woefully high stick clattered into Mikael’s helmet, whilst he returned the favour a nanosecond later with his body armour. The former assault would have earned a red card elsewhere on the pitch, or probable arrest anywhere off it, but the Club’s phenomenal Finn stood firm with the understated stoicism associated with his homeland.

It was a massive relief too to see Lee Sandy return to the starting eleven, as his presence has been mightily missed for much of 2015-2016, and it was indeed he who dragged the hosts level courtesy of a smart finish from the home side’s only penalty corner of the game. If he can line-up regularly with the team’s find of the season, Richard Cornick, in 2016-2017, then bright times may still lie ahead for captain Stephen Gilbert’s team, particularly if Richard Cleall also continues the rich seam of form he has mined all season in Kent Open League Division 3. Taking up a more defensive role at the base of a midfield diamond at the start of the second half, he tightened the team up as a defensive unit, and it was perhaps no surprise that the second half remained goal-less as a result. Prior to this, however, Burnt Ash had taken the lead a second time, which is always likely to happen if a team is careless enough to concede four consecutive short corners: once is inevitable, twice can happen, three times is getting careless and four times positively suicidal, and so it proved, which is a shame when the defence has stood firm for the first three attempts.

But once again, it was Greg Dowse who came to the rescue with a well-taken and deserved opportunist effort on the half-hour to make it all square at the break. He has benefited greatly from an extended run in the team, and it was good too to see Ross Higginson forgo the rowing machine for the “mean machine” which is the BOEHC Vets, albeit in an unaccustomed left-sided midfield role where he did really well throughout. Pat Gainey battled manfully up front, but got less change from some uncompromising Burnt Ash defending that you would get from your average Big Issue vendor. Peter Robinson completed the line-up to round off his best-ever season in the famous Club’s red shirt, but minus the trademark woolly hat rendered redundant by the warm spring sunshine.

The fairytale ending almost came to pass as the visiting keeper made a smart stop below the crossbar to deny the hosts, but in truth Burnt Ash offered very little after half-time, and even took the ball into the corner to run the clock down in the final couple of minutes, clearly hoping that two teams might get promoted after all to Kent Open Division 2 in the close season. The Pyrrhic victory was BOEHC’s, having previously beaten Burnt Ash twice away, and quite convincingly at that, once pre-season and once in the league before Christmas. The Club also boasted the second-best defensive record in the division, averaging around 1½ goals per game in the “goals against” column. Sadly, however, it was at the other end of the pitch in the “goals for” column that the team came up just short, by just 5 goals, so Burnt Ash won where it mattered – in the final league table standings.

But overall ... what a season! Had the team been offered third place on goal difference back in October, then the offering hand might have had a healthy chunk bitten out of it. Well done to all concerned.

Team:
Mikael Kiviniemi (GK), Phil Kinch, Stuart McDonald, Chris Bernard, Tim Walters, Lee Sandy, Greg Dowse, Richard Cleall, Richard Cornick, Peter Robinson, Pat Gainey, Ross Higginson and Stephen Gilbert (C).

Man-of-the-match:
Mikael Kiviniemi.

Umpires:
Martin Harris for BOEHC, plus one from Burnt Ash – both did well in a hot mid-day game, although the latter needed a slight overhaul in terms of his (lack of a) sense of humour.