DAVE NICHOLS

I joined the team a few years back.  I was looking for a good team with a good spirit and good facilities.  Unfortunately for me I couldn't get into that team and so I went to play for Hedge End instead.  I had been a defender for the whole of my life and as I turned up to my first game with Hedge End they asked me what position I played.  Naturally I told them that I was a striker.

In my first game I put the ball in the back of the net after only a couple of minutes, but it was ruled out for offside.  It didn't matter as that season I went on to score....... no more goals at all.  You would think that any team would realise that if the bloke up front hadn't scored all season then he didn't deserve to ever come back, but thankfully ours didn't.

During my second season I went in goal to cover for one game.  That one game now seems to have turned into 276 games in goal.

The team seem to give me stick to boost my morale.  Like the time I scored a hat-trick and they moaned that I didn't get 4 goals,  or the time I was in goal and had 3 strikers against me and didn't manage to stop them scoring.

I think something to note about our team is that we never give up.  Although I guess that comes down to us being very used to having the odds against us.

Overall I really enjoy playing for the team and it has proved to me that you can work hard and have fun at the same time.