Weekly Hockey Roundup – Mens’ Teams (28th of February)
Last Week’s Results
Team | Opposition | Location | Result |
Mens 1st Team | Harrogate 2 | Away | Lost 4 – 1 |
Mens 2nd Team | Brigg 3 | Away | Won 4 – 1 |
Mens 3rd Team | Sheffield Hallam 8 | Home | Lost 3 – 0 |
Mens 4th Team | Sheffield Hallam 9 | Home | Drew 0 – 0 |
1st Team Match Report
With captain Mark Sadler unavailable, and only the bare 11 men, the ones travelled to Harrogate in high spirits, hoping for a win. Going two goals down in the first 10 minutes was a disappointing start, but a scrap of hope was salvaged as left back legend Rob Seeley slotted a magical drag flick in the top left (pushed it in from five yards out). The whistle blew for half time as tensions among the team started to rise, and the half time break was spent calming down and collecting our thoughts. It didn’t work. Harrogate scored two more in the second half, not helped by blind passing from most of the Lincoln side, and injuries holding us back. Next week Grimsby at home, we’ll have ’em no problem.
2nd Team Match Report
Wow! What a performance from the Lincoln Hockey Club Mens’ 2nd Team on Saturday. I won’t deny it, I was very cautious of this fixture; you always come across strong Brigg sides and we’re currently sat in a critical place in the table with (including that game) four to go.Wow! What a performance from the Lincoln Hockey Club Mens’ 2nd Team on Saturday. I won’t deny it, I was very cautious of this fixture; you always come across strong Brigg sides and we’re currently sat in a critical place in the table with (including that game) four to go.
I needn’t have worried though, because as a team we played our finest of the season thus far. We were composed, we passed the ball right around the pitch, we trusted one another – we played as a team. Twelve star players in a team rather than twelve individuals trying to be the star – it’s what we’ve been aiming for all year and on Saturday it really paid off. This was played out on the Man Of The Match vote in the bar afterwards as just about every player got a nomination. Events on the pitch of noteworthiness include the ever-solid Matt Ward in goal, a strong defensive display from Max Rutherford and a very composed and controlled game from John Sisman. In the midfield Kev White decided that the game wasn’t tough enough for his calf muscle and so became a spectator (I jest – in fairness he was playing the following day as well and didn’t want to overdo it) and so Louie “Ambulance” Sadler took over and put in an impressive performance. On the subject of Louie “Operating Theatre” Sadler, he was also awarded D*** of the Day by the team for a hospital pass (hence all of the additional middle names) to Brigg’s centre forward. Cue me shouting “LOUIE” at the top of my voice, in very much a similar fashion to when this exact same thing happened earlier in the season. Thankfully it came to nothing for Brigg but I’m taking all the credit for that fact!
Brigg’s goal came from a rebound off a short corner. It certainly wasn’t Matt Ward’s fault but that, Louie “A&E” Sadler’s pass and Will Wright’s final pass of the game straight to a Brigg player pushing up from the midfield that only came to nought because the final whistle went (yeah I saw it, Will!) shows that we’ve still room for improvement and need to keep on pushing. Meanwhile Kev Ngoe – still in his stride – scored “another” hat trick while Harry Middleton went from zero to hero, getting Man of the Match after his D*** of the Day award the previous week. I don’t want to name the entire squad, as it won’t make for particularly exciting reading, so I’ll leave that to the end of season report, but a seriously good bit of teamwork for a solid 70 minutes gave us a fully deserved 4-1 win against Brigg.
Saying that, of course….
Captain, and author of this piece, Alex Cooper pulled off a tremendous (even if I do say so myself) intercept in the middle of the park from a lifted ball emanating from the Brigg defence. Everything went into slow motion as I leapt gracefully (definitely gracefully!) into the air, to ensure that my stick never left the permitted height according to the rulebook, to stop the threat from Brigg. A small tap brought the ball down under control and I was then in a position, without pressure, to pass it onwards to one of my esteemed colleagues and start another attack. Needless to say, I was very happy with the result and as I looked around – large smile on my face, small air-punch and a huge feeling of satisfaction in the pit of my stomach, I watched as nobody else acknowledged this achievement. In fact the only recognition I received from this feat of mid-air hockey acrobatics was from the opposition’s forwards but I guess you’ve got to take credit in whatever form it comes. Thanks lads! 😉
Seriously, though, an excellent and well deserved win resulting from a lot of truly hard work by everyone for the full length of the game. If we do this again this coming Saturday then good things will come our way.

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