ROYSTON 3's 1-3 HERTFORD 6's

Away to Royston, or south Cambridge which is technically more accurate after the 50 minute drive, is probably one of the further away fixtures of the season. So somewhere you really don’t want to come away from empty handed, points-wise.
Luckily we bagged all 3.
After an opening 10 minute barrage from Royston, our central defensive line up of James Furse and Tony, (another stellar performance from James F) with Mike and Freddie (again, a great shift from Freddie in an unusual role for him, but he adapted perfectly) held firm. Along with Tim marshalling things in front of the back line, and James P dealing well thwarting attacks when introduced, Royston’s efforts went unrewarded. 
Even some overly officious officiating couldn't help them out, and we dealt with a number of penalty corners well. Midway through the first half the overly officious officiating went into overdrive, with Tony receiving a harsh green card for questioning a free hit that was taken some distance from where it should have been, with a rolling ball.
Everyone dug deeper, and the energy levels stayed high. What we maybe lacked in skill compared to our opponents, we more than made up for in energy and determination.
A huge reason for our first half clean sheet was down to Elliot in goal. For someone in their second senior game to perform like that was very very impressive. Not only dealing efficiently with shot-stopping, but also commanding his goal like a seasoned pro. 
We grew into the game and were rewarded with a penalty corner, from which my injection was penalised for encroachment! The daftest rule in sports meant I had to retreat to the halfway line, which actually did us a favour, with Tim taking responsibility for the injection and Matt E burying the resulting hit. One nil to the reds at half time.
The second half saw more early pressure from Royston, which again we dealt with brilliantly, and as the game went on, our fitness levels started to show with lots of running from the midfield in the Chandlers, Ben, Aaron and myself, all trying to feed the ball to Matt Earle up front. His stick wizardry got us a penalty corner, from which Ben scored with a perfect placement, then repeating the trick minutes later with a rebound from another short.
Royston got a late consolation, but we clicked up another gear and everyone did well to stay focused and not let the scoreline slip. 
Big shout out to Elliot again for his impressive debut, but MotM goes to Aaron for his relentless running, strong tackling, and incisive passing, continuing to play strong even after a nasty collision. Well played.