Friendly at Basingstoke, 1st OctoberMK played their first a preseason friendly away to Basingstoke Bulls. Kat and Jon were both playing their first match, and we also had several 1st team players. Basingstoke also had a mix of experience, although one of their divisions consisted entirely of experienced players.At first we traded goals, although then we fell 3 goals behind after Basingstoke sunk several long-shots in quick succession. We managed to pull most of this back before half-time with Nov scoring off the back of the post, Ali from medium distance and Katie with two long-shots, and Paul was unlucky to have another goal disallowed in a very close "defended" call. We then managed to stretch into a lead in the second half, with Nov scoring a free pass under the new rules and Ali making no mistake from the penalty spot as well as scoring two more short-range shots, although Basingstoke pulled a couple back near the end. Then John called a time-out (it was queried why we wanted this with only one minute left!) and suggested a move involving setting up Nov for a side-feed. We managed to execute this and Nov was fouled for the penalty, which he converted himself. This apparently extended our lead to 13-10, but when we counted back after the game, we realised that one of Basingstoke's first half goals had been incorrectly given to us instead, so in fact, the score had been 11-11 before the penalty and so it was a last minute winner! Some of us heading back to MK then had an interesting trip back, taking three attempts to find a pub en route where we could eat lunch! A good win, and well done to everyone who played, especially Carla, Kat and Jon, with good performances against players who will be competing in OKA Division 1 this season. MK team: Ali (4, 1 pen), Carla, John T (1), Jon P Katie (2), Kat, Nov (5, 1 pen), Paul |