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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 13-Feb-06Issue 17
And so it came to pass, that February dawned and the world was brighter for having THD in it. And brighter for THD. The soothsayers leant back in contentment as the Women's 4s won again (and consecutively to note) and inspired the Women's 3s to climb similarly giddy heights. The Tornados, Diamonds and the Dragons resumed their winning ways, more predictably perhaps, but equally satisfying. To keep the pattern rich, we saw a smattering of tantalising losses as well, but none to dwell on. Individually too there were some fine moments, not least the Grinch rising to the challenge of writing a happy match report. Pully showed the Oxford boys that hitting the ball hard, straight, low and the right way round remains a highly effective technique, and on the other side of the hockey coin, there was some evidence at last of the modern game in the Women's 1s. Relying on the stand your ground and force them over the shoulder tackle myself (apologies to the boy from Battersea that I floored on Sunday), I've no idea what you call it, but Martha's side of the stick reverse angle stinging shot at goal was a thing of astonishment. It's not all in the training.
Don't forget to get your End of Season Dinner (18-Mar-06) tickets. Click here for more information and to download a ticket request form.
reports by: Richard Banwell, Aidan Brock, Mark Jones, Billy Dowie, Chris Richman, Gemma Baker, Karen Dodds, Claire Whitehead, Penny Ganser and Victoria Wright.
Mens 1's v Fareham: Lost 2-3
In the end this was a highly competitive game which began with one or two inadvertent passes by THD which unfortunately contributed to our opponents taking a 2 goal lead within the first 10. Surprisingly Nurse (playing centre back in an altered line up) let one or two go astray, but it is easy to be distracted when the evening's entertainment is a private showing of 'Brokeback Mountain' with Sol Campbell and a tub of "Ben and Jerry's".
Fareham relied heavily on long range aerial passes to their (admittedly) rapid forwards, which meant that a lot of hard running was done in defence deep inside our half. Although the aerials for the most part resulted in possession/free hits for us, the depth of the passes meant that turning such possession into attack proved difficult.
The first 10 aside, however, we established ourselves very strongly in the game, assisted throughout by some classy carrying of the ball by Labourt and Balchin (the former struggling with a heavy cold, the later struggling with being Scottish) and deserved the fact that the final two thirds of this game was ours 2-1. Nurse displayed good rhythm and pace at penalty corners, (tea)bagging one for himself and providing Weir with a well taken deflection just outside the right hand post. Fareham's 'keeper produced some very good saves to deny further goals at penalty corners; one low to his right with the stick was simply outstanding. Jacobs, on League debut, excelled at what he does best - running the ball at pace at defenders.
It was a fast, enjoyable game with high skill levels throughout and there are a great many good things to say about this game from THD's point of view. There can be no doubting the commitment shown as everyone put in some very hard work. The writer considers that this team is about to find that extra gear and confidence which will enable it to finish strongly in this league starting at Staines next week where a tough match is guaranteed. But from whatever perspective the result is everything and sometimes it has to be achieved by any means possible. Who wants a piece? (RB)
Team: Chris Roberts (gk), Tim Howarth (c), Tom Hughes, Gareth Weir, Will Nurse, Andres Labourt, Andy Balchin, RichardBanwell, Jon Drury, Laurent Ferron, Dave Casement, Nick Jacob.
Scorers: Gaz Weir, Will Nurse.
MOTM: Hughes (Top bloke - nothing bad to say about him, even if he is a Pimp). TFC: Banwell (Boxter vote - again)
Next Match: Saturday 11 February vs. Staines - away
Men's 2 s vs. Oxford University 2s : Drew 3 -3
The two teams could not have been more contrasting, THD's rugged unshaven men against Oxford's ne'er had to shave young pups. Nevertheless we oldies still have lead in our pencils, especially the senior citizens of the team it seems (this week we were celebrating Ed's impending fatherhood!).
So after absorbing the early onslaught we settled into a pattern of intelligent passing hockey, Garth breaking through their half court press to feed Snowy who duly slotted it under the keeper. Oxford came back into it later in the half and capitalised on an unfortunate slip from one of our defenders to score the equaliser - personally I was still reeling from the revelation that they had set plays (what's one of those?) that were named 'Stacey', 'Fiona' and suchlike (it is very hard to hear when you are on your back crying with laughter so apologies if the girlfriends' names are slightly wrong).
The match swung to and fro after half time, but experience came to the fore once more as Pully slotted two penalty corners using the unfashionable method of just hitting the ball straight and hard, which their young keeper was obviously not accustomed to (it's all flicks these days - come back grass all is forgiven). In between those two strikes Oxford equalised and the match eventually ended in a draw, which was a fair result overall. Still 7th in the table, but 1 loss in the last 9 games speaks for itself, onwards and upwards.... (AB)
Scorers: Snowy, Pully (2)
Next match: Saturday 11 February vs. Richmond 2s - 15.00 away
Men's 3s: No game
Next match: Saturday 11 February vs. Southgate - 12.30 @ Dulwich College
THD Tornados vs Teddington Saplings: Won 4-2
As my old mate Ronan Keating used to say "Life is a rollercoaster", this is true, however, Yazz put it more correctly when she said "The only way is up...", but the most accurate was Del La Soul 'cos "3 is the magic number". The league leaders toppled and the Tornados climb to 3rd in the table... as Adam Ant used to say "There is always room at the top, don't let them tell you there is not!"... if you want to bet on a sure thing... we can "Stand & Deliver" next week too! (MJ)
Team: Lee Tearle (GK), MJ, Nick Thomson, Rolly Ferneaux, Simon Wilshire, Tom Alexander, James Perrott, Nick Harris, Dougal Davis, Geoff Pritchard, Rich Fenton, Loz Mockery & Irfan Begg.
Scorers: Tom Alexander (2), Loz Mockery & Geoff Pritchard
Man of the Match: Nick Harris
Umpire: Simon Riley
Next match: Saturday 11 February vs. Richmond Stags - away
THD Diamonds vs. PHC Chiswick: Won 2-0
Even with a contacts book going back years - maybe decades - captain Billy Dowie hit the phones more in hope than expectation. He'd been given 45 minutes to replace our 11th man (whereabouts unknown), and found somewhat surprisingly that a freezing cold afternoon in the shadow of Wormwood Scrubs was no place to be when the rugby was on. So with some old acquaintances renewed, Billy shuffled his pack of ten and hoped that a hamstrung Richard Batty would make it in time after gallantly answering the SOS. In no time the Bat-mobile was parked up pitchside as Richard set about swinging the game back in the Diamonds' favour after a rocky opening few minutes which saw Chiswick building patiently, taking advantage of the extra man.
The result was never in doubt after Paul Burrows scored a fine first-half opener and, although a succession of short-corners came and went, Warren Holme eventually beat the keeper with a strike that fizzed through the sand dunes and onto the backboard. The guys have been asked not to shake the sand out of their boots, so the DC pitch should be in for a rejuvenating treat at the weekend. (BD)
Team: Paul Reid, Billy Dowie, Richard Batty, Stuart Craig, Rob Thomas, Graeme Evans, Warren Holme, Oliver Walton, Dominic Peyton, Tim Harris, Paul Burrows
Scorers: Paul & Warren
Next Match: Saturday 11 February vs. Richmond Lions - 13.30 @ Dulwich College
THD Royals vs. Old Loughtonians Loppers: Won 3-2
I can't do it. I really can't. For the first time in how ever many weeks I get the opportunity to write a "We Won!!!" match report and I don't know where to start. How rubbish is that? It's kind of like the kid at Christmas who spends months saying he wants the latest robotic dog and then spends the whole time not knowing what to do with it and then plays with the box.
Ok so I'll try and talk about the game. We won, we won, we won la la la. We had a two goal lead and they dragged it back but we still won. One of my players had a stick throwing tantrum and we still won. We didn't have a short corner and we still won and that's about all the news that's fit to print to be honest. It was a very hard fought win and I would imagine Old Loughts went back to Essex feeling slightly aggrieved by the result, but hey tough. We won, you lost, get over it! (CR)
Team: Jeremy Porter, Kim Keats, Keith Howick, Mike McKinnon, Andy Bond, Alex McDonald, Mark Annear, Tom Ruane, James Kingdom, Doug Heard, Chris DeSouza, Mehraab Nazir and Chris Richman.
Scorers: Chris Richman, Kim Keats, Tom Ruane
Next match: Saturday 11 February vs. Richmond Redoutables - away
Women's 1s vs. Southgate: Lost 1-2
With a few regular members unavailable through injury/illness/holiday/family functions etc, it was just as well that the 2s didn't have a game, or we'd have faced Southgate with a squad of 8. Sarah Longair, Penny, Oz and Hannah all stepped in to help us out, Charley made up the back four at LB and Lou dropped in to midfield.
So, despite a bit of a mish mash of people, most playing where they usually did and some not, we started fairly well. Well - we didn't concede, which happened when we went to Southgate last year. In fact it was the opposite. Southgate put us under a lot of pressure to start with and worked their press well. They were quick to the ball and intent on getting to goal as quickly and directly as possible. But despite a few scares, we hung on and it was Martha who (almost) opened the scoring, with a great strike that Oz touched in from inches out (just making sure!). But a goal's a goal and we were looking good. 1-0 up.
And so it carried on for quite a while, until a minor mishap at the back was capitalised on by the Southgate forward who unleashed a vicious shot from tho top of the D that flew past Pipes and nearly punched a hole in the backboard. 1-1 at half time - a fair reflection of the game as it had been a good end-to-end battle hampered only by some dubious umpiring at one end which, while never biased, at times left all 22 people on the pitch wondering which rules we were actually playing.
The second half carried on where we left off, but Southgate took the lead early on with a well worked overlap that left holes in our defense. Still we persevered though, winning short corner after short corner only to be denied - Charley almost drew us level on a couple of occasions, Martha was given acres of space to shoot but it just wasn't happening.
At times we looked good, but unfortunately it was basic errors that let us down. Lots to work on, but plenty of positives to take with us too. (GB)
Team: Pipes, Alex Crawford, Kath Sowter, Hannah Cooke, Charley Williams, Faye Billing, Gemma Baker, Lou Morgan (motm), Penny Stephens, Oriane Abbonizio, Martha Harvey-Jones and Sarah Longair.
Scorer: Oz
Next matches: Saturday 11 February vs. Basingstoke - 11.45 away Sunday 12 February: Trophy 3rd round v Maidenhead - 14.00 @ DC
Women's 2s: No game
Next match: Saturday 11 February vs. Barnes, Hounslow, Ealing 4s - late and away
Women's 3s vs. Pheonix: Won 2-1
Some observations from the stand-in captain:
Team: Dulcie Davies, Stacey Sellman: Karen Dodds; Emma Matebalavu; Fatima D'Onofrio; Ros Hornsby; Beth Little; Anna Stuttard; Erica Goldsmith; Emma Knightly; Julie Lapsley
Scorer: Beth (2)
Umpire: Aidan Brock
Next game: Saturday 11 February vs. Woking Vets - 11.30 away
Women's 4s vs. Purley Walcountians 3s: Won: 2-0
Amazing - another victory - just as predicted last week. It seems we are getting better at this game, and winning was quite fun this week (compared to last week's rather fraustrating game). Can't really remember exactly how it went but something like this: whistle...run round frantically..actually start passing to each other, talking etc.....cross from Jena...goal! Half time..no oranges as usual...more running and passing...couple of close escapes..goal from Ash disallowed...eventually get another one in...whistle...celebration. Much better. Next week not looking so good with only about 8 of us available - so I won't be making any rash promises of a continuation of our winning streak. (CW)
T5 vs. Oxted Ladies 2s: Lost 0-3
A cliché maybe, but to say that this score did not reflect the game is an understatement. We eventually managed to field a team of 10 which included Bridget (normally CB) in goals and Andrea loaned from the 4s. Oxted are currently top of the division and we are hovering 6th. After a quick tactics talk and a few forced enthusiastic smiles we took our places to make T5 history. We were going to beat Oxted against all odds....... well that was the theory anyway.
I think we surprised ourselves, the passing was accurate, the play organised and determined. Helen was on fine form on the left totally frustrating the opposition as she intercepted balls and heroically marked the wing out of the game. Thank goodness for Rachael and Kath's constant 'Penny mark your player' as covering CM from my usual CF position meant actually having to do some work. Bridget was an absolute star making some excellent saves once diving across the goal mouth so enthusiastically I think she was actually hoping for the penalty stoke call just to say she had saved one. Thanks again Bridget. Didn't it just bring back memories of last season, turning up at a game with Kath D asking 'Right whose turn is it to go in goals and who wants to umpire?'
Oh yes, the game. We came back after half time with Zoe feeling faint, me facing the wrong way and the one and only tactic, stall for time whenever possible to allow everyone to catch their breath. It was a real shame about the 3rd goal as we were in attack for a good part of the second half but unfortunately couldn't do a lot with it as we were all so knackered. Thanks again T5 for the huge effort. I think we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Special thanks to Claire Whitehead for all her help and to Simon Wilshire for driving all the way to umpire at short notice. (PG)
Women's 6s v Berrylands 1s: Lost 0-1
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