Mens 2s record impressive 2-1 win at Oxford Hawks

The Mens 2s continued their good form with a 2-1 away win over Oxford Hawks. Despite losing 80 years of experience in defence in midweek with the absence of Simon Pridgeon and Ben Husbands the Aylesbury defence was solid throughout and rarely looked in trouble. In for the absent duo were veteran stalwart defender Matt Kiely returning to the fray after facial reconstruction surgery and Tim Atcheson returning from Rugby World Cup duties. Alongside them Joel Arul put in a Man-of-the-Match display at centre back utterly dominating the Hawks centre forward and Tom Richards at left back provided both excellent defensive work and a dangerous outlet from left back.

Despite the solid base provided by the back five including goalkeeper Ady Portlock, the 2s failed to create any real chances for large parts of the first half. Will Davison and debutant youngster Owen Heale made lead after lead but the midfield struggled to support them, resorting too often to dribbling into Hawks players. Mark Tofte was also seen dribbling in attack but for the main this was a long way away from the ball as he tried to recover from his Friday night support act for Andy Macs birthday.

Matt Hinge also spoke before the game about banging balls deep in to the D (or something very similar) but despite his best efforts was unable to penetrate regularly, coming up short on more than one occasion.

Eventually Aylesbury did get the goal they deserved. Spotting that the Hawks team had fallen asleep, Captain Dave How opportunistically took a quick free hit to himself driving into the D at pace round the outside of two defenders. As the Hawks defenders tried to close down the space How unleashed a shot that beat the keeper at his near post just a yard below the top corner to give Ays a deserved 1-0 lead at half time.

The second half was very similar with chances at a premium. Owen Heale made one mazy run to the byline putting a ball agonisingly across the face of the goal just beyond the reach of forwards Mark Tofte and Will Davison who promptly threw his toys out of the pram and stomped his feet in disgust. Dan Inkley resorted to an aerial bombardment and was unfortunate that one such ball was played a few seconds after the whistle had gone. It would otherwise have been a good ball but resulted in a fourth straight DoD vote.

Eventually though, Dave How once more ventured north of the halfway line picking up a pass on the 25 yard line from Craig Quilter. How drove toward the D, this time attacking the left hand corner. Mike Smith made a good lead creating space to receive a pass and take a shot, but the skipper decided in an instant that he would take his chances and ignore Mike's valid shouts for the ball having been practicing reverse stick strikes at the Under 8s training the week before. As Mike pulled off the defender How exploited the gap and smashed an unstoppable reverse that cracked against the backboard before the former national league keeper had moved to cover his near post. That took the score to 2-0 and Aylesbury looked comfortable.

As the skies got darker and with a loss looming the home side tried some novel tactics. The floodlights failed to turn on and the match had to be relocated to a nearby pitch. Hawks again got to choose ends and chose to play down hill with the wind behind them. Oxford stepped up the pressure and Aylesbury defended deeper than they had. Eventually Will Davison back in his own D was adjudged to have stick tackled his opponent despite no actual attempt to tackle being made. From the resultant Penalty Corner the clean sheet the team deserved was robbed from them. The shot cruelly deflected off of Arul's stick and flew into the roof of the net.

The last few minutes were a little nervy but the defence remained calm and when the whistle blew it was a good 3 points earned by Aylesbury.