Match Reports 2003/04

Since 2003/04 the club has produced a weekly newsletter, during the season, containing match reports from each of the games played that weekend.

Sun 16-Nov-03

Issue 07

Late again but I plead mitigating circumstances. In short, a certain amount of editing needed to get this through your firewalls; work (I guess I'm due it), and the time needed to get over some shocking scorelines. Well, to get over the Women's 3s result actually. This drawing thing is beginning to grind. But more than that, had they lost we'd have had THD's first whitewash weekend to drink to. But they didn't, so I've just had to think of something else to write about. And drink to. Bottoms up!

reports by: Justin Collins, Aidan Brock, Guy Hodgson, someone from the 4as, Graeme Evans, Richard Taylor, Kath Sowter, Kate Selway, Karen Dodds, Anna Stuttard and Ashley MacDonald.

Men's 1s vs. Henley: lost 2-3

Another disappointing road trip for the 1's following a frustrating reverse at this chocolate box town. We have now lost all 3 of our away games, but none of them have hurt as much as this one against ....... (you may delete these words and replace with "Henley"). With injuries and absentees reducing the size of the squad, we started reasonably well, but created little in the way of clear cut chances. However as the half wore on Henley came more into the game, scoring just before the break. The tie became increasingly ill-tempered in the second half with several yellows to each side, but THD kept well composed despite baiting from the oppo and their support. But we quickly conceded 2 more goals to go 3 down with 15 minutes to play. In spite of this, all battled hard: Felix, Alex, James, Bill and Tom belying their youth with committed performances. The hard work paid dividends with 2 goals, one to Gareth, and the other from Joel, but it was all too late to pull off a deserved recovery. Henley: lovely place, lovely people.

Scorers: Gareth Weir, Joel Burrows

Men's 2s vs. PHC Chiswick: lost 1-3

Without wanting to sound too much like a leathery-skinned football pundit, this was "a game of two halves". Carrying on from last week we were all over Chiswick for the first 20 minutes, playing in the channels and using our pace to get behind their defence. For once this pressure was rewarded with a goal from open play. Nick Jacob's shot from wide on the left of the D was (as PHC's defenders thought) flying harmlessly towards the right hand corner flag when Al ghosted (well, he is our oldest player) along the by-line and knocked it to a grateful Lee Snowden who netted it. Nick insists that it was a pass but anyone who has played on the same team as him will know better. Nevertheless it looked like a well worked training move from where I was standing. We conceded a break away equaliser as the half drew to a close and were unlucky to go to the interval at 1-1. The half time team talk did not require much thought - more of the same was required. Unfortunately it seems that the entire team (with the exception of Potty) replaced their brains with the contents of their shorts and started to rise to Chiswick's niggly and increasingly physical tactics. Passing was replaced by trying to dribble through opposition strong sticks and it was back to the bad old days of (failing miserably at) playing route 1 hockey. We conceded a goal from a short corner flick and the goalie was at fault for the third (this week's lines will be 'I must shout "MY BALL" when intercepting crosses in the D') but by that stage we didn't deserve to get anything from the game. Disappointing as I know we can play sooo much better than that. A return to form next week is required.

Team: Aidan Brock, Mark Pulford, Matt Fletcher, James Terrett, Wes Cole, Alex McDonald, Mark Williams, Nick Harris, Andy Potapa, Nick Jacob, Lee Snowden.

Scorer: Lee Snowden

Men's 3s vs. St Albans home: lost 2-7

Decision time for the team - the strength of the squad is good; we just have to decide whether we want to put in the necessary work on a Saturday to win. St Albans, as expected, put out a well organised team who were ready to play, but were not unbeatable. For the first 20 minutes we competed well but then let in 2 quick goals and never really recovered. There was plenty of effort but also plenty of self induced pressure which allowed St Albans to move further ahead. Mention must go to Lee for yet another huge performance - double save upon double save - maybe we should stop making his game a spectator sport and participate! Enough about the game and on to the positives - the spirit remains strong, we continue to attract new players (Henry was even forced out of his unannounced early retirement!) and, perhaps most importantly, we've played the top 2 so we have a chance to start putting some results together. I even understand that our esteemed leader will return from the front for this week!

Team: Lee Tearle, Guy Hodgson, Julian Taylor, Graham Fotheringham, Simon Wilshire, Paul Harvey, Henry Postlethwaite, Duncan McCulloch, Warren Holme, Ryan Hubbard, Will Atkinson, Phil Hines Scorers: Phil Hines, Ryan Hubbard

Men's 4As vs. Chiswick: lost 0-3

With our first point of the season gained the previous weekend, we arrived at Cranford Community College with high hopes, despite opposition at the top of the table and also missing our midfield dynamo and captain, Will. We started quite well, with some good passing and runs being made. But, after a string of defending short corners and a few disagreements with the umpire over some dubious decisions, we conceded a well-finished goal. 1-0 down at half time and we were still very much in the game. A rousing half-time talk boosted our determination but it was not enough to get us the goals we needed. Despite much of the possession and some fluid play around the pitch, including a couple of scything drives from Clifford, our efforts were in vain as we eventually conceded two more goals in the second half. Daylight robbery. Thanks to Bruce and Ben who umpired a half each.

Team: Gavin, Tim Parker, Dave Eacott, Stuart Craig, Bruce Haines, Ben Lones, Adrian Meredith, Clifford Brown, Paul Kirkland, Harry Dunlop, Jake, Irfan Begg and Richard Taylor

Tornados (Men's 4Bs): no game

Men's 5s vs. St Albans: lost 1-3

The less said about this horror show, the better. Despite an all-star cast, the performance fell way below the standard set in the previous game's thrashing of Old Loughts. Only right wing Rupert Grass offered much of a threat, yet even his potency receded as team-mates struggled to pick him out in the gathering gloom at Alleyn's. The scores were still level at half-time but a succession of injuries then disrupted what flow there had been before the break.

Team: Lee Tearle, Si Riley, Tom Alexander, Thom Ruane, Graeme Evans, Stephen Ireton, Mark Smith, Rich Fenton, Lawrence Mockery, Ian Cooper, Rupert Grass

Scorer: Rupert Grass

Men's 6s vs. Maidenhead 3As: lost 1-3

Another game goes begging. We once again played the better hockey, had 60% of the procession and 50% of the territory (statistics supplied by TH&DC SIX STAT Ltd), yet managed to score only one goal and concede three. Where we were lacking this week was the killer instinct in the D. How many chances went missing? Stats show 7. We played so well in the build up - we looked dangerous on the ball, drove up the pitch well and used the width of the pitch to get behind the defenders yet lacked the final ball on stick touch. With Maidenhead putting out a young side, fitness and speed was going to tell, but having played to our strength in the last few games this factors shouldn't pose a problem, and generally they didn't. Where they got the better of us was in winning the 50-50 ball. They wanted it more - and it showed by them scoring two goals in the first half. Their second goal was a good example of what we weren't doing. They hit the ball hard in to the D and one of them stuck out his stick and deflected the ball in the goal. Simple, really. We started the second half with a bang. From the pushback we played it up the right wing and crossed the ball hard for Nick to get a stick to it and put us back in the match. However, a lapse in concentration 10 minutes later saw them score again. Not letting our heads go down, we drove attack after attack at them for the remainder of the match with Gin, Jake, Mike W all come close to scoring - but not quite. A big thank you Aido and Wilsh who umpired brilliantly. Maidenhead were especially grateful.

Team: Peter Adams, Richard Mead, Derek Rogers, Keith Howick, Andy Bond, Mike Wright, Matt Crane, Jake Downing, Nick Phipps, Mike McKinnon, Colin Leeman, Gin Lee, Richard Taylor, JT

Scorer: Nick Phipps

Women's 1's vs. Southampton: lost 0-3

With some of us getting there via Portsmouth and Bournemouth, the tone was set for a match where we couldn't find the net, or the pitch to start with. We went close to scoring first through Charley, who having gone through her pre-match ritual of dousing herself with water, could have put us ahead. The first we conceded was soft, with their midfield being allowed literally to walk straight through us before their centre forward lent on Pipes to ensure she couldn't even attempt to save a well-struck shot. The second was a Kath and Hils special - combining so well to set up their player with the easiest of tap-ins from 2 inches. We played much better in the second half and had the majority of possession, mostly around their D. Jacqs had several strikes and Wards a rather close encounter with their 'keeper. But despite several attempts and numerous short corners, we came away empty-handed. Southampton put the nail in our coffin against the run of play with a deflected strike, leaving us with no way back, apart from the long journey home - some of us again not taking the most direct route (no names, hey Amy!).

Team: Jo Malkin, Clare Spencer, Kath Sowter, Hilary Collins, Emma Ward, Charley Williams, Rachel Lander, Martha Harvey-Jones, Jacqs Broers, Amy Gardiner, EJ Barry, Zoey Handforth.

Women's 2s vs. Richmond 1s: lost 0-5

F***ety f***ety f***. Five times. But first, the good news: El Capitano confirmed that Surbiton 2s have pulled out of the league - bad for hockey, but may prove useful to us. Holty's elephantine bruise from last week had subsided, leaving her right forearm looking like a Turner sunset over the Thames; and we all looked pretty damn special in the new white away shirts (see through when wet apparently). Now to business. Top of the league Richmond have taken maximum points so far this season and here's why: they have some excellent players, some with superb individual skills, and a couple who are very quick indeed. They play the ball around deftly and work well together as a team. They're also not bad at low level lacrosse on that bouncy water based of theirs. That's not to say we didn't give them a reasonable run for their money in the first half. Going into the onion bag at half time, 2-nil down, we could all say we'd worked hard together to create some decent half chances. In the second half they scored from 2 well-worked shorts, prompting Gobby Bigmouth to shout rather unhelpfully "Watch the one back to the taker!" (good job I was too far away for Holty and George to hit me). We never got a shot on goal (apart from our two unconverted shorts). It wasn't fitness. They were just a lot better than us. Worth a mention though: Blumes running out 1 and looming large and George demonstrating athletic tendencies in the goal mouth. We've got the spirit, but we need to work harder together before things will really begin to work for us.

Team: George Sykes, Catherine Gillard, Clare Holt, Kate Blumer, Emma Matebalavu, Alex Crawford, Sarah Longair, Liz Young, Alex Hardy, Karen Milburn, Kate Selway.

Women's 3s vs. Richmond 2s: drew 2-2

The appointed meet time of 10.15 came and went with a few of the team keen to see as much as possible of the rugby and Ruth just completely getting the time wrong. Fair to say that Chantel (South African) was a little tetchy! Anyway whatever the warm up, from either a sofa or running around the pitch, it seemed to work. We turned in a really good performance and really should have won. We went 1 down in the first half from a short corner, but the team didn't let that worry them and kept attacking. Chantel put in some lovely crosses in from the right - hopefully soon they will start being converted - and Jules looked very sprightly on her return from injury. The second half saw us maintaining possession and Anna Barrett determined to get something, in this case a short corner. Susie arrived for the strike and scored, and seemed very pleased. Her second came from another short, this time given after Ruth appeared to be robbed in that it was difficult to see how the ball didn't actually go in. To make amends Richmond's keeper fell to her knees when Susie struck the ball and somehow contrived to let the ball go through her legs - hard to describe really, you had to be there. Big excitement from Susie though - two goals! At that point, there was four minutes to go. I asked for tight defence, but instead, Melissa in goal found herself in a 1 on 1 situation, which she admirably saved. We had the opportunity to clear but spurned it and Richmond got level with a fluky shot that crept in at the near post. Very disappointing but we should remain upbeat by our overall performance - enough draws, let's win.

Team: Melissa Bastin, Anna Barrett, Chantel Kleingild, Charlotte Rayner, Erica Goldsmith, Harriet Gallagher Powell, Joanna Reynolds, Karen Dodds, Lou Curry, Roz Hornsby, Ruth Pratt, Jules Ingham, Susie Dyrbus.

Umpire: Simon Riley (and jolly good he was too)

Scorer: Susie Dyrbus 2

Women's 4s vs. Addiscombe: lost 2-9

Optimism was high for this game: we'd demolished Bank the week before, we had a full strong team and were generally feeling on top of the world (literally, it was chuffin' cold ). 5 minutes, 2 well practiced short corner routines and 2 goals in the back of our net later, things were looking slightly less rosy. Addiscombe worked well together with a strong midfield and quick forwards pushing at us all the time meant we were definitely on the back foot for most of the game. A break-away goal from one of their short corners allowed us to get one back. Claire nipped one past the keeps from a quick-thinking pass by Emma. A great strike on goal by Amy from a shortie eased the pain slightly, but the last 15 minutes saw our heads drop and they grabbed the opportunity to bag about 4 more goals. A much more aggressive attitude needs to be employed for the next game I think. They were definitely 'on one', Emma fearing for her life at one point as we overheard them telling her marker to 'just hit her in the head'. Nice...and you thought woman's hockey was all jolly hockey sticks!

Team: Mel Bastin, Mel Rees, Lindsey, Anna , Catherine Garvey, Amy Auton, Emma Billsdon, Emily Halliday, Yorkie Soquar, Isabel Drewe, Kate Fuller, Claire Whitehead.

Scorers: Claire Whitehead, Amy Auton

Women's 5s vs. Oxted 2s: lost 2-5

It was a late match in deepest darkest Surrey and unfortunately they were just better than us on the day. Tash scored a lovely goal and set up another which Vicky secured and Jo made some fantastic saves in goal. Not a great match but we had some good chips afterwards!

Team: Jo Hillyer (GK), Kathryn Farthing, Kathryn Dixon, Sarah Flach, Rosie Le Voir, Ash McDonald, Rachel Fallows, Andrea Beattie, Mel Clarke, Tash Riordan-Eva, Vicky Wright.

Scorers: Vicky Wright, Tash Riordan-Eva

Women's 6s vs. London Wayfarers 5s: lost 1-3

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