Newsletter 2005/06

Since 2003/04 the club has produced weekly match reports. From the start of the 2005/06 season this became a weekly newsletter, distributed during the season, containing match reports from each of the games played that weekend as well as other key information and a selection of adverts and offers.

Fri 30-Sep-05

Issue 01

Another year, another rollercoaster ride - welcome back to weekly news of South London's most happening club. The men's 3s and women's 5s have set the pace in the first league games of our fourth season seamlessly transposing their confident, all-conquering hockey of last year to this. Hints perhaps of a serious scouting missions over the summer for JT, and while there's no doubt he'd have fancied his chances, surely he can't have imagined that his latest pick-up would score a hat-trick on debut. James Huntley - you heard it here first. Other leading lights of last season began less auspiciously, or at least expensively - c.f. Martha and Kath who racked it up at Harrods en route to the Women's 1s game at Southgate but they didn't even shop (apparently). But back to hockey, and the Women's 6s also bagged a good win over nattily-named Barnes Hounslow Ealing, while the Diamonds (that's the Men's 5s) celebrated a 10-0 win without pulling on a shirt. See report below for details. Good to see old faces returning and so many new players in too - if you can hang in there through the traditional THD early season drought, we can promise you some thirst-quenching hockey and socials. And finally: "As the flames begin to flicker on another season and the prospect of a long, hot, lazy, Ashes-winning summer looms...." (THD newsletter 20 - 2004-5): don't say I don't predict anything.

match reports by: Tim Haworth, Aidan Brock, James Terrett, Mark Jones, Billy Dowie, James Kingdom, Gemma Baker, Kate Selway, Stacey Stillman, Claire Whitehead, Frances Barber and Victoria Wright. Thanks to all.

Men's 1s vs. Wayfarers (friendly): lost 1-5

In a disappointing game, the Men's 1s were beaten 5-1 by a well-organised London Wayfarers team. Simple mistakes made in the wrong areas and some poor positional play lead to the goals being conceded. Always disappointing to lose, but at least the mistakes were made in a pre-season friendly with time to put them right for the start of the league. (TH)

Men's 2s vs. PHC Chiswick 2s: Lost 1-2

Starting the season with a loss is never optimal, but with a much changed team the signs were encouraging. We can take heart from a performance that, whilst shaky in the early stages, included a dominant second half. Vestiges of a sedentary summer were evident in the early stages - none more so than yours truly who found that playing a pressing game required a lot more running and 'stepping up' than he was previously used to (I remember the good old days when being a sweeper required you to lean cross legged on your stick at the top of the 'D' and shouting a lot, oh how times change). However we passed well for large periods of the game and created numerous chances, which we need to capitalise on going forward, losing to a breakaway goal when in pursuit of an elusive winner. It could easily have been a 5 or 6-2 win so no panic stations yet, bring on next week and let's hone our finishing skills.... (AB)

Team: Jeremy Porter, Aidan Brock, Rob Bennett, Matt Groom, Kieran Norris, Mark Pulford, Carl Hagger, Graeme Fotheringham, Ferg Jagger, Pete Howland, Lee Snowden, Will Bushall.

Scorers: Pully (?)

Next match: Saturday 1st October vs. Bromley & Beckenham 2's - 14.00 @ Langley Park

Men's 3s vs. St Albans 3s: won 5-3

The searing heat of St Albans ensured we were worked hard, and also showed we were lacking somewhat in the fitness department. A lack of organisation in the first few minutes meant we played a crowded game in the middle and were caught on the break, conceding early from a short corner. Rob Glavin composed the back line and from then on we didn't look back. Very hard tackling in the middle form Paul Harvey meant we had plenty of possession and it was only our lack of "engine" which prevented us scoring more. Graeme Lyness managed to get through the first 10 mins without being sick on the side of the pitch this week, a sure sign that things are looking good. Nick Jacob forced an equaliser through sheer will and then debutant James Huntley showed that whilst he might bear more than a passing resemblance to Bjorn Borg, he knows where the back of the net is. He completed a brilliant first half hat-trick and ensured the rest of the game would be nothing more than gentle sparring. Paul Harvey netted his first for the club from a short in the second half and St Albans scored a late consolation. By this time the bench looked like an infirmary and plenty of players at the end were in the "pain locker", wheezing and sweating their way to the final whistle. (JT)

Team: Gavin Lawson, Simon Wilshire, Thom Ruane, Rob Glavin, Wes Cole, Graeme Lyness, Neil Vose, Paul Harvey, James Terrett, Mike Killen, David Fogden, Nick Jacob, James Huntley.

Scorers: Nick Jacob, Paul Harvey, James Huntley( 3 - & MOTM)

Next match: Saturday 1st October vs. Bromley & Beckenham 3's - 11:00 @ DC

Tornados vs. Guildford 4s: lost 1-2

The first game of the season can only be described as 'slightly more frustrating than being a eunuch locked in the Playboy mansion'. Hapless Guildford, that survived relegation last season by virtue of another club folding, punished the Tornados with two goals that were more pathetic than the losers that the Littlest Hobo used to save. The response from the reds was awesome... everything was thrown at the opposition... sticks, balls, cans, benches. In fact the team were close to ripping their own arms out and beating the oppo keeper to death with the bleeding stumps... he pulled out more saves than a TV evangelist. That said, for the first game of the season there were some very good signs... in addition to the 'No Entry' one above the Guildford goal! (MJ)

Team: Lee Tearle (GK), MJ, Robby Layton, Tom Alexander, Rolly Ferneaux, James Perrott, Dougal Davis, Rich Fenton, Afzaal, Nick Harris, Dan Hopkins, Nick Jones & Loz Mockery.

Scorer: Nick Harris

Umpire: Simon Newell

Diamonds vs. St. Albans Citizens: match cancelled - 10-0 walkover.

We were awarded the points after St Albans withdrew, unable to raise a side. Last year, the result of a walkover would have been a 5-0 win, but this season the League have increased it to 10-0, to discourage such behaviour. We don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but - whilst 0-10 may be a fair penalty for a team in default, with the three points going to the 'winning' team - our bonus of +10 on the goal difference does seem a mite unfair to other teams in the League. We then naturally assumed that we'd be top of the table, at least jointly...... but Hampstead & Westminster Spaniards beat Chiswick 13-0. We had a dozen Diamonds turn out on Saturday instead for a practice session, the highlight being Peter Berman's 30 minute short corner training...... excellent. Let's hope we can remember some of that for next Saturday. (BD)

Royals vs. Blackheath: drew 1-1

"A Right Royal Balls-up" After last week's champagne performance against the Spaniards, this saw the Royals play their hangover game, more literally for some than others. We gathered at a sun-kissed JAGS with all the optimism expected of a team seeking promotion against a Blackheath team beaten twice last year. During the warm up, the usual start of season pleasantries were exchanged, new faces greeted and rather ominously, Chris's now-not-so-rather-expensive looking bike, foolishly parked 10 yards right of the goal took an absolute peppering. With complete disregard for the heat and time of morning, the game started at a frantic pace, with the Royals carving through the Heathens' midfield to create the first clear cut chance after only 3 minutes, only for the ball to fly through the D without a friendly stick nearby. Having got this chance out of our system, the next 30 minutes were less impressive. The shape and width that served us so well towards the later half of last season deserted us and we stumbled our way to the interval with the scores at nothing apiece, in part to some fine saves from Lee and a diving stop from Mike W. Worringly, the first league interval saw the season's first rollicking, with Coach Richman getting so impassioned that at one point he even managed to forget what he was talking about. Whether this was due to the red mist descending or the a lack of sleep courtesy of the East Dulwich Tavern, only he knows. With our ears still ringing and Will on the bus to Stamford Bridge, we started the second half noticeably the better side and were rewarded with a goal soon after. A fluent move along the right saw Nick eventually burying the ball into the back of the Heathen's net to put us one up. What followed was a passage of play that should have seen us put the game beyond reach, had it not been for our blindfolded tantric approach to scoring - very little shooting and off target. And the less said about the air shot on the full by a certain someone the better, especially as the ball hit their back foot by the time they had spun around with the momentum. As is the way, while we were messing around at one end, the opposition decided to sneak into our half and while the centre back pairing showed off their best footwork skills, the saying "play the whistle" springs to mind as their centre forward carried on regardless and reverse sticked it into the roof of the net. Cue a frantic last 10 minutes with several Blackheath short corners and the Royals trying to grab a last minute winner. One last opportunity presented itself in the final seconds as the ball fell to our second highest scorer last season, unmarked and in plenty of space in the middle of the D. Alas, one topped shot and one post later and the game ended 1-1. Many thanks to Lee and Chris for helping out and to our umpire. (JK)

Team: Lee (GK), Andy Bond, Mike Wright, Will Pendrill, Chris DeSouza, James Kingdom, Doug Heard, Ian Roberts, Nick, Neil, Ben "The General" Lones, Mark Annear, Oliver Blaydon, Mark Nash and T-Rex Richman

Women's 1s v Southgate 1s: lost 1-2

As it was the first league game, we meant to meet an hour and a half before the start time to be properly switched on and raring to go when the whistle went. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Half the team made it there on time....the other half (including coach, captain and vice captain) were stuck in various traffic jams, such to an extent that Kath and Martha abandoned their car at Harrods (£34.50) and opted for the Piccadilly line. Despite all this, we started rather well - keeping possession, passing round well and creating a few decent chances. Shame then that Southgate won a corner against the run of play - their shot deflected off Rach's foot/stick and shot into the opposite corner of the goal. Couldn't be helped. Still, only one goal down at half time, we came out fighting. But it wasn't long before Southgate buried another short corner with a good strike to put a bit more pressure on us. Not to be defeated, we set about levelling the score. First, some fantastic attacking play resulted in a penalty stroke, which Jenni stepped up to take. Despite some unbelievably poor sportsmanship from the oppo goalkeeper (who tried to put Jenni off by shouting which direction she was going to play it), Jen calmly slotted the ball past her (to the exact position where she said she would! haha). 2-1....we were back in it. But it wasn't to be our day. Martha and Faye both came close, and B (who started celebrating slightly too early) saw her wonderful shot bounce back off the post. Disappointing result but we shouldn't be too disheartened with our performance. (GB)

Team: Jo Malkin, Hannah Cooke, Kath Sowter, Jenni Martin, Alex Crawford, Nicky Prior, Faye Billing, Rachel Lander, Gemma Baker, Bettina Wolff, Lou Morgan & Martha Harvey-Jones.

Scorer & Motm: Jenni Martin

Next match: Saturday 1st October vs Basingstoke 1s - DC 12.30pm

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

We took a vote afterwards and decided we're never going to play like that again. Er, like what exactly? Well, letting two mediocre forwards saunter through our back four with more carefree abandon than a host of hippies celebrating the summer of love for starters. There may have been some good moments in this game but it's hard to remember any. This would not be the ideal groundhog day for most of us, although Shorty scooped player of the match again for keeping her brain engaged throughout, Oz put away an excellent goal, and Clare never failed to look for the one-twos that could have helped us out of the mire. It's not all gloom and doom though. The goal came because we made it happen with a rare patch of excellent team play. All their goals, on the other hand, came from our crappy mistakes. Success, when it comes, will be the sweeter for all this! (KS)

And the team was: George Sykes, Kate Selway, Kate Blumer, Lucy Muldoon, Lucy Partington, Lizzy Frost, Rosie Carter, Emma Kitley, Clare Byrne, Harriet Gallagher-Powell, Oriane Abbonizio, Claire Deverill.

Scorer: Oriane (Oz).

MOTM: Claire Deverill (Shorty)

Next match: Saturday 1st October vs. Oxted - 12.00 away

Women's 3s vs. Wanderers: lost 0-7

First game of the season jitters nothing that you wouldn't expect. The result was 7-0 to the wanderers but for a team that hasn't played together before some tweaking will be needed by Julie. This wasnt helped by the late arrivals and the major injury in the first half. In the secand half the ship was steadied by the team working together and using each other. By the end 10 minutes we were looking much better and even had the oppositions goalie looking a little worried. (SS)

Team: Dulcie, Anna barratt (injured, broken foot get well soon), Stacey Stellman, Kate Vicory, Beth Little, Jenna, Sophie, Lucy Gaskin (debut), Nens Corran, Zoey, Olivia, Julie Ferret.

Umpire: Wendy Tang

Women's 4s vs. Byfleet Ramblers: lost 0-6

Oh dear. We began the new season where we had finished the last - in hot sunny Woking, playing Byfleet Ramblers (bet they thought they had finished us off then - well ha! - we're back). Back in March we lost 9-1. Clearly Byfleet thought they would have an easy game ahead.... We put up a good fight with a team that had not played together before and ranged from Ellie making her debut in goal to Steph and Janine rejoining the fold after seasons off having children and Andrea and Kate helping out from the 5's. Unfortunately Byfleet had been practising (well they are their FIRST team for goodness sake) and their goal hanging technique worked for them again - but we managed to keep the goal difference to 6....so that is a good sign - we've improved on last season! Onwards.... (CW)

Team: Ellie Johnston, Nikki Smithies, Kate Silsbury, Steph Carrington, Rosie Le Voir, Andrea Beattie, Janine Nicholls, Emily Tearle, Andrea Vicari, Claire Whitehead, Kate Fuller/Wheeler.

MOTM: Rosie..for her stunning sprint down the right wing from left back.

Umpire: Steve Powell

Next match: Saturday 1st October vs Woking 2A - 12.30 @ JAGS. Supporters welcome.

Women's 5s vs. Thames Valley 2s: won 3-1

A triumphant start to the new season for T5: despite a few logistical problems we made it on time (just), played a blinder, and bagged the points to put us where we want to be for our 2005/6 campaign for World Domination, League Victory and the coveted THD Team of the Year trophy.The new players integrated well (Carmel and Helen already vying for top goal-scorer position, and Clare in the lead for Teacher's Pet for bringing half time treats), and the old guard showed them how its done. Admittedly the oppo weren't the best, and we might have our work cut out this week, but there was room for improvement. Go Team Go! (FB)

Team: Vix Streatfield, Sarah Smith, Penny Ganser, Frances Barber, Clare Montagu, Bridget Morley, Helen Fermor, Nicole Yost, Kath Oliver, Carmel Longley, Zoe Negus, Rachel Fallows.

Scorers: Carmel Longley, Sarah Smith, Helen Fermor

Next match: Saturday 1st October vs. Guildford 3s - 12.00 @ CPB

Women's 6s vs. Barnes Houslow Ealing: won 2-0

The 6s were on form this week, some great passing/team work - we need to keep this up. Centre midfield had a superb game. Best wishes to Kate for University hockey - don't forget us on your weekends back. Some slick substitutions by Hazel gave us a great goal from Pippa and a cheeky knock in from Vicky from a great pass across goal. What a fantastic start to the season. (VW)

Team: Alice Smith, Kate Straker, Jo Hillyer, Michelle Terry, Pippa Haworth, Kate Anderson, Maurissa Allan, Mae Lynne McDougall, Gigi Ho, Vicky Knight, Jess Beach, Victoria Wright.

MOTM: Kate Anderson.

Scorers: Victoria Wright, Pippa Haworth

Dragons vs. Sinners: lost 1-2

It was the culmination of a summer's preparation and training... the mixed league has become a 'proper' league and the Dragons are the hot favourite's to take the cup, win the league 3 years running and keep it forever. However, a harsh lesson was learnt this game and despite the heat and the effort - second place are just the first losers. No faulting the effort, commitment or endeavour... and like a dodgy Cliff Richard pseudo-Christian ballad, we'll be back on top by Christmas. There's plenty to build on here and like my old mate, the escalator constructor, used to say "you have to do it one step at a time...". (MJ)

Team: Jeremy Porter (GK), MJ, James Perrott, Rich Banwell, Nick Jacob, Lee Snowden, Simon Wilshire, Lucy Muldoon, Pippa Haworth, Claire Whitehead, Sandy Chadwick, Kath Sowter & Kate Vicary.

Scorer: Nick Jacob.

Umpire: Lucy Partington

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