Oxford Hawks Mens 6’s vs Tring 1’s – 12.10.24

The Men’s 6’s needed a bit of a boost following a disappointing loss at Berks and HH last week in game which they dominated to begin with and then let slip away.

This week saw another classic line up. Youth provided by William GK, Finn, Dylan, Alex, Gabriel and Mason. From the adults we welcomed Gillers back to the squad after extended AWOL and Lairdie, together with a cast of regulars.

We were better organised this week with a proper warm up and some practice, rather than the mad dash to Berkhamsted. Hawks started brightly with some good simple passing with Alex Day controlling the midfield. Tring had some strong players and were quick on the break playing with two high players seeking to pull Hawks defence out of shape.  Hawks took the lead finally through a short corner which saw Scraggy calmly hit (putt) the ball from the left of the D to the back board. Lets just forget about the 5 or so preceding shorts in a row which ricocheted off various feet from the Tring runners.  Shortly before half time Tring pulled one back through a short corner which found an exposed left post which William couldn’t do anything about.

Half time felt a bit flat as we really should have done better and we know we had squandered chances as shots had gone wide from Lairdie (still adjusting his sights) and other opportunities from Mason and Gabriel.  Poulter gee’d up the side and we stepped out with a bit more positivity for the 2^nd half confident we could do better.

It took Hawks a bit of time to get their confidence but culminated in a lovely move down the right started by some persistent sniping from James R-C and a lovely dribble from Mason R-C down the wing to the baseline and pushing the ball to Alex D on the edge of the D who then rocketed the ball into the top of the net with a hard hit. Celebrations all round and back slapping a plenty for a cracking goal.  As we all know, your most vulnerable immediately after and that’s exactly what happened as Tring drove forward and scored within 15 seconds of the restart following some defensive mayhem.  At 2-2 it still felt like Hawks had the upper hand and we managed to force another couple of shorts.  We eventually slipped the ball to Lairdie on the right who forced his way towards goal and managed to pop it into the goal form about a foot.  We then worked hard to preserve the lead with a few testy moments which we managed to get through to secure a good win.

Thanks to Adrian and Tim for umpiring