Mens 1st Team
Matches
Sat 04 Mar 2023  ·  Yorkshire & North East Men's Division 1
Lindum 2
1
1
Durham City Hockey Club
Mens 1st Team
Lindum M2s 1 - 1 Durham City M1s

Lindum M2s 1 - 1 Durham City M1s

Matthew Kettley5 Mar 2023 - 17:30
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Spoils shared on a long away trip

Thanks to a series of home-made quizzes by the team, this Saturday’s two-and-a-half-hour journey to Lincoln flew by and revealed startling levels of intelligence and ignorance. Father Kettley knows an intriguingly high number of the NME’s ’12 Scariest Horror Films.’ Overall, it was a truly fantastic road-trip and great fun, yet the hockey was disappointing; our point was well-deserved after a resurgence during the second-half, but we are capable of more than we showed.

There were no goals in the first-half. We absorbed Lindum’s pressure well, smoothly transferred the ball between the defence and the midfield, and tolerated some agricultural tackling bravely and without much protection, yet it was a bad half to be a forward, as every touch seemed to bounce off theirs stick – that is, when they eventually had a pass to receive, which was rare. Both teams had a couple of chances, however, even if nothing came of them. At half-team, we all agreed that we were panicking too much, getting dragged down to their low level, and that our basics needed improving – all our standard problems really.

Yet it took us a while to rectify things. Mystic Mason predicted that our first foul in the half would be upgraded to a short-corner. He was right: what was deemed to be our first foul was upgraded to a short-corner and also resulted in a green card for Will Orpin, who dived around like a fish throughout the game; yet if I was being diplomatic, I would call the decision dubious, for there was no way it was a foul. Moreover, their first shot from the resultant short-corner was a hit into Matt Coe’s chest. Play continued, and a couple of other saves maintained parity, but we could not clear the ball out of the ‘D.’ Eventually Lindum bundled it in. 1-0. At risk of sounding accusatory, we were not surprised that the goal was given despite the obvious violation of a rule everyone knows, so please see Rule 13.3k from the FIH Rules of Hockey for future reference. The game continued to get tastier. On the journey down, George remarked that he ‘hadn’t done any tanking for a while.’ How fortuitous, yet he was far from the pitch’s only player to be physical. Lindum were more so than us, but we were hardly saints. Finally, we started to play with a bit more focus and intensity. We had a few clear chances, but the ball kept escaping. Matt Kettley’s touch – by his own admission – was generally lacking, but, with about eight minutes to go, his stinging reverse-stick shot from the top-left of the ‘D’ was destined for the opposite bottom-corner before Dragon Plyming helped it on its way. 1-1. Lindum received a long-overdue green card as a Durham onslaught laid siege to the Lindum ‘D.’ Alas, it was to no avail and the game ended 1-1. A goal from our last-minute short-corner would have been outrageously satisfying.

Plenty to work on, but the point helps secure our seriously healthy position in the league. Next week sees us face North Shields, whose position is less healthy. Can we stomp on Billy’s dreams of avoiding relegation? Hopefully. Come along to MC at the unusually pleasant time of 12pm to support us and find out!

MoM: Matt Coe (did ‘a Thing’ and can write a decent quiz – although it involves some internet stalking)

DoD: Shez (wouldn’t let his car join in the quiz, thinks that 85% of the air we breathe consists of carbon dioxide, and tried to sub himself off without leaving the pitch)

#LasagneBargains #InhalingExhaustsOnPlanetShez #RobKnowsChoc

Match details

Match date

Sat 04 Mar 2023

Kickoff

13:30

Competition

Yorkshire & North East Men's Division 1

League position

5
Durham City 1
7
Lindum 2
Team overview
Further reading