Match day 3 saw the 5s welcome Witham 4s to Warners Bridge. Witham were early league leaders having comfortanly won their opening 2 games. We were therefore braced for a challenging match.

On another sunny day we were grateful to have a strong squad which included another teenager, Arran, making his first appearance for the 5s this season.

The game started with Old Boys on the front foot, dominating possession and creating early chances and that remained the pattern for the first half.

The home team playing some great hockey which produced 4 first half goals with 2 great strikes from Nick to open his account for the season and a well worked short corner move (definitely not a mis-hit strike from Elvo) finished off by Simon. Half time came with Old Boys 4 - 1 up after Sampi also got himself onto the score sheet.

The half time team talk reminded the players of how we had started slowly in the 2nd half in our previous games and we couldn't afford to do the same again. Having learned our lessons from those previous games the Old Boys continued to press forward and stayed on the front foot.

We played some lovely hockey and continued to add to the scoreline with Simon completing an excellent hatrick.

The highlight of the match being the 7th goal from another short corner. The 14 year old injector, Calen, fired it in to another 14 year old, Alex, whose strike was deflected in by the 16 year old Arran sprinting in from the right - a great goal again exhibiting the talent within the club's youth set up.

The game finished 7-2 with the victory taking the 5s up the table into 3rd.

A special mention for the umpires as well who kept their cool in the face of constant complaints and moans from the away side.

Match report - Mike
Man of the Match - Simon for his hatrick with Nick close behind
Goals- Simon x3, Nick x2, Samoa and Arran

Thanks to the Rapps for teas (still awaiting Alex’s pasta!)