THE FREEMANTLE DOCTOR BLOWS INTO TOWN

Well, the Freemantle Doctor didn’t literally blow in off the Pacific to the London Marathon Ground, however, the Highwaymen did benefit from the guest appearance of Les Faulds, player for Freemantle Hockey CLUB and dad of Ethan Faulds, who was not only a great company but also one tough defender. His performance made up for the absence of messers Miller and Walters at the heart of the defence.
With most of the Highwaymen playing together again from last season, they took on a Burnt Ash team which struggled to make its mark in the first half. Possession was at least 60:40 to the home side. Having said that the opposition had a big and very athletic keeper who blocked shot after shot. At one stage it looked as though the Highwaymen would never score.
Eventually, Graham Green got a shot past him.
At no stage did Burnt Ash get ahead, although they levelled only for Graham score his second goal.
The second half was hard going as both sides began to tire with the opposition getting more of the game. A goal from Burnt Ash was not enough to snatch a draw thanks to a typical Pat Gainey goal.
A solid start but here’s still a long way to go and two lessons have been learned.
The first, the Highwaymen need a replacement for Josh Clark who was their Duracell Bunny last season. The second, no one, on or off the pitch should share their opinions with the umpire. Fortunately, this time it was only a “yellow” but it was given by Joni Coleman to the Highwaymen!
Thanks to good umpiring from Joni Coleman and his fellow umpire the whole game was played in a free flowing and good-humoured manner.
MOM – Graham Green
SCORERS – Graham Green 2, Pat Gainey 1
SQUAD - Richard Cleall, Ravi, Stuart McDonald, Stephen Gilbert (Capt), Stephen Garth, Greg Dowse, Sammy Chana, Phil Kinch, Thomas Conway, Pat Gainey, Graham Green, Chris Bernard, Les Faulds