This fixture saw the first time since September 2019 that Romford had been in a position to field a team against the 6s, albeit with only 9 players. In the lead up to the weekend, the call went out for any volunteers to play for the opposing team and with Phil Herrtage having departed for ‘greener pastures’, Hoppo stepped up with Calen and Alex sharing a half each in white.
The 6s took the opportunity of the game being non-competitive against a ‘development’ side to give some experience to some of the younger members of the club. We did, however, boast a lot of experience in defence, with Simon Preece shepherding the youthful midfield and Steve Holmes leading the line up front. While Romford call themselves a development side, I’m not entirely sure what they are developing as their whole team would been around to see in the Millenium. With some of the language being traded between their own players, perhaps it is their communication skills?
The early phases of the encounter were evenly matched, though neither side could make the possession count. The deadlock was broken midway through the first half when Steve Holmes went unnoticed by the defence in the D. A pass from the midfield bisected their centre backs leaving just the keeper to beat. I would love to tell you that the goal came from a crisp well hit shot into the bottom corner, this could not be further from the truth. The shot was mishit and straight at the keeper but this seemed to be the keepers first time in pads as he attempted to kick the balls clear as if it were a football and it rolled under his foot into the goal. The lead was doubled shortly after this as Ged Williams, celebrating his birthday, hit the ball into the D with Jonny nicking a touch to send the ball past the keeper.
Despite Romford threatening with several promising attacks, the agility of Leo in goal kept them at bay and the home team went into the break with a two goal lead. The message from Tim a Dave Ashworth was positive and constructive, exactly what you would want to hear for development. The same could not be said for Romford, with the language used more akin to a Deadpool movie than a hockey pitch.
Romford started the second half well and managed to pull a goal back from a penalty corner deflected over the prone Leo. Despite the disappointment of conceding, the side upped their game and went back on the offensive, winning a string of penalty corners of their own with Steve once again finding the back of the net from one of them with a much better strike this time. The second half goal tally and the fourth goal of the day was skillfully tucked away by Jonny as his pirouette wrong footed the keeper.
The second half also saw several cards issued to Romford players, largely for arguing with the umpires but the pick of the bunch had to be a horrendous stick tackle Mark
‘Lumberjack’ Hopkins on a defenceless 13 year old. Not learning his lesson, he narrowly avoided a yellow for a second challenge mere seconds after returning to the field.
All said, this was a tremendous result for such a young side, with all of the lads doing both themselves and the club proud with the performance. I echo what Ali Lindsay said after that the game that ‘the future is bright’ and many of you can imagine how Steve and Tim responded to that.
Goals: Steve (2), Jonny (2)