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 13-Dec-03

Issue 12

More match reports below from the last weekend before the Christmas break to remind you of the joys of taking exercise. It's mostly fun, can be healthy and the second half of the season usually involves rather more winning - one of the wonderful mysteries of THD. So get your boots on, grab your stick and start wobbling. Training for all resumes w/c 06-Jan - usual nights and times - and men's league matches start again that weekend so it's an early chance to check out New Year talent. 2004 - the year of the Reds. Walk on.

reports by: Justin Collins, James Terrett, Simon Riley, Graeme Evans, Richard Taylor, Charley Williams and Ashley MacDonald.

Men's 1s vs. Old Whitgiftians: won 4-3

This highly entertaining fixture secured our 4th win of the season, and puts us more or less mid table at the half way stage. The league this season has seen teams taking points off each other all over the place, reflected in the fact that we are 4 points off the relegation zone, yet only 6 off 2nd place. As such this game against a team below us, but with games in hand was crucial. The weather was bloody horrible, and a few of the team exhibited hacking coughs, one through the effects of flu, the others, hangovers? Yet again we didn't start well, conceding 2 goals in the first half, with Bill Pellet scoring for us. Although we were working hard, they worked harder, and better things were needed in the 2nd period, which is exactly what we got. We dominated the early stages with Bill and Andy both scoring to put us 3-2 up. As that all seemed far too easy we relaxed, letting OW's back into the game, and eventually conceding an equaliser. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Dave C strode into the fray, and then into the D with a minute to play. His shot, hit deliberately softly, nutmegged the keeper and came to a halt just over the line. Victory seemed certain, but we still allowed OW's back for one last attack before snuffing that and taking the game. And in scenes you seldom see No.1 - a red card to one of the opposition, given after the final whistle. It must have been an interesting post match chat. Finally congratulations to Gregg McAlister on reaching 100 caps for the 1st team on Saturday. Andy B is 3rd = highest scorer in the league with 14.

Team: Justin Collins, Clive Colloff, Gregg McAlister, Ed Stevenson, Andy Eames, Joel Burrows, Gareth Weir, Felix Nurse, Tom Matthews, Bill Pellett, Andy Balchin, Matt Groom, Alex Kew, Dave Casement

Scorers: Bill Pellett 2, Andy Balchin, Dave Casement

Next match: Saturday 17th January vs. Staines - away

Men's 2s: no game

Next match: Saturday 10th January vs. Indian Gymkhana

Men's 3s vs. Southgate 3s: won 8-0

Astounding result according to the website but as yet unchronicled....details keenly awaited.

Next match: Saturday 10th January vs. Old Loughtonians 3 - 13.30 @ CPB

Men's 4As: no game

Next match: Saturday 10 January vs. Richmond Stags - away

Tornados (Men's 4Bs) vs. Guildford: won 3-0

We came, we saw, we conquered. This was a consummate display of defence and attack. But first, I'll set the scene. Friday 6.30 pm: Riley and Brock enter pub. Saturday 3am: depart pub which has run out of booze. Saturday 10am: Brock unconscious in his pit as team travel to Guildford. 10:30: captain beginning to panic. 10:45: Aido roused after 40 minutes of phone calls and Geoff battering on his front door. 2 minutes before pushback, 10 players at the pitch, Aido and Geoff on the way. Three players try to get the borrowed helmet on, Tom the only one without a deformed head/oversized hair (yours truly and Wilsh in case you were wondering). The defence gathered round, the mighty Gus, Nick, Wilsh and fatty uttering "they WILL NOT get in the D" and "drop them outside the 25, no matter what". This could have applied only until the incredible drinking and sleeping man arrived, but the boys decided to thwart the oppo for the full 70 minutes. No short corners conceded, no shots on target for the opposition. Awesome. With Will Atkinson bossing the midfield and Conor and Dougal tearing down the flanks, it was a matter of time before the pressure was rewarded. After the first 3 or 4 shorts whistled past the post, or into the defence's midriff/thighs, the routine changed, a slip left and sweeping it home was Geoff. Rejoice! 5 minutes later, a superb tackle in midfield from Dougal, a quick pass to me, then on to Paul who drew the keeper, squared the ball to the boy Pritchard and it's Guildford 0, Geoff 2. The oppo's heads dropped, they were beaten and the THD boys were rampant. The icing on this particular Christmas cake was applied by Nick Thomson. Renowned for his fearsome hitting, up for a short corner and boom 3-0, their goalie left wondering how a ball could hit him square on the pads and still thunder into the backboard. Game, set and match THD. What can I say? Fabulous effort from the forwards, another storming performance from Loz, terrorizing their defence, but MOTM must go to Wilsh. Mopping up at the back and rampaging up the pitch to earn a couple of short corners. His best game of the season - sorry JT, but he's not playing for the 3s again! PS: that's it, my 2nd stint as skipper is over - Jonesy is back for the first game of 2004 so back to the life of Riley for me. Cheers lads, its been emotional.

Team: Aidan "I will drink the bar dry" Brock, Tom "flu, 1 working leg and still a rock in defence" Alexander, Nick Thomson, Gus Barnard, Simon Wilshire, Conor Macklin, Simon Riley, Dougal Davis, Will Atkinson, Paul Burrows, Geoff Pritchard, Loz "running man" Mockery.

Umpire: Si Newell

Scorers: Geoff Pritchard 2, Nick Thomson

Next match: Saturday 10th January vs. PHC Chiswick 3 - 09.45 @ Alleyn's

Men's 5s vs. Southgate 5s: lost 0-5

Clearly a 10.30am start at Southgate was not the ideal hangover cure. Misplaced passes, sloppy marking - it was less than inspiring stuff as second-in-the-table Southgate surged into a four goal lead by the break. A half-time rollicking from Ian Cooper ensured a more determined second half and showed the gulf between the two sides was really not that great.

Team: Paul Reid, Thom Ruane, Rich Batty, Billy Dowie, Graeme Evans, Dave Eacott, Mark Smith, Nick Harris, Matt Ruane, Ian Cooper, Rich Fenton

Next game: Saturday 10th January vs. Old Loughtonians - 12.30 @ DC

Men's 6s vs. Maidenhead 4s: won 3-0

This was a great victory for the 6s. After Si Riley showed us how to score last week, we've started to score ourselves with Colin getting his first goal for the club, putting him 2 goals behind our top goal scorer! Maidenhead came out fighting with some good play early on but they only had two decent players. One of them was so tired after the 10 minutes that he contributed very little thereafter, and they were soon out-played and out-paced by us. The first goal, scored by Colin, was an athletic dive across the D to tip the ball past the keeper from a driving free hit. We then began to play with ease and skill on the ball. Keith came very close to scoring from a excellent flick at one of our many short corners that we had though our second goal came from broken play with Jake finishing off in style. The second half was more of the same, continued pressure from us. Matt was solid in defence which allowed our attacking game to continue unhindered. At one point Peter had to make a save - other than that he had an easy afternoon. After more short corners we finally managed to score a text book goal, Jake putting the icing on the cake. A great all round performance and all the encouragement we need going in to the second half of the season. Roll on 2004! A big thank you to Mike Clyne who umpired the whole match for us.

Team: Peter Adams, Andy Bond, Richard Mead, Keith Howick, Matt Crane, Al Fraser, Nick Phipps, Tim Smith, Richard Taylor, Jake Downing, Gin Lee, Colin Leeman.

Umpire: Mike Clyne

Scorers: Colin Leeman, Jake Downing

Next match: Saturday 10th January vs. St Albans Tribunes - tba @ DC

Women's 1s vs. Havant: lost 2-4

When it takes you 30 minutes to find a shop in a town the size of Havant, it's no surprise that it was difficult to entice the girls to the South Coast on the penultimate weekend before Christmas. Luckily we worked out we only had 10 players before hitting the A3. More luckily, not all the glamour girls were indisposed. Lucy P stepped out of Armani and into the last car heading south, sacrificing sartorial elegance for 70 minutes of sporting battle. Worth it? Perhaps not, especially after we went 2 down midway through the first half in the wettest, windiest, most miserable hockey conditions imaginable. It wasn't a great first 20 minutes all told. Aside from some bickering that disrupted us as much as it later did the opposition, we continued our recent trend of giving the ball to the oppo and waving them through to score. By the break though we'd pulled it back to 2-1, spurred on by a great save from Jo diving low to her right. But within minutes of the re-start we conceded another goal, frustrating as we were creating the better openings. Shorts came and went wide with ominous regularity - clearly we required something a little more left field. Lou fittingly provided a Maradona moment, punching in a rising deflection from Rachel's strike at another corner, before trotting back angelically to the half way line as the opposition protested. The goal stood, we were back in it and they were getting tetchier. As were the umpires, increasingly whistle happy and looking for some scapegoats. Cue Will sneaking round to the far touchline with his tray of wisdom. "I'm only a spectator" he protested, not totally disingenuously given our inability to stick to the game plan, before being sent back to the dugout. 5 minutes later, another goal down and it was cards all round - to their sweeper, to Rachel and finally to our feisty coach himself. Lots of rounds then, which just about makes up for our recent lack of points, and a little bit of thinking to do before we regroup in the New Year.

Team: Jo Malkin, Emma Ward, Kath Sowter, Lucy Partington, Clare Spencer, Amy Gardiner, Rachel Lander, Louise Morgan, Danielle Every, EJ Barry, Charley Williams.

Scorers: Charley Williams, Louise Morgan

Next match: Saturday 31st January vs. Bracknell - home

Women's 2s: no game

Next match: Saturday 17th January vs. Cheam - away

Women's 3s: no game

Next match: Saturday 17 January vs. Purley Walcountians - away

Women's 4s: no game

Next match: Saturday 10 January vs. Old Kingstonians - 14.15 @ Alleyn's

Women's 5s vs. Wayfarers (friendly): lost 2-4

I arrived late to find myself relegated to the bench for the first quarter by Dixon who I think secretly wants my post as captain! The match was a friendly against Wayfarers who are doing very well in their division (2 higher than the one we are in). In the first half we could see why, as their silky skills and dominance on the pitch let them put a couple of goals easily past us, although Lindsey did a great job as keeper for the day. The second half was a different story and as the hangovers began to wear off we pulled together as a team with some lovely attacking play up front by Steph leading to two goals (well they were 2 penalty flicks, generously awarded by Marilyn, that we weren't allowed to take as their GK didn't have enough protection!). All in all not a bad result for the 5s and definitely good practice for the New Year when we plan to take Division 7 by storm.

Team: Lindsey McLaren, Jean Sutton, Kate Fuller, Katherine Dixon, Rosie Le Voir, Sarah, Frances Baker, Rachel Fallows, Michelle Morgan, Tash Riordan-Eva, Steph Kee, Ash McDonald, Mel, Andrea Beattie.

Umpire: Marilyn Walker

Next match: Saturday 17th January vs. London Edwardians - 13.30 @ CPB

Women's 6s: no game

Next match: Saturday 24 January vs. Berrylands - away

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