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 08-Feb-04

Issue 16

Take solace in the headline news. A massive result for the Men's 1s. And who reads the small print anyway? Meanwhile, Number 1 Lombard Street have agreed to have us back. All booked for the end of season dinner on 20th March. Names and cheques ASAP to captains, please.

Reports by: Justin Collins, Aidan Brock, James Terrett, Will Morgan, Mark Jones, Ian Cooper, Richard Taylor, Charley Williams, Kate Blumer, Marie Smith, Frances Baker, Gigi Ho.

Men's 1s vs. Fareham: won 4-3

A 4 -3 win away from home should be exciting enough, but that bare statistic doesn't come close to summing up this thrilling game. We were behind for most of the game, indeed until the 68th minute, scoring the winner with practically the last hit of the game. Every story though must have a beginning... . The weather was atrocious. Playing into gale force winds and horizontal rain in the first half, may explain our lacklustre performance. We were very poor, created hardly anything, whilst allowing numerous chances to the opposition. Their dominance told, going 2 goals up in quick succession, with a number of other near misses. Harsh words at half time didn't appear to have an effect as we soon conceded a 3rd. We did though start playing better, creating a number of chances of our own, only kept out by some good saves from their keeper. Eventually we pulled one back through Andy Balchin, 3 -1. This wasn't one way traffic though as they continued to attack with ease, and the game flowed from one end to the other. With 7 minutes to go we scored again through Andy B, 3-2,though that goal looked to be it as he was shortly after shown a yellow card. However we now started to dominate possession, and were playing almost exclusively in their half. With 2 minutes to go, Alex Kew pounced to score his first goal for the 1st's, 3 - 3. An exciting end to and exciting match, no way. Back on the pitch in the final minute Andy picked the ball up in the D, rounded the keeper, and buried the ball into the back of the net. The final whistle went straight after the restart. Absolutely bloody brilliant from everyone.

Scorers: Andy Balchin 3, Alex Kew

Men's 2s vs. Beckenham: lost 2-5

Another Jekyll & Hyde performance against the second placed team in the league. In the first half we showed no signs of ring rustiness despite this being only our second game in 2 months - compact in defence and creative in the midfield we scored first as Clifford pounced on a defensive mistake following a period of sustained pressure. We rallied against the inevitable (and very vocal) backlash, but their constant pressure and superior short corner routines told and we went into the break 2-1 down . Even the usually stoic Pully, our resident Beckenham 'geezer', commented "I wish they'd stop their ****** chirpin', its like playing against 10 budgies & a keeper.....". Alas, I think all that chirping must have affected the boys' ability to listen to the half time team talk as we proceeded to relax our grip on the game, playing more like a bunch of headless chickens than the thoughtful owls we had been in the first half. I can't complain about the commitment levels, which were excellent, but all too often this season we have given games away by failing to execute the basics. Slack marking and tackling combined with a suicidal tendency to dribble and pass ourselves back into trouble cost us dearly. It was pleasing that we never gave up and Potty finished off a great passing move by chipping the ball over the keeper near the end, but this just adds to my frustrations as I know we are capable of playing like that all the time. I'm not perfect myself and was at fault for the 5th goal (the ball slipped under my outstretched wing), nevertheless let's take the positives from this game and give the bottom of the league tax-dodgers a good stuffing this Saturday.

Team: Aidan Brock, Chris Coleman, Mark Pulford, Neil Happs, Matt Groom, Felix Nurse, Paul Harvey, Graeme Fotheringham, Nick Harris, Fergus Jagger, Clifford Brown, Andy Potapa

Scorers: Clifford, Potty

Men's 3s vs. Hampstead & Westminster Zac Hondas: lost 0-5

Struggling to field an eleven (again) against a team who has won every game I thought we were going to be battered 10-0. Not so. A high level of commitment from all players meant that we came out of this game with pride and a thorough knowledge that losing 5-0 in the pissing rain and gale force winds can still be an enjoyable game of hockey. Only 2-0 down at half-time we even managed a few short corners but had difficulty retaining possession. Excellent defensive performances from Si Wilshire and Mike Tyrell ensured that H&W had real trouble in converting the few chances that they created. In the end Geoff got injured and we played out the last 20 minutes with 10 men. The Sky Masterson in me was hoping for "Lady Luck" to help us with a deserved goal to show for our efforts. Following the game, I have decided that "Lady Luck" doesn't fancy me at all - I must be a bit too ugly with a poor dress sense and pretty boring to talk to. I hate her the fickle cow. This week, I'm hoping to get intimate with "Lady Completely outplayed but still won." She sounds like right goer.

Team: Gavin Lawson, Simon Wilshire, JT, Lee Snowden, Warren Holme, Ryan Hubbard, Phil Hines, Rob Levine, Mike Tyrell, Nick Thomson, Geoff Pritchard.

Umpire: Simon Riley

Men's 4As vs. Hampstead & Westminster: lost 1-3

Amazingly we finished the match feeling pretty good about our performance and team spirit which makes a change when you've just been beaten. However, we maintained the same level of commitment from the fortnight before and accounted well for ourselves against a side that has lost and drawn just once all season, i.e. top of the table. It was a windy miserable afternoon given our 4.30 push back although amazingly we had one spectator (highest attendance all season) hiding in the bar pitch pub - i won't name and shame! We gave away too many short corners during the first half but somehow came out of all but one without conceding and annoyingly that came in the last minute. Otherwise we had a decent spell putting them under pressure with some good chances. Come the second half they kept on creating openings and demonstrated their better skill and organisation by grabbing two more but we salvaged some pride when Clifford made a typically determined run capping off one of our better passing moves and grabbing the consolation goal off the rebound from his own shot. Other mentions should go to Aido (man of the match) Brock and Grant (dynamo) Spencer who brought their best game to the match. Next stop, a more realistic points chance vs. Guildford.

Team: Aidan Brock, Vishal Phakey, JT, Tim Parker, Mark Jones, Dave Eacott, Grant Spencer, Adrian Meredith, Nick Harris, Rich Fenton, Bruce Haines, Will Morgan, Clifford Brown.

Umpire: Mark Pulford

Scorer: Clifford Brown

Tornados (Men's 4Bs) vs. Wimbledon: lost 2-7

This was a day and a game that everyone concerned would rather forget. A poor performance in the first half was eclipsed but a truly woeful attempt in the second. With the scores at 2-1 going into half time there was still everything to play for. Sadly, like a fat girls corset, we just fell apart. The only real high points were Lee's tireless working in midfield and two very good goals from Si Riley. Everyone wanted to do well and tried hard but like a Latvian TV... whatever we tried it just didn't work.

Team: Gavin Lawson (GK), Mark Jones, Simon Wilshire, Tom Alexander, Bruce Haines, Adrian Barnardo, Lee Snowden, Neil Gallagher, Dougal Davis, Paul Burrows, Simon Riley.

Umpire: James Terrett

Scorer: Simon Riley 2

Mens 5s vs. Old Loughtonians Forrester's: "lost" 1-2

Reid, Batty, Dowie, Smith, Evans, Dunlop, Ruane, Musgrave. Take a bow. Having played for the club for some 15 plus years, I am not sure I have seen the like of what happened in our first half. Playing nine against eleven for all of it we came in at half time 0-0, and but for a horrid miss by my good self, should have gone in 1-0 up. Old Loughts thought the points were there for the taking, but there is nothing that inspires a team more than seeing their opposition shouting at each other, arguing and reduced to crap after only ten minutes. Having asked our lot to play the simple game from the off, we ripped holes in them all over the park. The longer it went on, the more the silky skills came out. Quite frankly a pleasure to watch and play in. As their umpire said at half time: "You seem to have got the handicapping just about right". Sadly the second half for us started uphill, with a howling gale and rain in our faces. Loughts took advantage with a couple of goals within five minutes of the off. Then our little ray of sunshine arrives in the shape of Riley, having spent the best part of an hour in the Dartford tunnel. First contribution, graciously allowing the Loughts keeper to pick the ball out of the back of his net. 2-1. And there it stayed for twenty five minutes, with three guilt edged chances going begging for us. The two late goals in the dying minutes for Loughts flattered to deceive in a game that with only nine and a half players, we should have won. Thanks to all for being there. The game will live long in the memory. Afterwards Simon was presented with a copy of The Hampstead Ladies 5s 2004 calendar for his help and support this season. Something to read if he got stuck on the way back.

Team: Paul Reid, Rich Batty, Bill Dowie, Mark Smith, Harry Dunlop, Graeme Evans, Tim Musgrave, Matt Ruane, Ian Cooper, Simon Riley.

Scorer: Si Riley

Men's 6s vs. Blackheath: lost 0-2

After a week of trying to get enough players together to ensure that we took advantage of an easy win and full points, I failed. We only had 10, including an umpire and Al's mate Tom who hadn't picked up a hockey stick before - Al, can you thank Tom for his effort on Saturday. I hope he enjoyed it!. We were clearly outnumbered from the start as Blackheath played around and through us as they pleased. They had one good player who controlled and directed their play allowing Blackheath to continuously put players in to the D and have scoring opportunities. To our credit the defence held out very well. Not just in the first half where 90% of the play took part in our half, but also later when players tired and the space began to open up for us to attack, leaving us vulnerable in defence to the counter. To make matters worse Mehraab took a nasty knock to a finger which meant that he could not hold his stick so he went to umpiring while Richard M came on to take over in defence. Blackheath did score one goal during the first half, nothing very special as I can't remember how they did score. Peter put in some good saves and Mike Mc, Matt and Keith all defended very well causing an increasing amount of frustration to Blackheath forwards. The second half started out with as much pressure being put on us as in the first half and a lucky break from a Blackheath defended who found him self in the D and scored a fluky goal which seemed to have amazed him more than anybody else. 2-0 down and into the wind it looked like it was going to a long second half. However, as Blackheath tired we began to get more and more of the ball and really began to attack their goal. In fact Blackheath's goalkeeper had more to do than Peter. Al, Rob and Tom all were able to exploit the weakness in Blackheath's defence and we came close to scoring twice. It finished 2-0. I have to say that this was by far our best team performance. Peter, Mike, Matt, Keith and Richard M were all brilliant in defence never missing a tackle and stopped their attacks out side our D. Al and Rob were excellent in mid field and attack and lastly Tom, our lone attacker, who played very well all things considered. Thanks to Richard M and Mehraab for umpiring.

Team: Peter Adams, Richard Mead, Matt Crane, Keith Howick, Mike McKinnon, Al Fraser, Richard Taylor, Rob Thomas, Mehraab Nazir & Tom.

Women's 1s vs. Bracknell: lost 1-2

David & Goliath, the Lilliputians & Gulliver, THD and Bracknell. Similar concepts, different endings. True to size, they were slow to start, and though we played decently, we never exploited what should have been the turning 20 minutes of the match. Nevertheless we were 1-0 up at half-time after EJ (certainly small but rarely out voiced) had slammed the ball into a foot so big and bouncy that it ballooned the ball up and over their goalie's head at close range. With Ali in control in the middle and Kath marshalling the back four with aplomb, we should have been set to pull away after the break. But once again, we conceded goals on the break while not really creating chances despite having much of the play and a plethora of shorts. Bracknell did show some deft touches when we let them - their second was delicately chipped over a prostrate, but blameless Pipes- and their central midfielder playing from deep increasingly dominated the game in the second half. Little else to dwell on really and the usual axiom is beginning to wear thin. We need to get ugly and win.

Team: Jo Malkin, Emma Ward, Kath Sowter, Hilary Collins, Alex Crawford, Rachel Lander, Ali Rendu, Louise Morgan, Dani Every, Martha Harvey-Jones, EJ Barry, Bettina Wolff, Mary, Charley Williams.

Scorer: EJ Barry

Women's 2s vs. Wanderers: lost 1-3

I think the shock of 13 players, a coach, team talk, Charley's presence and 1 full hour to warm up was too much of a shock to the system. On a miserable rainy day, when ladies such as ourselves should be taking elevenses not running around outside, we started slowly, like a soft drizzle. Wanderers on the other hand came to win, as usual. An early short corner saw them take the lead, a sloppy pass on the left wing within their 25 (from yours truly) saw a skillful runaway goal from the nippy right wing. Then another short and we were 3-0 down, with heads down. Second half we regrouped and began to believe in ourselves. Losing Selway up front to a dodgy knee was not part of the plan, but having instructions hollered from the side line was just what we needed to spur us on. Spencer was dynamic along with Alex in the middle, and Emma kept the attack out. Jo made countless and I mean countless life saving tackles and strategically placed through passes, whilst George was wonderful, ducking and diving round the goal mouth. Strings was versatile and unrelenting in both left and right mid-field, Martha gave Betty a run for her money and all the forwards worked tirelessly, Zoey and Josie making their usual timely runs. With all this effort and grit, we won the second half, Alex assisted Liz onto the score board (well deserved on both accounts) with a nerve jangling short corner. Thank you for restoring some hope in our hockey! Well done all, just need to give Spencer (not our Clare) a run for their money.

Team: George Sykes, Kate Blumer, Alex Hardy, Spence, Emma Matebalavu, Jo De Silva, Strings, Martha Harvey-Jones, Charley Williams, Liz Young, Zoey Handforth, Josie Saunders.

Scorer: Liz Young

Women's 3s vs. Camberley: lost 0-2

Women's 4s vs. Mid Surrey: lost 2-6

It has now been irrevocably proven that getting up at 7.30am on a Saturday is bad for your health. And your hockey skills.A 9.30 start in deepest darkest Surbiton was not our friend. Neither was the weather - it was raining cats and dogs - though thankfully not literally this time - no puppy pizza for the ladies 4's this week! We managed to cobble together a team thanks to Hilary agreeing to come along at the last minute, and a big thanks to Mel R for "volunteering" to play in goal. Anyway I have forgotten the order of scoring but our goals both originated from short corners and we battled better in the 2nd half which was a 1-1 draw. One beaut of a strike from Esther meant she scored her fist THD goal (of many we hope) and one good hard bit of battling by Andrea to bag her first of the season. We looked pretty good, we had plenty of chances and made great use of space but we didn't seem to want the win as much as we wanted our beds. They scored some good goals and yet again we were beaten by a side that, had we been on true form, we could have at least got a draw if not a win. We have therefore decided that we lack arrogance so watch this space for a serious attitude change. We still might not win but we will be cocky about the fact.Oh, and to cap it all off it turned out that this team were the make-your-own-sarnies-while-we-wander-around-naked side famed for last year's hair in the pate incident (see old reports for details). Nice.

Team: Mel Rees (GK); Anna Stuttard; Lindsey McLaren; Catherine Garvey, Kate Fuller, Esther Roberts, Isabel Drew, Marie Smith, Andrea Vicari, Claire Whitehead, Hilary

Scorers: Esther Roberts, Andrea Vicari

Women's 5s vs. ?: lost 2-4

The snow had melted, and been replaced by the meteorological phenomenon known as Crystal Palace Bar Weather: Arctic winds gusting to 90 mph, horizontal rain and a low pall of gloomy cloud. However. the 5s waited in the bar, undaunted, until 5 minutes before pushback, discussing tactics. The opposition was near the top of the league, we were close to the bottom - and it showed. We went into the break 3-0 down, and Captain Ash gave us the talking to of our lives. We came back like a whirlwind, and won the second half 2-1 (yes, that makes for a loss overall, but let's not dwell on it, ok?). Result: an excellent overall performance (in the second half anyway). Next week we're gonna do it for the whole 70 minutes, you see if we don't! Two fab goals scored by Andrea, who also provided post-match chocolate cake - and now she's going away for 3 weeks - marvelous!

Team: Ash McDonald, Andrea Beattie, Kathryn Dixon and Farthing, Steph Kee, Frances Barber, Sarah Smith, Elizabeth Hibbard, Rosie le Voir, Vicky Adkins, Tash Riordan-Eva, Claire Shirley, Emma Kitley

Scorer: Andrea Beattie 2

Women's 6s vs. Camberley: won 3-0

Ok, Camberley conceded the game late on Friday but it's still 3 points much needed! Women's Vets vs. Maori Vamps: won 5-0 We had talent aplenty with 14 players (unheard of for vets) and played some good hockey. Perhaps not as good as we can - there was a little too much hit and hope - but we might as well save something for Surrey and the South. The goals increased in style culminating in Helen's fine fifth. It was so good to have Jo M back in goal and we welcomed Wendy back (looking great and playing well) and Alex to her first Vets game as a proper Vet. Excellent result, nice day, lots of players and crowd, well umpired and big thank you to Erica for tea. Thank you all. See you on the 21st against the same opposition.

Team: Jo Malkin; Joanna Reynolds, Alex Hardy, Karen Dodds, Frances Bowen, Charlotte Rayner, Paula Barry, Anna Barrett, Janine Nicholls, Lou Sutton, Erica Goldsmith, Julia Ingham, Helen Singleton

Scorers: Jules Ingham 2, Wendy Johnson, Helen Singleton, Frances maybe?

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