Last Wednesday saw a weakened Narwhals team square up against a National League fresh Croydon II’s. As it was the start of the winter season, our triumphs in the London League were two weeks behind us and we were focusing fully on this handicapped cup game. Starting with an 8 goal advantage, we were optimistic. Time would prove we shouldn’t have been…

Nov 28th Stats

We started slowly, staying with Croydon for the grand total of 2 minutes (2-2) before succumbing to an 8-2 end of quarter score… New Rob did pick up a goal, as did Charles, but on the whole, Croydon let us know fairly quickly what sort of game this was going to be. High press, quick counter. Our inability to win fouls cost us more than I care to say here. For the record, we need to learn to win fouls…

The second quarter didn’t go much better, with Croydon scoring yet more quick counter attacks to increase the lead. even when we did manage to slow the attack and set up some semblance of a defence, they picked out the top corner from 7-8m. We did have some highlights from the quarter – Phil with two screamers and Andy also chipping in with a decent goal from the pit. 16-5 the score at the half.

Then miraculously at half-time, the score jumped suddenly to 13-16 – 8 goals appeared as if from nowhere. There was no shortage of claims for those goals, with many suggesting they should be allocated to Chris Mann for his services to the club. Sadly Chris missed a 1:1 counter attack in the 3rd quarter so I decided not to give them out. These goals can be collected at the Christmas party with a fine of one jagerbomb per goal.

The 3rd quarter had few highlights for us. Oggy grabbed another goal, a just reward for his hard work in the game – but the quarter closed at 22-14 to Croydon. Low-light for the quarter was Floater Richards being wrapped up for his potty language. Having not won a foul he felt he was due, Mr. Richards had a big wobble and said some naughty words to the referee. He was promptly ejected. Sad face.

The 4th quarter followed much the same theme. Counter attack followed counter attack and our lack of aggressiveness in the pit also allowed the opposition to get more of an advantage. We had a late rally in the final few minutes, starting our comeback with 3 unanswered goals, but it was too little too late at this point and Croydon saw out the game with a victory of 31-17.

Man of the match for the game went to Andy “El Presidente” Ogg for a lot of hard work and determination for very little gain. Shout out to Andy “keeper” Winterbotham for some good 1:1 saves, but there was little he could do against the Croydon onslaught. Moment of the Match went to Oggy and Weeble for a well crafted goal in the pit. A cheeky lob over the defender to a waiting dwarf who drove it in from 2m. Dan Bedford might have been proud… Honourable mentions to P.Richards screamers & Oggy’s backshot from the pit. Fluffer was unanimous this week. Sorry Phil… better clean up your act!!

Something else to mention – Charles turned 18 last week and was very keen to buy a round for everyone. His next opportunity is at the Christmas party, so I guess beers are on Charles? Matt Finch must have a non-alcoholic beverage just in case he falls over again.

Forza Narwhali

The 24th October saw the Mighty Narwhals play the final game of the London League. With Enfield having slipped up against Eastern Otter, a win would guarantee top spot in the League and would ensure promotion next season…

6th November Stats

Our solid 9 was whittled down slightly by the fact we had no keeper and needed one person on the table. This meant at any one time we had one sub and no reliability between the sticks. Kudos to Oggy, Shute and Loveless for taking up the challenge and being our Keepers for the day. It actually worked quite well – our first clean sheet of the season!! This now means that Oggy, Loveless and Gamble are all in contention for “keeper of the season”, having the lowest goals conceded to game ratio…

The game started well with the Narwhals racing into a 6 goal lead, with 6 different scorers. Our clean sheet was threatened in the last moments of the half as Nick “clumsy” Shute gave away a penalty. Lucky for him, El Presidente saved the shot gloriously to his right.

The second quarter went equally well, this time with the Narwhals recording 5 goals without response. This quarter we had Nick “Flappy Hands” Shute in goal and he acrobatically and rather theatrically saved a number of shots, batting them away in all directions. There was a delightful moment with a minute left in the quarter where all Narwhals had scored except for Ed “high and wide” Gamble. Luckily for him, he managed to grab a goal (it was spectacular… I think) and so all Narwhals managed to get themselves on the match sheet. No trips to Portugal this week. There was also some dubious passing from Shute in goal… two passes landing well outside the pool… even worse than Finch…

Third quarter saw another 6 goals to the Narwhals and some rather wayward shooting. Highlight of the quarter saw Shute one on one with the goalkeeper where he then proceeded to hit the post, catch the rebound, have a shot saved by the keeper and then finally score on the third time of asking (just on the buzzer). No one wanted to give the goal, but sadly the referees did (BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!) much to the disappointment of both teams.

The 4th quarter saw another 5 goals to the Narwhals and Woody’s second quarter in goal. For the first time he was “saved” by the woodwork rather than punished by it, with a low shot cannoning off the inside of the post and back out into his waiting arms. We saw out the end of the game and were victorious 22-0. Solid effort.

Man of the Match went to Rob “woody” Loveless for his two quarters in goal and taking one for the team. Moment of the match (unanimously) went to Andy “Marathon Man” Ogg for his superb penalty save. Fluffer was awarded to Nick “Off Target” Shute for a number of errors (despite his 5 goals) – bad passing, gave away a penalty, laughable one on one.

Our shooting was terrible and our passing was worse, but we got the win. Champions of London!! On the Narwhals march!!

Forza Narwhali!!