With everyone else around the country enjoying a weekend away from league commitments due to England Hockey’s Futures Cup, we had to head north to Loughborough for our game in hand this week.

Those that know me are aware that if I had the choice of going anywhere on a Saturday to play hockey, it probably wouldn’t be there (a statement with the potential to be amended given the standard of post-match teas on offer). I’m guessing that, judging by the length of journey for some guys in our squad in particular, I wasn’t alone in that regard.

We had the whole week off away from hockey – no training, no time together. Guys obviously had the opportunity to get on the pitch if they wanted to in the week but in terms of the collective, sticks stayed very much locked away.

It was never a gesture to insult Loughborough, we knew they could be a dangerous side and are desperate for points, making them and the environment, volatile.

But we had a hard pre-season with some seriously tough games. Follow that with playing the rest of last-season’s top 4 in consecutive weeks before heading out to Europe to face the reigning European Champions and you get the picture.

We were straight back in to league commitments; playing catch-up with the then-leaders until we could play this game in hand. The pressure hasn’t stopped and the physical work had the potential to take its’ toll as we headed into this final stretch before Christmas.

As a result, the start of the game was huge for us on Saturday. If we were slack, we’d give them hope and a Student side with belief has the potential to cause problems for anyone. Going 2-0 up inside 10 minutes and then 3-1 inside 15 really settled us into the game and put any potential worries in that department to bed.

There were no nerves going into the game. We were very aware that we were expected to win that game and therefore we had to step up to ensure that everything was taken care of.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you we were amazing because for the second week running we really weren’t. There’s a double-edged sword that comes with this though. We’ve played the two teams at the bottom of the league away from home and scored 11 goals whilst playing our worst hockey of the season.

From that perspective, we really can’t complain.

By the same token, we conceded two to the best club side in the world out in Ireland. To therefore concede 5 against those same two teams is frustrating to say the least.

We undoubtedly needed the break this past week however and the opportunity to ‘go again’ for this next phase is crucial.

Away from the league however, Sunday was a real shame. In every way.

As a ‘purist’ of the game, I grew up with the HA Cup being huge. It was a massive competition and it meant the world to players and clubs alike. To see it deteriorate to the level I witnessed on Sunday was sad.

With losing the place in Europe for the winners and with England Hockey de-valuing it through ‘banning’ Internationals from playing at times over the past few years, I suppose it was inevitable, but it’s still not good to see. I suppose there’s a degree of innocent naivety on my part that it still remains a massive competition when sadly, it just isn’t anymore.

The game on Sunday should have been a real spectacle for the neutral; akin to the league tie from a fortnight ago. In truth, it turned out to be a bit of a horror show in every department and instantly forgettable.

The only positive from Sunday was that we could rotate the squad, get some more minutes in the legs and we could knock out one of the best squads in the country.

Ultimately though, we’re where we want to be. It didn’t quite work out for us on the continent but domestically, we’re top of the league and we’re through to the next round of the cup. We’re exactly where we wanted to be at the end of October.

We’re back into a series of hard games now going into the Christmas break. We have East Grinstead at home next weekend; a team that are flying high in the league and playing some good hockey. The Sunday game allows us to go harder in training this week and get rid of some of the bad habits accrued from the past three games.

As I write this, our reward for beating Hampstead yesterday is a trip to Beeston, currently 2^nd in the National Premier League, 6 days before we repeat the journey for the league fixture.

What a coincidental draw.

 

@BandurakWriting on Twitter or via www.nickbandurakblog.wordpress.com

Picture supplied by Andy Smith.