About Me

In October 2011 I made the decision to retire from a successful Hockey career to peruse a new sporting endeavour . . . . Triathlon!!. Through this blog I am wanting to capture my development, progression, the changes, and challenges I have experienced on the way to trying to be successful in an entirely different sport dynamic. I hope you enjoy the read.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Groen Geel, Roomburg and Reigers - 9 pts and 5 games to go

Missing my reports from the past few i thought it would be easier to combine them into one post.  This weekend saw us line upaway against Reigers (match 17) in the first of our catch up games last weekend away against Roomburg (match 16) and the previous week vs Groen Geel (match 15) at home. 

After losing to leiden there has been a bit of tension in the air with the expectation of being promoted taking a bit of a hit.  However it is good to see the guys sticking together, staying positive and figthing it out over the last (as it would have been) 7 matches of the season.    With us now on equal points it is almost a race to the post with the speed indicated by how many goals each of us score unless one of slip up and drop points unessesarily.   Currently however leiden seem to be nudging ahead and are now 8 goals ahead with 5 to play.  however we are still very optimistic that we can claim the title.

it has panned out kind of well that the last 3 games have almost been played out in a similar fashion, especially Groen Geel and Roomburg.  Groen Geel saw us win 3-1in a bit of a sloppy encounter with the game itself was hard not physically but just to play.  When an opposing team turns up and play "damage minimisation" hockey with 11 players always behind the ball, chances become shad to create.  This then leads to frustration and thus not many goals. Similarly Roomburg played the fall away tactic though again we prevailed  (2-1) on a surface that can be tough to play on and requires very patient hockey to takes the points.  Which luckily we are getting much better at and managed to do.

Moving onto last saturday we headed up to Reigers (at hoofdorp) near Amsterdam ready for another challenge.  Again we had to play on a surface that resembled a beach more than a hockey field and with the temperatures getting up there (26C - thats hot for these guys) it was always going to be tough.  early on we were a little shaky falling one behind.  This certainly woke us up and finally we put some good phases togehter with the pressure put us 2-1 in front before they levelled it 2-2 into the break. 

As the second half progressed and the temperature rose (on and off the field) we got another one up and then found it all levelled 3-3 again with about 15 min to go.  Credit to the boys we stayed composed, held onto the ball, worked our asses off and finally we broke through with some of the best passing plays we have put together all year and made it 4-3.  Thats the way it finished and to be honest with this one done i was not dissapointed to be heading home away from that beach of a pitch......It is also good to see that we are now at a stage that we can dominate the games where teams are just there to break down the play and constantly fall away.

Well next week were away at VVV with another important game in the final 5.  one goal bring home the three points.  until then........................

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