7/17/2009 12:26:00 PM Hogges' Diary Hogges still optimistic about season
By Paul Scope
The Hogges squad left last night for Boston to play two crucial games against Western Mass Pioneers, who are only one point ahead of us in the standings.
Western Mass has a similar set up to us with part-time professionals which does make it difficult to compete against the other squads who have full-time pros, at least for the duration of the season.
Teams like Richmond, who thumped us 7-2, last week have their players training daily and this really helps them as the season progresses.
We are still optimistic we can finish with more points than last season to continue our slow but steady progress since we joined the league.
The play offs are probably out of our reach now but we hope we get a decent return from these two games before our last home game against the Charlotte Eagles on Saturday, August 1st. This, of course, falls on Cup match weekend and we are hoping the Bermuda public keeps the party going through to Saturday evening and turn out strong for the Hogges. n
The players who travel this weekend, is pretty much the squad we have had on every trip and they have made a significant sacrifice, taking time off from their day jobs and family on top of the evening training sessions. I know they are desperate to get their first away win of the season and these two games offer our best opportunity yet. This time we are not playing a top of the league team nor are we playing two games against fresh opposition as in the trips earlier in the season. We matched up pretty well against the Pioneers when they were down in Bermuda last month with Omar Shakir's late long distance strike earning us a well deserved draw.
Despite articles in the daily newspaper suggesting we may not be around next season, we firmly believe we will be and expect to contend for a play off spot for sure next year. We are close to being a competitive team in this league with just consistency lacking. This year has been the first year we have taken points off the top teams with home victories over Richmond and Harrisburg being the highlights. However, we are still prone to being blown away, if we concede early, and I believe it is professional naivety rather than a lack of heart that gets us on the wrong side of a lopsided score. After conceding the first goal at Richmond last week, after only 7 minutes, we piled forward in search of an equalizer, opened ourselves up for counter attacks and found ourselves 5-0 at half time. Had we battened down the hatches, withstood the storm, stayed in the game at 1-0 or even 2-0, our much improved second half performance might have even earned us a point, or three.
This weekend, still sees us without the services of Stephen Astwood, who is always missed when not in the starting line up, but I expect Kyle and Jack will recall Kevin Richards and Antwon Russell to the team that started last week. Kevin always plays at a high level and helps organize things at the back and Antwon, at his best, is a real threat to opponents in this league. Jamie Smith, who opened his Hogges goalscoring account in the game against the Kickers will likely partner Antwon at some point over the two games and I have a feeling that this may prove to be a dangerous combination that Western mass will struggle to keep at bay.
As the season winds down, it is worth looking back on lessons learned and progress made, both on and off the field. Our renewed cooperation with the BFA has been a win/win for all concerned with the under 23's playing 7 games against quality competition as they prepare for the Panam Games and the Olympic qualifiers. We also have established a wonderful association with the Centre on Philanthropy which has the Bermuda Hogges in the community helping with charitable causes and promoting volunteerism.
Winning games is great and we continue to strive for improvement on the field, but the Hogges is about more than that. We also strive to promote a community spirit amongst our players that will improve them as young men overall.
