Well, that was a bit of a soggy one. Heavy rain the entire match, but we got the job done, keeping ourselves top of the league with a solid 5-2 win against Rugby & East Warwickshire 4s.

The game got off to a bit of a shaky start. Rugby opened the scoring after about 8 minutes – a slow flick from the top of the D that deceived Andy in goal. Not ideal, but we didn’t panic. Keeno wasted no time in responding, equalising with a drag flick from a penalty corner almost immediately. 1-1, game on.

Unfortunately, we weren’t quite at the races in terms of marking, and Rugby capitalised with a well-worked goal to take the lead again. Defensively, we were all over the place – couldn’t seem to pick up the runners. But Zak wasn’t about to let them off the hook. He put one away after 29 minutes, a lovely finish to make it 2-2 going into the break.

Second half, we were a different team. More controlled, better passing, and just generally more switched on. Zak took charge of the game and bagged another three goals (52, 60, and 65 minutes) to complete his hat-trick and put the match beyond doubt. Four goals in total for Zak today, a brilliant performance.

There was a bit of drama with Adam, though – he picked up a green card after a rather dubious body check. He tried to pass the blame onto Keeno for a while, but everyone but the umpire knew it was him. And don’t even get me started on the 3-on-1. Instead of giving an easy pass for an almost certain goal, he shanked a shot well wide of the near post.

On the whole, though, we controlled the game much better in the second half, but our press and marking still weren’t up to the standards we’ve set in previous weeks. There were plenty of chances we could’ve taken – we should’ve been more ruthless. But hey, 5-2, three points, and job done to keep us on top.

Man of the Match: Zak – no brainer really, four goals and a performance that kept us in control.

Dick of the Day: Adam – for the body check, missing the 3-on-1, and various other things.

So, not the most polished performance, but we’ll take the win and move on. Next week, la big game at the top of the table away at Khalsa.