With Harry Gibson moving south and coming in to a squad where Ian Scanlon has been the undisputed first choice for quite some time, there were going to be big questions hanging around over how the coaching staff and the team would manage things to keep both goalkeepers happy and fresh (in case of injury and not being 'sharp' for game time and thus costing the team). And with Harry away on international duty in Malaysia, 'Scanners' has stepped back in to support his team mates. A tight loss away to Surbiton in the form of a much improved side, going down by a small margin, against one of the top two sides, away nonethless, just goes to show how much Hampstead are challenging this year and looking to go as far as they can.
Both individual goalkeepers are great athletes who are not the type to develop animosity between each other as they battle it out for game time. In hockey though, where the number one is normally seen as untouchable (with times not taking a reserve to matches and for other reasons), the yo-yo between goalkeepers can be incredibly tricky to handle. The problem being, that training is not gaming, and match practice doesn't always match up to being thrown in at the deep end to get the expected three points. International hockey makes the difficult decision making process of who to go with slightly easier, and it will be interesting to see how Gibson builds off the confidence and self belief from those international experiences (as Scanlon knows all to well) going forward, deep into the season.
Both individual goalkeepers are great athletes who are not the type to develop animosity between each other as they battle it out for game time. In hockey though, where the number one is normally seen as untouchable (with times not taking a reserve to matches and for other reasons), the yo-yo between goalkeepers can be incredibly tricky to handle. The problem being, that training is not gaming, and match practice doesn't always match up to being thrown in at the deep end to get the expected three points. International hockey makes the difficult decision making process of who to go with slightly easier, and it will be interesting to see how Gibson builds off the confidence and self belief from those international experiences (as Scanlon knows all to well) going forward, deep into the season.
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