Sonning Legends O45s team had a resounding win against Amersham and Chalfont on Sunday in their first round match in Tier 2 of the EH Investec O45s Cup.

Given how late in December this fixture was, and the fact that some of the athletes had been warming up at the 'Ning Christmas Party the night/morning before, it was a Christmas miracle that we managed to get such a great squad out.

Once again the Legends had representation from every team in the ladies section, with everyone playing their part in what was a highly attractive game of hockey which included some passages of play worthy of a smattering of applause.

It took little more than a few minutes for Sonning to win their first short corner. No top of the D negotiations required - Pikey smacked it onto the backboard. 1-0.

Sonning established themselves with the majority of possession. A lovely pass from CJ at the top of the diamond found Coops in the corner who wriggled into the D and crossed into the path of an incoming Annie Oke who bashed it in.

Goal 3 was Annie Oke again, powering it in from a short corner strike.

The next goal was a quite sublime team goal - debutant Jules Cook to Sue Patterson who beat a player and placed an inch-perfect pass onto CJ's stick, who put it on a silver platter in the D for player of the game Stacey Jenkins to put away with aplomb. 4-0 at half time.

Amersham got back into the game a little in the second half and scored a well worked goal past Sue Hicks who may have been more than a little cold in goal.

It seems that Jo Thubron was not too happy with this situation and managed to convince the umpires (who were EXCELLENT) that she didn't mean to deliberately wipe out the oppo's left back while walking backwards, holding the ball, chatting on about where to take a free hit. Muff of the match - Jo Thubron. Hilarious.

Not long after, another short corner fell to Mei Petch who was not to be denied and to top the game off, Legends newbie Jules Cook - who had played every position bar GK - scored the final goal after yet another flowing sequence of play.

This was a great game, true to the spirit of Legendary hockey: never giving up, playing for each other, even when you've been bullied into it (Bridge).

Thanks so much to our supporters coming out on such a cold day - we really appreciate this!

Thanks also to our exceptional management team Willers, Miche, Captain Annie Oke and back office staff Coops.

Our excellent team:

Sue 'icicle' Hicks
Jo 'afters' Thubron - Muff
Racy Stacey Jenkins - Player
Bridge 'open goal' the Fridge
Annie 'jug avoidance' Oke
C 'coral or carol?' J
Lynne 'dirty stop out' Carpentier
Windmill Coops
Mei 'where did that skill come from' Petch
Galli 'Kelly' Bird
Jules 'the kid' Cook
Lars 'no mercy' Gallagher
Lynne 'Leg' Goddard
Katherine 'says it how it is' Pike
Sue 'better than Katie' Patterson

The next fixture is 19 January 2020. Details TBC. See you there!