League: East Grinstead ‘A’ 4 – 6 Milton Keynes

An almost perfect start to the second half of the season, converting a close game into a win against 3rd placed East Grinstead ‘A’. It was almost perfect as the shine was taken off with a nasty injury to MK’s midfielder Ollie Baines. More on Ollie’s injury later.

Both teams showed signs of Christmas and New Year excesses and EG scored first thanks mostly to some sluggish MK defending. MK hit back with four goals to dominate the remainder of the first quarter, which was interrupted for about five minutes after the EG goalie stick head snapped and had to be tapped up as no spare goalie stick was available for either team (that’s something to remember for our next game…). Ollie Baines scored our fourth goal, and it was one that a speed gun would have trouble registering such was it’s force. In true WWII dam-busters style it kept low to the ground and the bounce certainly foxed the EG goalie who missed the ball as it trickled into the goal.

The second quarter started and MK were set to continue their good start, until 38 seconds in. Ollie Baines was running the ball up the wing, in his usual style of just running as fast as he can. He planted his right leg to turn in field but his knee gave way and he collapsed on the ground, in a lot of pain. It was quickly obvious that he was not going to jog this off so we called an ambulance and the sports club 1st aiders. With the help of some ambulance gas he was on a stretcher and off to Redhill hospital. The second quarter restarted after about a 45 minute delay. Later we heard the diagnosis was a chipped bone in the knee. Pain killers and a solid knee brace later, Ollie was on his way home with Corey Jamieson. The best guess right now is probably a 6 week recovery period so we wish Ollie well. No doubt we’ll see him on the sidelines for a home game and we wish him a speedy recovery.

MK lost a bit of their mojo following the injury delay, plus EG upped their game and soon the score was 4-4. We had a game on. The second half was a great display of competitive lacrosse albeit with only two goals, both from MK, but EG had plenty of shots with many inches wide or well saved by Jacob. Neither team could capitalise on a couple of man-up situations and as the game clock ticked on, MK grew in confidence that they could hold onto this lead and bring home the win. With three minutes remaining and a two goal lead, MK called a timeout to focus the minds. The last minutes didn’t totally go to plan as EG managed three final possessions with three shots on goal so on another day this could of gone to the wire.

This win should catapult MK from 6th to 4th position in East Division Two, level on points with Reading 2’s, but ahead on goal average. However with 9 games to go, the final league tables are far from decided and MK will need at least another couple of wins to be safe from relegation worries.

Man-of-the-Match: Chris Webborn, top scorer with four goals, including three in the first quarter that got the ball rolling.

D-of-the-Day: Corey Jamieson, got called out by EG for wearing a thick gold necklace (very dangerous when playing lacrosse) and started but lost a fight with a small boy wearing trousers. He did hang around for Ollie at the hospital and take him home which shows he’s made of the right stuff.

Game Stats
4:6 (1:4, 4:4, 4:5, 4:6)

MK Goals:
Chris Webborn (4)
Ollie Baines
John Horbury