BRISTOL & West Hockey Club players achieved a long-held dream by qualifying for the National League Super 6s Championships.
The club competed in the regional indoor qualifiers at Clifton College in December and won the tournament for the first time.
The round-robin format saw B&W take on ISCA, Cheltenham and Lansdown in shortened games of two 12-minute halves.
The opening game with ISCA was a cagey affair overall, with B&W looking for counter-attacking opportunities.
A super effort from youngster George Ashley was helped over the line by thieving team mate, Dave ‘Disco’ Cadman and we found ourselves 2-1 up at half-time but ISCA hit back with a minute or so left in the game with a penalty corner, for a final score of 2-2.
Next up were Cheltenham, who had just finished playing their previous game.
We had a great chance to get the win against tired legs, and so we did. Some silky play saw Luke Berry slot in a brace, before Harry Bryant added a third late into the game.
The 3-0 final score left B&W needing just a single point against leaders Lansdown to make it into the final alongside them.
It turned out that Lansdown had been training all year in preparation for the tournament and looked good for the effort they’d put in. We’d already witnessed their tightly packed formation, devastating counter attacks and individual brilliance on the ball, not to mention the fact that they had enough substitutions to swap out nearly their entire outfield team in short, sharp bursts.
Playing defensively and striking on the counter, Phil ‘The Assassin’ Brown snuck onto the back post to calmly sweep the ball past the keeper to make it 1-0.
Lansdown grew frustrated and couldn’t find a way through our defence. A quick break-away saw Harry Bryant win a penalty flick, which was slotted away nicely by his big brother and captain, Tom.
The 2-0 win put both teams into the final.
There were a few opportunities at either end, with Darren Ashley doing a mighty job between the sticks to keep the scoreline level.
With about five minutes on the clock, B&W were awarded a penalty corner, which Tom put through the keeper’s legs before it slammed against the backboard.
There followed some clever tactical time-wasting before the clock ran out and the buzzer sounded, with B&W indoor champions of the West for the first time in our history.
In January the team took on Clifton, Epsom, St Albans, Teddington and Ipswich in what proved to be an absolute thrashing of a weekend in the Indoor National League Men’s Division Two South.
Games were played over four 10-minute quarters.
Although B&W were well aware of the daunting task that awaited, we showed up with pride knowing that we had earned the right to be there.
The squad was made up of Over-40s to Under-18s, players from the 1st to 3rd team and two external players brought due to unavailability and injuries, with a complete mix of indoor experience – Nathan Patten had never played Indoor before but stepped up and jumped straight into the deep end.
It’s safe to say that B&W were no match for the well-drilled, heavily experienced and much fitter outfits that we faced over the course of that gruelling weekend.
Nonetheless, despite losing all five games, some heavily, we relished the opportunity to compete at the highest level in the club’s history and definitely walked away from the experience having learned a few things.
Highlights included Dave Cadman, Matt Perriera and Harry Bryant all scoring National League goals, Wayne Manton saving a penalty flick, Nathan saving a rocket of a penalty corner off the line and, finally, Dave’s mum Fiona filling in as team manager on day one.
She definitely played the part well: I don’t think the officials suspected a thing!
Back outdoors, the Men’s 1st team will follow our first game of the year against Westbury with a double-header weekend away in Exeter later in the month.
Harry Bryant