It was another tough week in the Premier League for Holcombe’s first teams.

After the dominant displays we had at Reading last weekend, both squads were right where we wanted to be in the early stages going into Game 3. With only 18 regular season games, a bad month or few weeks can make or break a season in the same way that a few good weeks can save it.

Saturday brought with it different challenges for both squads but remained tough nonetheless.

The women had their first big road trip up to Leicester. As if the travel wasn’t enough, Leicester secured maximum points against Holcombe last season and pose a significant threat, particularly at home.

For us, we had the reigning champions to face at Holcombe Park. Although we took maximum points off them in the regular season last term, they beat us in the post-season, subsequently winning the final on penalties and securing a pass to the last 16 of Europe.

Naturally, we had some demons to quash.

The Women welcomed another new player this week; Florencia Zappulla of Argentina arrived on Wednesday and impressed in her first session that evening. With native companion Aldana Lovagnini, the squad has a real mix of experience and styles of play that will only benefit them as the season wears on.

On Saturday afternoon the girls just kept on rolling.

A strong and professional 2-0 away win was everything you’d want it to be against a tough side. The discipline to maintain a clean sheet at any level of hockey is commendable, let alone in the Premier League. With returning players and another new 16 to play together, the result gives the girls real confidence going in to this weekend as they return home to what will be a packed crowd on Saturday night.

The big positive for the group this year is their ability to capitalise on their dominance through scoring goals. I’m sure they won’t mind me saying it was critical at times last season where simply sticking the ball in the goal was the only piece of the jigsaw missing.

With 9 goals in 3 games and conceding just 4 so far this campaign, the picture is coming together.

A return to Holcombe Park this weekend against newcomers Slough will be a great gauge of how the girls can apply themselves week-to-week. Consistency is paramount across any sporting season and the women have a great platform on which to build.

For us however, this weekend sucked.

There can be no other way to describe it.

The most frustrating thing coming off the back of a loss is feeling like you could have done more and by and large, to a man and as a collective, we could have done.

We didn’t play as we normally do; we didn’t hit our bases, we didn’t make the right plays and there were critical core skill breakdowns.

We can’t expect to win games when we play like that but last year we always found a way. We’d grab points from every possible position and at times that was when we’d have no right to do so; we’d grab those points in the final play and get out of there as quickly as we can.

We failed to do that one time last year. It just so happened to be the Championship Play-off Semi Final against the same side that made us pay on Saturday night.

Now that sucks.

We were able to get back out on the pitch on Sunday to train as a group ahead of our European debut this week. The reigning European Champions that await us on Saturday night warmed up with a 10-0 win in the Dutch League yesterday; we can’t sit around feeling sorry for ourselves for long.

If truth be told, we’d have taken 6 points from the tough opening 3 fixtures we had before Europe.

The preparation on the whole has been great for us and if anything, Saturday night is a positive. The reigning Champions at full strength managed to just beat us by a goal when we were off the pace.

Tasting a loss the week before the biggest games in the squads’ history is only going to spur us on.

We’re not a side that lacks confidence. A number of our squad have EHL experience already and we can’t wait to get started against AWF Poznan on Friday night.

With only one team going through from the group to the KO16 there’s a lot riding on both games.

You can catch the games live on www.ehlhockey.tv this week. We face AWF Poznan of Poland at 17.30 on Friday evening and then SV Kampong of Holland at 18.30 on Saturday night.

With both sides facing a mixed week of results, how the squads respond collectively this next week in training will go a long way towards determining the next set of results for the club.

To quote the latest Netflix phenomenon to take over my free time;

“Always forward. Forward Always.”

 

Image Credit: Lawrence King

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