Sonning Men’s 1’s show resilience to overcome Berkhamsted

A miserable day in a miserable location saw Sonning stray far too close to Tring in order to play Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead.

After a warm up in a glorified quarry, the game didn’t start too well for the Men’s 1s. A relatively lacklustre first half performance came through with both sides creating chances and B&H controlling more than we hoped for.

Our frustrations culminated with Huw Thomas, who decided to blow the opposition away with the classic ‘let em know you’re there’ tackle one of their unsuspecting players. B&H tried their hardest to get the vice captain a card for his actions but the umpires believed Huw when he said ‘I’m not a dirty player, I’m just a Donkey’. First half ends 0-0 with 22 players on the pitch.

The second half started after a calm, composed team talk from new Captain Toby Allday- Brunch asking for us to take control of the game. Clearly the defence weren’t listening however, as B&H snuck one through and scored. 0-1 B&H (insert rolling eyes emoji here). The kickstart we needed came from Alex Stewart who heroically copped a lifted ball on the knee. This tactical genius meant he had to be taken off to help coordinate the subs bench. A fire was now lit in Rob Van De Beek and Jordan Manning to step up and take matters into their own hands resulting in our first goal. 1-1.

The flood gates opened at this point with four successive goals coming to Sonning including an impressive overhead finish from Jimmy Manser. The true moment of the game, however, came towards the end with a hugely selfless assist from Huw Thomas to set up Jimmy Manser’s perfect hattrick at the back post. Truly this assist was a glorious honour to behold and would have brought a tear to Coach Kali’s eyes. Labouring Donkey no more, Huw Thomas had transformed into a Shire Horse Stallion of Hockey… until he hit a reversey in the last play of the game which hit Ed Williamson straight on the hip. A testament of the nickname ‘Lionel Heskey’ he remains.

The game finished 5-1 seeing Sonning go top of the table after Reading doing us a favour over Abingdon. Next week, we play Reading ourselves to try and keep our place at the top.

Goals: Jimmy Manser x3; Jordan Manning x2

Mom: Jimmy Manser (hattrick hero)
Dod: Huw Thomas (many reasons)