On a crisp, yet sunny morning, it felt almost unnatural waking up early on a Sunday with the prospect of playing a full game of competitive hockey. 13 brave souls arose and ventured across the Hertfordshire border into Oxfordshire for the first round of the EH Mixed Cup where they faced an anticipatedly tough Witney side.

As a small anecdote, a couple fun facts about Witney:
1) David Cameron was MP for the town up until 2016 when he resigned (Boooo?)
2) No one really knew where Witney was
3) Witney is further away than you think…

Despite the Sunday fixture, some things did not change; Kieran was his token 15 mins late (poor from you Ann & John), on arrival Swampy was in his natural habitat at the top of the D, hitting the ball as hard as he could at an empty goal – we’re yet to see this come to anything in games! And Haydn (the sieve) couldn’t’ help but offer the opposition the chance to score a couple through his legs (we won't mention to P-Flick incident either...).

Berko started the game well creating a couple of breakaway chances but were unable to capitalise on the early possession in the final third. As the game progressed, Witney took control of the game and despite some resolute defending managed to turn the ball in through a nice deflection at the far post. This was followed up with 2 further goals before half time - I can't remember how they went in, they just did. HT 3-0.

Despite the score line, Berko were in good spirits at the break knowing that there would be further opportunities in the second half to score. Paddy bagged himself 2 goals and a weekend hat-trick following some excellent attacking play and movement off the ball from Shrina to create space at the back post ?. The game finished 7-2 in the end, but fun was had by all and topped off with teas a couple of beers in their clubhouse (see picture attached).

Berko now go into the Plate draw where hopefully this time we won’t be drawn against National League opposition, thanks England Hockey....