Lots of action during and after this game but the bottom line is that if we had kept our composure in front of goal and not lost our self discipline we’d of won the game.

Both teams really wanted to win this one and the action was fast and aggressive all game. We thought some calls did not go our way but instead of playing on we started to get frustrated. We got angry with ourselves and our team mates. But the last person you need to get angry with is the referee. The league referees do a great job. Most of us remember the days not so long ago when seeing a league ref at a game was a novelty. A qualified ref is now the norm in the Premiership division and we need to keep it that way.

So lesson one is don’t blame the referee and let our lacrosse do the talking instead.

Lesson two is keep our composure. We had numerous one-on-one attempts against the (good) Reading keeper but we converted very few. We had open goals that we missed by a mile. We had clear chances in open play that went begging. This all added to our frustrations.

We suffered our now usual 3rd quarter wobbles that allowed Reading to open a three goal lead. Lesson four is that when we play as a team, we’re pretty good. We fought back and levelled the scores with two minutes to play in final quarter.

Alas, in assisting the equalising goal, Spencer captain Alan Keeley received a (legal) big hit to the chest. He limped off the pitch and was in serious pain. He could not breath and was in very bad shape. From then on, from a Spencer perspective, the game descended into garnage. The 10 players on the pitch were left to finish the game as the rest of the bench tried to attend to Alan, phone an ambulance or just run around in a panic. Somewhere along the way, Reading scored two more goals to win the game.

At the final whistle we were all angry and emotional. We’d lost, we were looking for someone to blame and we had a man down, screaming in agony. It was an unpleasent end to the game.

Once the ambulance arrived, Alan was soon put on oxygen and carted off to hospital. The initial diagnosis was surprisingly no broken ribs. However later that evening the doctors realised he had punctured a lung and air was trapped somewhere in his mid-section, hence the difficulty breathing and serious pain.

It’s now Monday afternoon and Alan is still laying in hospital being monitored so on behalf of everyone at Spencer and all those who know Alan, we wish him a full and speedy recovery.

Alan Keeley Injury Update
Alan was discharged from hospital Tuesday morning. Had can move around but breathing is still tricky as 10-15% of his lung is still collapsed.

Spencer were;
Colin Byrne, Matt Blom, Jesse Churchward, James Hansel, Alan Keeley, Dan Hughes, Ant Broadhurst (1 goal), Colin Rutter (2), Jeff Schaper, Peter Sayia (1), Anthony Dawson, Matt Osgood, Glen Gardener, Alex Lee, Toby Thompson (1), Will Walker, Andrew Mottershead, Stephen Greszcztszyn, Nick Flew (2), Weston Wilkinson (1)