4th Dec 2021 Mens 6th v Halifax 4(Home) 4 - 2 win
Building a team is a long and difficult task, and one we re-start in the 6s each season as the next wave of young players wanting to play club hockey join the squad.
Last Saturday I was still looking for all our players with 15 minutes to go as the rain lashed across the pitch, horizontally as usual. Halifax were warming up in a changing room (remember those?) and it started to feel like the day could only go one way.
I wandered to the pitch with Blacky who was his usual positive self whilst carefully suggesting that perhaps he didn't need to play if we had plenty of players - meaning we'd miss out on a wise head and solid right back, another gap to deal with.
Arriving at the pitch I found a collection of players but more importantly our volunteer keeper kitting up - to get him on the pitch we'd had to borrow Pratty's helmet - would it work like Billy's Boots? (one for the youngsters there).
Ewan and his driver were umpiring and keen to get the game going so I called our players in and asked them to organise themselves whilst I was busy losing the toss.
How is the team developing? Well, Saturday was the day when Rory Southern stepped up as captain on the pitch and spread self belief across the team and popped in a couple of goals; it was the day Josh showed that 12 years was too long a gap to not play goalie - great saves, and even greater 'leaves' mate; it was the day Sam magicked space from nowhere all game; it was the day Archie and Edward and James pressed Halifax into making mistakes and punished them with goals; it was the day Dan Tilbook made right-back his position; it was the day Carl showed his true colours making more tackles than any other player and using his massive clown-sized boots to good effect when the oppo tried to push the ball past him (by the way, Carl you were their man of the match, probably because of your first ever card!); it was the day Alex got a talking to from the umpire, shrugged it off and confidently took on shooting duties at a short; it was the day Tom showed he can pass, we knew that, but then surged forward and caused havoc with over-lapping runs; it was the day Greg found acres of space on the right and gave us the width to go round the Halifax defence; it was the day Aussie Dan's enthusiasm, energy and sheer enjoyment of playing the game was the exemplar that all the team wanted to emulate; and all that added up to a confident 4-2 win that left everyone proud to be part of Rhydding 6s.
Mark Westwood