Sonning too 'Andy for Bicester

Both Andy Staig and Andy Fry returned from injury for this game and with ‘New’ Andy Barrett playing his second ever hockey game it was fair to say that Sonning looked like a pretty ‘Andy side (that is terrible -PC). Having stood in the cold watching the Reading University side with 8 players and no goalkeeper show us a skills exhibition in an exciting 7-6 loss we were ready to get down to business.

First Half
Sonning pushed back (but more importantly who won the toss? -PC) and were quick to establish themselves in the game. There were several early adventures into Bicester territory including speedy runs from Lewis Cowper and solid play on both wings by Simon Combstock and Tim Cowper and it felt like a goal was coming soon.

Indeed Sonning took the lead about 10 minutes in when Jay Churchill deflected to ball in at the back post from a ball across the D by Jeremy Matheson. Unfortunately the lead was relatively short lived as Bicester, on their first serious attack, won a short corner, which was never fully cleared and eventually they managed to put the ball past "The Ghost Between the Posts" Phil Cooper in goal to equalise. Sonning came fighting back and maintained their repeated attacks on the Bicester goal and were again rewarded when Matt Hill’s reverse stick shot beat the keeper, again assisted by Jeremy Matheson. The boys continued working hard and took the 2-1 lead into the break.

The experienced voices at half time said that we had been playing well, but warned that we were likely to see the oppo picking up their attacking ambitions in the second half.

Second Half
As soon as the half started it was clear that the advice from half time was correct. Sonning found it hard to get and keep the ball at all in the first 5 minutes, with all of the play in the Sonning half. This sustained pressure eventually told and Bicester scored the equaliser.

After this the "Boys in Blue and Gold" seemed to pick up their game and energy and were soon down the right end of the pitch again. Having won a number of short corners in quick succession, and despite what appeared (to the untrained eye) to be the same routine over and over again, Jeremy Matheson scored two goals in short order to put Sonning back into a comfortable position.

Despite Bicester pressurising the ball carrier and set pieces high up the pitch after that, they didn’t pose much threat in front of goal for the rest of the half. In fact, GK Phil Cooper complained of being bored for which credit must go to the defensive strength of Andy Fry, Geraint Thomas and Matt Hill. Sonning could have extended the lead late on when ‘New ‘Andy Barrett found himself one-on-one with the Bicester keeper, but his inexperience told and the keeper managed to make the save.

Analysis
From my perspective it seemed that Sonning were mostly in control of the game, showing by far the most attacking intent. At the same time the team seemed solid defensively with numerous examples of Bicester players surrendering possession when their passing options were all blocked. Perhaps as I become more experienced I will start to see areas for improvement, but for now I congratulate the lads on their second win of the season and a good performance and thank them for taking the time to explain to me where and what I should be doing. I’m already looking forward to next Saturday in a 6th place vs 7th place clash against Oxford.

The Match Report Podcast
Listen to Phil Cooper's, Andy Fry's and Phil Cooper's version of events on the latest episode of the match report here