A cry for help was answered by several of our juniors, who were obviously upset they only had one match that day due to the school holidays. Plus Neil Christison managed to make himself available due to a rearranged National League umpiring commitment. So it was fantastic to have 14 players available for this match—a major debt of gratitude is owed to everyone who helped out.

Grange started by playing their best hockey of the year, passing accurately and working hard off the ball for each other. Much of this has to go down to the reappearance of Gregor 'Rusty' Maiden who brought an attacking force to midfield. The solid tacking of Bunker gave the defence a solidity it missed last week and lots of running from youthful legs helped to keep the ESM defence on their back foot.

Unfortunately several chances were spurned in the first 20 minutes and it was ESM who scored first, pretty much against the run of play, to take a 1-0 lead at half time.

The second half saw the visitors hold the majority of possession. A controversially awarded (at least from the perspective of some of the Grange players) corner was converted to give ESM an apparently secure 2-0 lead. That was until a mazy dribble from Rusty ended with a through pass to Andrew Devine who slotted home from a difficult angle.

Despite a lot of pressure in the last quarter of the match it was ESM who scored again to secure a 3-1 victory.

Overall this was a greatly improved performance which will need to be built upon to ensure the 6s start to climb up the league.

Grange Hockey Club

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