This week’s match for the Loughts Men’s 4s saw the team travel to Thurrock to face a familiar foe from seasons gone by. This time, however, we arrived as a far more resilient side than last time out against the “Ts”.

After a difficult match against Redbridge last week, we were keen to get back to winning ways and put in another robust performance on a less than forgiving pitch, to ensure that we returned home with all three points today.

Captain Rob took time in his pre-match talk to bolster the team’s confidence once more, and remind us that there will continue to be no easy games in this league. This definitely helped us all focus our minds on the task in front of us this week.

With the formalities taken care of, and the stage set for an early (and windy) Saturday morning match-up, the game was under way.

On a tricky pitch, I thought we coped well with ball-pace and movement was good across the pitch. The home team definitely had the better of the opening exchanges, but we soon found our feet and began to take charge of more of the match. With Thurrock pressing high, the space was to be found out wide and behind their front line. We managed to exploit this better as the match went on, and started to have much better joy going forward.

And, after just 10 minutes into the contest, we broke the deadlock with a decisive drive down the right. Soon the ball was sent across the area and found its way to Leo, who made no mistake in getting his third goal of the season – now joining Dan at the top of the team’s scoring stats this season. 1-0. Our noses now ahead early doors.

The rest of the half presented some opportunities for us to extend our lead, but the home team also kept up the pressure and created some good openings in transition themselves. Nonetheless, before the break we were able to stretch our lead with a decent short corner routine. With Dan’s initial effort blocked, Jordan was on hand to slam home the rebound and move to 2 for the season himself.
2-0. HT. With a solid team performance now being rewarded on the score line, it was on us to keep the intensity high, as Jordan rightly said during the break.

When the match was resumed, we carried much in the same way as we ended the first half, and created even more opportunities going forward. Despite the lightness of the Thurrock bench today, we were in no mood to let up and soon found ourselves 3 goals to the good soon after the restart. This time, the ball was again worked nicely down the right, and was took on for Tom to strike towards goal. Having been saved, the ball was nudged loose and sat perfectly for Sam to follow in and grab his first goal for the team with the cleanest of reverse shots straight into the goal. 3-0. Breathing space now.

The next goal of the game felt very much like it would be a Loughts one, however, the hockey gods had other ideas. With a rare short corner to defend, the home team managed to bundle the ball home to stop keeper Harrison’s yet again solid performance being rewarded with another clean sheet. 3-1. Still work to do.

Not wanting to let our heads drop for too long, the pressure was on us to stand up and be counted once again, and the team most definitely rose to this challenge as the remaining minutes of the match saw us dominate the ball and create many quality openings in attack. And with the clock nearly ticking to fulltime, we made sure that all 3 points would be travelling back to Lane with us. To cap off a brilliant display of attacking power, Percy (stepping supremely well from the 5s today) brought the ball up the pitch and fed the ball to Dan who found himself in a bit of space. Even though the Thurrock defenders quickly retreated, our very own magician still threaded the ball through to put it on a
plate for Tom. Checking back onto his strong side with the upmost composure, our young forward fired the ball straight past the onrushing keeper, leaving him stranded out of his goal. 4-1. Job done.

MoM this week was a rather tight affair with a few nominations across the board. Though Connor and Dan were deservedly nominated, it came down to two votes between Sam and Percy. And it was indeed the debutant that took the honours this week, for a fantastic all-round performance today. Very well-done Percy! DoD again had some nominations – Dan for not scoring on his birthday; and Harrison for not keeping a clean sheet today. However, this prize rightfully found its way to me for the second time this season. Having constantly moaned throughout the match; being through on goal and not shooting before being ignored in the clearest of penalty flick claims (even the Ts goalie
laughed about how this wasn’t given after the match); and jinxing Harrison about coming out of today with another clean sheet at halftime, you pick your own reason for my DoD victory today. Special mention this week must go to Mike for miraculously not getting a card or even being nominated for DoD this time out. I did check after the match and there definitely were no pigs flying around, so I am not sure what was going on there – only kidding Mike, you put in a very slick performance in the heart of midfield once again today.

Match week 10 sees the Loughts Men’s 4s return to winning ways with a dominant victory away to Thurrock, and sit pretty near the top of the tree. Current league leaders, Southend, pay us a visit back down the Lane next week, with this top of the table clash promising to be an unmissable encounter. 14:30. Make sure to be there! Moving to 4 matches unbeaten now, who is to say we can’t make it 5? Very well done all!

Signing off,
Ryan

Men’s 4s Season Stats:
Position: 2 nd
Points: 18/27
Goals scored: 19
Goals conceded: 10
Clean sheets: 2
Penalty Corner Conversion Rate (roughly): 5/38 (13%)
Goal scorers: Dan and Leo 3, Richard and Sam and Mike and Jordan 2, Connor, Rohan, Ryan, Sam and Tom
MoM: Tom 2, Sam, Richard, Sam K, Harrison, Chris, Percy
DoD: Chris and Ryan 2, Richard, Will, Rob, Mike, JP