1st Team vs Finchfield 3

Old Wulfs resumed after the half-term break against a Finchfield 3rds team that are looking strong, with 3 wins from the first 4 games of the season. They arrived early at WGS, and might have been expecting an easy 3 points. Old Wulfs 1sts hadn't read the script, and were not going to be intimidated.

Having won the toss, Old Wulfs chose to take the push back, and made a bright start. We surprised Finches with good movement, good recycling the ball and possession, and quickly creating some chances. Picking up from the last outing at Bloxwich, Old Wulfs put the pressure on the opposition all over the pitch, forcing errors and not allowing them to get into the game. After several good opportunities, Mid-way through the half, the great movement and passing paid off with the ball finding Sam in a great position in the D, who made no mistake with a fine finish to give Old Wulfs the advantage.

Unsurprisingly the goal kicked Finches into action and they began to grow into the game. They squeezed Old Wulfs with a very high press on every defensive free hit, boxing Old Wulfs in and forcing errors themselves. Finches won a couple PCs, which were well defended, but the pressuring was building. Just before half-time, some more defensive heroics saw the ball pinging around the D with a great block on the line from Daz... unfortunately it was his body and not stick. Penalty stroke awarded. Colin put in a great dive, but was sent the wrong way.

All square at the break.

Both teams came out for a high tempo 2nd half. The play became a bit more open, with some end-to-end hockey. Early on, Si pounced on a ball into the D to restore the lead to Old Wulfs. However, from the restart Finches were in control, and quickly restored parity.

Wulfs were still struggling under the high press and more mistakes crept in. The game became a bit scrappy, and Finches had a lot of possession and probably the better of the half. However, we stuck it, created some good break-aways, and it felt like the goal would come. Counter attack looked like the best option, and Old Wulfs had a good outlet down the wings several times. But Finches were solid in defence and hard to get past for clear goal-scoring chances. With 10 to go, we worked a move down the right, with Andy on the spot to finish off and give Old Wulfs the lead once more.

Last 10 and even affair, with further forays into each others' circles. Some great PC defence kept Wulfs in it, and a narrow miss from the Finches no.27 will have been agonising for them.

In the end, Old Wulfs hung on and earned another win. Another great performance and showing we can stand on our own two feet in this division. When Wulfs kept the ball and executed the simple things, we looked good. At times, we got boxed in and perhaps saw a bit less movement when we were under pressure, but we stuck at it. Sadly, we again saw Daz go off with a hamstring niggle, and Minty with a calf strain. We had some great play in attack and defence and lots of candidates for MOTM, but Archie gets the vote this week and deservedly so. He made important defensive contributions, help keep their best player quiet, and seemed to be everywhere on the pitch!

Another performance to build on and take confidence from.