Saturday 15/09/07

When I was asked to write the match report for this game, I thought long and hard about how to give justice to what happened. Somehow, trying to give a blow by blow timeline of the 70 minutes didn’t seem enough.

So, instead I will simply tell you what I witnessed

Lymm 1^st 2 – Neston 1^st 1

Beating a team 6 divisions above Lymm, a team with aspirations of Northern League Hockey was no fluke. Neston were pitch side, changed and ready with their coach barking orders at them by the time we had just arrived at their ground, they didn’t have any players missing, the umpires were fair and the pitch and weather was good. So then, how did a team barely 2 years old beat a team with a genuine history, a paid coach and some quality players, simple, Lymm were a better side in virtually every aspect of the game. Not one Lymm player should be singled out, not one Lymm player played better than the other. Lymm were there together, on that pitch as a single solid unit. Lymm won because of tactics, fluid shape, grit, determination and ability. Every player stood tall in Green and Black playing with pride for the club, each other and themselves.

Lymm were clearly a well drilled, well coached team that was tactically superior to the Div 1 side. Lymm was a team that commit every week to go to training, to improve, learn and most of all win. Lymm won today simply because they were the better side.

Throughout the game, Neston kept trying to switch play, swap attacking channels from left to right, press from defence and bring more forwards on, but every change and trick Neston made, Lymm met head on and convincingly dealt with.

People who didn’t see the game will see the result on fixtures live and believe Neston had an off day, or they had players missing or didn’t take this cup game seriously, well they would be very wrong.

Today, the facts about Lymm Hockey club came home. Lymm are a good side, in fact they are a very good side and any team that plays against Lymm over the next few years is going to be nervous and if they aren’t they should be. In a sense it’s a pity that the league rules don’t allow a team like Lymm to leapfrog divisions and play at a more competitive level.

I said I wasn’t going to name names, but two do need a mention. David Antonelli and Ben Hodkinson. Lymm are a team with winning tactics and systems because of these two guys input over the last few years. Lymm play intelligent hockey because of what these two have done in training and during the matches, this is why Lymm won today and why it becomes even more important to go to training and learn from their knowledge.

Anyway, I’ve done my speech, it was a great game, everybody who played today should stand up and be proud of what was achieved, don’t understate your abilities.

PS. Tom was OK in goal today, if I say any more than that I’ll never get a chance to play for the first team.