RPHC M5s vs Trinity 3s

A return to the lightning like surface of St Bede’s this week, where passes go to die.

A slightly different looking 5s squad (injuries out, injuries in, selection and availability woes et al) faced Trinity 3s who have had a unusual start to their season following the decision to pull their 2s from the league structure. We suspected they might be rather strong following that decision and we were, I think, proved quite correct.

The usual run through, the usual format of 3-2-3-2. Possibly the coolest explanation for injury we’ve ever had from James H involving explosions, chemistry experiments and shards of Pyrex coupled with the usual brand of self-effacing entertainment among the rest of the gagn and we were ready for the warm up.

The whistle went and we were off – a pre-planned darting run from Max into the top left hand corner with Richard lined up for the aerial. Unfortunately there was a spot of stage fright and he couldn’t quite get it up, instead a dribbling ball was offered to the Trinity Centre Forward. This, in fairness was the only miscued aerial of the day with Richard launching several beautifully placed aerials into space for the forward line to run onto.

The first 10 minutes saw priory dominate, Trinity looking disorganised and unable to apply pressure. Solid cross pitch play through Brigadier Mitesh at Centre Back out to Paul and Matt B at Right and Left Back allowed things to build. Kalyan and Max were finding space up front with Pankaj in support and we were pressing effectively.

We won an early short – great injection from Rich, well stopped by Pankaj and a good whack from Mike J – if only he’d aimed at literally any of the space around the chap in pads rather than straight at him….

After that first 10, Trinity found their rhythm, their pace and – most distressingly – one another. The tempo of the match seemed to dial up a notch as did the physicality. I wouldn’t say it was agricultural necessarily, at least not in a traditional scything sort of fashion… more modern threshing and harvesting machinery, rattling through the midfield ready to chew up a limb or two.

The Trinity right wing was quick. Seriously quick. And seven feet tall. And made of bricks. These are only marginal exaggerations.
He used a tip and run technique to great effect and even when double marked kept finding the gap and blasting through. Matt B and Mike J were struggling to contain him and seemed to end up either flattened or conceding a free hit… or both.

The only player capable of keeping up with him (at least in brief stints) was Joel who successfully kept him under wraps for the phases he was involved in. This was just one aspect of a great day’s work from Joel who was not only fulfilling his defensive duties with an amazing work rate but making runs deep into the Trinity half and winning numerous free hits in their last 23.

In the chaos of this first half, Priory scored first – good build up play down the right involving Richard, (and the very much welcomed back from injury) James H and Pankaj ultimately found Max in a little bit of space in the Trinity D. He evaded the centre back, the left back and found himself 1 on 1 – he didn’t panic, he barely seemed to move, just worked his way round to the left post with incredible skill until the keeper over committed and slotted it home – 1-0.

Sadly this didn’t seem to knock Trinity back – if anything it spurred them on. By now they were linking up two or three solid midfielders with their fast forwards and were it not for numerous 1 on 1 saving tackles from Paul V and Mitesh, they would have had many more chances. Priory were struggling to maintain structure their structure and ultimately the pressure resulted in a Trinity Short. Well taken, good solid strike into the bottom right – despite the pace, post man Howard got his stick down to it but couldn’t turn it away – 1-1.

Half time and it was evident we were in a scrap. The next 35 minutes were going to be about work rate and not dropping heads if we conceded…

…. Which we fairly promptly did. A good, fast paced counter and Trinity broke through the centre of the park with pressure on the Priory Centre and Right backs – good midfield support saw the tackle go in and the ball pop out to Priory possession. Unfortunately the pass to trigger the Priory counter was miscued, having the opposite effect and Trinity pounced from the Top of the D, slotting away a simple opportunity. 1-2 to the oppo.

The skipper (ala Nasser Hussein, the self proclaimed useless tosser) had lost the coin toss and the second half saw Priory face down the setting sun. There were points were it was genuinely difficult to make out the ball on the ground, let alone in the air and players were indistinguishable from one another. This didn’t prevent a cracking second half performance from Jacob in goal who once again showed inch perfect positioning and accurate, confident kicking when endangered.

By around the 55th minute, bits were starting to fall off the dwindling Priory XI. Brigadier Mitesh lost to a hamstring injury and Mike J who seemed to end up on the receiving end of numerous shoulder barges, lifted balls and whacks on the shins began to look a little punch drunk (rather than the usual post-match club-house, actually drunk).

Matt S decided that making a saving tackle in the D was far more important than mere self-preservation, succeeded but came off rather the worse with a bang on the side of the head that I can only assume resulted in actual whiplash.

The tough encounters were not knocking the edges of everyone though – Joel continued his relentless terrier like work rate, Pankaj was starting to find a bit more time and space and that odd ability to seemingly slow time down was coming in very handy. The structure was starting to return, aided by the constant barking instructions of Richard and stand in superstar coach Doc Watson. Kalyan and Tristan (at times a touch over enthusiastically - we may yet receive a bill for the replacement of a few sticks) were doing a great job of applying pressure to Trinity 16s and free hits.

The back line too were soaking up huge pressure, Matt B now with a little more support was beginning to find time and space to initiate counter attacks, Howard making space on the right to find James H and Paul V with those go-go gadget arms was saving our blushes on numerous occasions.

Max was continuing to display his brand of magic, weaving between players and winning short corners… the less said about the execution of which the better…

But it was simplicity and quick passing in open play that saw Priory earn their equaliser. James H with a killer pass (in space created by Richard) found Tristan with enough room on the back right of the Trinity D, great control, strong-side whack – goal – 2-2.

We had around 5 more minutes to find the winner…. Perhaps with 5 more than that we might have done. One final dalliance came in the form of a short corner after the final whistle. Back to the injector, unfortunately Trinity saw it coming a mile off, covering the angle well and despite a well weighted pass into the gap – that hadn’t been the plan so in spectacularly anti-climatic form the ball dribbled off the back line to signal the end of the match.

Credit to Trinity, with an average age that seemed far too clustered around the 20s and 30s with very few youngsters (if any!) and only a couple of more senior players, they were fast, physical, used the space well and were pretty relentless. Having felt disappointed at the time, the skipper can’t help but feel pleased with the point and proud of the effort all the way to the death of the game. In their post match chat Trinity said they felt like they’d done well to claim a point from us… on reflection I’ll settle for claiming one off them too.

A convincing majority for Man of the Match this week - Joel take a bow. You embodied “NEVER GIVE IN, NEVER SURRENDER!”, always first to the 50-50 balls in the face of ridiculously fast-moving opposition and piling the pressure on the Trinity back line when going forwards.

Champagne moment was similarly clear cut – fantastic stick skills, a perfectly timed run through two backs, remarkable patience, calm and fast hands to bamboozle the keeper into over committing before slotting it past him – great work Max!

Big thanks to Doc Watson for taking the time out from injury recovery to run the subs and support – along with the home fans!

As trailed, maximum effort for availability next week please – brownie points to be cashed in (I find their negative interest rate appalling anyway), the delight of a 0930 push back away at Cranleigh… perhaps a little frost dependent….