General News
News > Newsletter 2005/06
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.
Mon 21-Nov-05Issue 08
Another week when THD suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous sport. Fevers were high in the clubhouse on Saturday afternoon when an early yelp of excitement revealed an Argentinian in our mix. It didn't finish well for him but no well-bred Englishwoman would revel in the premature celebration of others (c.f. the midweek mullahing in Multan). Andreas after all has played his part, as coach and player, in the recent revival of the Men's 1s fortunes. A second heavy win in succession, buoyed perhaps by the return of the elder Nurse (that's William, not Gordon, before you faint), sees them poised to take on the top half of the league. Their form must be catching as the Women's 1s broke their recent duck to win twice on the weekend and ensure that at least some champagne hasn't stayed on ice too long (Holty - if you're out there, it's long overdue).
In other matches, the Men's 5s continued their blistering start to the season and thanks to Irfan Begg's recent goal-fest stay at the head of the team of the year title race. The Dragons though are living the dream that is mixed hockey, and are not far behind. Hats off to Jonesey who after a birthday night in the Swan still managed to lead them to a spectacular come-back on Sunday - particularly satisfying if you've ever met the opposition. And speaking of the spectacular, it's good to see that the Women's 6s are maintaining their tradition of the dramatic score-line. They may have lost last week, but expect to see them score a lot of goals and soon.
This weekend, it's time for victories for the self-confessed winners that are T5 and the Men's 3s. And the Women's 2s are going for their fifth consecutive match undefeated - all support welcomed at the College at 11. If truth be told, there was an element of disappointment in last weekend's draw that they're keen to erase. Thank god then for the indefatigable Muldoon whose 'victory' jig last Saturday amused her clubmates and bemused the opposition in turn, and of course for Longair whose verbal sails are still to be deflated. The vocabulary challenge is personal.
reports by: Chris Smith, Nick Jacob, Mark Jones, Graeme Evans, Gemma Baker, Kath Sowter, Sarah Longair, Stacey Sellman, Penny Ganser and Vicky Wright.
Men's 1s vs. PHC Chiswick: Won 6-3
Never forget where you've come here from
Gary Barlow could have been writing about THD 1s, a Jeckell and Hyde season that has turned substantially for the better with some great hockey and now 3 wins on the trot! But we are not invincible and we are only people.
Earlier in the season we would have struggled against such a poor team and lowered our standards. But what a difference a bit of running, confidence and team spirit makes. By far the superior team THD raced into a one nil lead (James Ireson - 1 yard) which subsequently should have become 5 but for some wayward shooting. Then disaster, a free hit from outside the TH&D circle, struck firmly into a sea of red which deflected off a red and into the goal with not a blue Chiswick in sight. No celebrations, everyone is ready for a corner.but NO the umpire in orange with a hint of blue, signals goal. Disbelief everywhere. So THD press again and force 2 more goals from the irrepressible youngster James Ireson. Presence is everything, and Jimmy owns 1 yard from goal. First half hatrick. What a man, such a nice guy, and the ladies love those tanned shiny legs reminiscent of Lineker. 3-1, half time.
Half time chat went well. But didn't start well: stolen stick, don't cry for me Argentina , stick found. 3 minutes in Chiswick has their second shot of the game: 3-2. THD are stunned. Response? We spend the next 30 minutes in Chiswick half. Result is 3 fine goals - Jimmy Lineker from a yard. Andres Labourt finishing from a yard, no celebration, was this a sign for Argentinean sport, later in the day? Ol' faithful Andy Balchin crashing home an honest effort from a short corner. 6-2 and cruising, Chiswick very lucky to have 2, then in the last seconds of the game, Chiswick force their first short corner of the game, panic in the defensive ranks, what do we do? How do we defend short corners? Final whistle sounds and inevitably Chiswick score the consolation past a despairing Scotsman.
Undeserved, but do we care? NO, 3 wins in a row, good team performance, bring on the battle for South London and those ancient rivals Blackheath! As they say in Ancient Greece (Spartans to the Persians), our message to the rest of the league, 'monon lave' (come and get it!) (CS)
Team: Christopher Roberts, Gareth Weir, Tim Howarth (Capt), Dave Hancock, Chris Smith , Rob Bennett, Andy Balchin, Andres Labourt, Sam Hiley, Dave Casement, Jon Drury, James Ireson., Will Nurse.
Scorers: J Ireson (4), A Balchin, A Labourt
Man of Match: James 'Lineker' Ireson.
Men's 2s - No game
Next match: Saturday 19 November vs. London Wayfarers - 12.30 @ Dulwich College
Men's 3s vs. Old Loughtonians 3s: Lost 1-2
On a brisk Saturday afternoon we stepped out at the Fortress without the leadership of our notable captain in an attempt to put the misery of the weekend before behind us and get back on track in the fight for promotion! Unfortunately we carried on in the same vein. Looking rather harassed we seemed to have trouble moving the ball around and our usual energy and spirit seemed to be left on the sidelines. Half-time saw us 2-1 down, (goal sensation Bino having actually put us ahead with a goal that probably won't be remembered!). In the second half we showed an element of desire to win the game but were unable to capitalise on the chances we had. Jeremy stood out having a great game in between the sticks and it was good to see Foggy back from injury. Let's make sure we make up for the last couple of weeks against Wayfarers! (NJ)
MOTM: Jeremy Porter.
Scorers: Bino (James, surely?)
Umpires: Billy Dowie, Warren Holme.
Next match: Saturday 19 November vs. Wayfarers 3s (away)
THD Tornados vs. Old Loughts Forresters: Lost 0-1
Time for a change. New broom sweeps clean. Last chance saloon. Remember the Alamo. Etc. etc. etc. Its time to be like accountants and start making things count. Like Take That on their tour bus we need to pull together. If there's no win for the Tornados this week then, as my old mate the casino croupier used to say "It's time to shuffle the pack." (MJ)
Team: Lee Tearle (GK), MJ, Nick Thomson, Tom Alexander, Rolly Ferneaux, Robby Layton, Si Wilshire, Dougal Davis, Nick Harris, James Perrott, Nick Jones, Rich Fenton, Loz Mockery & Geoff Pritchard.
Umpire: Si Newell
Coach: Si Riley
Next match: Saturday 19 November vs. London Wayfarers 4s - 11.00 @ JAGS
THD Diamonds vs. Old Loughts Gunners: Won 5-0
In the end it was a rout, but for an age the Junior Gooners of Old Loughts - average height three foot - more than held their own against the 30-somethings of THD. Even though a colour clash deprived them of their favoured replica kit, the kids and a smattering of old hands showed more backbone than is currently the norm from a team in red and white. That is until mid-way through the second half when some short-corner savagery from Irfan Begg sorted the men out from the boys. By the time three exocets had crashed into the backboard a fearful Old Loughts defence was offering the unusual concept of uncontested short-corners. Somewhere in the middle of Irfan's latest goal-fest - now eight in three games - Warrren Holme volleyed home from a ridiculous angle and Simon Canter finished off another sweeping move down the right. Thanks to Chris Coleman and Nick Jacob for umpiring. (GE)
Team: Paul Reid, Rob Thomas, Will Morgan, Stuart Craig, Warren Holme, Simon Canter, Irfan Begg, Paul Burrows, Rob Giret, Graeme Evans, Peter Berman, Gus Barnard.
Scorers: Irfan (3), Warren, Simon
Umpires: Chris Coleman, Nick Jacob.
Next match: Saturday 19 November vs. London Wayfarers - away.
THD Royals vs. Old Loughts Academy: Lost 1-3
Next match: Saturday 19 November vs. Reading Royals - home
Women's 1s vs. Sunbury: won 3-1
I'm not sure whether it was the lack of success of previous weeks or the fact that the men's elite were watching from the wings, but this match of must-win importance between two mid/bottom-table teams ensured that the team pulled it together with sparkling efficiency. That's not to say we made it easy for ourselves....and with the wintery sun low in the sky in the first half, our ability to see the goal we were aiming for, let alone put the ball in the back of it, hampered our advances. Sunbury were as direct as last season, taking the 'route one' appraoch and moving the ball on quickly so that we were often caught on the break. One such break resulted in a spectacularly iffy penalty stroke awarded for a stick tackle on the edge of the circle, which Sunbury "converted". It could be said that Will was not 100% happy with our performance so far and had a few choice words to say while the stroke was taken...so much so that we failed to realise that the goal had been disallowed due to the Sunbury flick-taker not realising that feet have to start behind the ball, not in front of it. Perhaps we need this kind of shock to the system to make us start playing properly, but it worked, and only a few minutes later a goal mouth scramble resulted in Martha slotting the ball into the back of the net. Nerves settled, half time arrived and a slightly less red-faced Will meandered over to do the team talk.
The second half picked up where we left off, there was some great switching of play, and the forwards and midfield all worked tirelessly to win corners to get the all-important second goal. And we didn't have long to wait....eight minutes into the half Charley converted to put us ahead, and 4 minutes later Lou 'poacher' Morgan made sure that Martha's shot was going in (debate ensued long into the night, over bottles of champagne, as to whether it would have gone in or not) and we were looking comfortable for the win. Sunbury still threw everything forward and had chances to pull goals back, but we remained strong at the back. Sunbury did, however, get a consolation goal from a PC with about 10 minutes to go, but for once though, lady luck was with us. (GB)
Team: Jo Malkin, Clare Byrne (motm), Kath Sowter, Alex Crawford, Hannah Cooke, Faye Billing, Gemma Baker, Charley Williams, EJ Barry, Lou Morgan, Bettina Wolff, Martha Harvey-Jones
Scorers: Martha, Charley & Lou
Next League Game: Sat 19th November v Barnes, Hounslow & Ealing (anyone else?!) - 3pm Dukes Meadow
HA Trophy Round - Women's 1s vs. Spencer: Won 3-0
Champagne and ice cubes... Thankfully the latter were not used to dilute the former, but both played an integral part in our preparation for Sunday's Trophy game. The warm up began the evening before in the EDT and was a relatively civilised affair before Will made a guest appearance, setting up a premature warm up drill involving an ice cube relay. Fun for some (Mr Nurse was flanked by two of the teams' beautiful ones - Martha & Faye) but not perhaps for others?! An evening of team bonding ended 10 bottles of champagne later to mobile phones being dropped down the loo and cries of "burn the witch". EJ retired early to make delicious match teas and Lou just batted on through... The hockey? A 3-0 victory with some great goals by Lou, Alex and Emma's superb one on one with the keeper. B dropped back into defence for the last 15 minutes, showed us a thing or two about distribution and thoroughly deserved player of the match. No doubt most of us rounded off a weekend full of sport and alcohol with a lazy night on the sofa. Not our Charley, who did what she does best....went to the pub and chatted to boys about cricket. If that's what gets you flowers.... (KS)
Team: Jo Malkin, Clare Byrne, Kath Sowter, Alex Crawford, Nicky Prior, Faye Billing, Gemma Baker, Charley Williams, EJ Barry, Oz, Martha Harvey-Jones, Bettina Wolff, Lou Morgan, Emma Kitley.
Scorers: Lou Morgan, Alex Crawford, Emma Kitley.
Umpires: Marilyn and Ferrett
Women's 2s vs. Purley Walcountians: Drew 2-2
Saturday 12 November - a day that shall be remembered for English sporting heroics, as far flung as Multan, Twickenham and Geneva. Shame no one invited us to join the party. Thwack, bang, wallop. That was the return to earth of the 2s after 3 weeks of heady victorious euphoria. Well, all good things come to an end, so proverbised a wise man once, and to quote many a televised post-match interview, 'at the end of the day, it was a game of two halves'.
First half - recent form rekindled, beautiful penalty corner strike from Oz and a less polished, but no less important, opportunistic jab from Rosie leaving us 2-0 up at half time. Defence had nowt to do and world domination seemed not just within our grasp, but highly likely.
'Aaaaaah' was the sound of our collective utterance as we nestled comfortably into the bed of laurels that lay before us. Bang, bang, two goals from them in quick succession early in the half and quel horreur, the scores were level. Despite a few surges from the back from the Kates B and S, and surrounding their D for last 10 minutes, it was not to be. POTM results are somewhere on the floor of a dirty nightclub thanks to foolhardy author drowning her sorrows, but I think it was Kate B/Lucy M deservedly sharing. The captain has e-rallied the team for resurgence against London uni upstarts this weekend. On the plus side, amidst this lustrelacking result, we've maintained 4th position thanks to the incompetence of our mid-table rivals. Phew. (SL)
Team: George Sykes, Kate Blumer, Kate Selway, Lucy Muldoon, Alex Hardy, Sarah Longair, Oriane Abbonizio, Liz Young, Emma Kitley, Rosie Carter, Sabrina Tunnicliffe, Lizzie Frost, Harriet Gallagher-Powell.
Scorers: Oz, Rosie
Umpires: Jo Malkin and Kath Sowter
Next match: Saturday 19 November vs. London University - 11.00 @ Dulwich College
Women's 3s vs. Old Georgians (home): Won 2-1
A solid start right from the off which is what we needed. The passing was superb - some really good moves were put together which included a lovely piece of skill in the middle of the park from Penny and a beautiful cross for Mo to put away. About ten minutes later Penny was rewarded for her hard work and scorching runs with a goal of her own. Half time came and went and the opposition came out all guns blazing. It looked like we were going to ride out the storm but it wasn't to be and after a little confusion it was 2-1. But all went well and we got to the end of the game without any other mishaps. in conclusion the team is beginning to gel really well and this is shown with the way the game flows now. But it's still a hard game next week and no-one can get too cocky - everyone still needs to work for each other. (SS)
Team: Dulcie, Penny Stephens, Anna Stuttard, Stacey Sellman, Lou Curry, Lucy Gaskin, Mo O'Brien, Julie Lapsley, Claire Whitehead, Roz Hornsby, Erica Goldsmith, Emma Mateblavu, Beth Little.
Scorers: Penny Stephens, Mo O'Brien
Umpires: Banners and Aido
Next match: Saturday 19 November vs. Epsom @ Epsom College.
Women's 4s: No game
Next match: Saturday 19 November vs. Barnes 3s - 12.30 away
T5 vs. Reigate: Lost 1-2
Team: Vix Streatfeild, Jean Sutton, Martina Vanderleij, Bridget Morley, Helen Fermor, Kathryn Oliver, Racheal Fallows, Zoe Negus, Kate Wheeler, Penny Ganser, Andrea Beattie, Faith Geraghty, Clare Montague.
Scorer: Penny Ganser
Next match: Saturday 19th November vs. Addiscombe - away
Women's 6s vs. Old Georgians 2s: Lost 0-8
Well this week we actually played a game of hockey. Although we lost 8-0 (we are improving) there was 100% effort this week from everyone on the pitch. The first 15 minutes were strong with some good accurate passing and team work. We tried everything - even a new set piece for 16 yd hits, which completely foxed them - it just needed to be a bit quicker as it then proved very dangerous! We started to panic a bit after the first goal went in, but with some good encouragement from all the team we settled back down. Alice used every part of her to save the goals - the bouncing off the head was to me the funniest along with landing on the ball in a fit of giggles and not being able to move certainly lifted everyone's spirit and we battled on. Defence and midfield worked very hard and tried their best to get the ball up to the forwards, we did get a couple of breaks, but it just was not to be. When everyone came off the pitch you would not have thought we had lost. In true team spirit we went back to Old Georgians' Club House for tea and stayed there instead of coming back to THD - I hope you didn't miss us too much. (VW)
Team: Jess Beach, Alice Smith, Katie Stone, Fatima D'Onofrio, Gigi Ho, Jo Hillyer, Michelle Morgan, Isla McGregor, Emma Gilchrist, Shona Welch, Pippa Haworth, Victoria Wright.
MOTM: Fatima D'Onofrio
Umpire: Ian Wright
Next Match: Saturday 19 November vs. Croydon MO 3s - 10.30 away @ Tamworth Manor School
THD Dragons vs. Real Battersea: Won 3-2
Only a heretical top of the table team could have thought that a 2-0 lead would have a win against the Dragons in the bag. But like some kind of irritating and tenacious phoenix we came back at the death and they got burnt. In a team made up of more legends than a bible warehouse the result was never in question. Real Battersea tried to rain on our parade but we made like Noah and weathered the storm. They tried to crucify us but we came back from the dead. They even tried to tempt us away from our style of play but we stubbornly resisted. Like my old mate Jesus used to say "I only need you to believe and anything is possible." (MJ)
Team: George Sykes (GK), MJ, Gaz Weir, Aidan Brock, Ratty, Si Wilshire, Lucy Muldoon, Sandy Chadwick, Lou Curry, Sarah Longair, Hannah Cooke & Michelle Morgan.
Scorers: Michelle Morgan, Sandy Chadwick & Ratty
Umpires: Chris Richman & Tim Howarth
Next matches: Sunday 27 November vs. OMW (tbc) - 13.00 @ Dulwich College; Sunday 11 December vs. Spencer - 12.30 @ Battersea Park |
