Old Farts win Underwater hockey gold medal.

Many years ago Bob Rosemergy was a well known figure in wellington hockey. Not only did he coach the taita College team (and spot a talented but unknown skinny long haired geek playing left wing and turn him into a fast and powerful right winger - can you guess who?) but he also coached Nae Nae and Hutt Valley teams.

In addition to that he promoted and coached the NZ Underwater Hockey team.

Maybe some of those skills rubbed off on the Farts players, cause it was more like underwater hockey today at Elsdon park. The  Farts turned out against a Northern United team whose total age probably was less than the total age of our forward line.

When we took the field for our warm up, the wingers lanes had a layer of surface water on them, by the time of the hit off the only part of the field that "looked" dry was the centre lane.

We had most of the pressure, probably 83% of territory and possession.  In the first half PC's were a nightmare to actually get top the edge of the circle, the receiving player had to advance and pull them back the circle was that sodden. The first half saw lots of balls stopping in the water, and no matter how hard passes were hit they only averaged 10 metres.

The first goal came from a PC, which Veitchy skillfully flicked into the top left corner.  Legs added a second and then Trapper missed a open goal sitter, cam had done all the hard work, driving to the line on the left hand side and flicked a pass (give him the benefit of the doubt) waist high that barely missed the RH upright and trapper couldn't connect with.  However  not long after he was perfectly placed on the spot to flick home a ball that Veitchy had run to the line and then pulled back.

Legs added his second, Northern pulled back a couple  and the boys went to the sheds 4-2 up.

The turf had started to dry out a bit by the time of the second half, and the Farts continued the pressure.  Trapper found the back of the net with a deft reverse hit, but the umpire blew the whistle just as he hit and gave the Farts a PC instead.

Needle had a strong supporting game, and mid way through the second half had a shot smack into the LH upright.  there were a number of other shots on goal, Veitchy dribbled one in, then hit a booming shot at goal that ricocheted off Cams stick and went in.

The only other action late in the second half was when the Umpire decided that maybe due to his age and the risk of Pneumonia that Trapper should go and wrap up early. He wasn't certain what the card was for, its past his birthday and not Christmas yet.

So the Farts wrapped up a wet and soggy game 6-2 , to retain the laed at the top of the table.  While not played in the best conditions, the second half especially was a fast paced game, with lots of pressure and tackling across the field.

Goals
2 - Legs
2 - Veitchy
1 - Cam
1 - Trapper

MVPs
3 - Wicky - good solid game,with lots of support play, tackling and pressure
2 - Needle - again, great energy and a solid game, unlucky not to get on the score sheet
1 - Scotty - without sounding like a broken record, Scotty again was a key player, with lots of energy and vision.
1 - Rearend - umpired again
1 - Robbie - Oranges
-1 - Trapper - Yellow card