TCS A 11 (eleven) v 3 East Devon D

The team talk started with a word of warning that this game could be more difficult than previous encounters as the week before East Devon D had pushed the other East Devon team all the way being narrowly defeated 1-0 by their high flying opponents. These words were heeded over the first 15 minutes as both sides made nervous attacks failing with the clinical touches. However the deadlock and floodgates were eventually broken after a slick move through the TCS middle worked its way to Sam Woody Woodland who found 'Angry' Dan Adams in space in his new forward role who got a perfect touch past the keeper for his second goal of the season.

After this TCS realised that the cautious approach was not necessary and the all-out attacking hockey began. Another perfect through ball from Conor Neal left skipper Carter in lots of space eventually picking a pass for Woody to sweep the ball in from 7 yards out. Skipper then got on the score sheet himself finding a wide open post on a strike from a short corner passed out by 'bionic' Bill Horner. Roles reversed for the fourth goal as a ball slid through found 'Bionic' Bill in acres of space who took his time a passed the ball into an empty goal.

Following this the game evened out again and East Devon found some luck attacking the TCS goal. Eventually the ball was struck into the TCS D and the interestingly hair-styled Alex Bartram decided to use the back of his stick (just because you pay for both sides...) leading to a short corner which was executed with all the flair and grace usually associated with a GB ice hockey game. The lack of pace, stopping ability and direction didn't matter as angry Dan decided he had better kick the ball into his own goal to make a game of it... well done Danny boy.

Angry Dan then finished the half off by ghosting around (apparently) 17 or 18 players and smashing the ball into the net meaning 5-1 at half time and a great and happy team talk.

The second half was a haze of goals and cards and I'm not fully sure of the order so in summary - 3 more goals for skipper Carter one more for Bionic Bill and two goals for Jason ''let me score so I can impress my girlfriend'' Harris with numerous assists from DJ Woody, Skipper Carter and Angry Dan. A green for Angry Dan and Skipper Carter followed by a yellow for Conor Neal for what was described as "the worst tackle she'd ever seen" (although this was a quote from his good lady who was not at the game - leave it to you to decide what tackle she meant). Two goals for East Devon as TCS took a mid-half nap.

Both man of the match and DOTD went to Angry Dan for a great first performance higher up the field - despite crippling cramp later in the day.

Player ratings (provided by Jo who apparently actually saw some of the action this week - that's right the 2s play hockey worth watching at last)

Joe Haynes - 7 - Impressive performance but you can't be beat by a south-east 3 drag flick.
Julian Brown - 8 - Interesting tackling choices and strange cheerleading/braveheart shouting but generally great.
'Psycho' Steve Grenfell - 8 - Effective and authoritative.
Alex 'Bieber' Bartram - 7 - Gave away a short for the first but mostly good.
Evan Tarr - 9 - Strong tackling and a clearance off the.
Karl Patrick 'from tut north' - 8 - Great play from the backline - more shooting practise needed.
Jason 'Casanova' Harris - 8 - Good solid performance but trying to impress your lady means not squandering the hat-trick.
Jack Mugglington-Brownling - 8 - Solid passing and controlled the right wing and mid-field well.
'Angry' Dan Adams - 9 - 2 goal, 2 assists, a green card, motm, dotd and a partridge in a pear tree.
Conor Neal - 9 - Perfectly controlled game from the centre - well taken yellow card when the team needed it.
'Bionic' Bill Horner - 8 - Consistent as always from Bill - left wing controlled well.
'Skipper' Andy Carter - 10 - Four goals, three assists, a green card supporting his stricken player - all around hero.
'DJ' Sam Woodland - 10 - Great performance from the youngster who told the ones where to go so that he could dominate - for the twos.