14-May-07
Issue 27
A tardy set of
reports here – but why not celebrate again the Men’s 1s
fight for survival and the Women’s 1s cup victory (in case anyone
missed Alex C’s brandishing of the silverware at the dinner),
and the near-cup epics of the Tornado’s.
Many
Many Thanks!
Just
a very quick note to thank all those who organised, played,
umpired, worked, auctioned, danced, raffled, drank, ate, partied,
snogged and generally had a hand in making this - the most successful
event THD has ever staged. A great way to mark 100ys of Dulwich
and 5yrs of the merged club. Its this kind of commitment and
involvement that not only makes us one of the best clubs in
the country but also proves we are the Friendliest
Hockey Club in South-London!
Silent
Auction & Raffle
Thanks
to all who took part in the Silent Auction. According to the
highest bids on the board, the results were as follows:
Also, thanks
to those who took part in the raffle as you helped raise over
£2000 for the club!! So awesome work from all.
Lost
or Missing.... can you help?
Mobile
Phone: Alanna MacIntosh writes: "I'm not holding
much faith that anyone will have picked it up for me, so the
SIM and the handset have both been blocked now. It shouldn't
work anymore but it's worth a shot to get my phone numbers and
addresses back, since there are some that I can't get copies
of and some for friends that live abroad etc. It's a Sony Ericsson
K800i, Cybershot. It has a solid pink breast cancer awareness
symbol hanging from the loop on the bottom of it. If it still
switches on, the wallpaper is the Bacardi Bat Symbol."
To email Alanna please click
here.
Tracksuit
Bottoms: Kate Selway writes: "On Saturday
morning/lunchtime I mislaid my THD trackie bottoms by the side
of the pitch at DC. They have "27 KS" embroidered on them and
are a size medium. (Black with red piping down the leg etc)
I couldn't find them when I was packing up my stuff at about
2.30pm and am pretty sure they have ended up in someone else's
kit bag. Please could you all have a quick look in your bags
if you were at DC on Saturday at any time between 10 am and
2.30. Many thanks, Kate." To email Kate please click
here.
White
T-shirt Baselayer: Mark Jones writes: "In
between umpiring, playing and umpiring again, I took of my canterbury
white t-shirt style baselayer and put it next to the pitch near
my bag... probably around 2.30pm. When I packed up my stuff
later on it wasn't there. I expect someone picked it up by mistake.
Can everyone check their kit to see if they have it please?"
To email Mark please click
here.
Sunglasses
: Charley Williams writes: "I managed to lose
my brother's [Simon] Black Oakley Sunglasses. Can you ask everyone
to have a look to see if they picked them up?" To
email Simon please click
here.
If
anything else has gone missing or you have picked up something
that isn't yours - contact your captain and they can arrange
to get it back to its owner. Thanks!
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Report(s) by:
M1s, Mark Jones & Gemma Baker.
Men’s 1s
- Relegation Play-Offs
Saturday 28th
April –
Men’s 1s vs. Sonning (Playoff Semi-final) – Won 3-2
The team hit the
wagon at the centenary dinner and all but a few went home at a reasonable
time - the long arm of the law had to ensure that Fez got to bed before
1am. The same could not be said of Jacob, Pigden and the Hyphen. After
a long trek down to Haslemere – the team was in a buoyant mood
even though they faced the prospect of having to win two games to
avoid relegation. Banners continued to keep team spirits up by his
constant jabbering and generous application of SP 320 sun-block. TH&D
went down to an early goal and Sonning set up to defend that lead
until the bitter end. However, after some pressure from the forwards
and a couple of short corners from Andy and Gaz, TH&D had reversed
the situation. As we approached half-time, TH&D conceded another
goal due mainly to our own mistakes rather than the opposition’s
creativity.
The second half
was a tight affair with both the Sonning keeper and Duncan making
some fine saves. TH&D then thought they had a great opportunity
to break the deadlock, but the penalty stroke awarded was duly missed
by Andy. Time continued to tick on, but both teams, trying to avoid
the extra effort of extra time, started to throw caution to the wind.
And it was TH&D who made the crucial move. Another short corner
move ending with a goal – Jimmy finding a long awaited end to
his scoring drought (interestingly the writer has been led to believe
that it only took Laurent three weeks!). On the final whistle, Sonning
were awarded a short corner, but the defence held firm and TH&D
were in the final.
Sunday 29th April –
Men’s 1s vs. London Wayfarers (Playoff Final) – Won 4-3
After a pleasant
dinner in a gastro-pub in Haslemere, a glamorous night in the smoking
rooms of a Travelodge on the A3 and a relaxing Sunday morning with
the papers spent in a Little Chef, the team was feeling good about
going into the game that had been dubbed “bigger than Christmas”.
The focus was there, the preparation was good, but still we conceded
first. Pigden made a fine save, but the ball was not cleared off his
pads and their attacker was able to sneak the ball in. Wayfarers continued
to have the better of the first half and in a moment of madness, Gary
tried to force the ball through the centre forward while Pigden was
still off the pitch from retrieving the ball….. Wayfarers were
now two goals up and TH&D had a hill (rather than a mountain to
climb), but unlike many of the games before Christmas – TH&D
kept calm and were duly rewarded by a goal at the back post from…….Tom
Cross!?!?!.
In the second
half TH&D started to apply much more pressure and began winning
countless short corners. Will Nurse brought the teams level with a
fine worked corner. Both teams then traded a goal each in quick succession
(Will scoring his second) and the score was now 3-3. 20 minutes to
go and things were still tight. TH&D continued to rack up the
corners, but the Wayfarers GK and the defenders on the line made some
fine saves/stops. Most of the pressure was being applied by TH&D.
Wayfarers still had a couple of breakaways, but they were denied by
Duncan (who made a couple of great saves), our 30-something Arsenal
back four (Gaz, Laurent, Gary, Banners [sub Smudger]) and Nick Jacob
(who made a perfect tackle in our own 25).
The match entered
the last 5 minutes with Wayfarers having a man sent off and TH&D
being awarded a corner. The shot from Will Nurse squirted to the back
post and………cometh the hour cometh the man……either
the man-boy they call Fez had eaten (drunk??) too much at the centenary
dinner / got an army issue hair-cut or it was Tom Cross who swept
the ball into the Wayfarers net!.....After taking the lead for the
first time, TH&D needed to stay focussed for the remaining few
minutes. After being a constant thorn in Wayfarers side and rounding
off a big few minutes for the lad from Norwich, Tom Cross pushed it
a little too far and picked up his second yellow card of the weekend
and TH&D were now down to 10 men. In the end TH&D were able
to see out the rest of the game with out incident. Gaz and Jimmy finding
the Hyphen on numerous occasions to relieve any pressure Wayfarers
tried to apply.
On the final whistle,
the great efforts over the weekend and the dry centenary dinner (are
the speeches always that long?) all seemed worthwhile. It was a fantastic
effort from the entire 16 man squad who all played a huge part in
the whole weekend and gave us a good excuse to take on the drinking
establishments of Clapham in the evening!!... A big thanks also goes
out to Gary, who has done some great work with us throughout the season
and has allowed the team to take some huge steps under his guidance!
Team for
the weekend: Sailor, Pigden, Gaz, Bubs, Laurent/Luigi, Gary,
Banners, Smudger /Team Manager, Alex Brown, Jimmy, Will Nurse, Tom
Cross, Hyphen, Andy, Fez, Jacobs
Thanks
for Coming – Gary
Man of
the Weekend - Andy
Tornados - League
Cup Semi-Final vs. Richmond Deerstalkers: Lost 1-3
Well once again
the dream is over... for the second year running - the Tornados crash
out at the semi-final stage - and again it is a close run thing. Having
reduced the deficit to 1 goal we were caught chasing the equaliser.
Sure it didn't help that the pitch was bouncier than a jelly on an
inflatable castle or the weather was hotter than the surface of the
sun but neither of those are an excuse. As a team we are nearly 'there'!
Fourth/fifth most seasons even when our play is a shade on the better
side of average... it just needs for one more thing to click or one
extra little bit of quality and we can step-on to win the cup or the
leage - both are possible. As for this season... disappointing? Yes.
But a fair placing in the final league table? Sadly, yes again
Team:
Tim Sylvester (GK), MJ, Si Wilshire, Alex Fishwick, Jon Kirby,
Charlie Krasun, Tom Alexander, Si Riley, Nick Jones, Will Lucas, James
Perrott, Roly Ferneaux & Dougal Davis.
Scorer(s): Nick Jones
Umpire: Chris Coleman
HA Trophy Final:
Women’s 1s vs. Watton: Won 3-1
The sun was shining,
everyone got to Chelmsford on time (including faye and alex) and our
new shirts looked absolutely fantastic. There was confidence in the
ranks, knowing that we'd had a great season and cup run, and I don't
think anyone thought we'd lose this final game. Indeed, we started
brightly, got used to the pitch and put Watton under pressure. Our
first short corner nearly put the ball into orbit, but our next chance,
on 14 minutes, went to Lisa who (according to the EH website) 'utilised
her skill at the top of the circle' and calmly slotted the ball into
the bottom left corner for the lead. All good. Still we continued
to press....Watton looked dangerous on the quick counter - their left
and right wings getting in round the back on a couple of occasions,
with one such surge down the left finding their captain free on the
back post, and it was 1-1.
Watton had the
bit between their teeth and started the second half stronger, but
we soon got back in control and with about 25 minutes to go we were
camped in the oppo's half. We had so many chances with EJ, Martha,
Lou and Sharon all having a go at the goal. We won 14 short corners
which we couldn't convert and i lost count of the number of goal-mouth
scrambles Watton came out victorious from. At times our defence, in
particular Pipes, were mere spectators, having to occasionally stop
a Watton counter attack. But with 2 minutes to go, Gemma (probably
through fear of extra time) drove into the circle and shot at goal,
with Lou Morgan (69) deflecting the ball into the net! One minute
later, Martha made it 3 as she picked up a loose ball and slotted
it past the keeper. The champagne flowed, trophys were collected and
smiles all round. Big well done to the team and to Will for capping
off a fantastic season with such a great victory.
Team:
Pipes, Alex Crawford, Kath Sowter, Clare Byrne, Hilary Collins, Lucy-May
Maxwell, Nicky Prior, Jenni Martin, Lisa Cox, Gemma Baker, Faye Billing,
EJ Barry, Lou Morgan, Martha Harvey-Jones, Sharon Smith & Bettina
Wolff.
Coach:
Will Nurse
Manager: Peter Malkin
Scorers: Lisa Cox (14), Lou Morgan (69) & Martha
H-J (70)
MotM: EJ
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