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News > Newsletter 2006/07
Newsletter 2006/07
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 16-Feb-07Issue 19
Despite the midweek arctic conditions, by the weekend, normal mild/cloudy/drizzly service was resumed by the weather gods and the turf was looking heavy, but good to soft in places. Saturday’s course had a variety of tricky obstacles with some teams nosediving over hurdles earlier in the race, the notorious Surrey fence defeating several of them. But a few teams prevailed, the out and out winners being the Royals, defying the bookies’ forecasts by narrowly pipping the Tornados, Men’s 2s and Women’s 1s to the post, for the prestigious Team of the Week Gold Cup.
So to the evening, which is detailed below by the tireless Gemma Baker, who with great support from many people, organised a spectacular inaugural race night, with tips and bets flying around the clubhouse, the stablehands continuing the party on to the early hours and a lot of cash raised for the club – many thanks to all who organised and all who turned up to have a flutter.
After months of anticipation, you can now order your tickets for the Centenary/End of season dinner by downloading the forms from the website (use link below) - but do remember that if you organise yourselves in tables of 10 and return just one form for the table, you receive a complimentary bottle of wine and much respect from the Dinner committee for reducing their admin overload..!
Some important games this weekend – and if you’ve nowt to do on Sunday, how better to spend it than watching the Dragons in their cup game with an all-star team at Dulwich College at 12.45, taking on Bogner’s finest.
Reports by: Gemma Baker, Duncan Holmes, Chris Coleman, Mark Jones, Bill Dowie, Doug Heard, Emma Parker, Selina Leleu, Faith Geraghty.
RACE NIGHT
After months of planning, hard work by captains and social champions to sell horses and tickets to their teams, and a last push in the final furlong to get the evening underway, THDHC held its first race night on Saturday. The men’s 1s & 2s got festivities under way early on with various games, plenty of beer and the scoffing of Jackie's pasties, albeit without using their hands. The bar began to fill up, punters arrived and owners looked at the race cards nervously, eyeing up the competition. Unfortunately, the hard thought-out names of horses were virtually redundant during the races, but seeing as most had been named purely for the benefit of stitching up Chris Coleman (who people thought would be commentating) it may be wasn't a bad thing that the nice man who had come to run the evening didn't have to read them out himself.
All races were very close, but it was the Men’s 1s who had most success with two winners, so not only did the money come flowing in, but the wine did too. Other winning owners were Sabrina Tunnicliffe, Clare Byrne, Lynne Ruddick, Bettina Wolff & Chris Coleman. The final auction race went down a storm, and the winning owner of horse 3 was the cricket club syndicate who scooped £170 in prize money. After the last race, the alcohol continued to flow....most people that I have asked for gossip are unable to remember the night, let alone anything that happened, but I can confirm that for many people it ended in Escape in Herne Hill sometime in the small hours.
Overall, the evening was a huge success. Big thanks to all the captains/social representatives for their help, to the race and horse sponsors, to Lisa for helping collect bets on the night and to the sports club's bar staff for keeping us all well-watered. Also a big thanks to all those who supported the night - between you all we managed to raise just under £700 for the club....WELL DONE. (GB)
Royals v Old Loughts Loppers: Won 6 - 2
After discussions about whether game would go ahead or not the Royals turned out in force to turn their season around in style in the winter sun.
The capacity crowd at Dulwich College watched the Royals get off to a shocking start, conceding within a minute of the whistle! Within minutes however the Royals equalised and then took the lead, through the Royals form player - Akash.
Then the Royals turned on the style with some well worked short corner routines and plenty of wing play. After a brief fight back by the Loppers, the Royals eventually romped home 6-2 winners with Akash bagging a hat-trick.
Next up Blackheath and hopefully more goals!
Team: Gav, Keith , Mike Mc, Tom, Matheu, Doug, Nick, Stephen, Hamza, Mike, Ed, Akash and Colin.
Scorers: Akash 3 Stephen 2 Hamza 1
Next game: 17 February vs. Blackheath Heathens (Away)
Men’s 1 vs. Fareham: Lost 4–1
The sun was shining, the weather was sweet, pity about the hockey though. After an enterprising and encouraging start in which we tried to dominate possession we unfortunately went 0-1 down to a weak breakaway goal. This was the catalyst for our self-destruction. Not to soon afterwards there were 2 more deflection goals. This took the wind out of our sails. We were hanging on for half time. 2nd half was a much improved effort. With a little bit of pressure Rob Heath slotted one. A break down in concentration saw Fareham bounce back and score another one to finish the game 4-1. (DH)
Team: Duncan – sailor, Gary, Gaz, Smudge, Bubs, Banners, Tom Cross, Jimmy, Sam, Graeme, Simon, Will, James Hunt-lee, Andy, Rob
Scorer: Rob
MOTM: Jimmy (I don’t deserve it) Ireson
TFT: Duncan Holmes
Next game: Feb 17th Henley away
Men's 2s vs. Oxford University 2s: Won 2-0
Team (In the form of Horse names in honour of Gemma and Lisa!): Nothing like Brown, Red Bum, Sir Wantstoshagscotsalot, Jump into my Saddle, Night Nurse, L’escargot, Black Beauty, Sad Ken, Princess Bryan, Foreign Star, Virgo’s Smooth Balls
Umpire: Mark Jones and Si Riley (Thanks for missing the Rugby lads. Heard it was rubbish anyway!)
MOTM: Ed (12 votes out of 12)
Men’s 3s – No game
Next game: Saturday 17 February vs. Oxford University 3s
Tornados vs. Wimbledon 6s: Won 5-0
It looks like the Wombles may well be wombelling on down a division after this latest thumping. Another three points to the Tornados increases their stranglehold on third place. Five goals by five different scorers show the team has strength and depth... the clean sheet shows that the defence has the quality. Perhaps one of the most heartening things is that the team performance wasn't great, so there's better to come. Question is how to we get it and keep it? (MJ)
Team: Lee Tearle (GK), MJ, Roland Ferneaux, Nick Jones, Aidan Brock, Will Lucas, Jon Kirby, Charlie Krasun, James Perrott, Si Riley, Si Wilshire, Tom Alexander & Dougal Davis.
Scorer(s): Nick Jones, Tom Alexander, James Perrott, Roly Ferneaux & Si Riley
Umpire: Chris Coleman.
Next game: Saturday 17 February vs Old Loughtonians Foresters away
Diamonds vs. Teddington 5s: Lost 2-3 (Friendly)
We’d have been a lot more upset about this if it had been a League game. Teddington really weren't up to the standard of the teams in our division, and yet we contrived to lose a game we largely controlled.
Most of our threatening moments came from going wide – Bob tapped in both goals after being set up from the right by Irfan & Simon – and yet, apart from in defence, some of us appear to have developed a strange case of Upfield Tunnel Vision, where passing square has become a distinctly second-choice move. No, better to run with it for 20 yards looking for that killer pass. Guess what’s going to be top of the Team Talk agenda next game. (BD)
Team: Paul Reid, Tom Illingworth, Stephen Higgs, Jeremy Higgs, Seamus Betts, Graeme Evans, Adam Smith, Simon Canter, Warren Holme, Bob Morris, Irfan Begg
Scorer: Bob (2)
Umpire: Billy Dowie
Next game: Saturday 17th February, free weekend. Saturday 24th February, 16.00 away at Old Loughts
Women’s 1s vs. Richmond 1s: Drew 3-3
Richmond HC are this season's queens of the draw, so to them the scoreline was probably predicted way in advance. For us though, needing 3 points to keep the pressure up on H&W at the top of the table, the word 'draw' was not in our vocabulary at the start of the game (nor was 'lose'). But with 2 minutes left in the match and 3-2 down, we were actually very pleased to get a point out of the fixture....draw became an acceptable word for a while. And an even nicer one when we later discovered that Hampstead, Buckingham and Surbiton had also all drawn with their respective oppo, so nothing had been lost and we were still top on the table. Probably explained the high spirits and copious drinking at race night. Match stats....Sharon got us underway and scored a couple of great goals, putting her Reading days behind her, but Richmond thought they'd secured victory after a PC strike found the back of our net 4 minutes from time. 2 mins later, a PC is won the other end, a slight change in personnel takes place and Lou slots home for the equaliser. Phew. (GB)
Team: Pipes, Hils, Kath, Clare, B, Nicky, Lisa, Gem, Faye, Ej, Lou & Sharon
Scorers: Sharon (2) & Lou
Motm: Sharon
Women’s 1s vs. Teddington: Trophy Game - Won 5-2
Age v Experience. Fortunately, experience prevailed, but it wasn't made easy by the mostly young, quick and skilful opposition that made up this Teddington side. We were missing a few of our regular 1st team players, and those that did play may have been feeling the effects of the night before, but some willing volunteers in the form of Kate, Sarah, Shorty and Emma came to our aid. We started off slowly but soon settled, had much of the possession but couldn't convert, until Lou opened the scoring with a neat deflection from Clare's pass. Teddington continued to hit us on the break, but often the big hits from defence served only to release the pressure and our defence dealt with the threat. In the second half, the oppo held firm and got the equaliser through a bit of good fortune in the circle, pouncing on a spilled ball, by which stage we'd had enough and started to take our chances. Lou got a further 2 goals and EJ slotted home two trademark finishes to give us a good advantage. At the final whistle Teddington won a PC, which they struck well to reduce the deficit to 5-2. A big thanks to our honorary players....without whom we wouldn't have made it to the next round. (GB)
Team: Pipes, Kate S, Shorty, Kath, Clare, B, Lisa, Gem, Sarah B, Emma P, EJ, Lou & Sharon
Scorers: Lou Morgan (3) & EJ (2)
Motm: Gemma
Next match: Saturday 10 February, 12.30 Away v Hampstead & Westminster
Women’s 2s – No game due to snowy pitch
Next game: Saturday February 24 vs. London Uni
Women’s 3s vs. Guildford 2s: Lost 4-1
To be frank, the whole affair is too depressing to revisit so this will be brief. For some reason the team seemed to be suffering from some form of displacement. Our formation was muddled and we were being easily rattled by a team which, if we were playing like we know we can, we could and should have beat. But it was not meant to be, and four goals later I think it is fair to say that this defeat was perhaps one too many for the team and we will need a solid win against Epsom to cheer everyone up. Never mind…..after all, its only a game……(lets rip Epsom apart…). (EP)
Also, last week - Dulcie Davies was voted player of the match – result not in time to be included in last week’s publication.
Team: Stacey Sellman, Olivia Salau (GK), Rachael Biggs, Jen Watson, Beth Little, Emma M, George Hills, Emma P, Rosie Le Voir, Sophie Carter, Mo O’Brien, Lucy Gaskin, Erica Goldsmith, Helen Shackleton.
Scorer: Mo
MOTM: Beth Little and Sophie Carter
Next Game: Saturday 24 Feb v. Epsom 3s (Away)
Women’s 4s
I have to firstly apologise for the lack of match report last week hence peoples confusion on the “no game” in the last edition of the tribune. So here’s the bumper W4’s edition……
Saturday 3rd Feb: Women’s 4s vs. London Edwardians: Lost 3–0
We started the week with 16 players available, however with other teams being short we turned up to slightly frozen JAGS with just 11 raring to go players (with Selina in goal for the first time ever). The match started well, we were passing the ball really well, lots of pressure on the opposition and generally showing them that we were not going to roll over. Unfortunately a couple of goals later the half time whistle went it was 0-2. The oppositions pass back was intercepted by Claire who stormed off into the oppo’s 25 and looked as if it was going to be goal of the season…..until that was she was taken out and piggy backed off the pitch with a sprained ankle. With 10 left we fought hard and were really pleased with the way we were playing, we finished the game with a loss of 0-3, although the score line did not reflect what was on the pitch. (SL)
Team: Selina Leleu (in goal!), Lindsey McLaren, Anna Stuttard, Lucy Snell, Sarah Anderson, Jena Kitley, Lynne Ruddick, Mary Cook, Marie Smith, Emma Billsdon, Claire Whitehead
Ump: Steve Powell
MOTM: Jena Kitley
Saturday 10th Feb: Women’s 4s vs. Woking 2–2
Ok now onto this week, same time same place with thankfully slightly more players and a proper goalie! The pitch unfortunately was very slippery and so did affect play on several occasions. History did repeat itself in this game. When we visited Woking a few months ago they had a team with an average age of about 15 and were much fitter and got two early goals which we managed to get back at the last minute. In this game we had the 2 early goals in the 1st half where the team played very well, including an incredible goal from Kate which somehow she managed to score whilst facing the wrong way and being on the wrong foot-well done Kate!! Lindsay also showed we have broken the tradition of never scoring from a short. The second half began well, Woking managed one goal, but we were not deterred and kept the majority of the possession and applied a lot of pressure. Their goal keeper certainly had her work cut out, unfortunately for us she was very good and saved all of our attempts. With Anna’s brilliant hit outs almost always reaching our forwards, Penny’s unbelievably running we were confident of a win. With 5 minutes of reduced concentration from us, they managed to equalise, which was certainly irritating to say the least. The last 10 minutes was a complete attack on their defence, but we were unable to get one last goal, so a 2-2 draw it had to be. (SL)
Team: Olivia Salau, Selina Leleu, Lindsey McLaren, Anna Stuttard, Lucy Snell, Sarah Anderson, Jena Kitley, Ash McDonald, Suzy Medcalf, Lynne Ruddick, Mary Cook, Marie Smith, Emma Billsdon, Kate Lievesley, Penny Ganser.
Ump: Steve Powell and Chris Richman
Scorers: Kate, Lindsay
MOTM: Kate Lievesley
Next game: 24th Feb vs. London Wayfarers
Women’s 5s vs. Epsom Ladies' 5s: Lost 2-6
Team: Clarkie, Stephie, Fatima, Martina, Yostie, Rachael, Fermor, Faith, Leckie, Andrea V, Len, Mags, Kate Straker
Umpires: Richard Meade, Chris Coleman
Scorers: Stephie, Fermor
Women’s 6s – Game postponed
Next game: 24 Feb vs. Epsom
Dragons vs. PHC Chiswick: Drew 2-2
With a team that had more defenders than a Land Rover showroom it was never going to be a high scoring game. That said, it being the day after the night before didn't help... especially when the night before was the Race Night. For some reason the match was played at 3/4 speed... which was no bad thing considering. The match ended honours even which was probably a fair result as both teams could rue missed changes - an unconverted p-flick at one end and one attacker saving the ball on the line from their team-mates shot proved that Sunday hockey is all about humour.
Team: Piggy (GK), MJ, Si Riley, James Kirby, Aido, Gareth Norris, Jon Kirby, Charlie Krasun, Anna Stuttard, Lucy Snell, Lucy Partington, Lou Curry, Ellie Gardiner & Linds McClaren.
Scorer(s): Norris & Lucy Snell.
Umpire: Jon Kirby, James Kirby, Charlie Krasun & Gareth Norris.
Next game: Sunday 18 Feb, 2007 vs. Middleton and Bognor – 12.45 DC
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After
two losses on the bounce and both to a single goal, it was a big week
for us and a big performance was needed. And as big performances go
it doesn’t get much bigger than this. Chris Coleman scoring
with his first touch, John Nurse scored another one of his trick drag
pushes and Piggy keeping his first clean sheet of the season and you
may see these as the highlights of the day but NO!
