Flags: Reading 2’s 5 – 7 Milton Keynes

MK progress through to the next round of the Flags (cup) competition with victory down at Reading and now face Brighton Panthers in MK on Saturday 3rd February 2018. Lots of leagues games before now and then including going to Brighton (well Eastbourne) next Saturday so we’ll see what they have got this season.

A thumb injury to Jonny Prince near the end of the game dampened the mood slightly – we wish him well for a speedy recovery and hope he can hold a whiteboard pen on Monday when he’s back teaching GCSE maths.

Some M4 problems forced a delayed start with some MK players getting no warm-up but that did not hinder our very strong start with MK jumping out to a commanding lead in the first half. The stand out goal was a coast-to-coast effort from Giles Cuddy. He made a save and looked to clear the ball upfield. The centre of the field was totally empty so he started to jog upfield, still looking for the right pass. At the half way line, he was still in acres of space. He checked for any offside, crossed the halfway, dodged a Reading midfielder and started to accelerate downfield. He was now looking for the killer pass to an open MK attacker, and that’s also what Reading were thinking. When nobody closed him down his sights moved to the goal. He charged in from the right flank, used the low bright sun as an added weapon and slammed the ball into the bottom left corner. Gorgeous – and well deserved man-of-the-match – he also made a series of great saves throughout game. MK’s regular goalie, Pat Land, should be worried but fear not as Giles can only make a few games due to work commitments and he also gets it done in the outfield either in defence or attack.

MK played some good team lacrosse today, especially in the first half. Reading had the better of the second half but the game was pretty much won at half-time.

A trio of players got voted for the light hearted D of the Day award. Jack and Ben because the always get voted, plus Rhys who managed to block one of Jack’s shots, stopping a certain goal. However we don’t want Jack scoring too many more as he’s now clear as MK’s top scorer this season and such praise may go to his head.

The defensive trio of Day, Brown and Nightingale deserver a special mention. Day scored (he’ll remind us of that at training on Tuesday), Brown hassled and forced numerous Reading turnovers, and Nightingale used his size and strong on-field presence to his advantage and did not let any Reading attackers dodge past him.

MK Squad
Giles Cuddy, Aaron Day, Christian Brown, Ben Nightingale, Rob Gooch, Ben Amos, Corey Jamieson, Jonny Prince, Sam Miles, Toby Jeffries, Jack Gambrill, Ben Brookes & Rhys Kelham

Game Stats
5:7
MK Goals:
#88 Jack Gambrill x 3
#22 Ben Brookes x 2
#1 Giles Cuddy
#3 Aaron Day

MK Man-to-the-Match: Giles Cuddy
MK D-of-the-Day: Jack Gambrill + Rhys Kelham + Ben Amos