Sonning 1XI 2 - 3 Slough 1XI

It’s a little known fact that Slough is bidding for the 2017 city of the year and the corner stone to the bid is their men's hockey section. Slough has a rich heritage of fine architecture, strong commerce, excellent infrastructure and transport links combined with areas of outstanding natural beauty and it will come as no surprise that this much sought after accolade of ‘city of the year’ would be Slough’s much sought after crown jewel.
 
Slough HC has had a history of strong performance in an ever improving MBBO Division 2 and are a side not to underestimate. None more so than this season where the club seems more settled, more disciplined and following a strong summer of recruitment, stronger than previous seasons. On a very mild, sun drench autumnal afternoon a clash with Sonning HC would prove to be a good test for both sides.
 
With fixtures running slightly behind both teams were starved of full warm up time on the pitch and come the first whistle it was Sonning who responded the brightest. Putting Slough under immediate pressure and playing them at a tempo that they had not been accustomed to in their previous weekends fixture seemed to have them on the back foot and Sonning wasted no time in breaking the deadlock, putting the Slough defence under pressure and chasing up a lose pass for Matt ‘The scythe’ Poulton to slide the ball under a helpless goalkeeper. The restart saw a more even contest begin and it is fair to say that Slough are not short of individual quality. The Slough midfield started to see a little more of the ball and some excellent leads from the forward started to probe for weaknesses in the Sonning defence. Excellent distribution from the Slough defence and speed of thought through the middle allowed several promising counter-attacks and it wasn’t long before one of Sonning HC’s biggest weaknesses was discovered… Matt ‘DOD’ Sloper failed to pick up or tackle his man allowing a quick ball into the circle to be pushed home first time, the kind of goal that a forward loves to score as they have so little to do to claim the glory.
 
The contest resumed and Sonning dug in, worked hard and continued to dictate the tempo, relentless in pursuit of the ball and of glory. The see-saw of power drifting back in Sonning's favour with several circle penetrations and short corner opportunities starting to reflect the strength of the team in gold. 8 minutes before half time, Sonning HCs very own golden boy, James ‘Jimmy’ Manser found himself on the end of a brilliantly worked break and coolly slotted the ball home.
 
Sonning had the chance to put further scores on the board with the best opportunity coming from a well worked counter attack as Sonning bravely defended a short corner. The ball quickly released down the left moved high to the Slough D for only a top class save from the goal keeper to deny Matt Poulton his brace.
 
The second half was attritional with both sides showing their preference to keep the tempo high. With a couple of errors creeping into both sides games chances were plenty but it was Slough who converted a controversial penalty corner and seemed the more settled of the sides. At 2 goals a piece it was clear that this was going to be a close finish and when Slough began to use their midfield to run the ball the game changed in complexion, leaving tiring Sonning defenders to work back for the ball but when in possession the home team had huge amounts of space to play through. With 10 minutes to play a Slough break found Sam ‘JT’ Terry flat footed and needing to chase his man back to goal, he was within metres when he opted to try and use his head to complete the tackle, diving like a salmon on its upstream migration. Sadly JT came nowhere near making a tackle leaving his team mates overloaded and momentarily unable to hold the Slough counter. A couple of well worked passes into the circle and Slough found themselves ahead for the first time in the game.
 
The final 10 minutes were adrenalin filled and it was Sonning chasing the game, setting up high and putting every Sough pass and touch under pressure. There were several half chances that fell in and around the circle but the Slough defence stood strong. Slough celebrated a hard fought victory and instantly recognized the enormity of the result. Sonning were left feeling that this was a game that they should have taken at least a point from and will be looking for at least that in the return fixture.
 
Slough really have found some additional strength this year with notable players in the midfield able to carry the ball and distribute in a way that will control many of the games that they play this year. Their forward line is ever willing to make the running for the team and they have the character to unsettle clubs throughout this league. And so it is that Slough may well have moved one step closer to being awarded city of the year. All of us at Sonning HC wish Slough well in their bid but will be making every effort in the return fixture to rain on the Slough parade.

Written by Neil "Percy" Pursell