Bees Blitzkrieg Buries Bury

This Saturday South Manchester Hockey-Club ventured forth to face Bury Mens 2nds. Prior commitments and injuries from the last two games meant several Bees players were once again unavailable. So it was that the Bees took to the field to face Bury with only eleven players meaning there were no substitutes available to back up and relieve exhausted players.

The game began with Bury initially seizing the initiative and breaking through the Bees defensive line. They were denied by keeper Pete Lynch-Mathew who got himself into position to block a shot with his chest and another with his face-plate. A third attempt was blocked with a dive and deflection off the glove before the Bees rallied and began their assault.

Twenty minutes into the first half Gareth Hampton skilfully beat two men before pulling the ball back to Richard Greenhough, who put his Thursday night shooting practices to good use and neatly tucked it past the keeper and into the bottom corner of the goal. Just before the half time whistle, the Bees struck again off a corner. Gareth Hampton fired the ball across to Thomas Ainsley at the top of the D who then played it to an onrushing Afonja Simeon Oluwaremi who swept the ball straight into the back of the net.

As expected, Bury came at the Bees hard as the second half, but their attack was one again met with stiff resistance from the Bees defenders and midfield and a mere six minutes after the whistle blew to begin the second half a free hit was awarded to the Bees. Taken by Richard Greenhough, it was played to Scott Forster, who drove it to Simeon who squared it up, allowing Richard Greenhough to bundle the ball once again into the back of the net. Less than a minute later, the Bees punished a sluggish Bury who were robbed while taking a sixteen yard shot in their own half by a high speed Damien Sean Smith, who after stealing the ball promptly drove it past the Bury keeper.

Bury rallied and pushed back into the Bees half, only to be denied their attack yet again by the indefatigable efforts of the defence and midfield elements of the Bees squad. Taking control again, the Bees pressed Bury back into their own half, then into their D where a furious goalmouth scramble saw the ball fall to Richard Greenhough and squared to Damien Sean Smith who rocketed the ball into the top corner of the net from point blank range.

The Bees were still not done when Ant Rigby closed down a Bury defender and won the ball, ran past another defender and played a one-two with Damien Sean Smith around the Bury keeper to score the sixth goal of the game. One minute later and Damien Sean Smith again found the back of the goal, ably assisted by Richard Greenhough who had closed down a Bury defender to allow Damien Sean Smith to one and one the keeper for the last goal of the game.

When the final whistle blew, the Bees were triumphant with seven goals to their name and maintaining their first clean sheet in Division five. The fitness regime of Simon Lamb once again proved pivotal in ensuring the Bees could last the entirety of what was a very fast paced game without substitutes. The passing and shooting drills devised by Edward John Holmes and Richard Greenhough have also now been shown to be paying off in spectacular fashion.

Special mentions go to Patrick Souter who played a magnificent game despite being out of his usual position, Damien Sean Smith who scored a hat-trick and made one assist and Richard Greenhough who scored two goals and made three assists. Scott Forster made some excellent tackles and due to his efforts on the field was instrumental in blunting several of Bury’s attacks and turning possession around for the Bees. This earned him a very well deserved first Man of the Match with South Manchester