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.

Wed 06-Dec-03

Issue 11

The Dragons led the way in the penultimate hockey weekend before Christmas, notching up their second successive win to take the THD combined victory table closer to respectability. Elsewhere there were a lot of goals, not all to our name, though Simon Riley tripled his season's tally while moonlighting for the 6s. More importantly the Dragons also provide a drinking report, which is more than the women's 1s and 2s were able to do after a night out on the tiles in Clapham. Mrs Milburn's outstanding social performance clearly took its toll on her impeccable administrative skills.

And PS: Nurse for England. You heard it here first.

reports by: Andy Balchin, Aidan Brock, James Terrett, Will Morgan, Simon Riley, Graeme Evans, Richard Taylor, Kath Sowter, Marie Smith and Lucy Partington.

Men's 1s vs. Brighton: lost 2-6 Brighton.

The weather was more Aberdeen than South Coast, but through the sleet and snow storms we kept battling hard for the full 70 minutes. A noticeable absentee was the captain, who had shown his true colours by sacking off the match and instead jetted his way to New York (to get engaged?). We played good composed hockey in the first half only to go into half time 4-1 down (3 short corners and 1 penalty to Brighton versus a superb strike from Bill). Tommy C scored in the second half, Brighton added a further two, but more importantly Joel has managed to make the umpire's Xmas card list - nice! Special thanks go to Lee Tearle who played outstandingly in place of jet-setting Justin, pulling off a string of fine saves to keep the score below double figures.

Team: Lee Tearle, Andy Eames, Gregg McAllister, Tom Matthews, James Goldsmith, Clive Colloff, Tom Cross, Joel Burrows, Alex Kew, Felix Nurse, Bill Pellett, Andy Balchin, Lee Snowden, Dave Casement.

Scorers: Bill Pellett, Dave Casement

Men's 2s vs. London Wayfarers: lost 1-4

Faced with the now all too frustratingly familiar scratch team due to absences, I decided that all out attack was called for. Throwing caution to the wind we reverted to the sort of formation not seen since Dulwich College Astro was a red gras and off side was the norm. Playing one person in the middle and (no, it can't be...) three up front we played with authority and were unlucky to only be drawing 0-0 at half time. So what went wrong??. Was the half time talk not inspirational enough? Highly unlikely. Did the weather change? No. Did the team change? No. Did I put too much THG in the half time water? Possibly. After going 1-0 down early in the half we fought back, restoring parity, and things looked good. Then for some reason we lost our zip, people started playing as individuals and heads went down. In short, another Jekyll & Hyde performance - the norm thus far this season. Hopefully the Christmas break will re-invigorate everyone and we can get some consistency in selection, be able to play people in the same positions two weeks running and start playing the hockey I know we're capable of......

Team: Aido, Chris C, Pully, Neil Happs, Matt Groom, Mark Williams, Will Atkinson, Nick Harris, Wes, Alex McDonald, Clifford Brown, Potty.

Scorer: Clifford Brown (?)

Next Match: Saturday 10th January vs. Indian Gym

Men's 3s vs. London Wayfarers 3s: drew 2-2

The early start suited the majority of the players and we felt that we could get something from a Wayfarers team just ahead of us in the League table. This also felt like the first week where all the players played in the correct positions. There then followed a match more dramatic than an episode of Wife Swap. Strong and experienced at the back, skilful and incisive in the middle and quick and direct upfront all blended together to produce a team performance of real substance. Every player really gave it their all and were rightly rewarded with a Guy Hodgson special from a short corner. Is there nothing more beautiful? From then on we were all over them like a cheap suit, with Phil Hines reverse-flicking the ball onto the bar and other point blank saves from Wayfarers that were really starting to annoy me. The 3s newest player Paul Harvey has slipped effortlessly into the attacking centre half position, and the return of Henry at the back gave us an extra option. Despite our undisputed dominance, Wayfarers got a lucky equaliser and then scored again after half time. I nearly cried as it looked like we were going to throw the game away after so much effort, but cheered on by the Birds 4s we finally converted a short corner with Phil Hines slotting home a rebound two minutes from time. Ooo, the drama.

Team: Aidan Brock, JT, Guy Hodgson, Warren Holme, Ryan Hubbard, Phil Hines, Duncan McCulloch, Henry Postlethwaite, Julian Taylor, Rob Levine, Paul Harvey, Simon Wilshire.

Scorers: Guy Hodgson, Phil Hines

Mens 4As vs. London Wayfarers 4s: lost 0-1

Sadly we managed to gain little credit for the way we played but it was generally a very solid performance with some strong defending and some very good chances in both halves including a disallowed goal. Helped by the likes of JT's flatmate in goal in addition to JT and Aido shoring up the middle it was an enjoyable game where we showed real commitment. If we were to produce performances like that every weekend then I've no doubt that we will start to turn over the likes of Bromley, Guildford, Chiswick (and that other TH&D team) even if we didn't make enough of possession in this game. We were guilty of giving the ball away too cheaply but really only came unstuck because of a very well taken shot that managed to bypass defender and keeper on its way in at the near post, naturally they had their other chances but on every occasion we kept our heads and cleared the D well. My thanks to all the 4as (& guest stars) that have contributed this half of the season. Our New Year resolution will be to trounce the oppo at every given opportunity! Have a good Christmas....

Team: Richard (GK), Tim Parker, Stuart Craig, Vishal Phakey, Paul Kirkland, Dave Eacott, Will Morgan, JT, Aidan Brock, Nick Harris, Ben Lones, Clifford Brown, Norman Doyle.

Umpire: Richard Mead

Tornados (Men's 4Bs) vs. Hampstead and Westminster: lost 3-5

Another weekend, another cliché. It was a game of two halves - the half when we didn't mark our opponents and the half when we did. We had a storming start, with Nick thundering in a short corner, his first goal for the 4bs. So 5 minutes gone against the [undefeated] top of the table side and we're 1 up at their place. An ideal time to get complacent? Perhaps not, but we went to sleep on the marking front, and before we knew it, we were 4-1 down and it wasn't even half time. Add to that another loss to injury - a nasty split finger for Mark Beaney and we were reshuffling the line up again. Fortunately we stood firm until half time and after re-emphasising the need to stick with our men, we went back at them with the fighting spirit that typifies the 4bs game. They were obviously rattled by our thumping tackles and fast passing. Storming work at the back from stand-in sweeper Gus and the ever-solid Nick and Neil meant Hampstead were limited to just 1 goal in the second period, while we got 2. An added bonus for us was an excellent debut game from Tom Askew - another of last year's U18s side coming through the ranks and showing us all how tackling and passing should be done. Up to this match, Hampstead had only conceded 5 goals all season, so we should be pleased with our performance, especially in the second half. Paul latched onto a loose pass from their centre-back to round the keeper and slot it home for our second. The third came from a great run by Dougal, squaring the ball to yours truly on the top of the D - out came the driver (better than the putter I'd been using up to that point) and the ball was in the corner of the goal. Given another 10 minutes, we could have levelled the game, but it's 35 minutes each way unfortunately, so that was that. 40% record for the first half of the season and not a single side in the league who, when we get our act together, we can't beat. Bodes well for 2004. Thanks must go to Si Newell for umpiring and Peter Adams for doubling up in goal.

Team: Peter Adams, Nick Thomson, Angus Barnard, Tom Askew, Neil Gallagher, Simon Riley, Dougal Davis, Mark Beaney, Conor Macklin, Geoff Pritchard, Paul Burrows, Tom Alexander.

Umpire: Simon Newell

Scorers: Nick Thomson, Paul Burrows, Simon Riley

Men's 5s vs. London Wayfarers: lost 0-6

The scoreline sounds horrendous, but there were at least mitigating circumstances. Like having a player pull out with injury 20 minutes before the start. If we were the kind of side to have a plan, it would have been well and truly screwed. As it was, the ten men of THD battled bravely against unbeaten Wayfarers, keeping the half-time score down to 1-0 before the floodgates opened in the second half. As usual, Paul Reid put in an excellent performance in goal while defensive rock Richard Batty did everything possible to stem the wave of attacks.

Team: Paul Reid, Rob Thomas, Rich Batty, Billy Dowie, Mark Smith, Graeme Evans, Matt Ruane, Rich Fenton, Ian Cooper, Lawrence Mockery

Men's 6s vs. Hampstead & Westminster Spaniards: lost 4-6

End to end stuff - this was a great advert for hockey. We played our best hockey of the season so far and showed real team spirit to come back. We also proved we can score goals (well, Si can anyway). As is traditional, we went a goal down within the first 5 minutes, and if that was not an enough of a wake up call, then their second was - an H&W player ran straight from the halfway line into the D, shot and scored. 2 nil down and we needed to get into the game and fast. And we did for 5 minutes with Al making some good breaks down the right but little pressure was put on the goalkeeper. We then went 2 more goals down and were lucky it wasn't more, though they began to tire in the latter part of the first half and we began to create more chances. Si was now on and starting to cause problems for the defence. His first from the top of the D after great midfield interplay lifted our game and we were soon forcing H&W back into their own half. A great though ball to Si saw him one on one with the keeper and completely taken out - he converted the flick on the stroke of half time to take us to 2-4. In the first 5 minutes of the second half we scored two goals to draw level. The first was simple - give the ball to Si and let him run through the whole of the H&W side, shoot and score. The second came from a short corner with Will hitting home a great strike. Unfortunately a few minutes later, Will slipped and broke three bones in his hand. With the score level we kept up the attacking but holes began to appear in the defence and with tired legs slowing down H&W managed to get in to the D and score twice. The fifth being very dubious as two TH&D players were completely obstructed by a H&W player. Again a superb performance and the our luck must turn soon! Thanks to Ado for umpiring, Si R and Si W for helping out.

Team: Peter Adams, Richard Mead, Will Pendrill, Andy Bond, Matt Crane, Mike Clyne, Colin Leeman, Richard Taylor, Al Fraser, Jake Downing, Gin Lee, Simon Riley, Simon Wilshire.

Umpire: Aidan Brock

Scorers: Simon Riley 3, Will Pendrill

Women's 1s vs. Rover Oxford: drew 2-2

Will started the day by rubbing our oppo up the wrong way, although none of us saw the sign stating that the home side's bench was the one closest to the changing rooms. Reluctantly we moved all our kit, although Pipes hung around long enough to make a point. Our frosty reception did not end there and it became apparent as to why we were removed from "their" bench - the pitch was watered when we were in the middle of our warm-up. No warning and no time to depart before we all got absolutely soaked. Luckily for some of us Will had brought his Mum's tray for our team talk(?), which doubled up as shelter from the water cannons. Two of the beautiful ones - Martha and Wardy - sought shelter under the trees, although it looked as though they could not face the long walk back to the changing rooms to use the facilities. Oh and there was some hockey played. We took the lead from a sweet corner strike from Rach, left Pipes juggling the ball under her feet for their equaliser and failed to clear to allow them time to sweep in a second. We looked more comfortable as time went on and deservedly equalised through Lou, following up Martha's strike from a corner. The second half saw both sides going close on several occasions, but with both goalies playing very well, we ended up sharing the points. The day did not end there. Will was the envy of many as he escorted about 30 of us girlies to Clapham for our Christmas night out. More would be telling.

Team: Jo Malkin, Emma Ward, Kath Sowter, Alex Crawford, Clare Spencer, Rachel Lander, Louise Morgan, Ali Rendu, EJ Barry, Charley Williams, Dani Every, Martha Harvey-Jones, Jacqs Broers.

Scorers: Rachel Lander, Lou Morgan

Women's 4s vs. Spencer (friendly): lost 1-2

Seeing as this was a friendly we decided to draw names out of a hat to see which positions we played, have mulled wine at half time and generally just chill out. And somehow it worked - we were great! Spencer are 4th in the league above us and they weren't really that threatening. Amy controlled things well from the back, Andrea played a stormer in the middle and Isabel was a star, winning man of the match. Mel Rees, playing centre forward, had a fantastic shot on goal which was unfortunately saved, but Left Post Stuttard got in there and scored our goal from a very relaxed short corner routine. We all had a laugh and really all I remember properly from that point on was playing all-terrain killer pool in the clubhouse. It's safe to say the two captains, the vice and Kate celebrated Christmas for the team (including 3 lots of teas) - hangovers still lurking....

Team: Mel Bastin, Amy Auton, Yorkie Soquar, Claire Whitehead, Esther, Emily Halliday, Andrea Vicari, Kate Fuller, Isabel Drewe, Lindsey McLaren, Anna Stuttard, Marie Smith, Mel Rees.

Scorer: Anna Stuttard

Women's 6s: match cancelled (friendly)

Next match: Saturday 24 January vs. Berrylands - away TH&D

Dragons vs. Optimists: won 4-2

An extremely cold day - which, as captain, was again my fault. Once we had warmed up (and it took the whole of the first half for us to remember not to pass to the other team) we reverted to the tried and tested formula. JC controlled the midfield, Aido reminded us how good his tackling is, and George made some great saves. Up front, Gareth (as the only person on the team not hungover) made some blinding (and surprisingly fast) runs down the left wing and EJ exhibited her usual silky skills. The first goal was a fantastic build up between the birds, with Lou finally putting the ball in the back of the net. Amy P at an unaccustomed centre forward scored the most graceful goal of the game - although such was her pace that she carried on past the goal and into the football goal. But fear not damsel, JT was on hand to sweep her back to her feet. Wilsh and Holly were strong at the back and although the oppo were a strong team, and playing with 11 outfield (no keeper) the 4-2 result was definitely fair. We were the better team (and had the better umpire too!). The final mentions from the game go to Riley, for being my hero yet again, and to JT....wait for it.......who in the 71st minute made a great pass. Shame the game had already finished.

Team: George Sykes, Lucy Partington, Simon Wilshire, James Terrett, Holly Sarderson, Aidan Brock, Lou Morgan, John Craven, Neil Happs, Gareth Norris, Amy Partington, Simon Riley.

Scorers: Amy Partington, EJ Barry, Lou Morgan, Neil Happs

Next match: Sunday 4th January - 12.30 @ Battersea Park - VOLUNTEERS PLEASE

Special Dragons Social Report: won

We adjourned to the bar to celebrate another great win with crackers, rubbish jokes and lots of bubbles. Aido demonstrated the difficult art of smoke bubbles, and JT the slightly easier art of getting very, very drunk indeed (the great pass was clearly an exceptional event). We had more in the pub than on the pitch (not really a surprise at THD) when Banners, Charley and Martha turned up to provide some extra drinking support. Our favourite Cambridge graduate developed a liking for EJ's scarf (Tab blue) with EJ still attached, the Irish contingent got very leery and there was lots of incomprehensible northern chat from Riley, Lou and JT ......well perhaps the third bottle of white wine (and the champagne - spot the Banwell influence) could be viewed as one bottle too far? Closing time saw a foray for some of the more alcoholically challenged into deepest darkest Tooting, where JT seems to have got lost until 7am the next morning. If anyone finds the missing hours could they please return them to him, somewhere in Earlsfield.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

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