Highwaymen meet a Folkestone "fledgling" team at their best

The Highwaymen have experienced the best of times and the worst of times so far this season. An immaculately planned campaign run by the inimitable Stephen “Guardiola” Gilbert has not been derailed despite the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that have so ravaged this squad with injury and unavailability.

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock kneed, coughing like hags, the Highwaymen arrived at Folkestone to a warm welcome. A young man by the name of Samuel, all of 9 years of age, held the door open for our rag tag band of brothers. Upon being thanked for his efforts he stated it was his pleasure and welcomed us to his hockey club. The courtesy was to continue throughout a hard fought contest and into the bar afterwards. Folkestone are to be commended on the attitude and application of their youth. A group clearly being led by individuals who place high value on the virtues of kindness and mutual respect.

A squad with an average age of 58 having only 11 fit players for an away fixture is doomed from the outset. Something the administrators at Blackheath need to address and hopefully transition away from being Glazeresque in their regard for the Highwaymen.

However to place the blame for our defeat at the feet of anyone aside from ourselves would be disingenuous. The team were outplayed, outgunned and outmanoeuvred in the first half and we found ourselves 3-0 down. Barely a chance was created but rather than reside in a Solkjarian quagmire of uninspiration, heads came together, truths were told and mid-season MVP Richard Cleal devised a tactical masterstroke. Falling back to sweeper and pushing the entire team higher up the pitch Richard instigated far more positive play. Instantly the Highwaymen were more solid in defence, more competitive in midfield and created a number of chances that were kept out by some outstanding Folkestone goalkeeping. Chris Brown is to be commended for his tireless work in midfield where he found himself up against players of a very high calibre. The final score of 4-0 was perhaps representative of the game but we can draw positives from our 2nd half performance and be confident of many more victories to come. It’s clear that if Tony de Cruz can continue to take up the positions he did in the 2nd half, it's doubtless his goal drought will end soon enough and together the Highwaymen can continue their march towards winning lots but skilfully avoiding promotion at the same time.

*In other news. It has been brought to your authors attention that the naming of the bar at college Meadow is up for consideration. As we step into the modern era perhaps naming rights for the bar could be sold either to our sponsors, Gran Cru Co, purveyors of fine wines or to individual members who make a sizeable donation in any given year. Alternatively and in addition to the suggestion of “The 1861 Bar” I’d like to posit “The Wilde Bar” both in recognition of efforts made and because it is a fitting name for a bar at the hockey club that was recently described as the 'finishing school of fun'.

(Written by James Hatcher)

Team:
Rupert Greaves (GK), Stephen Gilbert(C), Richard Cleall, Phil Bunker, James Hatcher, Gary d Souza, Ravi Wickramasuriya, Steve Miller, Tony D'Cruz, Andy Rose, Ben Baker, Andy Moore, Chris Brown