Newcastle O35s v Kendal O35s

It’s hard to believe that two weeks ago the ‘Beast from the East’ was on its way and we were all loving the snow but missing our Hockey. Not anymore, Kathryn and Emma were prepared for their 3rd game in less than 48 hours and the Super 2s players were going for a record of 4 games in 5 days, nothing us old ladies can’t handle! On Mother’s day most mothers are looking forward to a lie in and a lovely relaxing day- never the case with the Nana's Mums. Hannah last seen in Gateshead needing a lift arrived at speed and as always we enjoyed hearing about her crazy morning (Please note never give your washing to her, she puts dirty nappies in the washing machine), Megan was stranded at the bottom of the stairs with Lola, Fran was late before she was even late and Sarah was struggling with her cake making, she’s human after all. After long queues at the loo’s we made it our to find that Kev had arrived in plenty of time to mount his own whiteboard pitchside, formation sorted, warm up could begin. Both umpires arrived with 7 minutes to spare, loads of time ( hope Sarah got to finish her sandwiches!?)

From the start it was easy to tell that this would be our toughest opposition so far and we knew we had to step up our game from previous rounds. Players were linking well together and there were several occasions where we found ourselves in a good attacking position, but were just unable to put the ball away. Midway into the first half Magan made a stick tackle and been the bad tempered player she is she obviously hit the ball away!!! Short corner given and they scored - sad faces all around! Newcastle were determined to continue to press and win their own short corner through skillful play in their attacking D and they did just this. As with many goals scored from short corners it is usually the ones that go wrong that work. No idea what happened, but Sue scored, we were back in the game. Half time arrived the score 1-1 and a much needed rest and thankfully Zoe was on hand with the sweets. Wise words from Kev, but not sure the team could get over the fact that we were actually only playing against 10 players!

As per usual we did nothing that Kev asked or what we’d discussed in the first 10 minutes, but then things started to come together nicely. There was moments of lovely passing around the back and we were getting the ball to both Crofy and Bazi in wide positions, the forwards were making great runs into corners and the crowd, which was growing appeared to be enjoying the Nanas in action. Midway through the 2nd half a ball was played to Bobi and lovely chuckle between Hels and Bobi resulted in a shot which was saved by the keeper only to find Sue who from waist height used her 3D skills to make it 2 -1. Hannah made the mistake of calling “Sensible 5”, which resulted in a manic and slightly eventful 17 minutes. During this time the game was stop by the umpire, Newcastle Nana’s rolled their eyes, was Kev going to get told off again…….. No it was those children, did anyone have any control over them? Were they really running shuttles up and down the pitch and having fun? Sent to the dug out, the game could continue. Crofty decided to use her full body and even shocked herself at one of her tackles. Megan was enjoying controlling the aerial balls, Hels deciding to try her first block tackle only to end up with their player sat on her head and unable to get up off the floor. Amy joined in the fun and kept the ball in play! All team D were frantically calling to drop 5 to Sue and Kathryn, why should Sue drop 5 she scores goals! Time was ticking but not quick enough, Megan was concerned that her teammates were running the ball towards their own D and Bazi was in discussion over the rules with the umpire. Eventually there was calm, Bazi got the ball and ran it towards the crowd and umpire and played her own little game until the full time whistle went. Relief, the kids were released from the dug out and all were very happy, even Kev who looked a little older had a smile!

Whilst the amazing Nana’s teas are becoming a regular occurrence at coach lane, alongside the games of tig/tag usually spoilt once an adult joins in, we all love the post match chat and finding out who was player of the match. It was a difficult choice to decide on the player of the match, with many strong performances and a real team effort. This was reflected in the wide spread of votes that came in. Bobi you deserved your vote and I can only think that Hannah’s reaction of “WOW!”, was due to the fact that your name was spelt Bobbi and not Bobi!!! Semi Final in two weeks, that’s 14 sleeps!