Two Guildford teams played two Surbiton teams on Sunday. Below is how the Lightning Bolts fared...
Team:
- Harry C
- Henry
- James D
- Alfie
- Edward C
- Patrick
- Ewan
- Oscar DG
We played 2 mixed Surbiton teams on Sunday; the 'Lightening Bolts' started the first game against the other Guildford side as a warm up while the Surbiton players eventually turned up. This was a great way to get the boys practicing the 3 golden rules that were outlined…..”Velcro marking, ball speed and to keep going wide and not down the centre”.
We played 3 x 15 minutes games and there was some fantastic play from the boys as they all played in different positions across the park. I did not record the goal scorers for the games (as I was trying to umpire and coach at the same time) but I know the results were 1-0 against Surbiton 1 (WON), 1-0 against Surbiton 2 (WON) and we lost the last game against the Guildford C side 0-4.
- Harry C played as a kicking back and was the man of the day with some fantastic saves with feet and stick to hold the first 2 games to a clean sheet.
- The passing from the 16’s was a little weak and only as the team got a bit more confidence did we get the ball out wide and up front. Edward, Alfie and Oscar all had turns taking the 16’s and by the 3rd game we all had the confidence to find the team mates and begin the movement.
- Henry, Ewan and Patrick made up the midfield through all the games and all performed well to keep the ball wide and allow some fast ball movement towards the striker.
- James D was the striker up front and got into some good positions and then tried the reverse stick shot which we all know is great when it works but can really mess up the whole movement when you give the ball straight back to the opposition and they run up the pitch and shoot at our poor kicking back (Harry!) in goal.
- I was very pleased to see Alfie get some composure on the ball and make some midfield runs with the ball on his stick and show that he is getting more confidence on the ball – KEEP THIS UP ALFIE!).
- Ewan was fortunate to have a tooth fall out in the first 5 minutes of the game and I hope he passed this prized possession to his mum for the Tooth Fairy to arrive that evening!!!! :-)
- Henry was one of the players that really got stuck in and challenged for the ball which is great to see as it shows the opposition who is the boss on the pitch!
- Harry was the “man of the day” for being so good to the team by staying kicking back for all 3 games and playing so well and saved us 5-6 goals where the Surbiton striker left the pitch in tears after Harry made 3-4 point blank saves in a row and kept GHC as the eventual winners in the game. Thanks Harry!!!
It was great to see the boys come off the pitch with smiles on their faces and another successful day of fun hockey!
Brian | 
