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 07-Oct-05

Issue 02

Week 2 and results are already improving for THD. Ever so slightly you might say, but its early days and every little counts. The Women's 4s put their first points on the board for a while with a draw against Woking and their male counterparts and the irrepressible T5 followed suit. The Women's 1s returned to winning ways impressing the boys with a clinical demolition of Basingstoke as did the Dragons, but it's the Men's 5s who head the early season THD table with a second straight victory. The Men's 3s win was a little less satisfactory as their oppo abandoned pitch with 15 minutes to go. A win's a win though and hats off to Pipes who became very possessive over her helmet while warming up on the sideline. Worth a drink, boys, next weekend. Which reminds me, there's only a few days left to buy tickets for the biggest event this side of Christmas. It's the last chance to get tickets for the THD Club Awards dinner on 15th October - see your captains, Lucy Partington or JT for details. It's bound to be messy....

match reports by: Richard Banwell, James Terrett, Mark Jones, Graham Evans, Gemma Baker, Sarah Longair, Claire Whitehead, Frances Barber and Victoria Wright. Thanks to all.

Men's 1s vs. Barnes: lost 2-4

Men's 2s vs. Bromley and Beckenham 2As: lost 2-4

A tricky game against the development side of a newly merged hockey club was made worse by a very poor first half in which three goals were conceded, from a PS and two shorts corners respectively. Jez was unlucky with the stroke, getting a good chunk of glove on the ball as it found the top right of the net. But with Potty filling in at right back and other adjustments made, the team struggled to find any rhythm. The second half, however, was much better with Snowy and Howler being put through by good early passes after hard work in midfield gained possession. One great chance was missed by Howler when surely it was easier to score? In the end, everybody is to be congratulated for hanging in there and not giving up, particularly Young Jack and Young Chester (on debut) who demonstrated that they are very promising players. The next match is against the same club's full 2nd XI, who played immediately before our match. We will have to raise our game considerably if we are to achieve a result and to ensure that the progress made last season is not wasted. (RB)

Team: Jeremy Porter (gk), Mark Pulford, Robert Bennett, Matt Groom, Andy Potapa, Graeme Fotheringham, Carl Hagger, Young Jack, Young Chester, Lee Snowden, Peter Howland

Scorers: Carl Hagger, Young Jack

Next Match: Saturday 8 October vs. Bromley and Beckenham 2s - home

Men's 3s vs. Bromley & Beckenham 3s: won 2-1

A tough game with a most bizarre ending. We started very well, everybody working hard and breaking up their attacks and launching our own quickly and directly. I can't recall too much about the first goal, a clash of sticks, a push into the D from Nick Jacob and with a swish of his blonde locks, James Huntley put the ball in the net. The match continued with both teams trading chances although I fluffed the best one (World-Class save obviously). Just before the break we managed to put James through again, a quick flurry of blonde and the top right hand corner of the net was bulging, their keeper hadn't even moved. 2-0 up and we hadn't even got going. We traded chances after half-time with Justin Lawson saving brilliantly before B&B managed to pull one back. All was getting tense until 15 minutes from the end. The opposition keeper announced he had another match to play in and walked off the pitch taking his kit with him, leaving his team with no helmet. After 10 minutes of asking round they conceded. Slightly anticlimactic but then most of my Saturdays are anyway. Hangover of the week award goes to Foggy - It's a difficult skill being able to look 2 minutes from death for an entire match (and 2 hours afterwards) but he managed it comfortably. (JT)

Team: Justin Collins, Simon Wilshire, Thom Ruane, Rob Glavin, Afzaal, Wes Cole, Graeme Lyness, Alex McDonald, Paul Harvey, James Terrett, Mike Killen, David Fogden, Nick Jacob, James Huntley.

Scorers: James Huntley (2)

Umpire: Mark Pulford

Next match: Saturday 8th October vs. Bromley & Beckenham 3As - away

Tornados vs. Wimbledon 6s: drew 1-1

Even Gene Kelly couldn't have made as much of a song and dance out of the game than we did. The European Court of Human Rights would have put Wimbledon down and out of their misery. but for some reason we couldn't. Their goalkeeper must have been rushed straight from the game to both the Guinness Book of Records headquarters and top of the transplant list as the only parts of his body we didn't hit were one of his eyelashes and his left buttock. Outside of their D we bossed the game like a combination of Genghis Khan and Alan Sugar. Only a rare momentary lapse in the middle allowed Lee Tearle to slip on his gypsy robes to prophesize their resulting goal seconds before it happened. The Tornados are 90% of the way onto being a league winning team. but without goals we may just as well enter the spaghetti sword fighting championships! (MJ)

Team: Lee Tearle (GK), MJ, Nick Thomson, Rolly Ferneaux, Robby Layton (MOTM), Rich Fenton, Dougal Davis, James Perrott, Nick Jones, Dan Hopkins, Loz Mockery & Geoff Pritchard.

Scorer: Geoff Pritchard.

Umpire: Si Newell.

Coaches: Si Riley & Chris Richman.

Diamonds vs. Reading Rascals: won 3-2

So the short-corner routines mentioned in last week's report still need a little fine-tuning, but this was still a performance among the best in recent Diamonds' history. Facing a youthful and skilful Reading team - the only outfit to beat us home & away last year - THD refused to buckle after twice conceding the lead, showing that last week's extra training and the addition of new faces may just pay off this season. With injured captain Billy Dowie pacing the touchline, new recruit Tim Harris notched up his debut goal to give the Diamonds the lead from close range before Reading showed how a short-corner should be executed. Helped by the non-stop efforts of Gus Barnard and Nick Hart on the right flank, the Diamonds upped their game and it was man-of-the-match Oliver Walton who broke the deadlock with a flick from an impossible angle to make it 2-1. Back came Reading, but Simon Canter finished coolly to make it 3-2. We were 3-2 up against this lot at home last season, and they sneaked a 4-3 win - there was no chance of that this time, with almost all the last 15 minutes being played in the Reading half. It was an enthralling game, with THD playing some attractive hockey; particularly pleasing was how we regularly broke down the opposition play high up the field, before they managed to get the ball to their most gifted young stick players in the attack. (GE)

Team: Paul Reid, Graeme Evans, Richard Batty, Tom Chicken, Rob Thomas, Gus Barnard, Rob Giret, Warren Holme, Simon Canter, Nick Hart, Tim Harris, Dominic Peyton, Oliver Walton (MOTM)

Scorers: Tim, Ollie, Simon

Umpires: Si Wilshire and Nick Harris

Next match: Saturday 8 October vs. Beckenham and Bromley Weazels - 14.00 away

Royals - No game

Women's 1s vs Basingstoke 1s: won 4-0

All memories of last week's result were firmly put to one side as the 1s sought to make amends and get their first green square on fixtures live! And make amends we did, despite some seriously iffy umpiring...the backs oozed confidence, the midfield worked hard and the forwards got in some great scoring opportunities....and with a squad of 13 (unheard of last season) we could make sure the oppo were always on the back foot. We also welcomed back Charley and EJ to the fold....and it was Charley who opened the scoring after 19 minutes with a savagely deflected penalty corner at the far post. Rachel made it 2-0 minutes later from another PC, this time on the near post and after narrowly missing a few other chances we carried this advantage into half time. Basingstoke put in the effort to reduce the deficit in the second half, but this left plenty of space for us to push forward - Faye saw her shot blocked on the line and Lou got herself into some great positions to score. Charley made it 3-0, putting in the rebound from Martha's shot and after some battling in the D, Faye found EJ who slotted the ball home from a narrow angle to make it 4 with only a couple of minutes to go. (GB)

Team: Pipes, Clare Byrne, Kath Sowter, Alex Crawford, Nicky Prior, Faye Billing (MOTM), Rachel Lander, Gemma Baker, Charley Williams, Martha Harvey-Jones, Lou Morgan, Bettina Wolff & EJ Barry.

Scorers: Charley (2), Rachel & EJ

Next Match: Saturday 8 October vs. Hampstead & Westminster 1 - 13.30 @ Paddington Rec.

Women's 2s vs. Oxted 1s: lost 0-4

Stern words at training and on email from the captain set the 2s quaking in their boots in preparation for this encounter. Several times it was reiterated that we had been 'crap', 'rubbish' and 'shocking' the week before, and we were duly grateful for reminders that passing to the opposition is, in general, a fairly poor tactic. With half the Oxted team imported from South Africa, the sun beating down on us and 3 inches or so of sand underfoot, we might as well have been on a beach in Durban. These obstacles were overcome initially by the new dynamic team warm up, setting the tone for, what was, all in all, a vast improvement. Ok, so we still passed to the opposition occasionally, but in between times there were some quite startling passages of play, indeed several passes linking together using Shorty and Alex as crucial pivots in the centre, forwards running tirelessly. Oz took on the might of the stocky springbok at the back, exchanging a few blows to assert herself. We won several short corners and were unlucky not to score - personal blame to the author of this rambling account for missing the best chance we had. So, the scoreline. Hum, well, it was not as reflective of our play as last week's alledged fiasco. Oxted seized opportunities well and were pretty lethal on the break, surrounding our defence with tons of players and finishing with the ball in the goal, which we are still struggling to do regularly. Kate B saved our collective asses several times with blinding tackles. We came away encouraged that this could be the beginning of something very special. But we're not quite there yet. Being bottom of the table and then winning the league has a certain cachet I believe. (SL)

Team: George Sykes, Shorty Deverill, Kate Selway, Kate Blumer (MOTM), Lucy Muldoon, Lizzy Frost, Liz Young, Alex Hardy, Sarah Longair, Emma Kitley, Harriet Gallagher Powell, Rosie Carter, Oriane Abbonizio

Scorers: them, a few times

Next match: Saturday 8th October vs. London Edwardians 1s - 11:00 @ DC

Womens 3s - No game

Women's 4s vs. Woking 2As: drew 0-0

After the previous week this match was a joy. We had 14 players, it was at a reasonable time, at home.....and we didn't lose!! Hopefully the tide is turning and the 4's are going to start winning. Everyone played really well and I think we only failed to score because we were so surprised that we had opportunities to do so. Next week we'll try and sort that out. (CW)

Team: Jess Sillman, Nikki Smithies (MOTM: for her tireless defending), Anna Stuttard, Rona Francis, Helen Clarke, Kate Silsbury, Janine Nicholls, Lynne Ruddick, Emily Tearle, Isabel Drewe, Andrea Vicari, Claire Whitehead, Marie Smith, Emma Billsdon.

Umpire: Steve Powell

Next Match: Saturday 8 October vs. University of Surrey 1s - away

Women's 5s vs. Guildford 3s: drew 1-1

T5 trotted out onto the pitch on Saturday fairly determined to keep up their almost legendary reputation of near-triumph and close-to-victory. Unfortunately, nearly isn't enough, and we only managed a draw. Never mind, it was a very good match against a strong opposition,and we did well to stop them winning. T5 were the closest to scoring all through the first half, and in the 32nd minute Zoe revealed her sadistic streak by battering an opposition defender who was curled up in the goalmouth in the foetal position. Luckily, that's no way to keep out goals, and T5 were duly awarded a P-flick. After some altercation, ("I'm not doing it", "Neither am I"), Penny stepped up with the insouciance of a killer whale approaching an Aussie surfer on a lilo. Let's just say the goalie was deflated.The oppo managed to get one back in the second half. It was a fine goal, otherwise there's no way it would have got past SuperVix. Onwards to Victory T5! (FB)

Team: Vix Streatfield, Sarah Smith, Frances Barber, Zoe Negus, Rachel Fallows, Clare Montagu, Bridget Morley (WOTM), Penny Ganser, Nicole Yost, Andrea Beattie, Carme Longleyl, Helen Fermor, Jean Sutton, Martina van der Leij

Scorer: Penny Ganser

Umpires: Wendy Tang, Ian Wright

Next match: Saturday 8th October vs. Richmond 4s - away @ 10.00

Women's 6s v Bank of England 2s: lost 1-5

Gutted! What a disappointing day. Especially as we started off well with Lucy (debut) Gilchrist scoring the first goal, but then we rested on our backsides and the Bank of England stepped up their game. Alice made some great saves - otherwise it could have been a lot worse! A different squad this week which although battled hard seemed to fall apart. For Maurissa the goal was just not big enough - hitting the post so many times. Michelle Terry's face when she thought she had saved the ball from going into the goal and then it was awarded to B of E was stunned only to realise she was actually in the goal and that the ball had crossed the line by about six inches! Priceless. Mae and Gigi worked so hard running up and down the pitch but our team passing and marking from last week was nowhere to be seen. Vicky W for her part was obviously thinking about what she should pack in her suitcase for holiday rather than concentrating on playing hockey. We need to battle hard at Kenley next week. See you in two weeks ladies! (VW)

Team: Alice Smith, Kate Straker, Jo Hillyear, Michell Terry, Gigi Ho (MOTM), Emma Gilchrist, Maurissa Allan, Mae Lynne McDougall, Katie Stone, Isla McGregor, Victoria Wright, Lucy Gilchrist.

Scorer: Lucy Gilchrist

Umpires: Ian Wright, Hazel Dawson

Next match: Saturday 8 October vs. Kenley - 11.45 away

Dragons vs UCL: won 6-2

The Dragons swiftly dispatched a team of students that couldn't count. "um, is two women enough?". NO! Mind you nor was two goals! A team performance that was part Ming the Merciless, part Harlem Globetrotters and part Spongebob Squarepants. It was always going to be one-sided. like playing 'Yahtzee' against a bloke with only one dice! The ball pinged around like a really, really, really big game of pinball. where the pins move and stuff. Each goal was like watching paint dry on a really attractive naked person. it took ages but was thoroughly enjoyable! Despite letting them score an early goal the Dragons ran out easy winners .as my old mate the dog walker used to say. "It's not about getting the lead, it's about holding on to it!"

Team: Jeremy Porter (GK), MJ, Nick Jacob, Lee Snowden, Chris Richman, Will Morgan, Si Wilshire, Lou Morgan, Lucy Muldoon, EJ Barry, Vicky Wright, Charley Williams.

Scorers: Lee Snowden (2), Nick Jacob, Will Morgan, Lou Morgan, EJ.

Umpires: Bettina Wolff, Lucy Partington, Kath Sowter.

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