CHAMPAGNE HOCKEY

On a Saturday blighted by the calamities brought by storm Dennis, Didsbury welcomed lowly Formby to the Armitage.

News quickly spread amongst the troops pre­­-match of a surprise home loss for Leyland & Chorley against Fylde, meaning Didsbury would clinch the league title with victory. Buoyed by this news, Didsbury made a strong start with captain Grim hitting the bar early on with an excellent first-time effort after a well saved short corner.

Didsbury’s dominance continued throughout the first half, taking the lion’s share of possession into half time slamming home 4 goals. The fines were already starting to rack up, including Chris Dunning stopping the team from completing a hat-trick of penalty stroke misses by expertly dispatching his effort.

A mid match discussion and feast on Haribo sent Didsbury quick out the traps in the second half.

A special mention should go to hat-trick hero and Duracell bunny forward Andy Devine, fresh from his late night antics and still with the taste of half digested carbonara in his mouth, he was ever present in the forward line.

As the weather worsened in the second half, Didsbury continued their march to glory, passing the 10 goal mark with more ruthless finishing including a dubious goal line steal from an opportunist and hat-trick villain Matty Taylor. Stealing a goal from the skipper is surely a court martial offence, which we have doubtless not heard the last of!

A further mention should go to scorer of goal number 12 and man of the match Matty Paine, smashing home an innovative short corner routine to bag his first ever goal in green and white.

The final whistle brought muted celebrations from Didsbury until the the fizz was produced to make it rain champagne.

Wannabe 4’s player Andy Spencer suddenly produced his full kit at full time having been dropped to the 3’s in recent weeks. Despite this John Terry type stunt, the rest of the squad reluctantly allowed him in the team photos with the promise of an inevitable dick of the day vote in the pub later.

CHAMPIONES, CHAMPIONES, OLE, OLE OLE!!!

FINAL SCORE: Didsbury Northern 12 - 0 Formby

Goals:
Matty Taylor x 3
Andy Devine x 3
Grim x 2
Robin Broom x 2
Chris Dunning x 1
Matt Paine x 1

MoM: Matt Paine - broke his DNHC goal cherry!

DoD: Spence - full kit w*nker