Sonning Take Top Spot

Since the days of Copernicus man has dreamed of a top of the table clash between Abingdon and Sonning. On this historic day (January 27th) we would like to thank England Hockey for making this dream come true. The stage was set – Luke Wise had taken his pre-workout and had been training his elegant salmon dives all week in preparation for the game.

The game started in true Sonning fashion where the umpires pointed out that Jordan and I had the same number on our shirts, which led Jordan to using tape on his shirt to impersonate the number 1 – Village hockey at it’s finest.
We finally got started with both teams having chances on goal, with Abingdon winning many short corners but without being able to convert. On the Sonning front there were more chances from open play, one of which being converted by our very own Welsh ‘stallion’ Huw Thomas with a strike from the top of the D from a rebound – 1-0 Sonning. The half continued with the same end to end chances from both teams, but no other goals were scored before the half time whistle was blown.

The Second half started in a very similar way to the first with chances coming for both teams, Sonning’s chances mainly coming on the counter-attack due to the full court press that Abindgon had adopted during the second half. Sonning stayed strong with many saves coming from their esteemed Captain and Goalkeeper Benjamin Sullivan which kept Abindgon off the score sheet. Sonning were able to double their lead through a delightful lob over the keeper during a 1 on 1 by Sonning’s very own resident puppy sitter, Jimmy Manser.
As the game entered the last 10 minutes discipline started to waiver for both sides with green cards being given to players on both sides, during which Abindgon finally broke the deadlock from a short corner with a straight strike in to the bottom corner.
Following this Abindon applied intense pressure to try and get the equalizer, but Sonning held strong until the final whistle – final score Abindgon 1 – 2 Sonning. With this win Sonning go 2 points at the top of the table, but with Abingdon having 1 game in hand on Sonning.
I would like to thank the umpires for umpiring us, the fans for trying to chirp me during the game, and for the lovely dominos pizza at the end.