Men's make it six wins this season despite under-par performance
Another win for the men's team but it was one they had to work hard for. It took the final quarter for the hosts to grab the lead and it was sealed with a come-back goal by Stephen Hamilton.
A hat-trick from David Drysdale was the highlight of the day. Two goals each from man-of-the-match Marcus Howe and Shane Hall also helped the men's team guarantee a top two finish in the league.
Despite now going 7-1 for the season, it was not a convincing win for Staffordshire, which could effect their preparations for Varsity. "With the under par performance I know we can still win Varsity we just have to work harder than what we did during the game. Everyone knew this and knew we have to step up against the challange of Varsity" said captain Dimitri Chambers.
But like most sports fans know, ugly wins are usually a sign of champions. Chambers comments "With us winning with an under par performance shows that we can still win during a poor day, but we don't learn from the easy mistakes that we made as we weren't punished by them so we are not dealingl with a loss."
The game began without fresher Daniel Courtnage for the first time this season. As Oxford Brookes took an early lead, you could tell the Staffordshire back line needed him. The league's bottom side were definitely out to spoil the party and quickly created a gap that meant to quick change in the line up.
By the second quarter arrived, Chambers' changes started to make an impact as goals from Drysdale and Hall kept them in the game as the half time whistle went.
The second half saw captain Chambers go with his freshers to help the cause. Chambers seemed to give a lot of the the freshers a lot of minutes on the field today. It seemed a good idea as they all worked hard knowing that Varsity was on the way. "Our freshers have come a long way since they started in September, and they have impressed all of us. The likes of Stephen Hamilton, Daniel Courtnage Daniel Wichler, Thomas Chandler, Sam Page and late-comer Andy Betteney have impressed all of us" said Chambers. This gave the experienced players enough time to rest, and as soon as the likes of Chambers, Drysdale, Hall and Howe came on, the comeback was on. The flow in midfield and attack was back to its best and before you knew it, the game was tied at the end of the third quarter.
The momentum was with Staffs and straight away they took the lead in the final quarter that included a a first goal for Stephen Hamilton after a two-game absence. Then the pressure of the visitors made it a one goal game to make it a nervous ending. This included the home side to having two of their players go into the box for penalties. This meant the back line having to hold the pressure with a four-man zone. But amazingly the defence held in for the narrowest of narrow wins, which surely gives them great preperation for Varsity which looks like it will be as tight as this encounter was.
With the match with Keele just a month away, the Varsity team was announced this past week. So barring any injuries this year's Varsity team is: Simon Hart, Matthew Meehan, David Grice, Daniel O'Donnell-Mitchell, David Downs, Dimitri Chambers, James Anderson, Marcus Howe, Shane Hall, Adrian Reinert, Stephen Hamilton, Daniel Wichler, Leigh Horvath-Szovati, Nathan Villiers, David Drysdale, Thomas Chandler, Sam Page and Andy Betteney. "I am very confident in the 18 that i have picked for Varsity and wouldn't change the team any time now" says Chambers.