Oxford Men’s hockey team kicked off their season on Wednesday in the hardest possible fashion. Their opening BUCS game of the year was against an Exeter first side that won the championship last year and are currently high-flying in the National Hockey Premier League.
A brief discussion with the capacity crowd informed me just how unfancied Oxford were. This contest was the equivalent of the Blues football team playing the Blackburn Rovers first team, and damage limitation seemed to be on the agenda.
They were not wrong; it was hard, it was fast paced, and it was autumnal. It was a fixture that required Herculean effort, from which the Blues have many positives to draw. Although the 6-1 defeat may seem like a crushing one in terms of scoreline, what will live longest in the memory to those watching is not the excellence of the Exeter outfield, rather the string of top class short corner saves made by the Exeter goalkeeper in the second half. He acrobatically kept Oxford from narrowing the gap during their periods of ascendancy, preventing them from making the scoreline more respectable.
Iffley Astroturf was bathed in both natural sunlight and the glare of its floodlights as I approached. Two things seemed apparent: firstly a blatant lack of concern for energy consumption, but more importantly in the context of the game was the superior intensity of the Exeter side, who were playing in green.
Despite the din of the jet washers and the metronomic tick-tock of hockey balls they seemed unbelievable focussed, responding militarily to the orders barked out by their weather-beaten South African coach. He was a terrifying man who led them from the front in terms of focus. As I surreptitiously listened to their pre-game talk it seemed he was a psychologist too, insisting that Exeter “could only beat themselves”. His side responded with a pre-game roar that comfortably eclipsed the meeker Oxford equivalent.
Exeter had already completed nine weeks of preseason, my friend explained to me as I bottled approaching the Exeter coach myself. They were already well into their season, whereas Oxford were just warming up. This was not so apparent in the opening exchanges. As they followed the footsteps of their female colleagues, who had suffered a 4-0 defeat earlier in the day, the Oxford men battled hard during the opening exchanges. The opening 15 minutes were scrappy and disjointed, with no side able to build any passing play. Barring a couple of goalmouth scrambles excitement was at a premium, and evidently this was to the frustration of the Oxford coach John Shaw who sought to play a short possession game.
He frustratedly exclaimed “are you joking?” as yet another long pass went amiss. Shaw paced his touchline in a manner reminiscent of Jose Mourinho in his prime, and like the Portuguese football manager he had words of polite criticism for the match officials. His mood did not improve as the deadlock was broken by a mazy Exeter dribble and slotted finish. Before Oxford knew what had hit them they were 2-0 down after another attacking move. Only twenty minutes had elapsed, and before they knew it the deficit was at two goals.
A third was conceded soon before half time as an Exeter attacker found a yard of space before unleashing a rocket of a shot into the top corner. It was a goal of pure class to end the first 35 minutes of the contest and Oxfordlooked like they would have their work cut out to maintain respectibility in the second period.
The biggest complaint for Exeter at this point was their lack of half time refreshments and the jog to the team huddle was the greatest exertion of the Exeter keeper at this point. This was to change in the second half. After several sustained periods of pressure from the Oxford offense the Exeter side began to concede short corner after short corner; five in total.
At this point however, Exeter and England under 21 Goalkeeper Chris Rea came into his own, going through the full repertoire of diving stops as he kept these out in order to keep a clean sheet. Each save seemed to surpass the previous one, with the fifth defying belief as he got the edge of his stick to a flick that seemed destined for the glory of the top corner.
Oxford did manage a consolation goal towards the end of the second half, coming from a well worked move down the right, that Stobbart proded home from close range. The biggest cheer of the day however, was saved for the Oxford fresher goalkeeper, who successfully kept out a penalty flick low to his right.
Despite having a man down at this point for an intentional foot offense, Exeter pressed on, scoring the fourth, fifth and sixth goals. Although Oxford will be disappointed by the scoreline there is much encourage to be had by their performance. They must forget about the result against an incredibly talented and well drilled Exeter side, and take the positives from Wednesday night into the rest of their season.
