It was an amazing combination of ridiculously bad mistakes and incredibly simple goals. Breathtaking! And largely for the wrong reasons.

We started fairly well, looking like we could score any time we chose. Fortunately for Reivers we chose not to. Shots hit the post, side netting, each other's feet. Frustrating? Oh yes.

A moment of controversy arose when Monty kept like a boarder's salmon to avoid the swinging leg of the keeper who was perhaps more accustomed to the more traditional boarders game of rugger. Still, no one chose to argue (out loud) when the umpire gave a corner rather than the expected flick. Did anything come of that? Oh No.

And then they attacked and scored. Can't really tell you more about it as there was nothing really to worry about until the ball went into the net. Against the run of play? Oh yes!

Shortly before half time a quick pass from Rusty found McNally who beat 16 players* before sliding the ball past a stranded keeper.

Minutes later a vicious hack on Monty resulted in our second—sorry first—flick of the match which Bunker calmly slotted home to put us into the lead just before the break. OH YES!

The second half followed a similar pattern. Grange played half decent hockey but made inexplicable mistakes which gave the ball away in ridiculously dangerous situations. So three attacks later we found ourselves 4-2 down. Oh no.

Knowing this was a vitally important match to keep us ahead of Reivers who were just behind us in the league (a genuine 6-pointer, as they say on Match Of The Day) we threw everything at them and looked to have got our just deserts when Monty scored two goals in two minutes to bring us back to level. At least until their next attack. 5-4 down :-(

A grandstand finale that would have made Steven Seagal proud saw Grange win a corner just before the final whistle.

The first effort resulted in a defender lying on the ground stopping the ball with his legs…

The second came off a foot to give us a third go…

The third saw "Mr. T" (Bunker) fire the ball into the corner of the goal. 5-5, OH YES!!!!

Game over. An amazing combination of basic mistakes and huge endeavor by the 11 players who had made the trip from Edinburgh saw us scramble a point from what should have been a fairly straightforward victory.

Lessons learned?
No matter how much possession you have you can't afford to switch off and give the oppo a chance to score.
Passing the ball to each other is better than not doing so.
And when we have a chance to score? DO IT!

* Or so he recounted later that night at the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Day

Grange Hockey Club

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