Mulford’s men win, yet again, Matt Lashes Home (MLH)

Saturday 14th October saw BMUHC 2nd XI roll out in battle formation for the fourth time this season in a top-of-the-table clash against Didsbury Northern, with both teams yet to drop a point.

Pregame, gathered around a laptop, the team watched an episode of "how not to entertain" featuring Liverpool and Manchester United. And with that in their minds, the lads started brightly on the familiar surface at The Armitage Sports Centre.

Brushing off the unlucky cobwebs of Friday 13th it was evident that students Poots and Fennel had played hockey here once or twice before with excellent link up in the right hand channel, whilst student Murray on the other side was entirely preoccupied with the horrendous lipstick grip on his stick.
In typical fashion Brooklands had the lion’s share of possession. Didsbury sat back in to a passive zonal press leaving screens Prentice and Gillbody with ample opportunity to take the game to the opposition. That in combination with midfield runners Crossley and Hillyer, made for smooth and entertaining passages of play and an early opportunity for Watton… to miss the target, obviously. However the deadlock wasn’t to last much longer. Vincent and Cuttle pushed the team up the park and some distant marking gave Watton the opportunity to supply resident poacher Lakin-Hall a pacey ball to mistrap/deflect (you decide) in at the near post.
The first half continued in a similar vein with the red, white and blue looking confident and controlled in possession. A familiar "floor to score" roll over the left shoulder from Radcliffe doubled the lead before the break and things looked positive going in to half time.

Manager Gannon, particularly keen to maintain the fortress mentality of his precious "Armo", sent the red corner out ready for round two and a third goal wasn’t to take long. Lakin-Hall with some more suspect poaching saw him attempt to miss an open goal. Luckily for him a Didsbury defender thought that would be simply too embarrassing so kindly helped it over the line.

The game wasn’t all Brooklands, however. The opposition had some useful tricky players and it required some excellent one-on-one composure from Van-Bentum between the sticks to maintain his clean sheet, but that wasn’t to last. Penalty corner, Disdbury 1-3 Brooklands.

With their tales up and voices in the officials’ ears, the home side played some more imposing hockey. With spells of the game becoming particularly heated there were cards for Brooklands who did well to soak up pressure with their remaining ten men. Important outlets came from Jabbal whose impressive stick skills drew fouls from the opposition and gave time to take stock.

More pressure mounted and a second goal from the home side in the final few minutes made for a tense finale. Special thanks to captain fantastic Gillbody, whose last minute slip whilst in possession almost made for catastrophe. Relief for the army of travelling fans as the final whilst blew and yet another three points were to return to George’s Road. Overall probably a fair result, an important win and the win streak continues