A grand total of 39 goals scored this weekend, not too shabby. Our Men’s 1st, 2nd, 4th and Barnstormers all bought home a win, with the Men’s 1st and 4th XI bagging a whopping 8 goals each. Our Ladies 2nd XI fought hard for a much needed three points, the Vamps won and our Ladies 1st XI clawed back from being down to bag a draw. And everyone celebrated in style at the clubhouse afterwards, with the Men’s 2nd XI hosted Race Night.
Men’s 1st XI 8-3 Henley
For match photos click here
Following on from a February to forget, the OCs welcomed Henley to TD for what promised to be an entertaining afternoon of hockey.
Both teams were slow out of the blocks, with few clear opportunities falling either side’s way in the opening 10 minutes. The OC’s began to find their stride midway through the first half however, and a skilful run from Giles Rozier down the left flank earned the first penalty corner. CZ’s subsequent strike called the Henley keeper to make a smart save, and he had to be on hand again shortly after when Dan Rhodes, Chris Wiseman and Matt Murphy linked up on a length of the pitch breakaway.
The breakthrough came in the 20th minute when Jay Harman pulled away from his man to find himself one on one with the keeper, only to unselfishly drop the ball off for Ted Croker who composedly finished. Croker almost doubled the lead minutes later only for his effort to be picked off the line by a Henley defender. 1-0 to OCs at half time.
As the crowds grew, so did the home team’s pace. Ben Wilson started the second half scoring with a neat reverse stick finish after a well worked team move. The Henley defence were carved open again when a ranging ball from Ollie Davies found his man on the baseline, who squared for Roberts to tuck away OC’s third. A classy 3 man move down the right hand side then saw Hugh Robinson find Murphy who picked out CZ, who calmly slotted the ball past the Henley keeper to make it four.
Not content with their lead the OCs continued to pull away and scored their fifth with a PC move straight off the Durham training ground- CZ slipping to Robinson who delivered for Davies to deflect home. Two more breakaway goals from Wilson and Wiseman and it was 7.
Despite a late charge of consolation goals for Henley, Robinson converted a corner to complete the 8-3 score line and see the OC’s hold on to their 3rd place position. A great day at the races!
MOM: Rozier
DOD: Murphy
Men’s 2nd XI 2-4 Surbiton 3s
Match report to follow.
Men’s 3rd XI 4-0 Surbiton 5s
Match report to follow.
Men’s 4th XI 8-0 Slough
A magnificent 8-0 away win for the 4th XI against high-flying Purley who sit above us in the league with Ant grabbing five goals.
Men’s Barnstormers
Match report to follow.
Men’s Hamstrings
Match report to follow.
Ladies 1st XI 3-3 Spencer 3s
The OCs Ladies 1st XI were prepped and fired up for the match against Spencer 3s. It was a third and fourth place fight for pride. The OCs were very proud to debut Evie Tanner in goal and she was as focused as the rest of us. Our warm up was energetic and we started the game with the first PB.
Tactic 01, as laid down by Mr Dan Osborne, was keep possession. We worked hard to do so, transferring around the back and up the wings. We were the first to put points on the board with a short corner straight strike from Georgie Syms. Their keeper missed it and it was almost denied by their right post woman but the sheer force and speed of the strike meant a deflection into the goal. We then lost our heads a little and our game went a little awry. We stopped passing quite so well and were a little slow of the mark. That split second behind our players resulted in an equaliser and even two more goals. Both scored on a break and lack of concentration meant that our half time talk, 1-3 down, was enthusiastic to say the least. However, that kick up the behind meant we came out all guns blazing.
We pulled our game together and play fast and hard Hockey. We transferred passes up beautifully and had several linked up play down the left and the right wing. Defence, bossed by Alice Durrans and Nikki Springett ensured no high hanging forward got those crash balls again. Kate Scott worked hard down the right hand side and silkily weaved play through the oppos defence and into the D. One such run, down to the base line resulted in a ball across the D, picked up by Henri Worthington who finished with a reverse strike! That was it – the come back was on! More chances came from the wings into the D and we had several shots going just wide of the goal. Finally a third goal did come and following a shot saved by the keeper, Katie Richards picked up the rebound and danced around her to shoot on the reverse. The goal was securely seen home by Georgie Syms. 3-3 and the win was in sight. Defence pushed high and worked hard to create a solid wall so the oppo couldn’t break. Ali Fox Robinson played relentlessly stopping a very skilled centre midfield from going very far. A near miss from the OCs forwards at the end of the game almost finished with a win but the shot went wide. The game had all but concluded when Spencer had a final break and their centre forward made a solo rogue run for the goal. Marked by Alice Durrans and chased down by Elizabeth Norrington, there was a final, critical tackle on the baseline in the D which denied the oppo a shot. Evie Tanner came out to close down the angle but the ball was just tapped away from the player and off the base line. No goal.
The final score was 3-3 and a satisfying finish to a hard worked second half! On to next week where we will start like that!
Ladies 2nd XI2-1 Spencer Sapphires
With the season coming to an end the Mighty Ladies 2s travelled to Battersea Park to play Spencer Sapphires in a need to win match to secure safety of finishing second place in the league table. We were on the graveyard shift with a 3.30pm kick off away, was the Six Nations on perhaps???, and light on the field as several players were away this weekend but a determine team was in place. We did our normal warm up of a run around the park, and in girlie fashion Amy ran with her handbag! Always a good look!
After a lot of waiting around we finally got on to the pitch but due to all the delays were told we only had 5 minutes to warm up, which was not ideal as BP is a bumpy pitch so always better to get more of a feel before kicking off. Captains Ellie and Ele had us all motivated from the off, we were after a win but knew on home ground it would be a tough game with everyone keen to increase their points tally. We started strong with some solid play up the right and left, we found ourselves in their 25 and attacking for the majority of the half, but we were all a little sleepy and didn’t really wake up. Spencer capitalised on our lethargy and managed to score an ‘unlucky for us’ goal as a cross into the D. It connected with a Spencer stick literally on the D line which went up and over Evie’s head. We all thought it has connected outside the D (Evie included hence she didn’t go to save it) but the goal was allowed. A few more attacks from us as we were slightly more awake and on them, we had several opportunities to score in the first half but we just weren’t converting the assists! We went into half time 1-0 down and frustrated. Ellie and Ele inspired us and spirits were lifted in the half time team talk, we were not going to lose this game.
From our push back the second half was ours, we had woken up and we were playing our game. The Mighty Twos were back. The second half was spent in their 25 and it was attack attack attack. Five minutes into the half we converted our first goal, a cracking pass from Kara was deflected by Georgie towards the goal, it looked as if we were going to miss another sitter, when from no where Sophie Merrett appeared on the backline and with stick to post, slipped it into the back of the goal, at last!! Converting goals was still not our strong point with some great plays in from the mids, their goalie had a great game, but the pressure was on as we pressed hard. Spencer managed to make a few clearance whackers up the field but the steely backline Lizzie, Alex, Helen and Penny were not letting anything through, which made Evie a very happy goalie. A few more set attacking plays saw us back into their D and with 10 minutes to go another cracking cross this time from Amy found Mel P, who tucked it behind the goalie and into the back of the net!! A solid half of good hockey!
It was honestly a great game, Spencer didn’t enjoy it and they told us as much at the end of the game, but we pulled it together as a team, played as a team and got the result we needed and deserved. We played some brilliant hockey in the second half and we look forward to the next two matches to see out the season – still all to play for. We celebrated our win in style at race night – what a great night put on by the Men’s 2s… the whole club got behind the night and it was a cracker… thanks boys!! The End of Season Dinner is shaping up to be a cracker.
MOMs – Sophie Merrett and Georgie Sangster (aka crazy cat lady)
Ladies Vamps 2-1 Berrylands 1s
The Vamps started well and went on the attack against a mostly younger Berrylands’ team. Eventually persistence paid off and Jane got the first goal. Second half the oppo came out fighting and equalised. Several short corners in the Vamps’ circle were uneventful and Vamps held the oppo back, then a burst down the other end and Lauren scored a magnificent winning goal to take us to a 2-1 win.
Ladies 3rd XI 1-3 Tulse Hill & Dulwich
Match report to follow.