This weekend saw the Mighty 7s™️ travelled to promotion rivals Sittingbourne 4s for what was billed as a clash of the titans as the two table-topping teams went toe-to-toe for the first time this season. Despite missing key players The Fronz, Well Played Riley and Mr Tumble, the squad arrived confident that they could pick up where they left off last season with three points on the road. But the Gods of hockey clearly had other ideas for the day.

Sittingbourne started the brighter of the two teams, looking to stamp their authority on the game and, for a while, it seemed to be going in their favour as they enjoyed long spells of possession, but just struggled to find the decisive final pass. At the back, however, Folkestone’s defensive unit of The Crab, Milk Tray, Huge, The OG, and The Bondz along with Luce Cannon stood firm - stepping in front well, reading any danger early, and giving the hosts very little to work with.

The Sevens were pushing back and created forays where they could darting runs from the youthful combo of J-Lo and Reedy, but just not reaching a conclusion. A Mjölnir pass to skipper Mule saw the latter meet a wall of defenders and coming away with a stamped hand for his troubles. However, going forward, Messy was causing problems with his aerial canons, raining havoc downfield, a bombardment of which Sittingbourne one probably hadn’t seen since the Hun in the last world war. This created a golden opportunity when Borris collected the ball wide and drove the baseline. Unfortunately, despite the Mule careening into the D to receive the pass, he was a solitary force surrounded by defenders and Borris couldn’t quite find the telling pass.

Another big moment came from a well-worked short corner routine, leaving Messy free, but the Sittingbourne keeper produced an excellent save – his first of several of the day.

The home side eventually opened the scoring after an unfortunate defensive pass fell straight to a one of their players A quick ball into the circle found their striker, who fired low towards the bottom right corner. Milk Tray reacted superbly to make the initial save, but as the ball became trapped under his foot, a Sittingbourne attacker pounced and lifted it over him to make it 1–0: first blood to the hosts. Just before half-time, some tidy link-up play between Mjölnir and Gizmo almost created the equaliser, but a last-ditch interception from the defence kept the hosts ahead at the break.

Despite trailing, the 7s remained positive and knew the game was still there to be won – a positive team talk rallied the visitors into a determined mood to even up the affair. But, likely smelling blood, the second half began with Sittingbourne once again pressing hard, but, once again, they just couldn’t break the resilience of the Folkestone defence. The home side did put the ball in the net twice, but both attempts were ruled out. One of these skirmishes saw the Crab bundled over and struck hard with an opponent’s stick for a nasty swelling, later revealed via x-ray to be some extensive tendon bruising, but thankfully nothing more permanent than that. He was replaced by the already injured Bonzo, and then joined the Mule (pulled hamstring) on the sidelines.

With five minutes remaining, Mjölnir found himself free in the circle, only to be bundled over just as he pulled back to shoot, earning a short corner for his troubles. But, that was all he needed: from the top of the D he unleashed a ferocious strike - even though a defender managed to get a stick to it, the sheer power forced the ball across the line. It was a well-deserved equaliser: 1–1.

At the final whistle, Folkestone earned another short corner - a last gasp to steal all three points. Messy’s shot however, was well smothered by the in-form keeper, and the match ended honours-even.

Post match, we caught up with the injured skipper for his thoughts on the game: “Well, we knew today would be a test and all credit to our opponents, they pushed us alright! Despite missing three key players and losing a replacement last minute due to selection shenanigans, we came here with 13 and taken a battering in places but we held firm. I think either team would have been bitterly disappointed to lose this fixture, particularly with the quality of hockey we saw today, so we’re satisfied to share the points – this time, at least.

“Each and every one of my lads did us proud today; I’m hoping the injuries we picked up today are recoverable in time for next week’s home fixture when we should be welcoming back our other regulars for what I hope will be a full-strength team as we look to return to winning ways next week at home to Sutton Valence. Despite the draw, the 7s remain top of the league, two points clear of Blackheath & Elthamians Outlaws who leapfrogged Sittingbourne to claim second place. This will be a tightly fought league right until the last minute of the last game with no easy fixtures – just the way we like it.”