Match Report

Match : 1st XI v P.S.N.I
Date : 2008-11-08
Venue : A
Score : 0-3
Scorers :

By Kriss Leslie

East had a tough game against PSNI on Saturday and were looking for a good performance after the heartbreak of the previous week against Ballymena.

By half time PSNI were 2-0 up but East were actually playing ok, apart from the two soft goals that were conceeded. Jamesy and Leon having chances to score, and the team in general playing some good hockey.

At half time we adressed some issues regarding our press, and emphasised that in order not to give away soft short corners we must get our sticks down low and work our feet.

The second half started and East hit on the counter attack for the first few minutes, whilst soaking up some pressure. PSNI then unfortunatley got their third goal, another soft one at that.

However, East continued to try and play neat hockey as the wind and rain got heavier and heavier, eventually getting SO HEAVY the umpires blew their whistles, indicating that it was time to run for cover!!!

During the pause, after much consideration, it was decided that in the interests of health and safety, the match would be called off with about 20 minutes remaining. The umpires lack of ability to see in the rain, the increasing amount of players slipping and the players lack of grip on their sticks, was unfortunatley too much to allow the game to continue.

Aside from the scoreline East played some pretty good hockey at times. We are improving game by game, and as I stress all the time, are slowly getting there. Next week is Saintfield at home, on our own surface. We played them on their gravel pitch in the Linden Cup at the start of the season, and it certaintly gave them an advantage. Now that its at Paisley, we can’t use the old excuse of "oh-but it was on gravel".

Chris Blaney
Thom Russell
Graeme Reid
Daniel Hume
Paul Fraser
Ronnie McDowell
Kriss Leslie
Leon Currie
Stevie Cummins
Jamesy Greer
Alan Russell
Johnny Orr
David Tumilson