23 games played, 23 games won. The 24th game was the most important one though!
It was virtually one year to the day since we lost by 1 goal in last year's final , but this year we were going to go one better and finally give the boys the trophy they have deserved.

Preperations for the game were just about perfect bar Josh Poke being run over by a car a few days before , but as ever his Coach told him to "run it off"! The day before the game the team went for a relaxing run to the Church washed down with Chocolate. This was when the tactics for Sunday were discussed so hopefully the boys could relax a little bit and enjoy the day itself. I'm sure Norbury didn't discuss tactics in a graveyard but anyway.

On the day itself the boys were a lot more relaxed than last year . This was probably down to the fact that this year we weren't too worried about the other team so long as we played up to our potential.
From the first whistle the boys looked more skilful, quicker and more determined than our opponents with Josh Pink easily winning the first face which quickly lead to the first of our goals. We then continued to win most of the faces, have the vast majority of the possession and with Will doing his usual stopping we should have been a lot further in front than 4-3 at Half-time!!

A few words by the coach at Half-time and the boys came out of the traps at full speed! Will was stopping everything Norbury threw at him. Ben, Josh H and Joe K set up their usual 'brickwall' at the back. Daniel and Josh SP started to rain the shots down on the Norbury keeper. Ben T and Josh P were picking up the ground walls and doing the generally unnoticed defence work. Drew and Sam as ever were all over the place - in a good way ! - working tirelessly as ever. Nick was working hard to get the ball back from behind goal. Dan P and Tom were running continuously and were always a threat. Joe was starting to do his usual feeding game as well as battling well for the ground ball. This was now the team that had won 23 games beforehand!
Norbury's heads were well and truly down and we hit 8 unanswered goals to lead 12-3. To their credit , Norbury did keep going and got a further 2 goals in the last quarter to our 3 to leave the final score 15-5.

At the final whistle, the team were ecstatic and jumped all over each other in celebration! The boys were a credit to our club afterwards with every single one of them shaking hands with our opponents and the referees.
So, it was just left for Captain Joe to collect the trophy and hand out the medals to the boys in front of the travelling army of thousands that had descended from Mellor!

The party then moved onto the Oak where the team drank gallons of Coke from the cup and the parents reflected on what was basically a perfect day Lacrosse wise for the team and the club!

Well done to all 14 of the boys that played on Sunday. You have been a fantastic - if slightly bonkers - set of lads and have been a joy to coach . May this be the first of many trophies to come !

Joint Man of the match - Will MacDonald,
Joe Kynaston,
Ben Mochan,
Josh Haining,
Josh Poke,
Daniel Jones,
Ben Tipping,
Josh Pink,
Drew Bickerton,
Sam Griffiths,
Nick Hughes,
Dan Pawsey,
Tom Brady and
Joe Hussey.