Quarterly Review

So we're a little bit over a quarter of the season gone now so I thought I'd have a look at how we're doing this year down the teams. Starting with my lovely 1's; things have gone a lot tougher this season so far. Not really anything surprising about that as we've shot up two leagues, but to go from winning and winning well to losing tight games has been tough to take. I'm not as on the pulse with collective 1's mentality this season but I'd say that overall we're disappointed but not disheartened, and hell, it's still good fun! Targets are tough to define for the 1's at the moment but I'd of thought winning every game from now until Christmas should be a good place to start.

The 2's are having a decent time of it so far. Had some silly losses to be fair, but some right good wins too. They're a little bit back in terms of points in their league but well in the shake up at the top. The hard yards are yet to come for them this season and the key ingredient for them is going to be desire. Last week I played for the 2's and they put in a 2nd half display that proved to me they have the technical and physical ability to impose and dominate games if they want to, it was a joy to be a part of and I hope we get much much more of it as we go forward in the season. For me, anything less than promotion is a failure this season.

The 3's are down on the bottom of the leauge pile bossing Div 8 SE. That's to be expected if you ask me seeing as they are rapidly becoming less the third team and more like the 1st team: vintage edition. The spanner in the works for them will be the fact they have to win their league to get out of it, but they're managing it so far being 4 points out in front. My old man is the 3's captain and is also 50 this year and I think (though the records are hazy) this could be his 10th year at the 3rd team helm, so a promotion should be just the ticket and an absolute nailed on target!

The 4's are in the same league and having, ahem, a slightly tougher time than the 3's. In fact they kicked off their season with a 16-1 drubbing off the 3's; how sporting of the 3's!. The aim for the 4th team is simply survival and trying to get some points. I don't mean survival as in not going down (there is nowhere to go), I mean fulfilling their fixtures and having the will to go out there every week. It is my belief that the 4's, only in their 2nd season, have been utterly shafted by the league who pandered to the complaints about long travelling time by a noisy minority of clubs to restructure the league in a way that is frankly, if left unattended, going to be the death of grassroots level social hockey in the North West region. That anyone could pick up a stick after either not playing for a long time or having never played before and come up against teams of the quality of the 3's (for example) and not get disheartened seems impossible to me. I hope the league looks at this madness at the end of the year, and I hope the 4's keep sticking it out and enjoying it, It could well be the best achievement of all 4 teams if they do.

So that's my two pennys on where we're at in this moment now. I think it is important to remember who and what we are. At Sale we're all about playing as hard as we can and being as friendly and social as we can along the way. All you need to do is look at some of the team numbers the 1st team come up against in their league to realise that we are a long way from being the biggest club in the region. Right now we're building and we're moving forward even when it looks like we're standing still. As long as we can turn out and enjoy playing a game of hockey the right way (the right way being the way Coach tells us to play of course) and the fair way, with 4 full teams of up fot it players then we're doing something good. A happy atmosphere we'll win more than we lost and move up accordingly.

Lastly on the issue of quarterly reviews I suppose I should I should turn the spotlight on myself. I'm a bit disappointed with myself this year in that I haven't personally taken as much a step forward from last year as I'd of liked. I've got frustrated, made mistakes, and worst of all missed chances that I should score (which I can genuinely lose sleep over!). My playing confidence has suffered and bobbing from one team to another probably hasn't helped that. To be bluntly honest on my own feelings for all the talk of competition and players interchanging from teams when you've been dropped (or provisionally dropped) for 6 weeks in a row, without explanation or constructive criticism it's difficult not to feel singled out and hurt by that process, especially when you feel you've contributed. Motivation can suffer, dedication can be questioned, and all sorts of strange and dark and unwelcome feelings can be felt; I know I'll not be alone in saying it's an uncomefortable place to be. The good aspect about that is that while I don't ultimately control what team I'll play for I am in control of my play, my attitude and my effort and enjoyment. I can say that I'll not be going anywhere anytime soon and whichever team I play for I'll be giving 100% of my effort and bringing my unglamourous but effective game to bear wherever I can, with a smile on my face and a spring in my step (unless we're losing 4-0 or something, anyone smiling then will be getting a slap)!

That's enough reflecting. Back to this weekend now. I'll be hoping to see at least 3 Men's wins on the board. Playing away for the 2's last week I was fortuitous enough to see two other teams in the 1st team's league go against each other. I won't name the teams but it wouldn't be too difficult for anyone to work it out if they fancy a bit of fixtures live based sleuthing. The 1's have played neither of them yet but if they don't dispatch them both with ease it will be nothing short of unforgivable (I am of course not recognising the fact that teams can change wildly from week to week), they were poor and it struck me as to how much teams really now have to raise their pace to compete with us now. It used to be the other way around. Be proud of that guys. A bit more clinical in the D and we'll be smashing teams for 10 (no, really).

Song of the week

What I'd love to see for the moment is all of the lads in all the teams get on a run of wins and start to dominate games and show ourselves to be the winners we are. Not the winners we can be, the winners we ARE. Anyway this seems like a good time to drop some dirty UK grime, back from my youthful misadventures of one-leg skanking and shouting blap blap for no real reason (yes, I was retarded). This is one of the better tracks from back in those halcyon days (as the top comment on the Youtube video correctly surmises it is a: 'dope tune straight up' (sic)). So for your audio pleasure may I present to you, this weeks song of the week: Ghetto feat. Katie Pearl- Run the Road

No teas league this week of course, though getting a tasty treat of what some future teas last week may be The competition could be very strong up at the top of the table (we could be looking at a chilli battle).

Final point from me now. Dave, another one of our 1st team squad lads has started dropping a blog all about his fitness attempts. As a man who once took that undertain first step out into blogging I knew I would take some inevitable stick from't lads but I'd hope that Dave will ride that out and keep it up. You get out of it what you put into it, though I'm sure from the language he's using he's well aware of that.

Constructive criticism #1: Sort the design of the page out Dave lad! The people need bright colours and pictures, get a bit of that famous Sale Yellow knocking about.

Please spare some time to check it out folks here's the link:

Dave Wynne: The Time is now!

Thanks for reading once again, I hope those in the know agree with my assessments and honesty! See you next time.

Road Trip

So the time finally came for the Sale waggons to fire up and leave Manchester for the very first time this season. We've been quite fortunate to not face any long trips yet, but that lucky road of close away trips came to an end in dramatic fashion by serving us up with our longest road trip of the season to Colwyn Bay, a North Wales town unremarkable in nearly every way, a bleak outpost nestled between the superstar A-list holiday destinations of Rhyl and Llandudno. Poor Colwyn, but in other Trivia it is the birthplace of Timothy Dalton (AKA that Bond that wasn't as good as that other one but definitely better than that rubbish one), also in HUGE NEWS the actor and serial philanderer Bill Roache (AKA Ken Barlow) of Corrie fame went to school at the very school at which we played! Awesome Stuff! For more Colwyn info get over to their Wiki Page.

Anyway it was a crucial game for us, we needed a result here like nothing else or we'd probably be looking like slipping into the abyss of mid-table. I'll cover the game a bit later but this away day has finally given me a chance to give a bit of an insight into what an away day in hockey is like. I think these long trips are a big burden onto anyone who chooses to play the awesome sport of Hockey but it's also potentially the best part of the sport and what makes you want to keep coming back time and time again. It's amazing how fun car-pooling with 13 other lads and driving to obscure parts of the North West can be! So here it is my first ever attempt at a photo journal of a typical Sale 1's Away day...

Sale goes to Colwyn: Beyond Discovery into Infinity...


I hope you like my pretentious title! First thing is first I need to introduce a couple of traditions. On long Journeys like these I like to throw together some 'Bangin Tunez' to keep the car I travel in firmly entertained. These songs can range from such classics as the star wars theme tune to 'enola gay' and other tracks of epic quality! I like to go with an intentionally embarrassing album title so that the car the CD gets left in can be discovered by another person, with HILARIOUS results. My finest hour so far was the raised eyebrows Marky had to face when his dad discovered 'Gary Glitters Xmas Album' recently. As I was taking pictures today I went for the slightly reserved 'Ladz on Tour'.

Another Tradition is the award of 'Dick of the Day' (DOD) which goes out to the player who has made the biggest dick of themselves that day (obviously). This can be awarded for any action from the moment that person wakes up that day until the moment that the votes are cast, so you've got to have your wits about you. In a tradition that has been revived especially for this blog and also due to me rooting around in my attic we have the return of the DOD hat.

As you can see it is a vile pink pvc effort that is every bit as disgusting as it looks in this picture. But who would be wearing it come the end of the day??... Stay tuned! Now my kit was packed it was off to the meet at the world famous Sale sports Club.

 There was an early shout for the DOD award when Dave rocked up in these boots...

 Here's the standard meeting place for the 1's; the front door to the clubhouse. Many a driver has arrived at the club over the years to the sight of non driving freeloaders like me huddling around outside this door. This is usually a time when all the piss-taking/ wind up efforts for the day get their first airing. In this photo Nick is admiring Dave's new stick whilst hopefully simultaneously admonishing him for his new choice of boot. When this is done it's time to get directions, get organised, and get on the road.

This is the man responsible for all that part of proceedings. This is a very photogenic picture of our captain H and makes him look like a well turned out on-the-ball sort of chap. Do not be fooled, he has the nickname 'Captain Organised', and the only thing you need to know about that is we're a big bunch of sarcastic wind-up merchants when it comes to nicknames. Lucky for H despite being the furthest away game of the year all we really had to do was turn right, drive down one road for a long time to get there, then turn left a couple of times.

This in fact was the road itself. The M56, Gods own motorway. Not much to say here other than the tunes were being pumped out quite consistently at this point.

Bit further down the road and we're in Wales itself! what a lovely view and what a lovely day.

The next treat on our smooth journey was only the lovely Sea! So lovely I went in for a close up...

This is perhaps the most poignant image of the North Wales coast ever taken. A lovely sunny sea view, with a big grey lamppost straight down the middle ruining everything.

We arrived early and ahead of the other cars so we got to spend a few crucial minutes dicking around smashing an over sized tennis ball at each other around a school PE changing room. Living the dream.

I love this picture because it looks like H is in the middle of some kind of super skillful manoeuvre of the kind you wouldn't expect a keeper to have the ability to execute. He does though of course...

Fooling around over it was time to get kitted up. Here's a shot of H getting his big leg pads on. This week wasn't too bad but usually the stench of stale sand, sweat, and astro turf emanating from this kit bag is a real biological curiosity to inhale, though one that may result in mind-altering effects.

Colwyn had the audacity to play in Yellow so the Famous Sale Yellow was swapped for the not-as-famous Sale Blue. This was the kit we won the league in last year. The omens are good...

By now my incessant picture taking was making me a target for abuse, mostly from Marky our teams pint-sized piss-taker. As you can see the wit extends to such things as 'sticking two fingers up to the camera', a classic #BADMAN. Yes, that is a real kit bag and not something pulled out from a smouldering skip fire by the way.

So now all the messing around was done and dusted team talks were given and we hit the pitch ready for action. This is a last second snap of Colwyns pitch with some of the school buildings in the background. I'm a bit whimsical about this picture as it may show the very building where Ken Barlow picked up the first of his elite womanising skills. Hallowed Turf. So, the match...

We lost 2-1. Devastation, apocalypse, death by the sea. We fought but it didn't drop for us, we didn't score enough, didn't impose enough and didn't press enough. A hard game, against an unbeaten team, but the funeral bell for our league title hopes could be heard up in the hills on that final whistle. More on that a bit later though...

After the game we changed and some of us were lucky to be treated to a cold shower, whilst others copped out and waited until we got back to their Clubhouse where such luxuries as 'warm water' existed. Wimps.

Post matches are dominated by teas (teas league round 3 is below have no fear!), the Man of the match and DOD awards and of course fines. Fines is basically a free-for-all insult session that usually starts out as jibing someone for letting a goal in or not scoring a chance and ends with a stream of awful abuse likely to result in long term psychological issues, but you take your fines and pay the price, all the money collected goes for a good cause (Beer).

 Here's H tucking into the Teas, I know, a sneak preview of the Teas league, but teas are a crucial part of any away trip.

Post fines here was what was collected, everyone suitably insulted and all money into the end of season beer kitty. The man-of-the match was Ben for defending despite someone putting a massive hole in his leg. And the all important DOD was...

Danny! Congrats Danny on being the first to wear the sexy dick of the day hat this year. Danny received votes for being green carded and giving lip to the umpire, but I think we can all agree that this was certainly the happiest pink PVC hat wearing man in all of Colwyn Bay that day. Now he's Internet famous!

Time to hit the road again and head back on the long road a defeated but not dispirited team. The one thing our team always seem to have over our opposition is superior camaraderie in the clubhouse, we love our pink hats and our fines and I really think that spirit is what makes us a special team with a stronger core than many others. Anyway, when we got back it was dark so here's an artistic shot of our club at night.

It's always nice to have a pint back at base at the end of a long gruelling day. It was a significant and tough day for us to take, and I think we were all a bit tired, as H's perfect mid-yawn capture shows.

As for me, well I was happy to wrap my hand around the Clubs finest pint of lovely Becks, a long day, a long way to go to lose but sometimes that's just the way it goes.

That's it for the photos and I hope you can get a bit of an idea what it's like hitting the road with our bunch of reprobates. It was an odd game to use for a photo journal and I really really wanted to be able to come back with a big win and a great showing but it wasn't to be. As I said before I think most reasonable analyses would say that us being way off the top two in terms of points leaves us a bit cut adrift in 5th place and 9 points back is death for our league title hopes. We've played 6 and gone Won 3 Lost 3, not the stuff of champions. It's a bitter pill to swallow but one that's going down the neck either way. Rather than go off the wall and let everything we've worked hard to accomplish over the last year or two I hope that this bitter pill can be turned into the medicine we need to move forward. Let me explain.

We don't do pressure very well, and this league we're in is pressure incarnate. Pressure on the ball from the opposition, pressure to not make mistakes, pressure to score every chance, make every challenge, and win every game bar none. Too much pressure; we folded up on it. The pressure came mostly form ourselves I feel, which is good, we have to push ourselves but now that we've slipped back in this race I hope we can take a step back, drop the pressure and dial up the desire. This is a chance to examine our errors, identify what we need to work on to improve into that team that is going to leap forward once again. There is nothing to fear now,  in slipping back from promotion positions the worst for us is over now. We need to be a bit more targeted in what we want to achieve, how we want to achieve it and make sure we don't slip into regression, we need to focus on putting in the hard work now that is going to make us come back on those teams that have beaten us for revenge later on in the year.

The early signs as a reaction from last week... not great. Numbers were down at training but to be fair I got to see some real passion from some of the guys down there, and I hope to see that from all of us, but first we need to get everyone there, I can't speak for the passion of the invisible man, but he makes a crap hockey player.

 Song of the week

So with us being a bit off the pace and not needing to bludgeon ourselves for our frustrations and mistakes I've decided to go for something that I hope will make us all relax, realise that the world hasn't ended or all our hard work has now never happened nor been for nothing. The goalposts have moved a bit for us now, but we're still on the pitch and we're still playing. This weeks song of the week is: Doves- There goes the fear.

The Teas League

A long road trip like this makes for a very important tea at the end of it. The whole concept of the Teas league was indeed spawned from the experience of some very long road trips being accompanied by some very very poor teas at the end of them so when we arrived at Colwyn HQ a lot of nervous eyes were of the Chafing dishes to see what delights were hidden within.

 Disclaimer: This is only a bit of fun. I am an appalling cook myself and in no way a food expert. All criticism will be tongue-in-cheek and if any people/clubs choose to take offence please know that all reviews are intended to make no negative reflection on the friendly welcome and hospitality that all teams always provide us, for which we are very grateful and thankful for.

Pleased to say that yours truly was back in the judging seat for this one despite Marky's excellent deputising.

03/11/12 Colwyn Bay Away

Finally the food was uncovered and plated up and what we found was this...

Chilli and Chips

Substance 8/10- Chilli is close to the heart of any Sale player as it's what the home teas have been for many years but Chips were the perfect fresh addition. Self service meant portion size as desired (H is a chip fiend).

Taste 9/10- Faultless really. The Chilli had a lovely balance of flavours, a delicate spice that didn't burn you up and the chips were fine too. Only a 9 as it was tray served rather than straight off the stove. Better than Christine's chilli at home? Controversial...

Presentation 7/10- No real problems with the presentation, plastic crockery and cutlery holds it back slightly, despite the matching colours. Proper Chafing Dishes are a plus point though. A solid effort.

Belting effort from the Colwyn Lads here, this really was very nice and though it's early doors the gauntlet has been well and truly thrown down here to the rest of the league. Let's see the table now...

1.Colwyn Bay (Chilli & Chips)- S: 8 T: 9 P: 7 Tot: 24/30
2.Brooklands (Sandwiches & Chips)- S:5 T:6 P:8 Tot: 19/30
3.Timperley (Spag Bol with Rosemary & Salt Focaccia)- S:5 T: 2 P:6 Tot: 13/30
4.
5.
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7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Brooklands reign at the top is all over and Colwyn step into the breach, how long will they remain, who can say?

That's all folks hope you enjoyed the photos, bad times about the result but that won't stop us from coming back next week don't you worry!

Where the rubber meets the road

They say a watched pot never boils. I've never understood whether this means that if you don't light a fire nothing will happen or that if you literally watch a pot it seems to take longer to boil. Perhaps a bit of both? Answers on a postcard. To make that bizarre opening relevant I'm going to compare our team to the said pot. Maybe we've not started our fire and that's why we're not on the boil. Maybe we're scrutinising and navel gazing ourselves too much and it's making us take longer to come good... maybe a bit of both.

We won last week 7-2 but the general consensus was that we were poor value for that win. I could agree for the most part but there were some decent passing spells throughout the game and times when we kept the ball away from our opponents for minutes on end through fluid movement of the ball. Rare moments admittedly, most of our joy came through that favourite past time of mine; front line pressure. If we're to come across teams so willing to cough up the ball in the depths of their half every week 7-2 could well become the norm, sadly that won't happen. More to the point, it won't happen this weekend.

Yes this weekend the Sale show finally gets on the road will a full on balls out road trip down to the lovely seaside town of Colwyn Bay (speedos optional!). This match is a good reference point for how far we've come along. Last season we were playing Colwyns 2nd team. this season we're testing ourselves against their firsts. Progress. I'd love to spend the rest of my blog making wisecracks about getting the ice creams in and building sandcastles but the fact is that some very serious business is on the cards down at the bay this weekend. It's as near as damned a make or break fixture for us as we're going to get this year. They're unbeaten just like Timperley so it's another top of the table opponent and if we lose then we're 9 points off the top spot and firmly in the doldrums of the table without any kind of upward motion. It is a simple statement: we have to win.

To lighten things up a bit I'm hoping to take a few holiday snaps of our lovely road trip journey (assuming selection of course!) regardless of the outcome. These long trips can often be the most fun part of the game, providing the result is the right one. North Wales is a long way home on the back of a loss, I know that from experience. I also remember a 5-4 'last minute winner' game at Colwyn a few years back, to this day one of the best games I've ever played in. I hope for something as fun this weekend but hopefully with a more clear cut win for us than that!

Whatever spring we got from last week we need to use every part of it to build up a good head of steam for this match. Momentum is key and right now they have more of it than us, but on the pitch its 11 men v 11 men and we're at our absolute peak when we want it more than the other 11 do.

Song of the week

Given that we're heading into such a crucial game I thought it would be appropriate to have a song fitting with our destination. In this case I've gone for a lovely little tune that was pretty much my favourite song of summer 2011. It's called 'the Bay' (see what I did there??), and whilst the bay in question wasn't written to be Colwyn Bay I'm sure that if you listen to the lyrics with a thoroughly sarcastic ear then you'll find some resonance with the Bay in the song and the Bay where the battle will take place this weekend. So this weeks song of the week is: Metronomy- The Bay.

That's all folks I hope to bring joyous tidings, photos galore, and of course another instalment of the famous Teas league next week!

Ripe and Ruin

Going to be a tough one this week. Not sure where to start here. It's a strange one as for the first time ever I've got two games to cover and a lot of conflicted feelings in between. I think I'll lead on from last time when my emphasis was very much on the top of the table clash. Sadly the boys couldn't pull off the win. From everything I've been told this wasn't due to a lack of dominating play but not being there I can't put too fine a point on it sadly. The facts are there now which are that we're six points adrift of the top two places. Six points off is the nice way of putting it, us having half the points of our rivals is the harsher language. Both lines tell the same truth; we're not where we want to be. I can empathise.

From rags to riches last week, while we fell to a second league defeat of the year, I was about five miles away winning 14-0 and scoring a hat-trick. Happy days? I have to be happy from a performance point of view with 3 goals in a season I've not put too many away in so far, one of my goals was a lovely chip finish that I've been trying to score for about 5 years now but mucking up every time (which is another way of saying it was a bit flukey). When you win 14-0 you have to put a bit of that on your opponents doorstep for sure, they were awful and that cannot be denied. They are a team that is just gritting its teeth and trying to get through the games and I have a great respect for that. This said, I think a good bit of credit has to be set aside for the attacking intent of the 2's. They're making the right moves at the right times and playing the right passes to score goals. I think that much better sides would have failed to contain them. Perhaps the greatest praise I have was that despite coming in at 5-0 up on the half, rather than stepping back and acting like the game was over they went for the neck and bagged 9 goals in 35 minutes. That's desire there, and it's that will that wins you games and more importantly wins you leagues; which I've every faith the 2's can do IF they want it enough. It'll be a lot tougher than that 14-0.

Overall I wasn't happy though, and the more I though about it the more unhappy I became. Yes I'd won and done my job, but MY team had lost and not one of my goals made the blindest bit of difference. I might sound a bit miserable but there's a sense of ownership within me over my team I can't apply readily to another team. It's been ground in over time and is deep down. It comes from the 10-1 losses and the long trips to places like Cockermouth and Carlise many years ago. It comes from the going down divisions and the sitting around wondering if we can get enough people to get a team together. It comes from the last minute wins and the last minute losses. It's all the goals and the clean sheets over the last three years and most of all it's the winning.

My team; we're winners now. This league is fighting like a rabid dog to rip that winning mentality which we have toiled over weeks, months, and years to gain in leisure centres and schools in all the nooks and crannies of Cheshire and North Wales you can imagine. Two losses is a rip, two losses isn't a tear. A game away from my team is a rip, not a tear. The league hasn't taken it away from us yet, and I'm not going to let it. Why? Because that is what winners do. They come back stronger, they fight harder. They don't let what is ripe go to ruin, they use it to grow.

The next few weeks will test our resolve.

Song of the Week 

The time has come to bounce back and come back stronger now. I've abandoned The Beatles and even temporarily abandoned the puns. I wanted to go for something purely energetic and cerebral. A song that would convey the kind of fire we're going to need to put teams to the sword. I went with one I hope you all know. The Prodigy- Spitfire

 

The Teas League

Not all gloomy and emotive this week. the much trumpeted Teas league is back for its second outing!

 Disclaimer: This is only a bit of fun. I am an appalling cook myself and in no way a food expert. All criticism will be tongue-in-cheek and if any people/clubs choose to take offence please know that all reviews are intended to make no negative reflection on the friendly welcome and hospitality that all teams always provide us, for which we are very grateful and thankful for.

 Sadly I didn't get the chance to chow down on the grub myself so Ive had to pass over to a special guest contributor for this weeks addition. It's none other than plucky Centre Half and reigning Sale 1st team player of the season Mark Holmes!

Lets see how his palette found the culinary delights of last weeks game:

20/10/12 Timperley Away

3-2 loss against top of the table, bad times. But a short walk for the field of battle is the clubhouse where you'll find...

Spaghetti Bolognese with Rosemary & Salt Focaccia

Substance: 5/10- Although the plate seems rather full on the picture, the portions were somewhat stingy. After being starved of victory, our hunger still went unsatisfied.

Taste: 2/10- Where to begin... the bread was far too salty to quench our appetite for more bland bolognese. Safe to say it's not how mother used to make it, far from it.

Presentation: 6/10- Top marks to presentation, the spaghetti on the bottom and the bolognese on the top. Little Timperley.

Choice words the Mr. Holmes there. A tough customer it seems. Perhaps I'd recommend any team aspiring to win the coveted teas league title doesn't beat us in the game itself! Let's see where that puts them on the chart...

1.Brooklands (Sandwiches & Chips)- S:5 T:6 P:8 Tot: 19/30
2.Timperley (Spag Bol with Rosemary & Salt Focaccia)- S:5 T: 2 P:6 Tot: 13/30
3.
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Still early doors of course. So that means that even with a low 13/30 puts Timperley in at #2. You could also call that is last place too, been all about duplicity this week haven't we?

Tied Hands

So another week rolls by and those familiar chills of winter are beginning to be visible on the horizon. Being a right hard nut my underskin is still firmly in the wardrobe (unlike other members of the team). The meat of the season is starting to be served now and our Bem Brazil token is firmly on green for now. Two wins in a row should hopefully firm up our momentum and strip away from us any remaining fear of the division that we unjustifiably had. We won 4-1 at the weekend, it could've been more, it should've been more, and while two wins is nice it hasn't helped our cause much yet. We're still languishing in 6th position and have been all season. Perhaps that will change with a third win on the bounce??

No easy task, we have to overcome our local rivals and top of the league, who beat us in the first friendly game of the season (see this seasons first post) with a pretty comfortable (for them) 3-0 win. I think we were a shadow of what we are now on that day, but three wins out of three for our rivals speaks for itself as to the challenge we're up against. So a big early season crunch battle is in store for us in our second away game of the season. Again, this 'away' game is still about as far away from our club as our own home ground but that's beside the point; it's in the lions den, and we're going to have to fight hard in this early season grudge match.

I may as well come clean with it, I won't be present at this battle having been assigned to the Twos this week. As said last week I maintain that I can't be happy about it, but that it does come as a challenge. It's a particular shame to me as I personally felt I had a much stronger game last week than some other weeks, but we are oversubscribed in the forward department so it is always going to be difficult. I certainly have a case to present on that matter but that won't be put forward here and now.

The thing I'm discovering right now is that I have had to change my mind on a matter. Previously I have always stated that the most uncomfortable position to be in any game is on the sideline, watching and being unable to change the course of proceedings or take an opportunity that you spot. I know now this is not true. The most uncomfortable place to be is not there at the game, when you know you can be there. Watching, you can eventually make an impact and change a game. This weekend my hands are tied. Having played for my team for three years pretty much unbroken, it hurts to not be playing against a team who will likely be rivalling us at the top of the table. I know that anything short of a commanding three points from the guys will leave me furious. That's just honest.

All said though I'm looking forward to the 2's game. 2nd teams are crucial to the strength of any club, and as we want to build ourselves into a big successful club again only by winning with the 1's and 2's (and indeed 3's and 4's) are we going to achieve that. In the 1st teams division we play 2nd teams, 3rd teams, and even 4th teams more than we do 1st teams, so strength down the teams is clearly the mark of a good club. I will still be playing with 100% intensity, as I would expect from everyone. The fact we're playing bottom of the league should hopefully be a bit of a Brucey bonus for attackers like me too!

Song of the week

Sorry to go all Liam Gallagher here and get obsessed with the Beatles but I've had to plump with another classic tune of theirs. This song is meant purely and simply as a challenge to the lads this weekend. Against top of the league I expect nothing but the best and so this weeks song of the week could only be: The Beatles- Don't let me down.

No Teas league this week folks as we were at home last week though it will hopefully be making a welcome return next week, providing my cover man for it doesn't bottle the big task and provides fair analysis. Catch you all at some time next week folks...

Turbulence

Once again apologies for lateness, I'm just not very punctual these days really am I? There was a very valid reason for this weeks delay but I'll be covering that in more detail later on. The first and great thing to bring to your attention is our glorious derby victory against arch-rivals Brooklands. Ok ok, maybe arch-rivals is too strong, after all we played their 4th team and their 1st team are a national league outfit (albeit one that takes a regular beating). Maybe in the 1970s it was the case but it was a different time back then; goalkeepers played in cricket pads, all the sticks were whittled down from railway sleepers, the balls hewn from granite, the pitches churned into mud and.... you get the idea. Never the less, we'll take the points and the victory, our first points in Division 3 for many years and also our first victory actually IN Sale for maybe even longer.

I can't say it was comfortable. We're still feeling our way in a little bit, like the new kid in school. We're not back to our best standard and we're not dominating teams the way we know we can. I think that there are signs there that we can get back but as always with Sale the biggest battle is in the head. We need to believe in it first to make it happen. We need to be less the nerdy kid wanting to make new friends and be a bit more like Ray Winstone in the classic film SCUM. This is the time of the season where your reputation is going to be gained. Last year we trounced the first few teams and we ended up with teams turning up to play us fearing the worst. Time to step on a few more throats I hope!

So back to the #FORTRESSSALE this weekend it is to take on a team we played last year. Well, what I mean is that we'll be playing the team above the team we played last year from the same club. In case anyone doubted our 'plucky minnows' status that team will be said clubs 3rd team. I don't think we care about that nonsense though, all games are still 11 vs 11 on the pitch, a goal is a goal and 3 points is three points. Speaking of goals I'll be hoping to contribute myself to the tally tomorrow after coming close last week with some efforts that never quite came off right.

As a matter of fact my overall play and lack of finishing has led me into the unenviable position of being dropped earlier in the week. Now despite the respect I have for all the lads down on the 2nd team I cannot honestly say I was pleased with this state of affairs. I should say that I'm not for one second trying to sound like I've a chip on my shoulder I simply believe that being unhappy or angry at being dropped shows the passion and desire needed to turn it around again, and that a far more worrying reaction would be nonchalance or dismissive arrogance at the 'powers that be'. Now this week I've had an 11th hour reprieve from execution and so like a man returned from the gallows I've been given a new lease of life. My own performances haven't been up to the standard that I'd want them to be, for a whole host of reasons that I'll not cover here for the sake of brevity, but if that is to continue beyond tomorrow it'll only be because I've run myself into utter physical and mental submission.

The only thing I'd like to add to the issue of dropping is that it is, and has to be, seen as a challenge of character as much as of ability. There is not a single player within the 1st squad that can't compete and win in Div 3, but can every player stay focused for the whole game? Make that crucial decision when the pressure is on? Make that full-pitch sprint that stops the counter attack in the last minute? Thinking and saying you can isn't good enough anymore, we're in the world of actions now and by actions will squad places live and die.

Anyway, that explains my delay this week, I was mustering myself to deliver a blog on my dropping and have instead had to 'drop' (groan) all that and re-think. I have to admit doing this on the eve of battle is quite a refreshing change so maybe I'll wait this long next week too. Or maybe I won't, that's the kind of wild unpredictability you'll have to get used to on this blog!

Song of the week

Not easy this week. It's been a bit of a turbulent ride for me personally but the team have won some points and want to be lively. This rules out Radiohead (apologies Radiohead's #1 fan Harrison Daly). Instead I've gone for a poignant classic banger from the most famous Scousers in music. I hope we can all forget the Charles Manson links and enjoy this weeks song of the week: The Beatles- Helter Skelter

Belting track! Now after all the commotion going on this week you could be for given for thinking I'd forgotten all about this weeks new feature. BUT NO! Allow me to introduce the inaugural bi-weekly feature that is.....

The Teas League

Ok. So in Hockey (and other sports) it is traditional for visiting teams to have food (Teas) laid on by the home team after the match. It's a lovely tradition and yet another reason I love dedicating all of my Saturdays to this sport. It has long been a subject of intense debate amongst the lads as to which club offers the very best and the very worst teas after the match. So with that in mind, I thought I'd introduce the Teas league where we rate and review the Teas of our opposing teams throughout the season and rank them in a league table.

Disclaimer: This is only a bit of fun. I am an appalling cook myself and in no way a food expert. All criticism will be tongue-in-cheek and if any people/clubs choose to take offence please know that all reviews are intended to make no negative reflection on the friendly welcome and hospitality that all teams always provide us, for which we are very grateful and thankful for.

After a bit of debate we drew up three categories for reviewing the teas these are:

1) Substance- what the teas are, and their various health benefits/ drawbacks.

2) Taste- Simple enough to grasp this concept I think.

3) Presentation- How the teas are served and packaged.

All marks in each category will be out of 10, making a total score out of 30 for each team.

.... still with me? Ok. let's get started:

6/10/12 Brooklands away:

3-2 derby win and in the bar afterwards we were treated to our own officially 'reserved' tables where the following teas were served:

Aaah the classic Sandwiches and Chips combo. Let's see how we do:

Substance: Sandwiches have long been considered to be the typical minimum standard for teas. Easy to make, cheap to buy, boring and always met with a dispassionate reception. However, with the addition of hot chips on the side the case has been aided. Further marks are gained for (as Nick pointed out) the two forms of Carbohydrate available, aiding athlete recovery. Mark here 5/10.

Taste: Always going to be held back by substance but the sandwiches were fresh and came in several varieties (egg mayo very decent). The chips were hot and ketchup was available too. A solid 6/10.

Presentation: The above picture is of my own arrangement so no marks can be awarded for that. All food came foil fresh (fresh to death) and real crockery was provided. Nothing to complain about here and as it's the first week and I have nothing to judge it against I'm going to go all generous and give an 8/10.

So, our first entry straight in a #1 in the Teas leagues is Brooklands- Sandwiches & Chips with 19/30.

League table

1.Brooklands (Sandwiches & Chips)- S:5 T:6 P:8 Tot: 19/30
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Wow. Gone on quite a while this week. Hope you've enjoyed it guys and thanks for reading if you've made it this far down. See you next week.... at some point.

Fine Margins

Apologies for the delay to normal service this week, I know you've all been dying for your fix so without further explanation let me try and bring you up to speed. The short version of events is that we kicked off life in Division 3 (South) last weekend and started off looking like we were going to carry on where we left off only to find ourselves on the end of a 3-1 defeat. Damn. It was a little bewildering as we thought we played quite well for long periods of the game, bossed possession, bossed tackles, superior fitness etc. But there it was after 70 minutes, 3-1. Welcome to the big leagues I guess.

I should say at this point that rather than stumbling blindly into the challenge this league is offering like a drunken rambler into a ravine we are very aware of how we went wrong and what we can do to fix it. The frustrating aspect of it is that the formula for success is so simple. It is making sure those simple but crucial moments go our way more often than they don't. These fine margins are to be the furnace in which our season is going to be fired into fuel or burned to ash, it is where we are going to win or lose and where we are going to have to play our hardest and put our best effort in. The fine margins are no secret to anyone so I feel free to label them here. I'm talking about the crucial touches of a games. A tackle, a save, a finish, a key pass or a good call. Getting those key moments right and wrong was what was separated us from victory last week. The obvious one to pick out was our finishing. We had several good chances to score goals last week when at 1-0 up, 1-1 all and 1-2 down and fluffed them. Now as a forward I feel I can speak for the lot of us by saying that our frustration was palpable both during and after the game. With missing goals you want to be careful not to turn it into a complex and instead try rope it off as 'just one of those things'. In our league we're going to get better defenders and better keepers so we'll have to rise to that and place our shots better. On the same note it's 'just one of those things' that isn't going to happen again.

It's not just getting the right angle on your tap in that is crucial though. Those defensive tackles, blocks, and saves are all going to play their role as well. We could have lost 5-1 at the weekend if our opposition had not been guilty of some 'nailed on dick-of-the-day' antics. I still can't decide if I prefer the 'backsticking the ball over the line when it was going in anyway' effort or the 'beat two defenders and the keeper then hit a stand up reverse stick bat shot so bad it drifts off well wide of the open net' that had me and my marker laughing. My point is we were as lucky as we were unlucky last week. Now I'm not sure what the best way of homing in of these areas is or what tactics we need to change as I think that answer lies on an individual to get right but I do know that we play our best stuff when we're focused and pushing ourselves and each other to give everything in a game. So that would be my one-liner for a quick-fix remedy; 'give them everything you have' (house keys, PIN numbers and quality graffiti style print t-shirts being obvious exceptions to that rule).

So the wagon roles on and after 4 consecutive home games and 4 weeks of appalling icy-cold, dripping-like-a-rusty-tap, embarrassing-to-the-club 'showers' we finally get to get the Sale show on the road. I say on the road, our first away game sees us playing Brooklands (which, atlas fans, is a part of Sale!). Because we are Sale but play in Whalley Range our first away game of the season will ironically be played closer to our club house home than our own home pitch, all of which probably means this will be the only week that H does directions and the only week we won't need them. I'm going to bill this as a 'local derby' game to decide who has the bragging rights down the J.P Joule this Saturday (as if anyone in the J.P. Joule has ANYTHING to brag about). I missed training this week so can't offer much in the way of our collective attitude towards this encounter but if the lads are as fired up for it as I am it should be another entertaining contest.

Song of the Week

In keeping with the theme of working on the tight bits in games that separate a win from a loss I've gone for a song (like usual) based purely on name. I am happy this week however to admit to being a proper real genuine fan of this song and the band that perform it. Sadly, I think that being able to use songs I really like could become a rare occurrence over the season so I hope you'll join me in enjoying this song by the 'so hot right now' (Zane Lowe voice optional) band known as The Black Keys, the track is called Tighten Up:

Thanks again folks and maybe next time you won't have to wait until Thursday to get an update. Be sure to check back next week for more spiel, hopefully winning spiel! I'll also finally get to debut my brand new feature... The Tea's league! For hockey players this will be a fairly easy to work out feature, if you're not a player, well come and check it out next week, all shall be revealed...