The Battle of Marden

Luke Thain never mentioned he knew the whole of the opposition, having played in Marden for 10 years. So everything started with some friendly banter and Luke started racking up fines before the match even started. Then things got serious.

The game started at a very high tempo with Marden putting on a lot of pressure and forcing a string of short corners. It was all a bit panicked and when Alex uncharacteristically let in a straight drag flick off his pad in his only mistake of the game (later fined for limp wrist), things were not looking so good. But Marden could not make the most of the pressure and despite more short corners were not generating clear chances, despite some impressive runs and 3D skills from their younger players in particular. In one of the few chances of the half, on the break somehow TWells drew level with a scrappy finish. Then the battle began and we realised why Luke might have left Marden...

Defending down the left hand side, Luke got into a physical tussle with the Marden winger in a 50:50 challenge for the ball. Both probably deserved a green card, but the Marden player decided to then hit Luke with his stick, the whistle blowing, before then the Marden player undercut the ball into Luke from 2 metres away. The TWells players were rightly incensed. But with the captain on the sideline and Steve's inner Chimp talks going unheeded, things got a bit ugly. Result a pair of yellow cards and each side down to 10 men at half time.

Some stern words and calming down was needed to focus back on the hockey and 10 vs 10 favoured TWells, with much better passing and moving off the ball, Wells pressed high and Will Graystone scored from a short with a good hit into the corner. Back to 11 vs 11 and Marden were tiring, Twells then finishing them off after a great passing move to go 3-1 and win the game.

Man of the Match - Henry Ryland for keeping his head, keeping possession and making some impressive moves down the right hand side. Ben Edwards a close second for a workhorse-like performance. Goals: Martin Powell, Will Graystone, Tom Fantom. (Still none for Mat Thewlis?!)

Three games. Three wins. Three points clear at the top.