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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.
Fri 17-Mar-06Issue 22
Promotion for the Diamonds, play-offs for the Tornados, a guaranteed top two league spot for the Dragons and a cup semi-final for the Women's 1s. All nicely set up for the (nearly) end of season THD extravaganza tomorrow night. Let's get it on.
reports by: Graeme Evans, Andrew Eames, Aidan Brock, James Terrett, Mark Jones, Gemma Baker, Kate Selway, Julie Lapsley, Claire Whitehead, Penny Ganser and Victoria Wright.
THD Diamonds vs. Hampstead & Westminster Thirsts: Won 3-1
It's not often you see the words Promotion and Tulse Hill & Dulwich in the same sentence, but the Diamonds achieved just that after seeing off their nearest rivals in a showdown for second place. Only a draw was needed for a return to Division 5A, but four defeats to Hampstead teams over the course of the season had done little for confidence beforehand. But captain Billy Dowie got his tactics spot on, getting the forwards and midfield to break down the opposition's possession high up the field, and unleashing Gus Barnard to terrorise their purple-socked playmaker, who was always the first man the Thirsts looked to pass to.
Having scraped the post with an earlier attempt, Simon Canter settled nerves mid-way through the first-half with a short-corner goal and, while Hampstead did enjoy a fair amount of of possession with well-worked passing moves, their main route upfield was continually stifled.
1-0 up at half time, we hit them with the crucial second from Dom Peyton, slotting home at the far post following a trademark break by student and part-time winger Nick Hart. We were producing probably our best performance of the season; the team spirit was exemplified by Arthur Mitchell, who convinced his dad Mitch to drive him all the way from a school game in Croydon to Maida Vale, knowing he'd only arrive sometime during the second half. His contribution for the last 20 minutes was vital.
Even a blizzard failed to disrupt the tempo, but then the home umpire intervened by awarding a flick against keeper Paul Reid for what seemed a minor offence. 'Our' umpire, Jeremy (the 3s goalie) was visibly choking in his mental anguish, wondering how to intervene to reverse such an appalling decision - it was unquestionably the only instance of a THD member backing down during the match. However, the flick prompted 30 seconds of comedy shrieking from Reidy after he stuck out an arm to thwart purple-sock man with a stunning save. Hampstead did pull a goal back, and our veteran stopper was called upon to keep out a short-corner before forward Tim Harris scored a late break-away goal to restore our two-goal lead and justify a hefty afternoon and evening of promotion festivities in the Carlton pub - which the oppo joined in with, to their credit.
Second place was richly deserved and a tribute to the organisation of captain Dowie, who entertained us with his emails and kept us motivated on a Saturday. Every one of the team deserves a mention for this crowning performance - so read the teamsheet below. Mention too for the injured Rob Giret, who paced the touchline for much of the season and on Saturday somehow managed to fire up the Diamonds players as well as relatives of the opposition. The rematch in the play-offs in three weeks' time will be interesting, but this was the game we really wanted to win. (GE)
Team: Paul Reid, Rob Thomas, Stuart Craig, Billy Dowie, Richard Batty, Gus Barnard, Nick Hart, Oliver Walton, Arthur Mitchell, Warren Holme, Simon Canter, Mark Lay, Dominic Peyton, Tim Harris, Paul Burrows.
Scorers: Simon Canter, Dom Peyton, Tim Harris
Umpire: Jeremy Porter
Spectators & Touchline Motivators: Rob Giret, Graeme Evans, Mitch
League Cup Semi-Final: Saturday 1 April vs. Hampstead & Westminster - home
Men's 1s vs. Chichester: Lost 1-3
The team approached the match with a determined mental attitude but were defeated by a very strong, young and motivated Chichester team. It was a cold, cloudless March Saturday morning which saw the meeting of two teams with everything to play for; Chichester looking to gain promotion and the mighty THD trying to move above the dreaded red line and further from the bottom of the league table. However, a slow start by THD resulted in a serious session of ping pong wizard in their D and a series of great saves by Justin Collins, who was later named Man of the Match.
The THD defence remained solid and the midfield absorbed the strong penetrative attacks from Chichester, however, uncharacteristically Eames earned himself a short suspension with an untimely tackle. THD played exceptionally well with only 10 men with some moments of great skill and flair from the midfield pairing of Balchin and Weir. Unfortunately, it was only minutes after THD were back to a full strength that Chichester won a flick after the ball was stopped on the line by Weir's chest. Ben Barnes made no mistake and slotted the ball to the back corner of the THD goal.
Early in the second half Chichester converted two penalty corners and THD had a real battle on their hands for pride and points. The team fought hard with some excellent tackling from Will Nurse, Chris Smith and Tim Howarth and some individual flair by the midfield, but Chichester were well-drilled with sold basics and retained most of the possession. THD's hard work and persistence result in a cracking goal after a lightening Balchin cross was deflected across the face of the Chichester goal and into the back of the net by Ratty.
Two games left to play and THD have it all to do. Bring on Slough. (AE)
Team: Justin Collins, Andrew Eames, Will Nurse, Tim Howarth (captain), Chris Smith, Gareth Weir, Andy Balchin, Jimmy Ireson, Richard Banwell, Jon Drury, John Craven, David Casement, Laurent Ferron.
Scorer: Jon Drury
Man of Match: Justin Collins
Next Match: Saturday 18th March vs. Slough - 14.00 away
Men's 2s vs. Hampstead & Westminster 3s: Lost 0-9
Our 2005-2006 season swansong was definitely one of the strangest, and perversely (given the scoreline) most enjoyable, matches of the season. Pre-match preparation went to plan, with the six who answered the end-of-season Friday night call to sambuca looking especially alive and alert, including yours truly who was not relishing the prospect of donning Rab's goalie kit for an impromptu turn in nets. We started brightly and throughout the game we played some of the best, most fluid hockey we've played all season, but we couldn't find the 'onion bag' for love nor money (it could, and should, have been at least a sixteen goal thriller). Meanwhile H&W, when they did get the ball, converted their chances. Their ease in finding a way past the 'crazy smurf' net minder was aided by the fact that their left back was a former Aussie international with 250 caps to his name, d'oh..... I was particularly honoured to let in their second - a short corner strike was manfully blocked by Snowy and rebounded to the Aussie who stopped it on his reverse stick, flicked it into the air and volleyed it into the roof of the net FROM THE TOP OF THE D! As I said, a very strange but enjoyable game. Big thanks to Banners & Hughesy for umpiring.
Overall this season has been enjoyable but incredibly frustrating in terms of results. However i think if we can all keep fit (no mean feat considering the average age of the team is over 30, even taking account of our spritely 22 year old student!) and get some new blood coming through we will get back to the dizzying heights of last season's achievements. Huge thanks to all who have turned up to play, support and umpire over the course of the season. (AB)
Team: Aidan Brock, Ferg Jagger, Mark Pulford, Chris Coleman, Ed Stevenson, Rob Bennett, Paul Harvey, Joe Griffiths, John Nurse, Lee Snowden, Andy Potapa, Garth Foote.
Umpires: Banners, Tom Hughes
CONGRATULATIONS TO: Ferg Jagger - player of the season Alex Brown - most improved player
Men's 3s vs. Hampstead & Westminster 4s: Lost 2-6
Not a very good performance against a pretty good team who were rather annoyingly more up for it then we were. Things started fairly well until H&W stepped it up a gear and we found ourselves passing to them, being tackled by them and generally chasing them quite a lot. Two quick goals before we woke up and Tim Sylvester scored an excellent drag flick from a short. H&W pressed on though, and a defensive mix up let them in again and then they rounded off a good move with a good finish. To make matters worse, just before half-time their keeper saved exceptionally well to deny another drag flick and a Nick Jacob shot and we went into the team talk in a state of shock at 4-1 down. Surely we were better than this? Last time we played H&W they struggled in the second half when we took the game to them – we needed more of the same. For 15 minutes we were excellent. Strong tackling and harrying gave way to more possession and some more chances. Another short and Will Atkinson strikes gold. 4-2. Game on. As we pressed on to get the goals we had to leave gaps and an unfortunate mistake at the back let in the H&W striker just seconds after he had been tackled. The heads then dropped and the marking also went as another awful goal was conceded. They were a better team and deserved to win although most of the 3s had a poor game which could have meant a cup play-off spot if we’d played like we can do. Not the best way to end the season but I always remember the good times. Oxford away is in the diary. (JT)
Team: Jeremy Porter, Kieron Norris, Alex Brown, Wes Cole, James Terrett, Alex McDonald, Mike Killen, Will Atkinson, Doug Heard, David Fogden, Tim Sylvester, Nick Jacob.
Umpire: Billy Dowie
Scorers: Tim Sylvester, Will Atkinson
Next match: All done!
Tornados vs Hampstead & Westminster 7s: Drew 3-3
The season is over, long live the play-offs. The Tornados got the season by the scruff of the next and proceded to beat the hell out of it... sadly this didn't start until a quarter of the season had already gone! The league is far too strong and competitive to be able to write off 25% of it. Twelve wins from twenty, but, of those, ten came in the last three-quarters of the season. A good start to next year's league will see the Tornados promoted by Xmas. In the mean time there are two Cup games left in order to claim some silverware... as my old posh public school friend used to say "don't spill the Brasso, or Sir may get jolly angry." (MJ)
Men's 6s: No game
Next match: Saturday 18 March vs. Reading Royals - away
Women's 1s winning weekend
It was a fantastic weekend for the Women's 1s taking 3 points off the (then) League leaders on Saturday, followed by resounding vistory in the HA Trophy on Sunday. So........
Saturday: vs. Oxford Hawks: Won 2-0
Perhaps it was the fact that Southgate had beaten Hawks 9-1 a couple of weeks ago, highlighting the fact that they weren't invincible, or maybe it was because we wanted revenge for the 4-0 drubbing they gave us at their place last year. Whatever it was, THD came out fighting and put Hawks on the back foot from the first whistle. We soon opened the scoring, Alex nutmegging the keeper from a penalty corner strike after just 13 minutes. Knowing that a 1 goal lead would not be enough we pushed for the second and 4 minutes later, Charley put a great ball through to EJ on the back post to give us a 2-goal cushion. It was an even more exciting second half...Hawks, to their credit, came out fighting and we found it much more difficult to leave our half! But after Hawks had a penalty flick saved, EJ had a goal disallowed and THD went down to ten players...twice...it seemed it was to be our lucky day. (GB)
Sunday - HA Trophy Quarter-Final vs. Wisbech Town: Won 4-1
Ten of the team, plus Will, travelled up to the town of Wisbech, still high in spirits following the epic victory a few hours earlier. So, we topped up those spirits with wine and champagne at Wisbech's finest (or only) Italian restaurant, followed by more beers, darts and conversing with the 'locals', most of whom spoke Latvian, at the only late-license pub. When we could think of no more songs to sing, it was off to bed, knowing we had put in some excellent preparation for the quarter-final match the next day. Following a hearty breakfast and a tour of Wisbech (including the blood covered ATM machine, the Garden Centre and Woolies, for Pic'n'Mix), we headed over to the pitch raring to go (or at least buzzing full of E-numbers).
Women's 2s vs. London University 1s (away): Lost 0-5.
Our recent away oppo have developed an interesting tactic - put the visitors in a dank, cold, muddy, mouldy 12 feet square room with a naked lightbulb and showers that are kinda slimy. Didn't I see something like that on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy years ago?
At half time we were still optimistic, but then they lured our young keeper far out into the D, twice, and then it was 4-0. We kept up a spirited barrage of attacks that ended against the faultless pads of, probably, the best keeper we've faced all season. They were a good side; on this performance probably second to Oxted in our league, but it was a shame to have to go and eat our curry knowing, yet again, that we hadn't done ourselves justice.
And if you've concluded this report is lacking the verve and wit of the incomparable La Longair you'd be right, she's away ("Why oh why must there be skiing holidays in March?" - Whinger from West Dulwich), but never fear this week's literary humour was supplied by Rosie and Oz. You've heard this one before. Just how do you spell Abbonizio? "A-L-L-P-H-A-B-E-T". This one could run as long as the Mousetrap, given the talent for spelling this team has. (KS)
Team: Dulcie Davies, Kate Blumer, Kate Selway, Hannah Cooke, Lucy Partington, Lucy Muldoon, Rosie Carter, Alex Hardy, Liz Young, Harriet Gallagher Powell, Oriane Allphabet.
Player of the match: shared between Rosie and Kate S.
Women's 3s vs. Epsom 3s: Lost 0-1
High spirits were among both teams on Saturday despite the arctic conditions. As players began to thaw the first few minutes saw Epsom under sustained pressure from THD. With the ball being pivoted from Stacey Sellman and Emma Matabalavu on the back line, weaknesses were prevailing in Epsom’s defense. Midfielders Beth Little and Roz Hornsby made opportunist runs up the right but their efforts were not acknowledged in the circle. The disheartened THD players became disorientated leaving room for Epsom to gain possession and strike the back board. Goalie Jess Sellman having recovered from the conceded goal continued to make strenuous saves from all angles of the box. Epsom’s bubble was soon burst with fierce tackles from Fatima D’onafrie and Tish who were key assets in putting the game into Epsom’s half. After half time Lou Curry and Kate Vicary acted as nucleus’ in switching the ball into the space. Forwards Julie Lapsley, Lucy Gaskin and Mo O’Brien were able to attack on these quick balls but frustratingly they never saw the back of the net before the final whistle. (JL)
Team: Jess Sellman, Lou Curry, Lucy Gaskin, Julie Lapsley, Emma Matabalavu, Stacey Sellman, Kate Vicary, Beth Little, Roz Hornsby, Mo O’ Brien, Fatima D’Onafrie, Tish
Scorer: None
Player of match: Jess Sellman
Umpire: Aidan Brock
Next match: Saturday 18 March vs. Raynes Park 1s - 10.30 @ Raynes Park
Women's 4s vs. Barnes Hounslow and Ealing 5s: Won 2-0
Fantastic. Great game, battled hard, victory. For about the first time ever we set out to win and actually managed to pull it off (quite often it’s a mistake....). Obviously I can’t recall the finer details – generally because I was being hit or tripped over by my defender - but a great penalty corner strike from Sophie opened the scoreline. Barnes were quite tough and fought back, but we managed a second messy goal (did it touch Rosie’s leg after she was floored by the oppo? I don’t think so.....), and nearly got a third from a penalty stroke after Barnes got desperate and started flinging their sticks around and putting themselves bodily in front of the goal. So it was all good. We will obviously attempt this winning lark again, but our final 3 games are against the top three teams.....so no promises. (CW)
Team: Jess Sellman, Nikki Smithies, Helen Clark, Lindsey McLaren, Rosie Le Voir, Anna Stuttard, Janine Nicholls, Jena Kitley, Emma Billsdon, Sophie Carter, Ash Macdonald, Claire Whitehead, Andrea Vicari
Scorers: Sophie and Claire
Umpires: Steve Powell and Jo Malkin
Next Match: Saturday 18 March vs. Wimbledon 3s - 16.00(!) @ KCS
T5 vs. Reigate: Won 4-0
It must have been the enthusiasm supporting the boys playing before us that set us up for the battle ahead. We had lost to Reigate earlier in the season in a horrendously badly organised match (my first as Co-Captain) with the whole team deciding that no one deserved MOTM, needless to say we had to redeem ourselves.
Well, redeem ourselves we did! We were strong on the ball from the onset, intercepting passes and generally annoying the opposition. To my horror I was once again accused of being intimidating which obviously only made me worse but after being blown a couple of times for obstruction and then having Simon glare at me I decided to settle down for the good of the team.
We had a bit of a wobble in the second half but managed to regain our composure to score again off a sneaky ball from Racheal which should have been her goal but I had to make sure and helped it along. Substitutions went smoothly and basically we had them running ragged. The highlight of the day was Reigate accusing us of having ringers in our team and that we couldn't possibly be a 5th team. Watch out Women's 2's we have decided we want to swap back.
Thanks to Simon and James, and again to Wendy for doing an excellent job in goal.
Team: Penny Ganser, Frances Barber, Bridget Morley, Helen Femor, Kathryn Oliver, Jean Sutton, Martina Vanderleij, Rachael Fallows, Nicole Yost, Wendy Tang, Kate Wheeler, Andrea Beattie
Scorers: Penny Ganser (3), Frances Barber
MOTM: Penny
Umpire: James Perrott & Simon Riley
Next match: Saturday 18 March vs. Addiscombe - 11.00 @ JAGS
Women's 6s vs Croydon MO 3s: Lost 2-5
Well jet lag and freezing conditions did not discourage our team this week. Even Lucy opted to played without her tracksuit trousers! A storming effort saw us go 1-0 up with jubilation until a few minutes later our celebrations were dampened by an equaliser. Still we battled hard. Some fantastic teamwork meant that we had the majority of play this week and the result does not do us justice. One of Croydon's goal has to be attributed to Maurissa for kindly passing it to no 27 who slotted it into the goal. In her defence she was running into mark her out. Oops. Well that did not discourage things - later on in the game she was given a green card for tackling too many times from the wrong side, but that's hockey for you! We clawed back to 2-3 but then some lapses in marking saw another two goals go in. We still held our heads up and played our stripy socks off. Vicky taking a different view this week on the right side of the pitch and proving that even with jet lag she can score a goal or two (almost getting MOTM from the team - shocking). These goals were as a result of some excellent inter-play with Maurissa/Michelle and the two halves Clare and Mae Lynne. We kept pushing right up to the end when the final whistle was blown with Isla desperate to get the ball in the goal, just another minute and a few more hits at the keeper and defence and I am sure she would have had it. Well done team. Two more games to go and lets hope we don’t face relegation. (VW)
Team: Alice Smith, Kate Straker, Lucy Gilchrist, Jess Beach, Shona Welch, Clare Montagu, Isla McGregor, Michelle Morgan, Maurissa Allan, Victoria Wright, Mae Lynne McDougall, Katie Stone
MOTM: Maurissa Allan
Umpire: Ian Wright
Scorer: Victoria Wright (2)
Next match: Saturday 25 March vs. UCL Academicals 1s - 13.30 @ CPB
Dragons vs Sinners: Won 6-1
As my old mate Coolio used to say when he sang his top quality hit from Space Jam called "The Winner"....
It's time to take you to its full potential
Keep on pushing
Team: Jeremy Porter (GK), MJ, Aido, Ratty, Snowy, Sneaky, Gobby, Lucy, Hannah, Lou, Emma, Kate & Vicky. |
