Men vs Kings - 28/10/2020+1 (H)
BLWP 6- 10 Kings
A tale as old as time, the rivalry between King's College London and Barts and The London, played out once more. 13 men armed with all the man up man down drills they could do, made their way down to Poplar Baths on this fated Thursday. The tension was palpable, the energy was there, waving flag could be heard in the back of our minds, we were ready. For one of us, this match meant more than we could ever know, Alex Osband. Playing his old team, they knew the danger he would bring to the game.
Whistle blows and the first quarter starts. Liam swims off and wins us the first swim off (and all others that follow). We form up the D and immediately pass around to our resident rower Lappy who sinks one straight into the back of the net showing King's who's really running the show. King's managed to respond putting a couple past us with the ankle deep shallow end doing us no favours. Lappy once again showing his shooting prowess and putting the ball in the net without issue bringing the first quarter to a close 2-2.
The second quarter is one we don't talk about. Letting them put 5 past us even with Omar doing bits we let the game run away from us. Even without a driving licence here in the UK, that didn't stop LA Deadeye Cole driving in the D creating space and plays which let him sink one in the goal in this quarter. Not to mention our own King's man who still has not yet received Drip Drop's number putting one back too from pit attack we totalled 2 in this quarter.
Whistle goes and we win the third swim off. A more quiet quarter this one, we have our players moving about making moves but only getting one back in the net here in the always pivotal quarter. James and Josh swimming quickly down the sides of the pool and keeping the defence up to almost a full exclusion to Josh with a mighty 2 kick outs we kept our resolve and strength. This quarter our mighty pit attack Alex came off after a monumental effort to put in our man who loves the fight, Noah. In pit defence Noah was keeping their number 3 in check who after a failed King's attack looked bewildered at our incredible power.
Final quarter, final chance to make the match ours. All our freshers had their chance in the final quarter with tadpole Harry doing incredible work with his defensive drills and putting the pressure on one of their players who ended up missing one of the easiest shots of his life, he was leaning back too far. Tadpole Mack and Bailey making their debuts with Bailey proving to himself as well as us that he still claims to be the fastest man in Barts. Mack quickly realised what the game is all about with a quick and strong effort on the right wing. Mark despite coming late to the game (halfway through the first quarter) he put out great sprints on the wing showing his true worth as a leftie with Liam.
While the score line is not in our favour this time, I am truly proud of the boys today with our puddle we call a pool and we have things to look at and work on to come back even stronger.
Goal Scorers: Alex, Cole and Lappy
Player of the match: Lappy for playing with an infected finger and scoring 2 in the first quarter