A Hallowe'en Horror Story

Horley Mens Seconds had a squad of 14, including new recruit Alex; and Robbie making a welcome reappearance. TMW had a relatively youthful side including at least four schoolboys. HHC also had to face the strong sun for the first half.

The game was very even for the first 15 minutes, then TMW were awarded a penalty corner (by the opposition umpire, who was covering the opposite end of the pitch). A powerful shot squeezed under Sam Tester's feet. Shortly afterwards, Scott sustained a painful blow to the top of his foot, and had to take a breather. Then, from open play, just inside our D, TMW shot powerfully towards goal. An unfortunate deflection via Richard completely wrong footed Sam, and we were 2-0 down.

Just before half time, Paul pulled a calf muscle and could take no further part. Worse was to follow in the 2nd half. TMW were awarded another penalty corner, from which they scored again. In the process, Sam sustained an injury to his anterior cruciate ligament and he, too, took no further part. Hugh stepped in as kicking back.

Meanwhile our forwards were beginning to look far more threatening, with Scott making light of his injury, and a well crafted move led to a well deserved goal by our captain, Chris. Sadly any thoughts that we could fight back from 3-1 down were quickly dashed, as another penalty corner led to another goal for TMW, midway through the second half. Then Peter sustained a calf injury and he, too, had to leave the pitch. Both sides looked threatening on the break, but it was our opponents who concluded the scoring, with a powerful shot blasted from just inside our D. Like last week, the final score did not truly reflect the run of play, and we can consider ourselves unlucky with the spate of injuries.

Tony