With a draw and a win under their belts the Sevens stepped out onto the hallowed turf of Pitch One – normally reserved for the club’s greats but today, inexplicably given over to the club favourites - or perhaps a last-game-of-the-day hurrah against and untried an untested Sevenoaks Acorns.
With their talisman skipper Kennedy returning after a late summer break along with the calamitous but determined Price – aka Mr Tumble – the squad was at full strength until it became apparent that defence stalwarts Owen ‘OG’ Gosford and Stuart ‘The Crab’ Ingleston were not available, so some hasty reshuffling saw Carl Bonzio and Richard Beans in back line duty with the rest of the formation starting largely unchanged.
With the reminder of their early positive form in this season’s campaign firmly in their minds, the Sevens started well, containing and controlling the game at their pace as the visitors sought some early composure. An early clatter with an oppo defence as Andrew ‘Dave’ Reedy probed their back line saw the latter briefly green carded as each team sought to gain control of the game.
It became quickly apparent that the home team’s resolution was starting to pay dividends as the away goal-line started to become somewhat besieged with the barrage of attacks with which they laid down. A delightful move through the defence of Bonzio and Beans saw Messy released for a mazy run that reminded one of Maradonna in that game against England in 1986 when he didn’t handball, only to lay a pin-perfect cross for skipper Kennedy to slap into the back of the net 1:0.
Our hometown heroes sought to build on this early gain and some great play across the back line from the unusually gamer-present Luce ‘Cannon’ Gordon and the terrier-like Richard ‘Mr Tumble’ Price making some unexpected quick runs into the oppo’s half to pressurise the defence and eventually, with the goal in his sights, Jonno ‘MVG’ Ghameian rattled his third (or fourth or fifth, we’re not sure, as it was like a bee keeper loosing control of his hive) strike to beat the resolute away keeper: 2:0.
The first half settled without much of change to the gameplay; if anything , the Sevens took their feet off the pedal in the latter half of the half to give Sevenoaks a chance – in fact, a careless play from Gordon resulted in a penalty flick – a chance of a comeback perhaps before halftime? Not if Aaron ‘Flatline’ Main had anything to say about it, and he did – by saving the crisp strike to maintain the Seven’s lead.
The second half, if anything was a little more pedestrian to begin with, with brief forays between both teams. In a rare substitution, Matt ‘Mjölnir’ Carter was replaced by Paul ‘Lard’ Andrews, making a rare, but well-deserved return to the Sevens and came aching close to a third for home favourites, just shooting wide across the goal.

The Sevens, however, kept up the pressure. With a constant supply of great passes from Joseph ‘JJ’ Kennedy as well as Jonno Ghaemian and the occasional foray from Beans and Tumble along the wings, the visitor’s goal was swiftly becoming more strafed than the home airfields by the Luftwaffe in 1940 – how the goal board wasn’t echoing to yet another home town goal was testament to the visitor’s keeper who deserves total praise for his resolute display – sir, you have our respect.
To a man, the Sevens maintained their pressure – from Josh ‘J-Lo’ to the ever terrier-like Dave, the home side never gave up and pushed for that elusive third goal.
With the game concluding at respective 2-0, the charismatic home skipper Kennedy was, as usual, nothing short of praise for his team: “Even though we’ve been about for some time and achieved back-to-back promotions, it still feels like this ‘social’ team’ sails largely under the radar when it comes to what we’ve achieved for this club, but to be frank, that’s not our goal – it’s just playing the game we love with our mates on a Saturday and, with the right effort, it pays off. Do that, and we’re happy. Two wins and a draw and we’re happy with things so far, but we’re very early days, so we take each game as it comes. We love our hockey and the team, so long may it continue!”