Busy opening period for the 1st XI

The 1st XI were plunged into action on the second day of term with a fixture against Gt Houghton.  A squad of 21 was bussed over to Daventry to play a ‘game of 3 halves’ in which Mr Long and I were able to assess the variety of talent on display.  The result was 4 goals to 2 in BG’s favour, the goals coming from Rory Bennett (2), Roddy Giles and Charlie Bastable.  The 2 keepers, Mark Kashinskiy and Josh Harris played particularly well, especially considering that neither spent much time in goal last year.

The next match took place at Winchester House where we conceded 3 late goals after looking as though we were going to run our hosts close.  The skipper, Oliver Vartan, was in fine form, RObbie Astin started brightly and Rory Bennett caused the opposition’s defence all sorts of problems on the right flank.  However, Winchester House opened up a 2 - 0 lead before Oliver Robinson netted, following a slick move down the left involving the speedy Charlie Bastable.  With minutes to go, WH scored a third and then 2 more followed to complete a flattering 5 - 1 scoreline.

On Wednesday, Foremarke Hall came to Daventry and left with the spoils, the pattern of the game being similar to the previous one.  At 2 - 1 down, Robinson was denied his second goal by a fine save from the Foremarke keeper and then within a minute we conceded a third goal.  A fourth followed right at the death as Oliver Trotter cleared off our line illegally.  Robinson had a splendid game at centre-forward and Lukas Lakin continued to gain in confidence.

There are a lot of promising signs and our next fixture against Spratton Hall is eagerly awaited.

PJN


Tags: Hockey, Prep, Sport