Men’s 5th 0 Bury St Edmunds 3rds 5
Often you write a match report enthusiastically to celebrate a victory. Rarely if ever do you feel motivated to write about a 5-0 defeat but Magpies 5ths result on Saturday does deserve some telling because for 50 minutes not only did we hold top of the league Bury at bay we made several good chances and a 3-1 advantage before the storm would not have been an unfair reflection. One efficiently taken pc and one contestable goal gave Bury, much to their relief, the ability to prise open our team with the eventual flourish of goals against a well worked defence and midfield.
The game started tentatively and Magpies, with the bare 11 comprising four over 50s, six under 16s and only one – new to hockey this year – who could be said to be in their prime, were defending for the first ten minutes whilst we introduced ourselves to each other. Our defence held strong with Seth doing a mighty CH/Sweeper job – in which he continued throughout – in tandem with Popey who probably made more decent hits in one match than his entire career. Jamie, left and Dolly, officially at Right Back snuffled out any attack and recycled efficiently. After an initial 10 minute period of pressure Magpies moved into the ascendancy and could easily have got a couple of goals with our midfield of Jon and Andy putting in a double shift and Saul and pacy Lewis giving Bury real headaches. Jack on the left deserves special mention both having listened to and applied the pre match team talk to the letter generating many good attacking forays balanced similarly by Morgan on right. But for a pc and a couple of defensive lapses, James in goal was hardly troubled for the rest of the first half.
No doubt expecting a comfortable win, the half time 0-0 was clearly a surprise to Bury and they came out strong in the second half clearly determined to try a more direct approach and get early balls into the D. We held out for around 15 minutes but inevitably we eventually conceded only our 2nd pc of the match which, whilst not the most brutal we’ve faced from a Bury side, was despatched efficiently. Even then we were still in the game but the second came as a body blow.
With elder statesmen of the team starting to flag mistakes were creeping in and Bury in the ascendancy took their opportunity, albeit with the suspicion of a helpful foot.
The ensuing collapse in the last 10 minutes followed with Bury ruthlessly and deservedly exploiting our loss in energy and positional discipline.
The purpose of the 5ths is to bring up the youngsters from junior to senior hockey and the positives of that first 50 minutes and just how well we played against a very good Bury side cannot go unrewarded in future.
Next week it’s Lowestoft Railway 2nds.
Popey