Match Report

Match : 1st XI v Saintfield
Date : 2008-02-09
Venue : A
Score : 0-7
Scorers :

By Kriss Leslie

It wasn’t looking good on Saturday morning when we only had 10 players and no umpire. Lack of commitment meant that we were struggling to field a team for this away fixture. However, we managed to pull a team together and Saintfield very kindly provided two umpires.

East actually got of to a really good start, dominating the play for the first ten minutes. After this good spell the match became more open and Saintfield began to create chances. East’s failure to take their chances, unlike Saintfield, was the difference at half time with Saintfield 2-0 up.

During the half time talk we all realised that we were playing well, and that on a gravel pitch anything could happen at 2-0. But as usual East started the second half without the drive, determination and concentration that we had in the first half.

Playing well in the first half and then starting the second half poorly has become a trend this season. We must begin to get back into game mode as soon as the second half is starting. If we have a good first half, as we so ofen do, and then start the second half brightly, WE WILL set the tone for the rest of the game, not the opposition. So from next week onwards we will have to look to improve this part of the game.

In the second half, Saintfield got of to the better start on Saturday and found themselves a few more goals in the lead than they were at half-time. If we had got of to a better second half start, we may have got a goal back and the second half may have been a totally different story.

However, for the rest of the second half we began to play a lot better. We played some good hockey at times and managed to create a number of chances, which Leon unfortunatley failed to convert.

Everyone on Saturday played well, apart from our poor second half start which let Saintfield put the game beyond our reach. We played some good hockey at times, on a pitch which its hard to do just that. Our start to the game was rather impressive aswell. I hope that we start next weeks game in a similar fashion, as the start of a game or half can so often decide the outcome of a game.

Lastly, I would like to thank all those who played on Saturday, especially those who drove.