M1s 4 - 5 Croydon & Old Whits 1s

Cheam M1s turned up at Nonsuch brimming with optimism, with our full strength squad available for the first time this season. We had played Croydon & Old Whits in preseason, getting a 3-3 draw where we were unlucky not to win, so this was not quite jumping into the unknown. The opposition were on a run of good form and, having finished 2nd in this Division last season, and unbeaten so far this time around, were looking for a win. In summary - it was likely to be a tight game, against a strong side.

All of the above theory evaporated within the first 5 or so minutes of the game, however, during which the match was effectively decided. Croydon attacked relentlessly, got 3 good chances in succession, and scored every one. Clinical and fair play. This was a combination of Croydon starting strongly and Cheam starting slowly, but whichever way you look at it, it was 3-0 against the boys in claret and blue, versus one of the better sides in the Division.

To Cheam's credit, they rallied thereafter, when it may have been easier to crumble. Cheam 1s began their attacking play and also started to be clinical. A short corner was one, dragged towards goal by Seb Jennings and deflected goalwards by Omar Shibli, only to be stopped on the line by a defender's body. Penalty flick awarded and Seb Jennings duly stepped up and cooly slotted it away. A second short corner resulted in a second goal, this time a straight dragflick by Seb Jennings deceiving the keeper. We went in at half-time 3-2 down and, somewhat implausibly given our start, with all to play for.

In the second half, Cheam came out hard and probably had the better (just about!) of the play. We played at a much higher tempo and gave Croydon a real run for their money. But then lesson part 2. Two defensive lapses, one after the other, resulted in two easy goals given away by Cheam. We were now 5-2 down and the game was looking out of sight.

Again, your heroes (and yes, they are your heroes, admit it) rallied. Duncan Edwards - yes the defender - somehow found himself in the D to score an awesome open-play finish and, shortly before the final whistle, William Lindsay almost destroyed the back of the net (and the face of Alex Beattie, running in on the post) with a furious finish. Cheam were now 5-4 down, but had left ourselves with far too much to do.

Credit due to Croydon & Old Whits here - they played some quality hockey, were clinical when they needed to be and scored 5 goals. It's worth mentioning that, despite conceding 5, Andrew Oldale our keeper was Man of the Match, so it's fair to say they were pretty creative up top and could have scored a few more.

But Cheam learned a tough lesson. Whereas last season, in a lower division, the M1s could get away with playing a poor 5-10 minutes in each half, this season it is the margin between taking points and a defeat. Speculation raged as to the reason for the slow start - many attributing it to the frankly horrific sight of Seb Jennings' bright pink y-fronts as he got changed pitchside just before the start. But on the positive side, we also know we scored 4 goals and went toe-to-toe with one of the strongest teams we are likely to play for 90% of this game.

DOtD and honourable mentions must go to David Hand / Alex Beattie for body-checking each other during a substitution, Seb Jennings for the afore-mentioned pink pants and also Koen Overeynder, who doomed himself to fantasy points obscurity by picking up a green card with the last touch of the game, to add to his defenders' negative points for the 5 goals conceded. Another big shout was for Duncan Edwards, who with 5 minutes remaining and the team a goal down, was more focussed on working out how many fantasy points he'd pick up for being a goal-scoring defender. But the win by a long-shot was William Gunn, who for the second game in a row managed to play an exquisite through the legs dummy...onto his own foot. Just pure class and his win was captured in the video attached to this report - enjoy!