Won 0-4
Scorers: N/A
MoM: John Ratty Ratcliffe
DoD: John Aikin takes it on the chin
TONY PANAYIDES DIDN’T PLAY
Your correspondent thought he was in luck because when he turned up so had Tony Panayides. Was that immortal line “Tony Panayides also played” to be inscribed in a Friars report? Alas no, he had turned up with a hockey stick for our non-playing manager Phil Dowling but he didn’t manage to sub himself on so neither Tony nor Phil Played.
Still… onto the hockey and the purpose of the day. Playing joint top of the table Old Bordenians was always going to be tough and they beat us in their professional warm up routine and that is the way it continued when the game started. 3-0 up at half time was possibly slightly flattering for the opposition as the Friars had some chances of their own, albeit fleetingly and also difficult ones. But the biggest problem was the number of free hits conceded from poor tackling, obstruction, hitting straight into the D, , and other matters eg Mr Grumpy being very grumpy, passing to the opposition etc. Even a green card was awarded to Aikin J though Green M was on best behaviour. The Friars seemed to have collectively got out of bed on the wrong side and it showed.
However after Brian’s regular drug injection at half time – the usual jaffa cake – the second half saw Friars play a lot better. Old Bordenians only added one to their score and several short corners were kept out by GK Paul Donovan including one outstanding save (see video attached of Paul in action or the link https://twitter.com/i/status/1193449057689231366 or the video attached might work!) as the Friars defence dug in. In mid field John Ratty Ratcliffe became very animated tearing around the pitch snapping at all and sundry which earned him Man of The Match. It was almost home from home for Farmer Geoff and his prize winning cauliflowers on a muddy pitch (AW 2) as numerous shots were belted out of the Home 16. Expertly all umpired by the Men in Blue – Paul Spratt and Bob Green – thank you to you both once again.
Squad: SQUAD: Paul Donovan (GK), Tony Jones (C), Brian Hurlow, Geordie Hayward, John Aikin, Nick Scott-Kilvert, Geoff Philpott, Mike Green, Kevin Goulden, Dr. Nick Tan, Chris Ward, Pete Bowell, John Ratcliffe, Jamie Harris. Phil Dowling also attended in an essential managerial capacity though he was speechless for some while. UMPIRES: Bob Green and Paul Spratt.
