On the Saturday 22nd of April 2017, PACE B played the second match of the season at Havelock Community Centre.

After a promising first match PACE B were looking to build the momentum and take the first place in the London league.

Standing in their way and hoping to come out victorious were the Hackney Warriors.

Fresh of their gruelling match a couple of weeks ago against the PACE A team (which you can read here) Hackney Warriors were fully expecting another tough match.

PACE B fielded quite a young team. Aiden Robinson made his full competitive debut whilst Mitchel Robinson captained of the PACE B for the first time in the absence of Hitesh Ladwa. Also in the squad were Arti and Janki Dasani, PACE B regulars.

Captained by Kayum Chaudury, the Hackney warriors consisted of Paul Christian, Martin Bloomfield, Jayne Freeman and Sally Hussein.

For the first match PACE B won the coin toss and chose to go red. The starting line-up was. Aiden Robinson, Mitchel Robinson and Arti Dasani.

PACE B had the perfect start to the match thanks to a brilliant first ball on to the Jack by Arti. Straight away this put Hackney Warriors on the back foot and they had to go on the offensive. Fortunately for PACE B the Hackney Warriors were on unable to knock-off Arti’s ball, allowing PACE B the opportunity to score some points. PACE B got off to a good start winning the first end 2-0.

Hackney Warriors started off the second end placing their Jack ball medium right of the Boccia court. This was a similar tactic used against the PACE A team to good effect. However PACE B dealt with this well with a superb lay -up shot from Aiden Robinson. The score going into the third end was 3-0 to the PACE B.

Mitchell stuck to the game-plan in the third end by throwing his Jack ball short, in an attempt to make it easy for his team-mates. However, with their soft boccia balls, Hackney Warriors played four really good defensive shots and it seemed that the PACE B were well and truly blocked. This is until the two Robinson brothers played two aggressive shots to force open the space and come away with 2 points. 5-0 to PACE B after the third end.

PACE B were feeling really confident and playing some great Boccia. Going into the forth end, the Hackney Warriors played their Jack to their usual area of the court. PACE B took their eye off the ball and momentarily lost focus, failing to close the scoring circle. Hackney Warriors took full advantage of this and scored 4 points and come back into the game. A special mention to Sally Hussain, who played two great lay-up shots to secure the points.

PACE B took a quick time out to re-group for the fifth end and they made a substitution bringing on Janki Dasani for Arti. PACE B showed real character in the final two ends of the match, in what could have been a difficult situation. They kept calm and played to their strengths. In the fifth end, Mitchell and Aiden maintained their composure and were able to score off two lay-up shots to the Jack whilst under pressure.

In the last end of the match Janki played a match winning lay-up shot to the area where Hackney Warriors are most comfortable scoring a point for PACE B. The match finished 8-4 to PACE B.

After a short lunch break, both teams were back for the second match of the day. The first two ends were nearly identical to the first match. PACE B won the first end with a great shot from Mitchell to secure a point. Hackney Warriors had the first Jack, so it was an important point to win.

In the second end, PACE B throwing their Jack ball short and a great shot from Aiden and Janki to win the team 2 points.

In the third end, Hackney Warriors mounted a real push for some points, with Sally playing two great lay-ups to secure 1 point. The score going into the forth end was 3-1 to PACE B, a very tight match. This continued in the fourth end with both teams playing really well. However Mitchell pulled off a superb lay-up shot to score a valuable point for his team.

Wary of what occurred at a similar stage last match, PACE B took a strategic time out to discuss how they were going to go about this. The time out seemed to prove crucial as PACE B scored 6 points, the max number of points you can score in one end. This was the crucial end, with no way for the Hackney Warriors to get back into the game.

In the last end PACE B saw out the victory winning a point. The final score was a resounding 10-1. Congratulations PACE B.

After the game, the captain of the PACE B Mitchell Robinson said…

I was really pleased with the team today, they played really well and I couldn’t be happier