Shefford and Sandy 5 - 2 Southend Mens 1st XI
Shefford and Sandy 5 - 2 Southend
On the Shefford and Sandy website they previewed the game saying to expect plenty of goals and a fiery encounter and that was pretty much what we were expecting too.
The team started with only 11 players as Stress pulled out ill at the last minute, Gareth was still unavailable with his suspension and Lee Styles was away shopping, checking out the boutiques of London!
In a rash selection gamble the Captain had brought in veteran Cliff Lockwood for his one game of the season and he had agreed saying he would "blood sub for the ones as we were desperate!" Sorry Cliff, but with only eleven players you're starting and playing the whole game. This looked debatable when Cliff was left gasping for breath and searching for his inhaler during the warm up and the rest of the team looked at him worried whether he would last 5 minutes let alone 70.
Anyway, the game started and Southend controlled the game from the off dominating possession and looking dangerous. Unfortunately the Shefford goalkeeper seemed to be in a inspired mood and the team had left their shooting boots at home. 2 Southend goals from Barry Puncher who scored yet another goal with a reverse turn and one from Strawbs were overtaken by Shefford scoring with what seemed like their only attacks of the half.
Half Time - Shefford 3 - 2 Southend
The second half continued with Southend playing some great hockey and Shefford scoring two more goals on the break to make it look like a convincing win. Southend will win many games this season if they play like this and can take pride from a good performance.
Shefford and Sandy's match report which I thought was very fair can be found here
http://www.sheffordandsandy.co.uk/match-report.php?match_id=30
Team - Johnny 5, Arnold, Hayman, Lockwood Jnr, Lockwood veteran, Puncher, Hill-Hall, Jones, Mellish, Jenkins, Utton
Goals- Utton, Puncher
Burberry - Lockwood senior for an outrageous pass for Sheffords 2nd goal and because we didnt think they'd fit him
Man of the Match - Jointly to Mellish, Jenkins & Hill-Hall |
