Welcome to Adobe GoLive 5

This was the tournament that was cancelled from a few months earlier – supposedly because one of the boards got broken. It was a two day event, with a late start (5:00pm ) on the Saturday. The Eversley centre is a bit tucked away with only token road signs. Still, every one got there in time despite the tales of how they got lost on the way.

Oxford Vs Titans
The weekend started with an easy match against the Hosts, The Titans. The first goal came within 10 seconds of the face off and two more followed in the first minute of play. A good start, but this looked like it might be a bit embarrassing. This was the host team after all!

The Titans goalie finally woke up and started stopping a barrage of our shots on goal. We dominated the game, but looked very scrappy. We got a few more goals but where not playing well. In the second half, our shots on goal were wide of their mark. We looked ragged and let in three goals. The final score was 9:3, but not a proud victory. There were some stern words from Bruce back in the changing room. It was a win, but not the sort of play to win a tournament.

OxfordVs Vikings
The next game was against the Vikings. This was a combined team of Chippenham and Swindon. Some said it was a regional team. They had one player who stood a head above every one else. He said he was 13 years old, but was allowed to play! (Nothing to do with his manager being the TD by any chance?). This was going to be a tough game - we felt that we were the underdogs, but wanted to show what we could do.

The game started and we looked good. Within a few minutes we went 1:0 up with a scrappy goal that trickled over the goalie - still, every one counts. The Storm then took on a new life. The Vikings were good, but were always being shut down. We pulled some good moves and got a second (deflected) goal. The spirits of the Storm had now been raised to a new level. They worked really well as a team - even the scary line was not scared. The Vikings managed to pull one good move off in the whole game - and scored from it. This was the one, brief, time that they controlled the game, but the Storm held the game the rest of the time. Joe popped in a couple, Josh(K) got one. The final score was 6:2 - the final whistle blew and the Storm were on cloud Nine (pleased with themselves!).

This was one of those magic moments that make the sport worthwhile. The kids were grinning from ear to ear - and they deserved it. After the miserable show that they put on in the first game, this was a transformation. If they could hold that level of play, they could win the tournament.

Oxford Vs Terriers
The next day we were to play the Terriers. These were billed as the 'Basildon All-stars' - a bit of poetic licence I think. They were being beaten by everyone, and now it was our turn.

The terriers bunched around the ball and around the goal like it was a street hockey game. We passed the ball back, drew out their attackers, pushed the ball forward and kept scoring. At least that's what we started out doing.

However, when the Storm start winning and they smell blood, something snaps in some players heads and they all start to want a slice of the goal scoring action. The teamwork that started so well began to break apart. The Terriers goal bunching tactics meant we ended up constantly shooting into their legs rather than the goal. We were taking too long to pass/shoot and the flow of the game went down a gear. Never the less, they showed great composure and barely allowed the ball to enter our half.

Bruce had asked for a Solid passing game and they delivered. They were (mostly) mature and confident. The Storm close to their best.

Oxford vs BorehamWood.
This was the team we were most worried about. We had not played them before, and their older teams are very strong. But, they lost against Vikings and Shene, so we ought to be able to win. We did - but do you know - I've lost the write up I did on the match- so I cant tell you how we won, but it must have been good - so use your imagination.

Oxford Vs Shene Young bloods.
We are unbeaten against Shene in the league, and on current form, did not look likely to change things. We played well, but not brilliantly. Shene looked a better team than when we met them at the league. We wondered if they had got some new players. We put away enough goals to win (4:1) but it should have been a higher score than that - saving energy for the Final perhaps?

The Final against Vikings
We were unbeaten and out in front on Goal difference, so the Final was ours as the favourite. This was to be against the Vikings again. Could they pull something out of the hat this time? Shaun Ryan (Vikings manager) was heard to comment that he would be playing to win, not letting his weaker players on. But, apparently, he only had 6 strong players and so they would get tired out. The final was three periods of 15 minutes, so this would be a battle of endurance.

I expected the Vikings to push hard and then fade out as their stronger lines were overplayed. But The Storm played superbly and went 4:0 up in the first period! Some of the Viking players were being kept on too long, and were very slow. They seemed to do the minimum to hold us off when our strong lines were on, and wake up when our scary line was on – in the hope of a breakthrough.These were good tactics from the Vikings point of view, but not good enough against a fired up Storm.

The second period saw their goalie being peppered with shots. The shots on goal were coming fast and furious, but they did not end up in the net. We thought their goalie would tire of this, but he did a magnificent job for the Vikings.

In the third and final period, and with not many goals in the second period, the Vikings managed to get back to a 5:4 score line – all of a sudden, we realised that we were one goal away from a tie – despite dominating the game! In a final push, we popped home two more goals to secure the victory – but it was worrying for a moment.

The Storm had won the tournament. Tiger (Hedges) got dream team Goalie and Joe got his Dream team player award (I don't recall a tournament when he didn't). We didn't get the fair play award – but we wont point any fingers at anyone will we Karim..oops.

A great tournament, and a brilliant training for the Nationals. Lets hope the Storm don’t get too full of themselves and always remember the team play. They can lift their game to great heights, lets hope we see some of that in the Nationals.