Massive win for the Spencer 3rd team in the Minor Plate, against Brighton from the higher division. This sets up the East Plate Final vs Hillcroft B (away) at the end of January.

The 3’s fielded a good sized squad for this game. The 1’s and 2’s were also playing home games (and completed routine big scoreline wins) so it’s really encouraging for the club to comfortably field 3 squads. However we all know that that’s not always the case, noting the recent conceded game at Canterbury which could still prove decisive come the end of the season for the 3’s promotion ambitions out of East Division 3.

Spencer’s squad has an extra bonus player for this game… the King George’s Park grass pitch. Whilst the sky was clear blue, the morning frost has melted into the lumpy thick grass surface meaning the going was heavy, very heavy. This negated the primary Brighton threat – their dodging ability. It was a case of not how well you dodged but if you could even change direction without slipping over. The result was the Spencer short stick middies could match up against Brighton’s best dodgers, plus Colin was having a great day between the pipes. Spencer’s attack in not about dodging, so was business as usual, except at a slightly slower pace thanks to the pitch, and no quite a fluid as our recent big wins over lesser opposition.

Brighton had the better opening quarter but Spencer scored a cracking last second goal to level the scores at 2-2 at the break. From then on Spencer always had a small lead, never more than 2 goals, but a lead. This lasted until near the end of the 4th quarter when Brighton pulled level at 7-7. The 3’s this season have plenty of resilience and responded straight away with an 8th goal. With just over 1 minute on the game clock, the 3’s tried to keep the ball in attack and run down the clock. Whilst that was a shambles and the ball quickly ended up in a Brighton stick, time was ticking and they could not work any kind of shot. Bring on the East Plate Final vs Hillcroft B!