Men's 4XI vs Old Kingstonian M1

Hello everyone, and welcome aboard the the rollercoaster that is the Men’s 4s 25/26 season, and this latest ride was pretty typical. As is the case with most British there park attractions, we arrived early, had to wait to for a load of kids to finish, stood around in some terrible weather, and went home disappointed and hungry.

This wasn’t vintage 4s, despite a large and good-on-paper squad, and we definitely should have taken something out of this game. Yeah, the conditions weren’t great; yeah OKs shouldn’t be hosting games in this league when they don’t have floodlights and it’s massively overcast and you’re still playing at 4pm; and yeah, they might have been the worst umpires we’ve experienced since Merton away last year. But in all honesty there aren’t any excuses for not taking points out of this fixture.

OKs were OK. They had a couple of decent players, and broke quickly and purposefully. Our screens and midfielders were getting pulled around, and they opened up too many gaps down the middle too many times. And although OKs threatened a fair bit, it was only through breakaways. We had most of the possession in the first half, including a shot batted off the line, a couple of penalty corners, and a handful of shots their keeper had to deal with. They probably created about the same, but of course managed to score flukily from their shortie and we didn’t. 0-1 at halftime.

I still maintain having a large squad is sometimes more of a hindrance than a help, and I thought we lost shape and look confused at times with all our subbing, especially in the second half when things really opened up. However we switched the ball nicely, and had a spell where we were absolutely all over them. But we came up blank up front, and while they kept hitting us on the break it was only a matter of time before some other bit of luck fell their way, this time Molly’s new boots blocking a shot on the line. P-flick. 0-2.

By this time we were running out of ideas and energy, and weren’t able to create anything really clear cut. On another day where we make the most of short corners, finish smarter and with more power, and create more chaos and uncertainty in their D, we probably run out 4-2 winners in this game. But given that hockey is a reasonably high scoring game, and we are incapable of keeping clean sheets, we basically need to be able to score three or four a game. And that’s just not happening for us at the moment.

The real killer in this game though - as has been the case with others - is that we simply cannot control the ball well enough. If you can’t kill the ball stone dead, you lose precious time in staving off pressure, you take longer to get your head up and scan, and you can’t get your pass off anywhere near quick enough. OKs were able to do this, while we fumbled passes into touch, let balls dribble under our sticks, and generally looked pretty clueless when running at their back four. There were some bright spots, but the general level of ability and talent didn’t match the names we had down on our teamsheet. We looked a second too slow, a yard off the pace, and shy of pulling the trigger. Unfortunately, if you add up lots of unforced errors, inviting pressure, and giving away half a dozen penalties, and then you don’t score yourself, you’re looking at a guaranteed defeat. The fact that they only scored through two pretty spawny set pieces shows you a) how hard we worked as a defensive unit, and b) how absolutely average they were. So it’s really disappointing to come away from this pretty forgettable and at times times pretty miserable fixture with nothing but a pair of wet y-fronts. They didn’t even serve teas.

Spike

Probably had his best game in an otherwise pretty mediocre year, but it made no difference to the result. Three short corner saves, a diving stop, and a couple of highly enjoyable sliding tackles kept us in the game, and he didn’t give away any silly stuff, or get beaten pointlessly at the top of the D. But they’re CF gave him the eyes for the p-flick and like the bozo he is, Spike fell for it and went the wrong way again. You wonder if he’ll ever learn?

Maj

Pretty competent game from Maj. With limited defensive options in the squad he had to play the full 70, and was slightly mismatched against a very fast, very direct OKs right winger. I actually thought he coped okay: he obviously couldn’t match the lad for pace, or indeed anyone, but he used his experience and some canny positioning to restrict what the guy could do. Maj defended pretty well, and although his passing wasn’t at the races today, he stuck to his assignment in a back three that was often faced with a front three.

Molly

Hit and miss game from the man who still uses the early 90s phrase ‘soap dodger’. There was the usual story of half the long 16s surgically slicing open the oppo midfield, with the other half going straight to their centre forward. Molly started to trust the shorter ball more as the game went on and we stopped losing possession in our own half as a result. Defending was pretty good, although those new boots seem to have some sort of magnet inside them that magically attracts balls when in the D and on the line. A replacement replacement may be required. Plus we were all slightly worried when he called out in the shower “can someone come and hold this for me, please?”

Harry

A return to the 4s after special guest starring for us last year. Harry’s still as good as he was, his languid stick style still creates space for him to run in, and protects the ball very effectively. He cut through the OKs left side on numerous occasions, buying us time and space, and giving us excellent momentum. Performed right back duties very efficiently and did everything he could even when we were outnumbered. One of the rare bright sparks in otherwise damp squib of a game.

Rob

Busy and involved all game without much to show for it, Pringle worked hard to plug gaps against a side who used the width of the pitch and who made the most of the spaces their playing style created. Pulled from pillar to post, Rob’s workrate never wavered; but without much time on the ball, and forever having to chase back when we turned it over, he wasn’t really able to put together a complete performance. One or two passes found their way through but it felt like he was outnumbered all game.

Rich

Similar story for Rich who was being asked to cover too much ground too many times. This was a frustrating game where Rich worked hard to win balls and make tackles, much of the time horizontally, only to see a subsequent pass go astray or into touch, forcing him to immediately retreat and regroup. Marking was so-so as their midfield used feints and motion to make use of the big spaces in midfield, and we were frankly always chasing the game in there, one step behind and three yards short. Even Rich’s superman efforts couldn’t get there this time.

David Lee

Tough assignment for Dave in this game, spelling with the screens and having to pick up multiple breakaways pretty much all game long. Crappy conditions, a greasy pitch, and very little in the way of respite meant this was a long day for DL. Probably would have benefited from longer periods on the pitch and the better organisation that brings, Dave also spent much of the game chasing shadows and trying to recoup what we kept losing. Looked wet and cold all match long.

Kwesi

Looked resplendent in his Persil white kit, but suffered all game from being cold, and letting his hockey basics desert him. Found plenty of space especially out on the right, got into some fantastic positions which looked like they might cause the oppo some real problems, and then quite often let the ball roll into touch or bobble to an OK full back. Requires a bit of sharpening up, poor conditions excepted, if we’re to dominate sides down the wings and in the middle. The ball simply has to stick.

Jack

Similar story for Jack who struggled to get things going as the link man between defence and forwards. Another victim of far too many coming and goings, Jack showed patches of form and skill when he came inside, but ended up running down too many blind alleys, and turned the ball over too easily. If we’re going to compete and get on top of defences we’re going to need to be more confident, more careful and more creative in this attacking midfield area. Going forward that will be Jack’s responsibility.

Ben

Encouraging showing despite possibly the worst first touch of the ball in hockey history. So bad that he didn’t actually touch his first touch. But it got better. Ben found himself with a lot of the ball out wide, and his link up play with Harry and Loz was pretty useful. Called more as the game went on and had a couple of nice runs in from the touchline. But it’s hard to put a really tidy performance together with so much subbing, and it’s easy to drift out the game when the clock is constantly ticking. Reasonably positive supporting performance in a show which gained a Rotten Tomatoes score of 2.5/10.

Mandy

Never seemed to quite get this game by the scruff of its neck. A couple of one on ones gave us our best hope of salvaging something out of this game, but the chances went begging. Lacked the sharpness we’ve seen in previous games, and ended up chasing mostly lost causes. Came deep to get the ball at times, but we looked a bit like strangers up top, I thought. His reverse stick shot was too easy for the keeper to save, and came from a miscontrol which forced him away from his strong side. That split second could have made the difference in this game (not blaming you, Mandy!)

Ludders

Not much return on investment for Ludders in this one. Plenty of running and he looked willing, but was guilty of taking a bit too long on the ball and not being ruthless or crafty enough against a well-drilled but hardly world-beating OKs defence. Fluffed his lines at a really important short corner, snatching instead of placing, and didn’t have much luck with through balls either. Maybe needs some time with other forwards to develop an actual playbook: it’s not enough in this league to just play your best. We need tactics and structured plays, and the forwards need to develop relationships which support that kind of semi-telepathic play.

Gaz

Lovely to see the Gazster back in Epsom colours after a long lay off. Looked able and up for it, producing our only real moments of creativity and style. The little spins and some stick trickery did buy us some gains down the middle, but the runs and the end product weren’t there to capitalise on Gaz’s play. In one instance his spin move beat the defender but Gaz ended up passing to himself, such was the lack of support around and in front of him.

Lawrence

Another sadly blank slate from one of the best goal poachers in the league. Loz works his socks off up top, often pulling wide - and in this game dropping beyond half way - just to get hold of the ball. He’s pretty good in possession, and oftentimes draws in three or four defenders as he hits the D. But despite his best efforts not much came off in this match. The angles weren’t ever really there to get a shot off, the D either too crowded or too empty to squeeze a killer pass into, and the service from midfield neither good nor frequent enough to give him a chance.

Dave Duncan

Fab to have our madcap Mersey midfielder back from various absences. Classic game from our kidder, getting the ball deep, keeping hold of it, and spreading things around. The boy has decent vision, and his short passing was top drawer, but things got harder further up the pitch, where we seemed to play very narrow, while OKs were able to widen things out. DD got forward on a couple of occasions, but didn’t get the best service from the umpires. On the plus side he didn’t do anything completely stupid, and on that basis, Dave wins this week’s MoM. Congratulations!

So we move on, and we have to believe we can put together a better performance than this one. Against one of the weaker teams in the league we looked vulnerable and untidy at times. Even though we matched them most of the game, and it was pretty even stuff, we lacked their sharpness, even if our players were clearly better on paper.

We need to relax on the ball, make sure we get the basics right first time every time, and tidy up some of these ridiculous back-to-hockey-level errors. As we’re discovering, this division is very much not a walk in the park. It’s a Saturday morning scrum in Lidl, where nothing is going to come easy. Not only do we have to fight - and we’ve demonstrated that plenty this season - but we have to raise our standards too. We need to be better than other teams, as well as out running them, out working them, and out battling then. We need to be more confident, but we also need to be more competent.

Let’s get back on track next week against one of the stronger sides in the league with some fierce but first class hockey.

Catch you then,

Spike