Its a higgledy-piggledy old road to the southern lacrosse premiership. Today’s opulent opponents were walcountian blues who would provide a stern test for the mighty sparrows.
The start of the day was mildly discomforting with all players arriving early and sober. The players were prominently throwing around the goal in the surprising sunshine thinking about the drinks they could have consumed last night.
From previous games this season there were three additions to the squad with Max ‘I live in Greenwich I’m having babies soon’ Sandy and Dan ‘I moved to Clapham for variety’ Mackem and Rob ‘work holiday’ Arnott. This made Spencer 13 players strong against a Blues side with only 11.
When the team slipped into the warmup the squad was looking tight with some of the “best warmup play we’ve seen all season”, according to Tom ‘fastest pint in the west’ Leahy.
The game soon swung into Spencers favour as the sparrows opened the scoring with Max ‘are they more middle class than me?’ Sandy taking insult at their Surrey affluence to score a round the back goal.
The early openings showed real positive signs. Spencer were enjoying the lion share of possession and hit the post a number of times. The midfield and attack were threatening all the time. Despite all of Spencer’s dominance the team were unable to capitalise and the first quarter ended 1-1.
The attack had a fresh look with Will ’20yd top corner boom!’ Walker, Joe ‘tour-de-lacrosse’ Darkins and Dan ‘first time I’ve seen sun in 18 months’ Macken. There were some good moves and the ball was moving around the goal well and linking up to help score goals.
The second quarter seemed more even between the sides with the Blues midfield stepping up the pace and the Blues attack showing real threat. Alan ‘Birkett is my bitch’ Keeley was instrumental in face by showing his versatility throughout the game.
It was round this time that Blues with the reduced numbers should have started tailing off but the Surrey team managed to find an extra gear and started dominating possession in attack.
Jonny ‘almost fastest pint’ Clark, Spencer ‘certainly not fastest pint’ Rhiel and Tom ‘I play for Spencer but drink for WACs’ Leahy were all having a good game but Blues were starting to carve out more chances and looking more threatening.
By half time the score was 4 – 4. This is an unusual position for Spencer given the team are used to brushing aside most opposition. This Blues team were either more of a threat or Spencer were not firing on all cylinders. In honesty it felt like a bit of both.
To the teams displeasure the second half started like the first finished with the Blues taking the upper hand. This was most definitely not the plan.
The game was still open and with Spencer threatening and scoring. The midfield of James ‘Chelsea MILF masseuse’ Mearns, Tim ‘savour the taste’ Holdsworth, Max ‘social climber’ Sandy, Cam ‘soccer-lax’ Leslie, Rob ‘Indo-cali’ Arnott all putting in a strong shift and making it difficult for the Blues.
But by the fourth quarter Spencer were chasing the game. For every goal scored there was a reply at the other end. Also loose ground balls often found a Blue stick.
The game finished very uncharacteristically 8 – 7 to the opposition. The result was down to two factors. Firstly the Blues had a great game and played very we’ll. Secondly Spencer did not play up to pur usual standard and this game was there for the taking.
Its away at Reading next week and Spencer will have to up their game in order to guarantee a win.
I also have to mention that Tim ‘I think he’s still drinking’ Holdsworth didn’t support the cause with the slowest pint we’ve seen in a while.