Wake up call for Bedford Mens 2

First game of the league with a predominantly new squad.

Bedford started well, controlling the game for the first 5 minutes with attack after attack, Crostyx barely managing to break into our 23. Our relentlessness was reward with Jack Madden putting us 1-0 with nice chip around the keeper and a tap into an open goal.

From here, things took a turn for the worse. Bedford, after gaining the lead so early got too confident and we were swiftly punished, before we knew it was 1-1, then 2-1 down. The short time it took for Crostyx to equalise and subsequently gain the lead had clearly rattled us. Basics started slacking, passes weren't to sticks and communication was lacking. Before we realised what had hit us after those first 10 minutes we were 4-1 down and the half time whistle went.

When a team of talented players, who together could achieve great things, come off at half time 4-1 down - well its a disappointing feeling and we ALL felt it. It was time to get serious, we have been contenders for promotion for the last 3 years and this doesn't do that any justice. A stern talking to at half time, followed up a 'hard reset' of our team was needed. Build up the basics, no ambitious stuff, earn the right. The frustration, anger and disappointment, combined with the harsh truths of the half time team talk clearly rallied the troops.

Bedford started trusting the formation, playing simple, basic hockey and we played it ever so well. 2 goals were created for S Adams purely from routines we learned about posting up and attacking the D. We were back to 4-3.

As stated before, we are a team of predominantly new players, maybe not to the club but more so to the team. So the cracks started to show in the last 5/10 minutes when it counted.

2 further Crostyx goals came from kinks in the formation, who should be marking who and so on. These can and will be ironed out but for the first game of the season.

A final goal for Bedford came from a short corner, which Jack Madden excellently converted - drilling it right into the bottom corner.

We lost the game 6-4, we can be and will be better!

From a team that has lost 6 maybe 7 players from the squad, a squad that was almost exactly the same for the last 2 or 3 years, its a good building block. It takes time to build those relationships, to trust the players around you. To see the team rally like that at the start of the second half, the spark is clearly there.