If truth be told, I think people would have been naïve to expect vintage performances anywhere in the league this past weekend.
Like most, Holcombe has been susceptible to the cold and as such, we haven’t had anywhere near the preparation required to perform to our best on Saturday night.
The women had a couple of training sessions and a friendly with Eastern Conference Wimbledon whereas the men had 2 training sessions and that was it.
No friendlies. No warm-ups.
When you consider that the last league game was played at the back-end of November then the whole concept of cramming in the second half of the season to finish before the end of March could well do with pondering a justifiable defence.
However, with the focus well and truly on an ever-excitable Kent Derby double-header with Canterbury, the bottom line is we still had to step-up.
Everyone in the league was in the same boat with preparations and a training session here or there would never make the difference. All it served in doing was lowering the quality across the board as players looked to blow out the cobwebs that settled in along with the frost.
The girls are pretty frustrated after Saturday. With East Grinstead and Surbiton playing each other, ground could have been regained on at least one of them with a positive result. As it turns out, we’ve taken a point off the gap to second with a journey to Saint Hill next weekend to narrow it further. In the long game, that makes it a good point. In the immediate aftermath however, it’s a missed opportunity.
We certainly feel we had the better of the chances and that always makes it a difficult process from which to immediately see the bigger picture. It’s a massively tight group now sitting around the 3rd/4th/5th positions which someone will ultimately miss out on. Playing two sides in that mix within the next fortnight gives a fantastic opportunity to gain ground and create distance between a chasing pack if we apply ourselves well to play on the road.
On the men’s side, we ran hard on Saturday. I can’t honestly sit here and say that missing Lewers, Middleton, Ames, Ward, Robinson and Steadman didn’t affect us.
Those first 5 have been to 9 Olympics between them. It would decimate any squad in the country to lose that number of players in one go and as such, we had to run our minutes with just 13 players.
Ultimately, the quality wasn’t there in the final third and that cost us a chance of the points. Like the girls however, Surbiton drawing with East Grinstead means that no ground was gained by the chasing pack and they too have bunched up round the playoff places.
It’s up to us to stay clear and keep picking up points whilst covering the notable absentees and that is where we collectively step up.
It’s a notion attributable to American sports more than anything but notably pertinent in the current climate.
“When your number’s called; Next Man Up”
@BandurakWriting on Twitter or via www.nickbandurakblog.wordpress.com