Men’s O35C vs Milnerton – 20 April 2024

20 April 2024
Pinelands  Vs Milnerton (5-0 Win)

#Therulesistherules
The first away game of the season was a trek out to Table View to play against Milnerton. Fortunately most of us were able to navigate safe passage and arrive on time. Milnerton has traditionally been a prickly fixture for our side over the years, Chris can offer more details all the way from Texas if needed … This time though
we were lining up against a new look Milnerton…. another Mixed team!
We welcomed new keeper Siv to the team, with Derek standing by (sans kit) on the side lines to offer advice, the rest of the players were allocated their familiar positions. As has been the case in the previous weeks we were again able to open the scoring when Tim ran his way through their defence to slot the opener. This was followed by a well work string of passes from the halves to the links to the forwards with Hollies able to nail our 2nd goal before the end of the 1st chukka. True to form things got a little more heated in the 2nd chukka when Luc “politely” questioned their umpire why there was no P flick awarded for a Luis Suarez type handball on the line to deny us a scoring opportunity, This produced a heated lecture
from the Millies players on the rules of Masters hockey. From the resulting short corner Luc summoned his inner Jean Claude van Damme to ensure that he had the final say by getting the last touch on the ball and score our 3rd goal! Luigi was again on hand for another short corner to ensure that we went 4-0 up by half time.
While Siv was pretty much a spectator for most of the 1st half, he was called into action in the 3rd chukka with a great save to keep things on track for a clean sheet. With tiring legs on both sides, mistakes were made without either team gaining an advantage with no goals in the 3rd chukka. The last chukka saw Stuu determined to get in on the action by lying down in open space on their P spot in order to slap in the bonus point goal. While there may have been a bit of niggle on the park, in true Masters spirit no hard feeling were carried over to the beers at the Millies Clubhouse where we were kept amused by the seasoned Milles fines master Tim Rowley!

Final match card score: Pinelands 5 – Milnerton Mixed 0
Pinelands goal-scorer(s): Tim, Hollies, Luc, Luigi, Stuu

Player of the Week
Although he did not end up on the score sheet, Kyle was unanimously nominated as MOM. Our Kyle and Tim combination in the midfield certainly constitutes a diamond that could cut through any defences!
Wally of the Week
Has to go to a usual suspect….Their Umpire! For reaching into his pocket in an attempt to pull out a card while Luc was merely attempting to apologise for not being aware of the finer nuances of Masters Mixed hockey rules…. Go figure!

KPIs
Match niggle-rating: 6/10 – we have seen worse before, but thanks to the ladies in their team things were toned down a bit, even though Luc found himself falsely accused of mixed being too aggressive right at the end of the match.
Our Basics: 8/10 – again a good showing with an improvement on the short passes which brought about 4 of the 5 goals.

Goal‐scorers Chart – Winter League 2024
Jarryd 3
Callum 2
Trevor 2
Luigi 2
Skid 1
Tim 1
Hollies 1
Luc 1
Stuu 1