First match of the day was Basingstoke v Croydon with Croydon winning 6 – 14.
Beckenham, with only 7 players, were up next against Penguin. They did phenomenally well and brought it back to a draw with just 1:30 left in the third quarter. With no subs Beckenham ran out of steam and lost 8 – 4.

Then it was Watford’s turn to play Basingstoke. Watford dominated from the off, with Nils opening the scoring, his first of two, Illija also scored two with one each from, Dinil, Sam, Joe, Gethin and Goalkeeper Keeyan. A great defence by Rishi and Sam as centre backs meant they only managed 2 goals. Coach Adam was able to practice different configurations. We won 9 – 2.

Beckenham then played Croydon and again despite only having 6 players for more than a quarter heroically held it to a draw until there was 8 seconds left then Croydon pinched the victory 7 – 6.

Game 3 - Penguin v Watford.

Watford should have been confident having seen how well Beckenham had done. The first quarter was very tight. Penguin had 4 exclusions but Watford could not break their “House” man down defence. Penguin managed to squeeze a goal in with 8 seconds of the 1st quarter remaining. The second quarter was the same, 3 man ups no goals.

Amazing defence from both teams, but again with 8 seconds left Penguin scores another.

As the third quarter started it was clear that Watford’s inability to score was getting into their heads. Penguin scored again, one in open play and then from a man up. Then a glimmer of hope, Illija scored from a man up halfway through the 3rd quarter we were training 4-1. Unfortunately, the glimmer was short lived.

There were numerous individual attempts of heroics but the team stopped playing as a team and fell apart. Penguin scored 6 unanswered goals. When it was clear the game was over Watford managed to score 2 in the last minute, one from Luca from the centre forward position and then one from Nils. This was a great lesson for Watford about the importance of remaining composed and working as a team.

A difficult watch for the parents and not just because the air conditioning failed, but they will come back stronger from this. Adam has already started to plan what we need to work on.

The next round is on 17th March 3:30pm start at Woodside.