Over the weekend, our Mens 1s had a double-header weekend with the Cup game on Saturday followed by a trip to Reading on Sunday. Arriving at Sonning Lane on a rather chilly Sunday afternoon, Bicester were leading the league table over second placed Reading and were looking to extend their lead further.

Reading started brighter in the opening 5 minutes, calling Will in goal into action early after winning a short corner that was dragged low and right so his outstretched foot cleared over the back-line.

It took 8 minutes for Bicester to really get into the game, sending an Aerial forward that was missed by the defender and allowed Callum & Ollie to break through and win a short corner of their own. The original shot was well blocked by the runner and fell nicely for Jordan to follow up at goal to unfortunately clip a Bicester foot at the back post.

The deadlock was broken in the 12th Minute, as a messy defensive play deep in Reading's Own 23 allowed Callum to steal the ball, twist and turn inside the circle to slot past the keeper. In a matter of moments Bicester won the ball and a driving run forward saw a second goal in less than a minute. After the Keeper saved the original redirected shot by Ollie, who was still laid outstretched on the floor as the ball landed right in front of him to finish on the second attempt.

Reading, maybe in a bit of shock from the 2 quick fire goals, looked for a response of their own calling Will into action again as he needed to make some great saves from a couple of short corners as the quarter-hour mark passed. Unfortunately, Reading were able to find space and create an overload on the counter to find the backboard to bring the game to 2-1.

The following 10 minutes became a battle as both teams tried to play through the pitch and repeatedly turnt over the ball. Bicester trying to extend the lead and Reading looking for an equaliser, it was rather thrilling stuff to watch and exciting to see but it led to some poor challenges for the ball with Reading picking up 2 Green Cards in this period of play.

With the man advantage a quickly taken foul inside the Reading 23, allowed to drive down to the baseline and drive the ball across the goal, where Reece was unmarked to slot in at the back post giving Bicester a 3-1 Lead into the break.

The second half started strongly for Bicester, on the front foot from the get go. Extending their lead further inside 7 minutes. A long pass out from the back found Callum, who dribbled through the defenders and hit a reserve across the circle to find a rapidly arriving Keegan, sliding in to deflect the ball goal bound to make it 4-1.

As the 10th minute passed, Alex dropped his shoulder and turnt to press forward on the ball with two reading players coming in on either side of him to win the ball, frustrated by no decision of a foul against him. Screams of “Don’t Foul” rang out from the dugout on the far side of the pitch, only for Alex to drive into a tackle and pick up a yellow card for his actions.

Despite being a man down this didn't stop Bicester getting forward. In the 13th Minute, Rob picking up the ball on a transition entered the circle down the left side and laid the ball off to Callum, Ripping the ball toward goal to come off a defenders stick as it finished in the netting. Bicester being a comfortable 5-1 up now.

The following 15 minutes of the second half was rather uneventful in terms of action in front of goal as the game became a rather messy affair as frustrations for Reading set in. The onlooking spectators had plenty of groaning and moaning, Reading picked up a green & yellow card of their own during this stage of the game. Some spectators made their feelings known to the Umpires for what they felt was inconsistency in decisions. Bicester mostly kept their heads and composure during this time as they continued to battle and challenge to play their own style of game, that was until the 25th Minute as Henry went in with a rather heavy tackle on a counter with advantage played as reading continued to get forward, he was later green carded for this rash tackle.

As the final 5 minutes loomed, another short corner was awarded to Reading and again Will was there to make the save. In the following counter, James sprung into the circle and rifled off a shot for the keeper to make a great stretched save, however he would have felt unfortunate as Bob was awaiting and on the volley smashed the rebound home to give Bicester their 6th Goal.

Finishing Bicester 6 - 1 Reading, From a spectator of the game, it felt like two very different halves, the first being a well fought and fair matchup between two competitive sides, that saw some amazing hockey especially from Bicester while the second was filled with lull in play that saw frustrations take over and saw the branding of cards that took away from the positives of the game. However it is still a fantastic result that extends the lead to 10 points for Bicester as they enter into their final 6 games of the season. They move on to face Amersham in their next match, a place that has been a tough place to go for Bicester in recent years.

Man of the Match : Bob Carr
Dick of the Day : Alex Birtles