Bucks Tournament - Aylesbury Return with a Bronze

20 September 2008

In the inaugural Bucks Tournament on Saturday held at the aging Milton Keynes ground, the mens first team squad returned with a bronze medal finishing third in this county wide event. Captain Dave How was delighted, so much so he threatened at one point to use his own money to buy the team a beer on the way home - as readers know to this website something that has not been seen for many a good year.

In an exclusive interview after the game Dave was quoted as saying

I had three objectives when we came to the tournament. The first was to have some fun and we certainly achieved that playing impressive hockey in each game. The second was to beat Amersham and oh boy we did that and the third... I forget now... but we were great

Dave's views are backed by results and there is no question glory times are on the way back to Aylesbury with wins against the mighty Milton Keynes, Amersham and Slough, rumours have already been bouncing round the circuit of an immediate promotion push for the team. The depth of the squad was certainly tested with Waddy Wilson, Denis Kiely and Mike How missing - youngsters Mark Brooks and Stuart Moseley stepped in.

There were a number of key contributions across the 6 games of 25 minutes that are worthy of mention

  • Chris Hunters performance in the last three games after his nights work had been completed was impressive from a pure fitness viewpoint
  • Ed Hill giving up on marking his scripts and providing a useful release on the right (or left when he got confused)
  • Mark Bowes in midfield lasting three games in a row in the central pivot position
  • Terry Kynastons refusal to pass leading to the goal of the tournament
  • Dave Skinners new fitness regime which now includes trying to stop the ball before it goes in the goal. The disappointing point from this is that he is unlikely to be a centurion again.

Matt Kiely was awesome at the back until he bruised his little finger and had to go off. Matt though was the first at training as ever with the kids on Sunday morning explaining his contribution to the under 7s and getting them to chant with him 'Bring on the League' - well done Matt a role model indeed.