Messi ! Messi ! Messi !

Southend-On-Sea's finest troupe M2 Summer League team arrived ... to bizarrely warm, humid, dense & sticky ambient conditions.

Within 24hrs of this hockey game, Argentinian football legend Lionel Messi was to continue his record writing run by becoming the oldest player to score multiple goals at a world cup match;
38yrs 357 days.

Brentwood Hockey Club took to the
pitch as a series of unpublished
Bob Mortimer Cat Names.

Yes, it was that kind of game.
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There were plenty Goalkeepers about. Chelmsford Youth Keeper, Aiden, was completing his training session at Chelmer Park -- we previously faced him at the start of this campaign, 12th May. Again, he demonstrated an engaging and dominant performance, albeit brief before leaving. We were all guests today at his home pitch.

Pre-match, three players forced to make changes to their plans - the normality of unforeseen life events - best wishes guys. Fairly familiar flurry of match day Pitchero activity. New & changed players, player reviews -- thank you all for your support ☎️

The dodgy stomach air meant arrival with a tinge of doubt.

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Captain was fresh from supporting The Club by precisely measuring, weighing, inspecting each training / match ball against FIH requirements.
A fresh batch promised on their way.

Many firsts were observed.
Warm welcome to Louie, his first adult hockey game with Southend. Each player introduced themselves by remembering their own names !
Louie went on to demonstrate a calm head, and had an involved, enjoyable good game. More to come !
He passes on thanks.
Man of the Match. Well done, Louie !

Right, here's to the game.
Brentwood scored two goals.
Our GK Dennis made four epic saves, & barked true instructions to the park.
We had chances and shots on goal by strike force Greg & others.
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Our team age spread from early teens to seventh decade. Bold, brave, and proud. The middle of the park notably became a tough playground. Reports duly came in, and a new reality was becoming obvious. Awks.

A Brentwood Player in his first game for four years -- rough dusting down his heavily patina'd unrecognisable interpretation of sport / summer league. Not good. He was working himself toward carnage & cardage.
If there is a positive : we all were together as one, enjoying our summer league hockey, bringing the Brentwood players with us. Some old friends and acquaintances; having a bit of a reminder top-up of 5WH :
who what where when why & how.

Then, a series of events happened.
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The Green Card came. Observing the umpire from the sideline was an inspiring moment. This is Summer League mate, and no-one wants to give a card. But here we are. Carded.
Off went the player to reflect.

Returning shortly after, many players from both clubs then all lightly interacted with this guy - art to that - somehow positive light reinforcing support. After the game, this continuous improvement progressed to the car park, and the chap who drove away had a reflective smile.
See you at the next one. Thumbs up.

He would have been prime contender for Dimwit Of The Day for both teams, but hey, we weren't done yet!!!

Team photo. Everyone in, celebration, knees onto gritty gravel...
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... sharp grit digs, arms bind together; Eddie Bedini's class advice cascades
laughter... and limb-constrained Charlie Glew ... massively sneezed.

Aaaaaaa-
Dinner&Dance-Award-Winning-
CHOOooo!!

Best Summer League Sternutation
EVEEEERRRRRRRR (trophy emoji)

Politely as well. Potential spray everywhere was controlled onto a singular horrified-for-Ricky moment captured by Ricky's shirt & the team photo. ha ha

Charlie : earnt the DoD award today.
Ricky: earnt the nickname "Tissue".

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We had the following other nominations for Man Of The Match:

Charlie, having a good, hard worked game in the centre.

Carl. Another mighty performance

[Hi Russ] MoM goes to Martin with Louie a close second... ... not sure if I will recover from the assault from Charlie (laughing emoji!). The highlight was that this was a true summer game .. mixed abilities with a lot fun but still played as a team

MoM Lewis ... great runs... etc

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And with final Captain notes:

Thank you, Keith.

Ellery, loved your midfield role.

Lewis, took the chest hit, stood proud, demonstrated resilience under fire. Well done

Eddie exhibited Judge Dredd abilities: Expert marksman, defensive master class, bionic eyes enable night vision & reduced blinking rate pure hockey.

Greg - chances, shots, and vision +++
keep going, great work.

Pitsea - that sideline call was epic thx

Dan - another colourful midfield engine show

Steve- v impressive demonstration
Pitchero Unique Captains Comment:
Thank you, on behalf of the players who benefitted from your work ethic today. I am coming to realise this stuff -- top job.

Russ- u found space. As advised by your son: next time, be aware of the runner behind. good on getting the free hit, note it gave them a chance to recover, and our runner Ellery had free pass to Ricky-Go-Score-A-Goal guy.

A game that nearly had everything.
Onto the next, apologies for delay.
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