Worceser Win at home 5-1

Worcester 2nd team Match Report

Worcester Vs. Stafford 28th November 2015

This week’s game prep started early on Wednesday night with Joe Hughes laying down his plans for the week and deciding to go with a new short, back and DH haircut. With most of the team wondering what style this would be but no one really brave enough to ask Joe directly the rest of the team did what came naturally ganged up and ripped in to Joe for the next hour, after the conversation and bullying had stopped, The rest of the talk was of how the 2nds were going to fill the massive hole left by Hooper and Allen not being available for this weeks all important clash against bottom of the league Stafford. These games Worcester sometimes struggle with and were determined not to let the current form slip. The decision was made that to plug the gap all that was needed was a space hopper in the middle and a ballerina at the back… Job done!

Saturday morning and the 2nds gathered at the Nunnery wood astro ready to warm up on the new home pitch. Determined to put on a performance and take the 3 points on offer, Worcester were upbeat and in good spirits with most of the talk on how Joe Hughes had followed through on his words and went for a short, back & DH hair style. Knowing that he was good to his word this only added to the team confidence. With the warm up ready to progress and game time looming Watling wanted to get going and called for the team to go for a run with everyone ready to start except Henry Jeffs who only had to put his shin pads on so Watling gave a few words while Henry finished getting ready, a few words turned in to many and Henry still no further forward with his pads was getting some grief from his team mates….. more words from Watling gave Henry a little more time but still no progress so eventually after a couple of calls to Henrys Parents to see if they could come to the pitch and dress him to help speed things up the warm up got going.

Worcester started brightly and were on top with their usual high intensity start to the game and were rewarded early on with a short corner unfortunately the ball came out with a slight bounce and Watling was unable to stop the ball to get the shot away. With game going back and forth for the first 6 minutes Ollie Davis started to make an impact and cause the Stafford defence problems with clever skills, pace and ninja like silence linking well with Sam Glass they won the second short corner and with a slightly different routine which involved stopping the ball Steve Grant slipped the ball to Watling to advance and knock in the first goal. With Worcester now in front for the early goal the team settled and started to play hockey with long spells of possession normally ending with Ben Martin either running the ball off the pitch or passing the ball off the pitch or flicking the ball off the pitch. The outcome was mainly the same but a fine show of skills from Puggy none the less.

Worcester got the second goal soon after and Sam Glass slotted home with style after fine play from Ranscombe, Hughes and Joe Sullivan who played the ball at speed to create the opening. Following the Worcester second goal Stafford found a bit of space and attacked the Worcester D, Watling stepped in and took a well struck ball to the knee, this was enough to send the skipper to the side line with a slight limp. A quick re shuffle in defence saw Max Braddick step in to cover Watling and on the next Stafford attack the Worcester defence stood firm and claimed the ball. James Neal passed the ball to Max who was on the goal line just in front of Tom Dalton, with Worcester in full control and Stafford retreating Dalton was already taking his glove off and lifting his helmet ready to help organise the team. Max who was ready to receive Neals pass put his stick into place and with what can only be described as the worst first touch in history knocked the ball 5 yards in front of him which gave the Stafford forward time to come in to the D and send a Rocket at Dalton who at this point looked like Henry trying to put his shin pads on, Dalton decided that the glove wasn’t needed and put his head in the way which was enough to get a slight deflection on to the Worcester cross bar and over the goal a massive let off for Max who was still trying to catch up with his poor first touch and a fantastic bit of improvisation from Dalton to save the shot.

Worcester Recovered from this with a 10 minute spell in the Stafford D where Steve Grant, Dom Sullivan and Ollie Ranscombe all hit the post in a constant waves of attacking play. Joe Sullivan after watching his older brother Dom hit the post thought he’d show his brother how it was done. Joe Sullivan latched on to a ball and despatched it to make it 3-0 Worcester. With a slight grin on his face Joe was heard saying to Dom “what do you think of that then?” Ben Martin who was now trying to get in on the action decided that playing the ball off the pitch wasn’t the way forward. A slight pause for thought and Puggy abandoned his duties and ran up the pitch like he was on a 10k run, as he left his man he called James Neal to cover him who at this point was over 50 yards away and closer to Worcester uni than Puggy’s man. The ball was turned over and with James studying the public transport timetable to get back to Puggys side of the pitch. Stafford broke down the pitch through a Puggy shaped hole and with a simple passing move slotted home their first goal. Dalton who was left exposed shouted Puggy to explain his actions but this was pointless as Puggy was to far away to hear.

With half drawing to an end there was time for Sam Glass to try and continue to increase his rep as the Worcester enforcer, he picked up the ball and looked to go on one of his jinking runs with pace and power but this was ended a little premature as his knee gave way, with no one around him to blame we can only think the nunnery astro grass is a little bit to long for Sam’s weak knees. With 3 injuries already this season it seems his surname says more about his body than his name. Get well soon Sam.

3-1 Worcester Half time.

The second half saw Watling shuffle the team again and the result was 35 mins in the Stafford half and again wave after wave of attack, these attacks saw Worcester score 2 more goals in quick succession with Grant scoring his 4th goal in 2 games and Dom Sullivan Grabbing the final goal with some fine skill and despatching the ball with ease. Once the ball had flew in to the goal Dom turned to his brother and with a slight nod toward his little brother said “anything you can do….”

Ollie Davis continued to impress throughout the 2nd half and with a terrific run down the right beating 2 men and charging in to the D, the last defender reached for the ball Ollie side stepped and beat the man with ease the defender left his leg out and sent Ollie high in to the air. While Worcester were waiting for Ollie to land they were already fighting over who was going to take the penalty flick but this was ended very quickly as the umpire gave a 16 yard hit. Ollie landed a while later and remained very disciplined, he didn’t say a word!

Jeff Drake who was still recovering from his broken foot was watching most of the game and was able to make most of the team feel at home with some of his very own positivity and confidence building chat and calling.
The half was played out with minimum fuss and even when Joe Hughes tried a rebona in the Worcester D which the umpire didn’t think much of and gave Joe a green card, 2 min rest and a Stafford short corner which was dealt with without troubling the Worcester goal. Worcester continued with their fine form and saw the game out 5-1.

With Ollie Davis getting a well-deserved man of the match award after a fine display of skill and pace. Ollie was asked for a comment on receiving this award but remained cool and didn’t say anything. Well played Ollie!

Joe Hughes won the second best award of the day and is making a cake next week.