It turns out Witney was quite the distance but in the end worth the 3 hour round trip!

Day started with stand in Captain running very late but still there to join in the warm up but became the obvious choice for DoD. Starting off by looking for a volunteer left back - step forward Owen for his first ever taste of a new position and a front 3 with a combined age of less than 45.

Game started at a furious pace with Berko taking control early on. The midfield 3 of Larry, Hin and the returning Tom Arnold passing it nicely up to the front 3 of Teddy, Elliot and Benji. Some good play lead to a couple of half chances, eventually this led to a flurry of short corners with the 3rd one finally paying off with a straight strike by Lunn with a slight deflection off the defender on the line putting Berko 1 up after about 15 mins. After the goal Witney came back into the game and pushed on, putting Berko under a lot of pressure with one of their shorts being cleared off the line by Ricky Kaup. Both of the Berko full backs, James and Owen (who was outstanding) being put under a lot of pressure but the defence stood tall and kept Witney out.

A quick reset and the 2nd half started in the same manner with Berko on top, very similar to the first half. Another good 10/15 mins of the half led to another short after a really good run by Owen winning it, this time following the same routine but a slight mishit from Lunn laid it on plate for Ricky who made it 2-0. Witney came out hard again. With a new left back for the 2nd half Teddy, doing a sterling job in an unfamiliar position, a few minutes later Berko took control again. Tom Arnold, Elliot, Benji and Owen played some really nice quick hockey and almost opened up Witney on a few occasions. With about 10 mins to go another short was won and Lunn got the 3rd. Witney never gave up and poured men forward in the last 10 mins where one of their youngsters produced a very good tomahawk into the roof of the Berko net. Berko held on to take the 3 points.
A great start to the season and on to the Derby next weekend.

MoM – Tom Arnold and Teddy
DoD – Lunn