A friendly start to the season

A sell out crowd arrived at the home of hockey, Heaton Manor Arena, to watch JPC 2s beat fellow promoted side North Shields in what also happened to be the last game for the great Welshman Hugh Shepherd after a number of fine seasons. A strong 2s side with a few subs known to turn out for another team called ‘JPC Men’s 1s’, can be very pleased with a very promising performance, albeit with plenty of things to work on (finishing most importantly).

Despite some early chances from JPC, they also had Rammers to thank for to keep them in it due to a string of fine saves that can only be made by a keeper who has played at a very high level. Eventually the deadlock was broken towards the end of the first half. A short corner found its way to new skipper Hamish Adamson, who powerfully lashed home a possibly deflected first time shot. Not the first time it’s happened also. On the stroke of half time, JPC found themselves 2-0 up – a well worked short corner found former skipper Michael Davison, who expertly placed the ball out of the keeper’s reach on the reverse (website claims that Adamson scored the second are definitely false).

Unfortunately JPC didn’t start the second half as they finished the first. North Shields scored virtually from the restart after JPC fell asleep, and then continued to stay asleep for another ten minutes. Despite that, no more goals were conceded and as the half progressed, JPC began to dominate more and come close to scoring several more – some chances way more easier than others, but names won’t be mentioned to avoid humiliation. JPC managed to hold on and enjoy a well-earned victory ahead of what could be a challenging but exciting season ahead.

Both teams then went to teas as per usual. Pete Walls won man of the match due to some excellent running and work rate at full-back, while Rob Wise gained the new dubious honour of washing up duties due to some questionable rage and short-corner injections. Both teams wished each other best of luck after a well-spirited friendly and look forward to playing each competitively in a couple of weeks.

Match report by Phil Kelly