Dave Bockett-Pugh has been Brighton's first choice for a while now, helping the Sussex side to promotion to the national league for their first time last season and his experience has been a difference maker in the side making this leap to national league level hockey. There will always be question marks about goalkeepers stepping up to this standard of play (in any sport), but he has risen to the challenge and shown he has got what it takes, even at this stage of life/career (not old in goalie terms, but from a really talented youngster there is always that level of expectation to be playing to this level on, say for example).
With Brighton's solid defensive line (conceding an incredibly low goals against average during their promotion winning season) a big difference maker in turning the tables on other more experienced teams (of and at this level), the relationship between back four and goalkeeper, with the right levels of understanding and communication is key, something that would have helped them keep a high scoring Southgate at bey in their away game, for instance.
And their solid defensive unit has allowed them to push forward with confidence and rigour, shown in their comeback today against Oxted this Sunday afternoon. By being able to keep things solid at the back, it gives the side the chance to look to score goals without fretting and worrying over goals being conceded against the run of play. Compare that to say East Grinstead and the Brazil or 'run and gone' style of play (i.e. just try and outscore opponents as with Gretsky's Edmonton Oilers team in the 80's for another example) which requires the goalkeeper to have a certain type of approach and mentality to 'come up big' when they don't have the support of a strong defensive core, and doesn't seem to work in the national league of English hockey, as EG show.
And whereas EG struggle to up the ante without a goalkeeper to do the lion's share of score limitation, Brighton's system shows the key difference of a strong midfield and defense all working in tandem with their goalkeeper leading vocally from the back (picking out breakaways from the best view on the pitch), to make up for not scoring like Holcombe do. In this sense, they can afford to score only a small amount of goals, confident in the fact that they will not concede a ridiculous amount. A lot like Mason's Guildford at the moment, the defense and goalkeeper can steal games without fears of having to outscore their opposition by a huge amount.
Dave was a difference maker for them today and having been able to deal with a lot of shots thrown his way, was interesting to see how Brighton came back from Oxted's two goal lead to tie things up and then go on to get a point out of the game by its closure. Was unlucky against a flick where he committed left but the taker went across to his right (managed to turn up late so missed the first one go in...).
Goalie ratings
Dave = 4.8/5 [always tough to grade goalie performance in this weird way, but had a very strong game today]
Arguably Dave had a lot more to do than his goalie opponent at the other end. There were a few breakaways that he dealt with well, forcing the shooter wide, as well as some cracking saves getting across to his right low for a PC drag flick save and making the splits to save with his left kicker to save low at the left corner against a shot smashed near the post, whilst Dave also made some key challenges closing down attacks that could otherwise ended disastrously.
Phil = 3/5 [seems a bit harsh but didn't have a 'blinder' in goal]
Phil suffered from quite a bit of bad luck today. The first goal was the result of an interception he stormed off his line to reach, only for the ball to get lifted up and over and into the top of the goal, with scrambling defenders unable to do anything to stop a goal being scored. And the second was from what seemed to be an awful bounce, otherwise it was a deflection/flick that outsmarted Phil for the tying goal, but either way in his decision making, decided to leave his feet early to cover low, which left him aghast as the ball went up and over him. Other than that he played with a cool head, a technical approach and kept out a few chances that could also have caused trouble.
With Brighton's solid defensive line (conceding an incredibly low goals against average during their promotion winning season) a big difference maker in turning the tables on other more experienced teams (of and at this level), the relationship between back four and goalkeeper, with the right levels of understanding and communication is key, something that would have helped them keep a high scoring Southgate at bey in their away game, for instance.
And their solid defensive unit has allowed them to push forward with confidence and rigour, shown in their comeback today against Oxted this Sunday afternoon. By being able to keep things solid at the back, it gives the side the chance to look to score goals without fretting and worrying over goals being conceded against the run of play. Compare that to say East Grinstead and the Brazil or 'run and gone' style of play (i.e. just try and outscore opponents as with Gretsky's Edmonton Oilers team in the 80's for another example) which requires the goalkeeper to have a certain type of approach and mentality to 'come up big' when they don't have the support of a strong defensive core, and doesn't seem to work in the national league of English hockey, as EG show.
And whereas EG struggle to up the ante without a goalkeeper to do the lion's share of score limitation, Brighton's system shows the key difference of a strong midfield and defense all working in tandem with their goalkeeper leading vocally from the back (picking out breakaways from the best view on the pitch), to make up for not scoring like Holcombe do. In this sense, they can afford to score only a small amount of goals, confident in the fact that they will not concede a ridiculous amount. A lot like Mason's Guildford at the moment, the defense and goalkeeper can steal games without fears of having to outscore their opposition by a huge amount.
Dave dives across to his right to make a key save with his left hand at a PC to keep the score down.
Phil conceding a weird goal for Brighton's second that any goalkeeper would have nightmares about.
Goalie ratings
Dave = 4.8/5 [always tough to grade goalie performance in this weird way, but had a very strong game today]
Arguably Dave had a lot more to do than his goalie opponent at the other end. There were a few breakaways that he dealt with well, forcing the shooter wide, as well as some cracking saves getting across to his right low for a PC drag flick save and making the splits to save with his left kicker to save low at the left corner against a shot smashed near the post, whilst Dave also made some key challenges closing down attacks that could otherwise ended disastrously.
Phil = 3/5 [seems a bit harsh but didn't have a 'blinder' in goal]
Phil suffered from quite a bit of bad luck today. The first goal was the result of an interception he stormed off his line to reach, only for the ball to get lifted up and over and into the top of the goal, with scrambling defenders unable to do anything to stop a goal being scored. And the second was from what seemed to be an awful bounce, otherwise it was a deflection/flick that outsmarted Phil for the tying goal, but either way in his decision making, decided to leave his feet early to cover low, which left him aghast as the ball went up and over him. Other than that he played with a cool head, a technical approach and kept out a few chances that could also have caused trouble.
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