On a gloomy autumnal day, a motley crew of those qualifying to play Over 45s hockey gathered for their inaugural home game at Fortress Langley. Amidst much discussion of who was the oldest (mentioning no names Delyth), who was the youngest (and therefore ball collector) and who was the most tired after their previous days play, we took to the pitch to warm up. Now this being a game for the slightly more ‘experienced’ players, we didn’t want to overdo it too much but a couple of half laps, few shots on goal and an attempt to assign people roles for short corners and we were good to go.

With the opposition being Surbiton and rumours of ex-National League players abound, we went in to the game with a certain amount of trepidation and no-one was more surprised than us when we won a short corner in the first 2 mins after some great link up play by Burr, Sue and Kim. This set the momentum as we dominated the opening exchanges and were well rewarded when Captain Fran slotted in to the back of the net from a tight angle to give us the lead. This seemed to invigorate Surbiton and they attacked with aplomb, forcing some fantastic last ditch tackles by our back four, being marshalled expertly by Ready, and some great saves by Heidi in goal.

Despite the pressure, BromBeck continued to push forward when they could with Delyth proving that age is just a number with some fantastic overlapping leads up the wing from her right back position. As we edged closer to half time, Surbiton were quick to attack on the break and with us outnumbered at the back, scored a wonderfully deflected goal from close range which left Heidi with no chance.

With the scoreline at 1-1 the half time break was much needed and an excellent array of Haribo was on show (other brands are available)… although I was personally disappointed that we didn’t revert back to half time oranges like the good old days.

The second half was a feast for the 6 strong crowd on the sideline with counter attack after counter attack from both sides but both defences holding firm. Special mention must go at this point to new recruit, Carola, playing her first game in 25 years and doing a super solid job at the back, as well as other newbie, Christine, playing her first game in 15 years and showing a great first touch and some silky skills. As time ticked on it looked like a draw would be inevitable but with 10mins or so left, a pass from Fran to Emma G was struck sweetly in to the bottom corner from the top of the D- rumour has it that this could be her first ever goal from more than 1 yard out but records don’t go back that far…This supercharged Surbiton who threw everything at us in the final minutes in a bid for the equaliser but were thwarted at each attempt and we were delighted when the final whistle blew on a 2-1 victory to BromBeck.

A great game played in good spirits by both sides and a lovely way unite players from across the club.