3-1 Win over Briars in Scrappy and Phil's Last Game on 28 August
The last game of the year was upon us faster than Pelow upon an innocent female. The stage was set for a cracker. True, our late-season form was interrupted in our previous outing against Gordon, who had taken advantage of a lacklustre SUHC performance and killed our chance to reach 30 points for the year. We didn't want to finish the season with that in our minds. We still had the chance still to finish the season with our highest points total in recent history, and we were primed for one last big effort.
Some may say that additional inspiration was unnecessary, but we had additional inspiration in bucket loads. It was the last 1st team game for two club stalwarts. Sam (Scrappy) Lobsey and Phil (Captain-....) Gray. Both had declared their careers at SUHC had reached their climax. Those that don't know Sam and Phil are clearly new to Sydney Hockey. Both have played for SU for over a decade and both have been club captain and president, albeit at different times. Scrap has played his entire career in Sydney in the SUHC 1st team and has been captain of the team for at least 5 seasons. The length of time he has played at that level, and the manner in which he has conducted himself, have earned Scrap the respect of players, coaches and umpires from every club in the competition.
Scrap is leaving Sydney for Tamworth, his hometown. Assuming he survives the bucks party, he will marry Jemima Bartlett... the perfect clubman accepts nothing less than a Women's 1st team legend.
Phil has decided to hang up his Men's stick and let some of the club's younger blood take up the mantle. This is hard to imagine, as Phil is arguably the fittest man in the club and looks younger than most of the younger blood! Moylo responded to Phil's announcement by saying that Phil can only retire once he stops getting fit. If that were the case, Moylo should've retired at 18...
Scrappy was honoured in the change-room by the presence of two former mentors: Brian (Nappy) Gunner and Bill Greenlees. Nappy also passed on a moving note to Scrappy from another club legend, Bruce Pryor. All three reminded us that Scrappy is universally held in the highest esteem, and is a true clubman who has given all for the club and for his teammates. It was inspirational stuff. The team needed no further motivation when they took to the field.
After the warm-up, the players from the 1st and 2nd grade teams from Briars and SUHC formed a tunnel for Scrappy and Phil to run on to the field. The fact that two teams from Briars participated along with our own guys is a testament to the respect that all SHA players have for these two men, as well as the sportsmanship of Briars. Thanks, guys.
The motivation from the change-room was clearly carried onto the pitch. Finally in this year of variability, SUHC started the game in top-gear. In stark contrast to last week's Gordon game we had the ball flowing around the field. Briars were close to the top four for the season and were piling on the pressure, but we kept finding openings and kept winning the early exchanges. PK, Brendo and Hollywood were looking very dangerous upfront. They were all receiving the ball, beating the man on the turn and finding a fellow striker in an attacking position. An SUHC striker on the baseline won the first corner of the match. Pelow flicked confidently, but a late touch by a Briars defender put the ball onto the post and denied the Irishman the opening goal. Begorrahh. It wasn't all one way traffic, though. Briars have a talented team with a number of NSW players, and it takes a great deal of concentration, effort and steel to contain them. But contain them we did with the Great Wall of SUHC. Our rock solid fullback combination (BJ and Dags) was back in the saddle and they repelled everything Briars could throw at them.
You can build a solid performance on a solid platform. We had a solid platform, and the Briars defence was first to crack. Some backline work by the Brendo, who was creating the height we had missed in previous games, led to a chance on goal. His first shot was stopped but, unfortunately for Briars, the rebound went to Sticky. Sticky was not going to ruin his brother's last game. He fired the ball into the goal and the very vocal Briars crowd was silenced as the Uni supporters took over the airwaves. One up with a few minutes to go. The competition remained intense as both sides tore into one another and the pace was frantic, although Briars was perhaps less vocal. SUHC went to half-time with the 1-0 lead intact.
At halftime we stayed on the pitch for the team talk. The job we had to do was out on the field, and that job was far from over. Moylo would have told us this, but he was too excited. The ever calm Chris Laird put it straight on the line for us. We needed to maintain the intensity and the structure and most of all, stop Briars getting back into the contest.
Briars had other ideas. They came out of the blocks faster than Usain Bolt. But as it was for the world's fastest man, the fast start was of no benefit. They had a multitude of corners and dominated possession and territory but they could not breach the Great Wall of Uni. SUHC were not without opportunities and one of those came desperately close in a corner. Pelow fancied another flick and he left the Briars goalkeeper with less hope than Peter Kelly in a pick-up contest. To our agony, the ball slammed into the post and bounced wide.
It was end to end stuff. The intensity was incredible. Even after short rotations players were leaving the pitch almost dying from exhaustion. When their heart rates dropped below 200 they were sent back on. At some time a poor SU pass found a Briars striker in the D: perhaps it was the exhaustion from playing without a break, or (in the vein of the greatest cricketer ever) perhaps the emotion of the game. Regardless, Briars ponced on the ball, finished well and the score was locked at 1-1. The loud and lubricated Briars crowd was back and baying for more.
In moments like these the Jekyll in 2011 Men's 1sts had often switched to Hyde. Not this time, though. Conceding a goal seemed to spark SUHC. We wanted to win a game we had pretty much controlled for most of the time. Sticky and Scrappy may have not seen eye-to-eye during some games in the past, but everyone knows the brothers will alsways cover each other even if words are flying. Sticky was going to make sure his brother left the club a winner. Just moments after the Briars crowd thought their equaliser had them back in the match, the younger Lobsey made multiple defenders look like witches' hats as he beat all comers on his way into the D. It was a feat of incredible skill. He drew more even defenders and then slipped the ball to Hollywood on the post, who scored a good striker's goal. 2-1. We were back in-front with less than 10 minutes to go.
Briars hate to lose. And they really, really hate losing to the same team twice in a year. They threw everything at us. Scrappy was a man on a mission, though, and was making superhuman efforts in defence. We were also finding gaps as Briars went all out to attack. The game raged back and forward right up to the last minute, when a ball into the D found PK, our leading goalscorer for the season. PK hammered the final nail home and jubilation swept through the Blue and Gold crowd. 3-1 We'd beaten Briars again. We'd finished the season with a memorable victory. We'd sent two club legends off as winners.
Scrappy was chaired from the field by two Grafton players. They may be new to the club, but they have the hallmarks of being the next generation of great SUHC men.
What a finish to the year! What a great way to end a most enjoyable season! Now we have a winning memory to savour in the off season. But given our results in the second half of the year we can only look back and wonder. What if we had started better?
I look forward to next season, when the core of our team will be together again. If we can hit the ground running we will give the competition a real shake. It's been emotional. Until next year, sportsfans.
Goals: Sticky, Hollywood and PK
Crenno: 1 match, 1,491 words - a record.
Chris Moylan: 1 season, 1442 midgame cigarettes - also a record.
El Crenno (the player formerly known as Hemingway)
SUSF has also reported on the great games by Men's 1sts and 2nds against Briars - click this link. As well here are the first of the pictures. (The high-res originals are too big to post, but can be obtained by emailing the webmaster - suhcwebmaster@paparazzi.com. )
There is also a report on the Women's team impressive end-of-season form on the SUSF site
