Fri 02-Nov-07
Issue 05
For the first time in several weeks, fortunes were completely disassociated
with those of the international rugby team. And not a bad week it
was either. Ok, so the men’s 2s and 4s were a bit disappointed
again, the Royals had a bit of a shocker and only one women’s
team actually played, but that aside, it was a pretty respectable
weekend. The women’s 1s flew the flag for the female side of
the club, getting four points in a double-header weekend, the men’s
1s continued their winning run (well, two games, but pretty positive
given the teetering on the relegation cliff-edge at the end of last
season), the Men’s 5s still unbeaten in their league and the
Men’s 3s very pleased with themselves with a fine goal-happy
win. May November continue to bring ever-improving results.
Dates for the diary – this Saturday – Bonfire Night at
the club for Dulwich’s finest pyrotechnical display; 17th November
- Quiz Night – the battle of the brains of the club - start
brushing up on your useless trivia to be in with a chance of winning
glittering prizes and a lot of kudos.
Sarah Longair - Editor
Saturday 03-Nov-07
Bonfire & Fireworks Night
On Bonfire Night, all over the country people
celebrate the dispatching of a seditious character known as
Guy Fawkes who, back in 1605, attempted to blow up the Houses
of Parliament in London. But who really cares about history?
Why not come along to the clubhouse and watch the fireworks
while sampling the delights of the bar???
Everyone is welcome... entrance £5.
Help/Volunteers wanted to help with ticket sales
on the night.
Please speak to Noreen behind the bar
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Reports by: Gemma Baker, Chris Smith, Nick Jacob, Wes Cole, Simon
Riley, Billy Dowie.
Women’s 1s vs. Wimbledon 1A: Won 4-1
The hockey was, in most parts, really good. We went one up after
4 minutes when Martha slotted home a cross from the right, we then
won a few more short corners (one of which Alex connected with b-e-a-utifully….shame
(for Wimbledon) that it went straight onto the wrist of their defender)
and we had a large percentage of the attack. We then let Wimbledon
back into it (literally, by passing them the ball in great attacking
positions), they pressed us well and they equalised through a short
corner, the replay of which has actually been sent to the Oscar nominations
committee for Rachel’s extravagant diving save which happened
well after the ball had hit the backboard. Thankfully, half time arrived,
Will gave us his pearls of wisdom and a rejuvenated THD came back
out for the second half. EJ, playing one of a variety of positions,
worked well down the left with Sarah and Sharon and won a free hit
just outside the circle. Gemma then played it in to Lou, who out-hustled
her opposite number and forced that ball in the back of the net. Rachel
made it 3-1, before Gemma was allowed to run in to the circle and
have a free shot on goal, putting it in to the bottom left corner
and giving us a resounding 4-1 victory. (GB)
Team: Pipes, Alex, Kath, B, Jen, Rachel, Sarah,
Gem, Faye, EJ, Sharon, Lou & Martha
Scorers: Martha, Lou, Rachel & Gemma
MotM: Pipes
Next Game: Sun 28th v Oxford Uni
Women’s 1s vs. Oxford University: Drew 3-3
The journey to the Oxfordshire countryside was ok, although (and
this is generally unheard of) Pipes was late after taking a minor
detour round the Oxford ring-road and almost turned up after Alex
and Faye (which is definitely unheard of). As we stood in the rain
and admired the facilities these clever students are provided with,
we pondered how much more dangerous it is to have a night in with
friends and a few bottles of wine rather than going out to a pub as
you tend to drink that much more! Fortunately, no one was worse for
wear, no one forgot the clocks had gone back (except for Jen who found
herself scoffing breakfast at some ungodly hour of the morning) and
we had a decent amount of pitch time before the game started, made
even longer by the fact one of the umpires hadn’t turned up,
no one could get hold of him and so one of the oppo’s dads (a
qualified umpire fortunately) stepped into the breach. But at least
Alex had remembered her stick.
I really can’t remember which team scored first, but Lou opened
the scoring for THD, getting on the end of Gemma’s pass from
outside the D and the score stood at 1-1 for quite a while. In the
second half, an unfortunate error at the back led to Oxford’s
second, and despite Alex’s premonition that the player was going
to score if she received it where she did, neither she nor Pipes were
able to do anything about the quality finish and we were down 2-1.
But we rallied well and kept pressing, the forwards working tirelessly
off the ball to stretch their defence and resulting in another PC.
Will’s call was not received kindly by Alex, who wanted to smack
it, so Gem suggested that Alex follow in for the rebound, which would
probably come up the middle of the D, giving Al the chance to sweep
it into the roof of the net. So….we did the corner that Will
called, Martha struck it sweetly, the rebound came up the centre of
the D and Alex swept it into the roof of the net…..how’s
that for forward planning??! As the stick tackles came flying in from
all angles, tempers rose….EJ wondered what sort of advantage
she was getting after being hacked off the ball and Sarah had a mini-strop
after getting wiped out in our own circle….but we took the lead
after Gemma pounced on a loose ball and crossed from the back line,
where Sharon, at full stretch, got enough of her stick to the ball
and deflected it over the line. Unfortunately, Oxford got one back
to bring the score level and a frantic last few minutes ensued, but
the defence held strong and despite a PC against us in the last minute,
we kept it out to hold on for the draw. (GB)
Team: Pipes, Alex, Kath, Rachel, Jen, Sarah, Gemma,
Faye, EJ, Martha, Lou & Sharon
Scorers: Lou, Alex & Sharon
MotM: Kath & Gemma
Next match: Sat 3rd Nov v Richmond (away)
Women’s 2s: No game
Next game: 3 Nov vs. Spencer 2s away
Women’s 3s: No game
Next game: 3rd November, Woking Vets Home 12:30pm
@ JAGS.
Women’s 4s: No game
Next game: 10 November vs. Wayfarers away.
Women’s 5s: No game
Next game: 3 November vs. Reigate Priory away
Women’s 6s: no game
Next game: 3 November vs. Reigate Priory away
Men's 1s vs. West Hampstead 1s: Won 2-1
Tulse Hill & Dulwich Men’s 1s have become a much more solid
unit these days. This most recent victory against the current league
leaders brought about our most positive win loss ratio for over 2
seasons, we are now 3 and 2, still fifth place in the league, but
now only 3 points off the lead.....heady days indeed, but nothing
less than where we should be and a lot of hard work to do. This game
is remembered by a number of things....
1) A late start - which confused a lot of people - what do non-sportspeople
do on Saturdays? i found myself in Selfridges??!!??
2) THD dominating the first half
3) Robert Heath disallowed goal from 2 yards from a short corner for
going too high - is a slap a hit?
4) West Hampstead taking the lead from powerful cannonball of a short
corner flick
5) Umpire telling THD left back - I can’t believe you guys are
losing, you are dominating them! erm....we know.
6) Welcome Will Nurse
7) 1-1 Andrew Balchin scoring is 100th league goal for THD following
a fantastic flowing THD counter attack, quite an achievement
8) 2-1 William nurse discovering that you can flick high and score
from a short corner
9) West Hampstead yellow mist - 3 men sent off, 1 of which for 20
minutes
10) Christopher Smith sent off for technical foul
11) Alexander Brown staying on the pitch following his countless misdemeanours,
birthday gift from the umpires
12) Gary Boucher - if in doubt flick the ball over the fence and the
swimming pool
12) THD 1s discover how to win tight games
Thank you to the supporters who came and supported at such a cold
late hour!!!
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum (CS)
Team: Michael William Pigden, Christopher Smith,
Andrew Eames, Gary Boucher, Gareth Weir, Richard Banwell, William
Nurse, Andrew Balchin, Alexander Brown, James Ireson, David Casement,
Robert Heath, Arthur Mitchell, James Huntley
Scorers: William Nurse, Andrew Balchin
MOM: Alexander Brown
Next match: Saturday November 3rd vs City of Portsmouth
(Away)
Men's 2s vs. Spencer 3’s: Lost 1-3
Probably the worst start to a season that many longer standing 2s
players can remember was not helped by the fact that 30 minutes before
push back we only had 8 players whilst top of the table Spencer seem
to have camped at the pitch overnight with a squad of around 15 (including
one very annoying female supporter). Forgetting our poor timekeeping
(Robby in particular) we actually played some of our best hockey this
season and the game was far closer than the scoreline suggests. We
looked controlled in defence and the midfield worked hard with debutant
Alex having a good opening game at left midfield. Even after we went
1-0 down we continued to push forward and gave the opposition cause
for concern. Trailing at half time we were still in the game and then
midway through the second half we pulled a goal back as James Vicary
passed a ball down the line for Nick to pick up on and head for the
D, (allegations of the use of back stick are widely dismissed) turn
and shoot past the keeper. Following this we had a number of chances
to win the game in a closely fought match. Both teams later being
reduced to 10 players (yes, lessons have been learnt) and then 2 late
goals unfortunately got the better of us. (NJ)
Team: Nathan Alfrey, Tom Matthews, Dan Ellis, Robby
Layton, Tom Mottram, Alex Speculand, JC, Bungle, James Vicary, Fez,
Nick Jacob, Tom Goricke
Umpire: Mark Jones & Aidan Brock
Scorer: Nick Jacob
Next match: Saturday 10th November vs. East Grinstead
3’s - 14.00 home
Men's 3s vs. Maidenhead Mystics: Won 4-2
You know sometimes you get that feeling when you walk off a pitch
that you really damn well deserved that win. I think we all felt that.
We all knew we worked 110% for 70 minutes and battled hard to get
a good win. It wasn't as easy as the score line ended up though as
we missed two early chances and left ourselves with a close game.
Timmy of course set us going with a a fumble over the line and followed
by a great snap shot on the turn but each time we went ahead they
came back. It took two in the last ten minutes to put them away with
a good flick from Nick Harris and a final hat trick goal from Timmy
slapping into the bottom corner after Marland’s comical reverse
stick attempt went so far wide it nearly hit the corner flag. (You
just had to be there)
Spirits are high, goals are coming, defence is tightening, Richmond
won't like this weekend at the college.
Special mention to George who was devastating on the right and a top
3' debut for Connor who held his own and caused issues to their right
back. (WC)
Team: Jeremy Porter , Wes Cole, Tim Jones, Alex
McDonald, Laurie Mathers, Ed Marland, Connor, Graeme Lyness, Tim Sylvester,
Nick Harris, Joe Griffiths, George
Umpire: Steve Reeves
Scorer: Tim x 3, Harrow
Next match: Saturday 3rd vs Richmond - home
Men's 4s vs. Reading: Lost 2-4
Not such a good day for THD in Reading. 2 games played, 13 goals
conceded. Are we Man City in disguise, destroying opponents one week,
getting soundly thrashed the next? I wish, at least then we'd be 3rd
in the table instead of rock bottom. Anyhow, many happy returns Gareth
for Friday 26th, thanks for bringing the support to watch, pity we
couldn't convert our chances for them, if not for ourselves. Twas
a game of 3 halves if you will, with us completely dominating the
first and last 15 but the intervening 40 minutes resulted in 4 goals
against and the majority of the team playing in cloud-cuckoo land.
Let's take some positives from the game though - we had 30 minutes
of total(ish) hockey. And even with no subs, everyone still ran themselves
into the ground, so fitness isn't looking too bad. And 2 goals from
The Judge and Axel from a combined distance of 3 yards. (SR)
Squad: Alex (GK), MJ, James, Aido, Wilsh, Axel,
Will, Nick, Riley, Tom A, Birthday boy Nozzer
Umpire: Chris Richman
Scorers: AxelFish, Nick 'The Goal-line Predator'
Jones
Motivational music provided by Marilyn Manson: Eat Me Drink Me - Putting
holes in happiness. Quite prophetic that one. Available in all good
record shops. And some bad ones too.
Next week: 11:00 @ JAGS vs Hampstead and Westminster
Diamonds vs. Surbiton 5s: Drew 2-2
Yet another creditable performance, drawing 2-2 with Surbiton who
remain a point behind us. 2-0 up at half time, both scored by Bob,
we looked comfortable and it seemed as if we'd add to that after the
break.......... but they came out guns blazing, scored inside five
minutes and had us on the back foot from then on. Whilst we missed
three one-on-one opportunities to close off the game, they also missed
their own near the end, our new goalie Simon saving with his face
mask. All in all, a fair result, although we were disappointed not
to have shown enough wiliness to keep – or even build on –
our lead. But we’re only one point off second place, currently
occupied by this week’s opponents. (BD)
Team: Simon Bailey, Stuart Craig, Hamza Begg, Jeremy
Higgs, Rob Thomas, Simon Canter, Bobby Abdulla, Tariq Abdulla, Laurie
Shotton, Warren Holme, Bob Morris, JD, Tim Harris
Scorer: Bob (2)
Umpire: Billy Dowie
Next game: Saturday 3rd November, 10.30 away to Hampstead
& Westminster Spaniards
Royals vs. Reading Rejects: Lost 11-1
Next game: 3 November vs. HAC Hustlers - home
Dragons: No game
Next game: 04 Nov vs. Oldsmiths
Social Events
2007/08
Regardless of what happens on the pitch this season we have a massive
amount of social stuff already planned to help you celebrate/commiserate
away from the pitch.
Bonfire Night
Saturday 03 November
Quiz Night
Saturday 17 November
Xmas Party
Saturday 08 December
Dragons' Drinks
Saturday 15 December
Kurry-Oke Night
Saturday 26 January
Race Night
Saturday 23 Februrary
End of Season Dinner
April
see www.thehockeyclub.co.uk/social/events.shtml
for more details...
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General News
