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.

Fri 30-Jan-04

Issue 15

Know the feeling when life all gets a bit much. Today was getting to be one of those times. Then I started going through this week's set of match reports. On the face it, that didn't help much. Matches cancelled due to lack of pitches and a set of results elsewhere that quite frankly could make us all, and not just the guv'nors, resign. Thank God then for a tale of a dog, a girl and her fiancé. Marie, you made me laugh a lot. Read on to find out more about our Mr. Darcy of the Week, Lee Tearle; savour the eloquent scribblings of Ms Selway, and, who knows, you may even rejoice at the return of Jonesy's metaphors to these pages.

Other news just in: I will be selling red and green stripy club socks at the clubhouse in between matches this Saturday. £7 a pair. It's a bargain. And I'll have a few Women's shirts with me and all.

reports by: Justin Collins (x2), Graeme Evans, Kate Selway, Karen Dodds, Marie Smith, Katherine Dixon, Jo Hillyer, Mark Jones.

First to put the finishing touches to THD on 17th January:

Men's 1s vs. Staines: lost 3-5

We beat Staines on the opening day of the season and were keen to repeat the experience. And we started well, dominating most of the first half and taking a 3-1 lead, with goals through Andy Balchin and Gareth Weir. We then survived the opening 15 minutes or so of the second half with no difficulties, before capitulating completely, and conceding 4 in the last 20 minutes. Once they pulled the score back to 3-2, we hardly got out of our half, conceding a number of short corners from which they scored twice, before the coup de grace was delivered with the last touch of the match. Basically we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Scorers: Andy Balchin 2, Gareth Weir

Before moving on to this week's matters:

Men's 1s vs. Chiswick: won 1-0

Oliver Morgan playing in his 2nd game for THD proved to be the hero netting a reverse stick strike with less than 5 minutes to go in this tense game. They had the better of the opening exchanges, but our midfield took hold of the game leading to a number of chances and some short corners well saved by the Chiswick keeper. So all to play for in the 2nd half. Again we allowed them into the game for periods, leading to the moment of controversy when, down to 10 men with Crossy taking a well earned breather behind the goal, the ball ended up in the back of our net having deflected off a stick. The issue was whose? I thought it was James's, and the fact that I remained routed to the spot as it flew into the far top corner was evidence enough. Fortunately the umpire agreed, but not without a fair degree of protest. Soon afterwards Olly delivered the knock out blow and we gained 3 points to move us up to 5th, but we are still in the thick of a relegation fight with all 7 teams below us.

Scorer: Oliver Morgan

Men's 5s vs. Spencer 5s: Lost 1-3

But for a couple of light bulbs the scoreline could have been so different. Unable to locate the goal - let alone the ball -THD5s struggled to make second-half possession count when attacking the "end of gloom" . During daylight, it had looked promising. Aidan Brock pulled the strings in midfield and with JT leading the defensive line, it appeared that revenge for a last minute 3-2 defeat earlier this season could be on the cards. That optimism increased when Simon Riley equalised from the penalty spot with a flick that ended with both ball and keeper in the net. Unfortunately, endeavours in the second half came to nothing as a well organised Spencer team punished THD with two well-taken goals.

Team: Lee Tearle, Rich Batty, James Terrett, Billy Dowie, Mark Smith, Graeme Evans, Rich Fenton, Aidan Brock, Nick Harris, Simon Riley, Matt Ruane, Tim Musgrave, Mark Pulford, Tom Alexander.

Umpire: Si Wiltshire.

Scorer: Riley

Next match: Saturday 31st January vs. Old Loughtonians Foresters - 16.00 away

Women's 2s vs. Reigate 1s: drew 1-1

A woolly mammoth of a fixture this one; a pitched battle in the heart of the relegation zone! And a real live crowd on the sidelines baying for Reigate blood. It was all pretty Neanderthal, except that we were much better looking (ask Will). We made it to the onion bag for some words of wisdom from this month's Hockey Sport pin-up king, after a tense half and real team commitment from everyone, but no score. We'd have liked a flick early in Part II, but Si Riley obviously thought we didn't deserve one as we'd missed at least two chances at their open goal. Life then got uglier. I unknowingly (honest!) dipped my shoulder, said "crap" rather loudly when the umpire blew, and they got 20 yards. George was thinking of a beach in Tahiti when the ball rolled past her, and then we had to listen to the unwelcome sounds of Reigate euphoria. But your THD heroines are made of sterner stuff. Can't remember the build up to our goal but Sarah put it away amidst triumphal cries and a look of pure cavewoman from Alex Crawford. Our defence then rallied like women possessed. The Amazonian Blumes showed no mercy, Jo and Clare made some killing tackles, and the ever self-deprecating Strings rescued several dangerous balls on the 25 (Can Emma and Sarah be like you when they grow up please?!). We forwards tried hard to keep pace with all this, and do positive things with Martha's distribution. Zoey so nearly scored a beauty. I managed a run down the right without involving my shoulders too much, and Liz worked hard on destroying the lungs of her defender. And last but not least, El Capitano and her bad knee provided some well timed substitutions for the needing-to-be talked-to. More practice on short corners required, but an exciting game and a cracking effort.

Your Heroines were: George Sykes, Alex Crawford, Alex Hardy, Kate Blumer, Jo de Silva, Claire Spencer, Sarah Longair, Martha Harvey-Jones, Karen Milburn, Zoey Handforth, Kate Selway, Liz Young.

Scorer: Sarah Longair

Next match: Saturday 31st January vs. Wanderers (steady Blumes) - 11.00 @ Kennington Park

Women's 3s vs. Epsom 2s: lost 0-6

What was good is that Alex and Kate agreed at about 10.15 to go to Epsom for an 11.30 start and then zoom back for their 2.45 game in Dulwich. Other good points were the eternal optimism in the team, great spirit to keep fighting for that elusive goal, and it was a lovely sunny day. The difference was that Epsom were fitter, were very skilful, passed the ball quickly and picked up on the move. Their coach was very vocal and they obviously had a plan...I remember when we had a coach with a plan and we all went training to perfect the plan but that seems like a long time ago now. Anyway, this particular young, fit team with a plan probably deserved their victory. I just need to add that Alex is probably a natural in goal, for which she will never forgive me, and that we do have a travelling supporter, the very beautiful Charles who happily slept through the whole game. Oh and thanks to Epsom for providing both umpires.

Team: Alex Hardy in goal (big cheer), Anna Barrett; Charlotte Rayner; Erica Goldsmith; Frances Bowen; Karen Dodds; Roz Hornsby; Ruth Pratt; Janine Nicholls; Jules Ingham; Kate Blumer (big cheer)

Next match: Saturday 31st vs. Camberley - 12 noon away (they are the league leaders!)

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

It's never a good game when during the warm up a dog jumps over a wall and falls 30 feet onto the pitch. We were all pretty shaken and thank God for Women's 4s new hero, Lee Tearle, who went sprinting to the rescue - we love you Lee (bursting with pride quote from Emily while we were all praising his bravery and composure - "I'm going to marry him you know!"). And Lee came to the rescue once again when about 4 minutes into the match a rogue sliced ball came off Marie's stick and clonked Emily right in the noggin (exasperated quote from Emily when she had regained full consciousness - "have I even contributed to this game at all?!"). Anyway, despite the Kamikaze collie and Emily's new egg-head look, we played on. They were big and strong and violent, we were better generally in the skill sense but we struggled to be able to run at them which is when we put the fear up 'em. So we scored first, a textbook short corner move from Linds and of course LPS burying it in the back of the net. Then they scored seconds later (we like to give 'em a sporting chance you see) and their last one was of utter randomness and pretty annoying to boot as they shouldn't have had that free hit anyway. Bitter? Me? Yep! We had a fair few other chances from Claire (who incidentally also had a goal disallowed but that was fair - we think) and a blistering shot from Esther but we just couldn't convert. Everyone had a good game again, particularly Catherine G who made it her 2nd week in a row being voted Man of the Match - the girl's a legend! And even Emily the egg-head came back on to join in the scrap (sorry about your head Emily!!) And finally - best quote of the day from superstar goalie Mel Bastin (who just happens to also be blonde) "it was that last goal they scored that did it". What a pearl of wisdom!

Team: Mel B, Mel R, Anna Stuttard, Lindsey McLaren, Catherine Garvey, Emily, Emma B, Isabel Drew, Kate Fuller, Esther, Claire W, Marie, Andrea Vicari

Scorer: Left Post Stuttard

Next match: Saturday 31st January vs. Mid Surrey - 9.30 early doors pushback away at Surbiton. Surely that's illegal?

Women's 5s vs. Wanderers: lost 1-4

It was a crisp Saturday morning as the 5s walked casually on to the pitch seconds before push back and a player short. Umpire/mysterious passer-by, Jo, stepped in to the breach with Jean donning the helmet to fend off a barrage of shots in the first half. Despite a self inflicted injury which saw Rachael out of action for what seemed like hours, the score remained 0-0 until the second half. A stunning goal from Sarah couldn't keep us from a disappointing and wholly unrepresentative 4-1 loss.

Players: Jean Sutton, Jo, Kat Dixon, Rachael Fallows, Ash McDonald, Sarah Smith, Emma Gilchrist, Claire, Liz, Steph Kee, Andrea Beattie.

Scorer: Sarah Smith

Next match: Saturday 31st March - 10.30 at Crystal Palace

Women's 6 vs. Berrylands: lost 0-2

Not the most auspicious start to 2004 for the 6's. Not only were we a player down, but our first game of the new year was on grass. In a moment of insanity, Ferrett agreed to make her comeback in goal, for which we were all very grateful! We acquitted ourselves admirably during the first half (it was 0-0 at half-time), with some excellent defending by Hilary, Kate and Fee, some cracking saves by Ferrett and some great runs by Louise and Wendy, although the appalling surface meant we spent a lot of time on our knees/a**es. The second half saw Berrylands push home the advantages of a full team and home pitch. After a number of impressive saves by Ferrett, a well-timed shot put them 1-0 up, followed by another 10 minutes before the final whistle. Despite the score and the mud, everyone played well, and it was good to see newcomers Sophie, Phoebe and Gemma, who even supplied us with an umpire - thanks to Barney for stepping in!

Team: Julie Ferret, Kate Straker, Louise Gloster, Jo Hillyer, Hilary Fielding, Phoebe Crockett, Sophie Anderton, Wendy Tang, Fee Mullender, Gemma.

Dragons vs. Sinners: won 3-1

The weather was slightly colder than the reception you'd get walking into a convent naked but the team was prepared. With a few players coming back from extended breaks - 5 months plus - and a few with seriously impressive hangovers the team was as prepared as it was ever going to be. Sinners had turned up with no goalie (again) and no umpire (typical) but they had two subs and proceeded to field seven guys instead of the regulation five. Unperturbed the Dragons set about them and cut them to shreds with our sublime passing game. Each of the three goals came from long passing moves - well Marie's did both Matt & Neil's goals came from long individual hogging moves... but then Neil's girlfriend was watching! Truth be told the scores should have been much further apart but a few dozen of our shots were slightly inaccurate. A soft goal for them gave the Sinners a glimmer of hope but that only spurred the Dragons on to snuff it out. Good and well worked result!

Team: George Sykes (GK), Mark Jones, Aidan Brock, Neil Happs, JC, Matt Groom, Marie Smith, Lindsey McLaren, Anna Stuttard, Holly Sardeson, Jules Ingham & Verity King.

Umpire: Simon Riley

Scorers: Marie Smith, Matt Groom & Neil Happs

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