The 6s are back, bigger than ever!

The 6s were glad to be back in action, and demonstrated that a summer of good living may have increased the poundage but had done nothing to diminish their enthusiasm for a good run about.

Tim Cowper turned up without his shin pads, so was generously offered a whole keeper’s kit by Captain Ash. Once he figured out how to put the kit on there was no stopping him and no-one who saw his debut performance could believe that this was his first time in the pads. His keeping skills were instinctive and some of his stops were truly sublime, so we’re hoping he forgets his shin pads more often.

Meanwhile out on the field, the game got off to a fast start, with an Oxford side that was noticeably fitter than the 6s stalwarts. Trevor Bennett marked his return to hockey with a cracking reverse stick goal that surprised even him when it went in to put Sonning 1 up.

Oxford weren’t going to go quietly and managed to get a goal past Tim to level the score before Jules Greenaway took the score ahead to make it 2 -1.

After a half time talk in which Ash was too breathless to actually say anything, the 6s returned to the field to show their stuff.

Oxford equalised and it looked as though the game was headed towards an honourable draw, but with a wall of defence from the A team of Ash, Ant and Andrew, and solid running and passing from Jules, John, Lewis and Matthew, the team finally got the ball back into the D where Wes connected to make it 3-2 to Sonning.