Fighting to consolidate our 4th place in the league, Saturday's game against Old Kingstonian's Ladies 2s was a big game. Their results have been a mixed bag of massive wins and massive losses, so we really had little idea of what to expect.

THD came out strong in the first half, scoring 2 goals within the first 3 minutes of the game. A great run of play from the push back cumulated in Rene tapping in the first goal. This was closely followed by Emma P banging in the next goal from a reverse stick shot after some great team work to get the ball up the pitch.

At this point if we thought the game would be an easy one, we were proved wrong. Old Kinstonian's came back with a vengeance. Their Number 2 proved to be a force up front - she had a cracking hit and wasn't afraid to use it. But Ali in goal was equal to the challenge. After our 8-0 victory last week you might think that Ali might have been a bit rusty, but she was all over it! Diving left right and centre -at one point she fully took out one of their strikers which ended in a bit of a pile-on situation in front of the goal. The first half ended 2-0.

After a rallying team talk, in the second half we came out determined to get more goals. Defence were solid, mid field were doing a lot of leg work and the strikers were making lots of runs. They gave us a run for their money, and the spectators held their breath a number of times, particularly when they got a short corner. But no one was going to let them break our clean sheet. A shout out should go to Flo who did a great job at the back making sure everyone was marking a player.

The 3rd and final goal came about 4 minutes from the end of the game. Starting with a hit out, we worked the ball perfectly up the pitch into the D. Then things got a little scrappy but we were determined and Helen bashed it in to seal the victory.

Special mention has to go to Ali who had a stormer of a match. With 13 nominations for Man of the Match, she was a force to be reckoned with on the pitch and I'm sure the opposition were gutted that they were faced with such an impenetrable force!

So we end the game having held our position of 4th in the league, but edging our way up. With only 5 points between us and top of the league, it's all to play for!

We all arrived very early on Sat morning down in Epsom, raring to go. So eager were we that we got told off by one of the locals for coming on to the pitch to start warming up while the children's sat morning football was still tidying up. Mary suffered the brunt of the disgruntlement, which was a bit of a theme for the day. However this did not put us off and only made us more determined to play some good hockey.

And good hockey we did. The first half was a blistering success of quick accurate passing into space. We played with pace, positivity and aggression. We called for the balls, we had awareness of where people were and wanted the ball to be passed to next. The quick revisit and walk through of 'The Press' during our warm up meant the oppo struggled to get the ball into their end of the pitch at all. We dominated play and possession. Only 2 mins in and Emma P had opened the scoring for us. Moving the ball around from the right to the left provided a series of opportunities, 2 converted by Rene and 2 by me.

Half time talk and we were 5-0 up, a few jelly worms were had and a discussion around the excellence of our play and how excited Felix would be if he could see us. We all agreed to keep up the tempo for the second half but we knew the oppo had their coach with them so we expected them to come out with a stronger second half, which they did. It was a much harder fought second half, with Mary's player giving her quite a bit of grief, but that only made Mary more determined and she was everywhere, even taking a strike from the top of the D. But the oppo did manage to get the ball into their half, breaking up our press on a few occasions and creating a few opportunities. But tight defending, marking and clearances to players further up the pitch kept a clean sheet. A few more breaks and transfer of play and we had another goal from Rene, picked up of the keepers pads, under Rene's feet and flicked into goals, and two more crosses into the D touched in by me in the left corner.

A fantastic feel good win, team effort, and play we can be proud of. More of the same next week! (HB)

Ali, Flo, Silvia, Sarah, Kat, Tash, Rachael, Lynne, Mary, Emily, Emma P, Rene, Helen

After an eventful trip down to OxSted which involved Mary sampling a few different routes we had a diligent and well structured warm up which was very professionally run. This led to a focused and effective start to the game. Throughout the first half we had lots of space, passed beautifully and ran rings around the opposition. Unfortunately they snuck through on a lucky run and we were 0.1 at half time.

Mary gave an inspirational and positive talk so we came out strong and dominated the game. Our sustained pressure led to a well deserved equalisation in the form of a smashing shot which whistled into the top right corner, stunning everyone (including Sarah herself!).

Our continued dominance was not rewarded with goals but the play was beautiful and there were times when you could identify specific drills from training, cracking. Unfortunately they were awarded a short close to the final whistle which they converted and we could not get anything back in the last couple of minutes despite great efforts and a positive outlook so we finished the match 1.2.

Yes! Another win. Spencer have a reputation for being a ruthless club and we knew, when they turned up with a coach and did that annoying "sticks in the middle cheer" to start the game, they meant business. However, we had a secret weapon, we had to win because it was Silvia's birthday. It wasn't easy though and we fought hard. We had some great play up the left side and kept making headway into the D, the pressure was on and we finally converted all that pressure into a goal. Some great saves from Ali and a disallowed high shot off a short corner gave us a fighting chance. We had nail biting short corners end to end and with minutes to go we edged ahead. With great determination we held onto the lead to the end of the game. We celebrated in style at the club house with fizz and a "homemade" Guey cake!

Bring on the next challenge.

Ali, Cat, Kat, Silvia, Rachael, Wendy, Mary, Emily S, Emma B, Emily E, Becki, Hattie, Merrilee

A game full of excitement, drama and some really good play to start the season!
From the moment the whistle went, THD went out strong, setting the pace and quality of the game. A great early goal confirmed this. Thames Valley equalised, but it was only time before the majority of play around the oppositions' half was going to result in a goalor not - as one of their feet stopped the ball crossing the line. "Who can/wants to take a penalty flick?!" - ahhh, we hadn't thought about this so early in the season! Helen stepped up to the mark to the relief of many and took it like a pro, leaving us 2-1 up at the end of the first half. The second half had more drama in store and an ambulance on the pitch after one of the opposition dislocated their knee. Once play continued, there was some great defensive work, joined up play across the middle and lots of opportunities up front, with Lynne converting our final goal. Looking forward to next week!