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.

Mon 23-Feb-04

Issue 18

Love was tested to the limits this Valentine's Day as your red (and green) heroes set out to woo admirers across the Astroturf's of the South-East. Not everybody made it out of bed - whither the Men's 6s? - and those who did may have had second thoughts. It's difficult to tempt anyone to follow you to St Albans, after all, though JT managed to pull in the crowds with the sort of sartorial genius every club expects from its kit man. And the Men's 1s were awesome to begin with, but didn't have quite the staying power for a win. Elsewhere, we did have some successes as the Women's 1s pulled off their first victory since the beginning of November, inspired, no doubt, by the morning post. The Men's 2s and 4As also turned it on to bag what could be all important points as we move into the final quarter of the season and the battles to stay up begin.

PS. More congratulations are due on the baby front, this time to Nick Harris and his wife Sarah on the birth of Harry. Who's next?

reports by: Justin Collins, Aidan Brock, James Terrett, Will Morgan, Graeme Evans, Kath Sowter, Kate Selway, Karen Dodds and Mark Jones.

Men's 1s vs. Gore Court: lost 2-3

If only this game had lasted 5 minutes, it would have been perfect. We got the push back, went upfield, got a short corner and scored. They pushed back, we tackled, went upfield, got a short corner and scored - both goals through Andy. We then had another short corner cleared off the line, all before they had even entered our half. Unfortunately that was that, and we didn't threaten their goal again. In fact Gore Court dominated the next 65 minutes. We did well to hold out, going down to a (debatable) short corner after the half time whistle had gone, a p flick and top corner drive in the second half. We were hardly given a hit by the umpires, and words were exchanged with them afterwards, but really we only have ourselves to blame.

Scorer: Andy Balchin 2

Men's 2s vs. PHC Chiswick: Won 2-0

It's all in the preparation, so they say. With only ten men and short of an umpire on Friday afternoon, I was worried. Luckily Bruce Haines and Will Morgan came to my rescue (huge thanks, fellas). I was playing in the match preceding ours so only had a few minutes to gather the troops to gawp open mouthed at the now legendary esoteric whiteboard scribblings. The return of ex-skipper and 2's hard man Rich Candey obviously had an effect on the boys (or was it that I used two colours on the whiteboard for the first time?). There was talk of numbered short corner routines and everyone looked to be 'in the zone'. Playing an attacking 3-4-3 formation we took it to Chiswick from the outset. In contrast to previous weeks, we kept possession brilliantly, playing the triangles with swift one touch passing and pulling PHC all over the pitch. We were unlucky to go into the break at 0-0, albeit effectively down to 10 men after Pully pulled his quad and was relegated to a static centre forward position after half an hour. Re-arranged but no less effective, we continued where we left off at the start of the second half and Will Morgan put us in front after some truly awesome one touch hockey provided an opening which he clinically finished. We created more chances and soaked up any pressure which was exerted. Ferg marshalled the back three with seemingly consummate ease, ably supported by Graeme at defensive centre mid who was all over their midfielders for the entire game. But with ten minutes of the second half gone, Potty pulled up injured and we were effectively down to 9 men. Far from precipitating a TH&D collapse, everyone worked for each other and we continued to pressurise their 'D', creating chances which would have been converted had we not by now had the slowest and most immobile front line in Christendom. Nevertheless the sustained pressure finally told and Pully hobbled up to a short corner and struck it sweetly to give us a two goal cushion (apparently a no.3 was called but Pully overruled and struck it anyway!). All in all the best THD hockey I have witnessed or played in this season, so let's not forget that winning feeling........

Team: Aido Brock, Ferg Jagger, Neil Happs, Wes Cole, Graeme Fotheringham, Will Atkinson, Clifford Brown, Andy Potapa, Mark Pulford, Rich Candey, Will Morgan.

Umpire: Bruce Haines

Scorers: Will Morgan, Pully.

Men's 3s vs. St Albans: lost 1-6

A small administrative error led to half the team forgetting their white shirts and having to make do. Unfortunately I had to wear a very tight camp long-sleeved top that only came down to my naval. Luckily I managed to carry it off and I left St Albans with a few phone numbers from interested spectators - all men. St Albans were better than us and deserved to win but only by about 3 goals rather than the 6 we conceded. Our first short corner led to a goal from Guy that was disallowed for a foot over the line at the edge of the "D". I'm not one to whinge but I thought it was harsh, especially as my shirt was restricting the blood to my arms. Obviously that changed the course of the match and I am 100% confident that we would have gone on to win 8-0, and I'm sure St Albans felt the same too as they celebrated their 6th goal ten minutes from the end. Whilst it was only 1-0, however, we came back at them with another short corner, this time expertly finished by Phil Hines. Everyone played well especially in the first half where honours were even. Indeed, they only scored one goal from open play, and their short routine relied heavily on my nemesis, Lady Luck. In other news Wilsh finally won a case and Nick smashed a ball that just missed my Jon Thomas - a bit higher and all my male fans would have been weeping.

Team: Gavin Lawson, Tom Alexander, Nick Thomson, Simon Wilshire, Guy Hodgson, JT, Phil Hines, Henry Postlethwaite, Neil Gallagher, Duncan McCulloch, Simon Riley.

Umpire: Toby Wheadon.

Scorer: Phil Hines

Mens 4As vs. Chiswick 3s: won 2-1

Another 3 points in the bag - it's a wonderful thing to be able to say. The team has shown real, tangible improvement over the last four weeks. 2 wins, a loss and a draw has seriously improved the outlook for the rest of the season, and (dare I say it) the next. Our front line has now taken shape with the addition of Rich Fenton and Ed Standring who have started turning defences inside out together with Bruce linking up through the middle. And our halves are beginning to play more intelligent hockey, linking up well and giving each other options. However, as with all 4As victories the reason we won was as much to do with our renewed fighting spirit and ability to press the oppo hard when they think they're in control. Having presumably tired of hearing their captain randomly shouting abuse at who to mark and where to be it seemed like a) everyone was doing their bit & b) I was the one out of position half the time! The first half was well fought but we finished on top with a 1-0 lead that came from a well-taken hit from Paul and slightly fortuitous 'flick' from Rich into the corner. We then managed to concede when in all honesty we were creating far more opportunities. But we didn't take it lying down and fought back hard Nevertheless, it took a moment of brilliance from Adrian to win the match. Collecting the ball in their half he drove into the 'D' and fired a cracking shot past their keeper. So, Chiswick may have had their chances but this time round we showed 'em who's boss. Oh, and amazingly they didn't stick around for the 6 Nations! P.S. Well done lads.

Team: Aidan Brock (GK), Vishal Phakey, Tim Parker, Mark Jones, Will Morgan, Adrian Meredith, Grant Spencer, Paul Kirkland, Bruce Haines, Rich Fenton, Ed Standring, Clifford Brown.

Umpire: Mark Pulford.

Scorers: Rich Fenton & Adrian Meredith.

Mens 5's vs. St. Albans: lost 1-4

Mmmm, where to start? Ian sold his only dummy of the day by persuading a couple of ladies that tripping up to somewhere north of the river to watch the 5s was the only good and proper way to spend Valentine's Day. Ever generous, the lasses intimated that they would also have written the match report if they had actually watched the game, but the attraction of a couple of G&T's and some over muscled Frenchmen on the box proved of far greater interest. Their loss was St. Albans' gain, as the 5s went to pieces...quite literally. The St. Albans' score went up at roughly the same intervals as our players went down. Even the half time sight of Ian bearing his a*se to administer some deep heat failed to put the oppo off, and the game was pretty much over by...well, the end of time. Thanks to all for making it, to Jonesy, Tom and Simon for doubling, and Phil for umpiring. Congratulations to the six or so still able to stand by the end, and apologies to Laura for sending Richard home via the hospital. Better luck to one and all this week.

Team: Paul Reid, Rich Batty, Rob Thomas, Bill Dowie, Graeme Evans, Ben Lones, Harry Dunlop, Mark Smith, Simon Reilly, Tom Alexander, Ian Cooper, Jonesy.

Umpire: Philip Hines

Scorer: Ian Cooper

Men's 6s: match cancelled due to lack of players

Women's 1s vs. Reading: won 2-1

Having slumped to an all time low the week before, we set about trying to get some energy into our game. Will duly responded by marching us to a school playground to prepare for what was a crucial game for us. A bit of running, skipping and hopping and we were ready. We started well and deservedly took the lead through Rach and continued to look dangerous in a first half we dominated. Dani and Wardy looked awesome up the right (and they played quite well too) and Martha set about her lovely stick work to frustrate Reading up the left. The ball was being switched through both Ali and the back four and Pipes was commanding with her calling from back. Rach scored another after good work from Dani, and EJ worked tirelessly to ensure Reading found it hard to break out of defence. Reading did get a goal back with a well taken strike, but we held firm and deserved our 3 points. Many thanks to the crowd for the support - it really does make a difference. And just when we thought things couldn't get better, Pipes had baked some cakes for us. See, life isn't so bad after all.

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

Scorer: Rachel Lander 2

Women's 2s vs. West Hampstead 1s: lost 0-3

A last minute friendly got the better of us this weekend. Some of us were hoping for long lie-ins and breakfasts in bed, others for red roses and romantic surprises. What more then, could St Valentine have done for us, but to start our collective day with a 9.45 meet at the Bar Pitch where drizzle was swirling in the wind and dogs are known to plunge? We had a few gaps in the ranks this week, womanfully filled by Claire and Emily from the 4s. Despite holding them to 0-0 by half time, it was all a bit lacklustre and, to be frank, sagging badly all over the place at times. They had a few speedy birds (and one rather scary one) who helped them to move up a gear in the second half and we let in three pretty decisively. Personally, I wasn't that keen on La Crewcut's tactic of running straight at our number one runner on our defensive shorts - slightly confrontational n'est-ce pas? - but maybe she didn't have a date for the evening. The umpires (your very own Anna B and Charley) gave the best performance, although Rach was looking pretty skilled in her game of touch rugby with Josh on the sidelines (cheers Rach!). A few stalwarts then went off to help out the 3s at Epsom (El Capitano vomiting on the way), and gradually, later in the day, thoughts finally began to turn to romance....

This week's Pedestrian Patricia's were: George Sykes, Alex Hardy, Emma Matebalavu, Sarah Longair, Jules Ingham, Liz Young, Kate Selway, Claire Whitehead, Emily Halliday, Zoey Handforth, Jo de Silva.

Umpires: Anna Barrett & Charley Williams

Women's 3s vs. Epsom 3s (friendly): lost 1-2

Our goal outclassed both of theirs put together with a strong run and cross into the D from Andrea straight to Ruth with only the keeper to beat, so she did. Special mention for Charlotte's solid defending and indefatigable enthusiasm.

Team: Anna Barrett; Charlotte Rayner; Erica Goldsmith; Karen Dodds; Lou Curry; Ruth Pratt; Janine Nicholls; Frances Bowen; George Sykes; Liz Young; Andrea Vicari.

Umpire: Steve Powell.

Supporters: Charlie (again sleeping most of the way through) and Alex Hardy, who also managed some emergency physio for Anna after a nasty ball on the knee (or Patella as Frances said).

Scorer: Ruth Pratt

Next match: Saturday 28 February vs. London Edwardians - somewhere at home

Women's 6s: match cancelled

Dragons vs. Daiquiris: won 3-2

Hey the opposition turned up with a goalie this week... Ha! Got Ya! Not Really, the b@stards! It's getting somewhat distressing to continually play against teams without a keeper, as they effectively get an extra outfield player and we can't strike the ball in the 'D'. Although, thinking positively means the Dragons have to over-perform. and we did! Taking it up a level to hockey heaven (not the website), with a serious amount of commitment and sublime passing we managed to come from 1-0 down to a 3-1 lead... and - despite getting another goal - Daiquiris were like a man with no arms - they just couldn't catch us. Goals from Louise (nice flick), Jonesy (one-handed!) & Alex (simple tap in) meant the points (of which there aren't any) were ours. It was like taking candy from a baby... presuming that the baby was quite hard, put up a fight and wouldn't give up. This takes the Dragons' record to 6 Wins, 1 Draw and 1 Loss for the season... just smell the success that oozes from stats like that. c'mon who else wants some?

Team: George Sykes (GK), Mark Jones, Aidan Brock, Neil Happs, JC, JT, Simon Wilshire, Holly Sardeson, Michelle Morgan, Lucy Carrington, Louise Curry, Ash McDonald, Alex Hardy & Verity King.

Supporters: Lucy Partington & Charley Williams.

Umpire: Will Morgan

Scorer(s): Louise Curry, MJ & Alex Hardy

Next Match: Sunday 29 February vs. UCL - 1500 @ Battersea Park

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