Back for a third year in a row to sunny Amsterdam for the Lowlands Tournament 2008.
With this tournament clashing with the BluesFest in London, we travelled with a mix of 1st and 2nd team players. The team at the BluesFest also had the maroon Spencer playing shirts but Peter Sayia organised some buff white shirts which were fantastic, especially with the white Spencer shorts.
Top: Louis, Stephen, Chris, Sam, Jesse, Rob, Nigel, Ant
Bottom: Mike, Conrad, Glen, Matt, Peter, Stevie
Friday Night
Burger followed by beers and smokes
Unlike last year's event, where we arrived on the Thursday and paid the price for over-enjoying the Amsterdam nightlife, we arrived at various times during Friday and had more of a sensible evening.
The organsed party/meeting was at a bar in the heart of the Red Light district, so once we'd warmed ourselves up with some relaxing beverages and local traditions we headed over to the bar to meet the other teams. Most of us were tucked up in bed by about 2 or 3am, so it could of been a lot worse!
Saturday
Pool Match: Spencer 6 - 1 Cologne
Spencer were fresh and ready to play with Cologne first up in the morning. They start very quickly with an early goal from Rob Gooch, a sweet dump from close range assisted by Nigel. Rob, normally a long-stick, was playing attack to give the squad some balance. This was an untested formation, in fact this Spencer squad was a mix of 1st and 2nd team players, so for many it was a new playing experience. The formation worked as the attack worked the ball quickly around the goal leaving Rob the simple job of feeding Peter Sayia charging in from midfield. He promptly dispatched the ball in the top corner to make it 2-0 barely minutes into the game. Cologne battled hard and got some reward late on with a consolation goal.
Pool Match: Spencer 4 - 2 Dutch National Team
Spencer's second pool match was highlighted as probably the toughest for the day. Again they started well and scored early. The men in orange came back hard and started to pepper the Spencer goal only to find Conrad Olson and the long sticks in superb form. The combination of the big guys, Matt Blom and Jesse Collins, mixed with the more agile Ed Thom and Mike Kline was excellent in defense. The game was finely poised at 2-1 to Spencer when a quick piece of thinking by Peter Sayia found Rob Gooch unmarked on the crease who slotted home the shot to make it 3-1. A rocket shot from Chris Jordan iced the game near the end.
Pool Match: Spencer 7 - 2 Karlsruhe Storm
In the heat of the mid afternoon sun Spencer played Karlsruhe, another German team. Spencer's extra experience showed as they dominated possession opening up a 5-0 lead in the first half. The Germans could find no answer to the shooting power of Chris Jordan and Peter Sayia. In the second half Spencer rotated in all of their squad which gave Karlsruhe a little more breathing space and they were able to retain possession and generate attacking positions, scoring twice. Spencer's goals in the second half came from Glen Gardener and Louis Villard.
