Berko 3 Letchworth 1 

A Men's 5th team brimming with youth and vitality as no less than 8 players under the age of 15 provided the backbone for the 5ths in this league match against Letchworth. The opposition were on average about four times the average age so it was a match up of youth against experience. 

Berkhamsted started very brightly pushing forward and winning a succession of short corners but sadly the elder Buckley failed to time any of the shots on goal and we were unable to capitalise. If he had managed to do so and Steve Redman had managed to finish then we would have been about 4 goals to the good by half time. As it was, an excellent breakaway goal by the aforementioned Redman was the only difference between the teams at half time.

As expected the second half started with Letchworth putting Berkhamsted under pressure and after about 15 minutes they managed to convert a short corner. This seemed to steel the team into action and another excellent run by Redman resulted in an easy conversion for Buckley senior from about 2 feet. With Berkhamsted now running and passing well and Roger Macklin controlling the midfield, Berkhamsted played some lovely hockey with Will Hanwell and Kieran Baxter in particular contributing. All the youngsters were doing as asked in tackling back and running to cover opportunities for Letchworth to snatch an equaliser but another sweeping move with contributions from Hanwell, Buckley junior and Max Jenkinson saw Ed Holderness seal the match with a beautifully taken reverse stick shot. He certainly didn’t learn it from his parents but it was an excellently taken goal.