Men’s 1st XI 5-1 Winchester 1s
OCs 1st XI travelled to Winchester on the last scheduled Saturday of the season. Whilst Matt Murphy would probably describe the game as a dead rubber the rest of the squad were keen to finish the regular league season off with a win and celebrate with a few jars at the club after. The away side knew Winchester could cause problems given their decent record in their first season in the South premiership.
OCs were fortunate not to go one nil down from the first corner with the umpire luckily blowing the whistle before the ball rolled over the line of Davies’ foot. After this, OCs started to dominate the game and soon went 1-0 up as Hill converted from the first short corner we had. The next corner ended in a similar result with the away side doubling their lead and Hill scoring his 15th goal, in his first season at the club. Hugh Robinson bolstered the lead just before half time with a deceptive slap from a slip left.
The half time team talk was relaxed with OCs knowing that one more goal would all but seal the three points. Ben Wilson soon completed this scoring an excellent reverse stick shot after a good counter attack. Ben soon doubled his tally, perhaps slightly fortunately after a Winchester defender deflected the ball into the back of the net. The game became more open, and Robinson should have scored OCs 6th but was unable to find the empty net, scooping it high past the left upright. As customary in our games this season we allowed Winchester to have one shot on target which found its way past Doble in nets, resulting in a final score of 5-1.
OCs remain 3rd in the table with a small possibility of finishing second if we beat Indian Gymkhana (assuming they inform us when they would like to play the game) and London Edwardians lose in their rearranged fixture.
Men’s 2nd XI 6-1 Winchester 2s
Match report to follow.
Men’s 3rd XI 6-1 Bank Of England 2
I have very few ambitions left in hockey but one that lingers is to have an unadulterated match report published on the web site. That may take a few more years to be achieved.
This weekend saw the 42 week wait over at last. All that sweat and a few tears saw it pop out for those who mattered to see. We won the title for the 4th year running, some feat and unique in OC history. 3 losses in 4 seasons albeit with 2 games to go. A goal difference of circa 250 and probably about that number of players who have graced the team in that 4 year period. Looking at the teams in the new league and with Wanderers 5s gaining promotion as well I see that we potentially have 2 trips to Kennington nest season as their 4s are also in Div 2, joy unbounded.
Oh yes, Mrs Paddy also produced John Doe after the same length of time. They now have 2 kiddies and so Paddy can take advice from Darren as to how to enter the dog house on a Friday night, eventually leave it on the next Friday morning just to go back into it again come Friday night.
Our last home game of the 2017/18 season saw us entertain the very reluctant Bank of Boks at TD but certainly not the crowd. Possible interest rate rises thwarted our previous attempts to rearrange the pre Christmas game that was called off due to the Russian influence on our weather but this time there were no such obstacles. Lewi was again on time explaining how he had paid a princely sum for a valueless auction item at St Georges Hill annual dinner the night before. Ben was this week’s late arrival, (ignoring John Doe who was a week or so late), but he had a good excuse as he had to label all the Lidl sale items with a whopping 1p reduction on all items.
The less said about the game the better as other than a few patches of good stuff we were shocking. Lewi was once again on the money. He not only told us that he had bought a valueless item the night before which was spot on, but said we could easily descend to B of B’s level of hockey and boy, we did. We were 3-1 up at half time courtesy of a Lewi tap in, Eds short corner strike and one from Knappy. We conceded one goal whilst the defence were quizzing Rosko about this appendicitis farce that turned out to be a spot of ill placed wind which probably explains the toxic goalkeepers kit of last week. Needs to go over Natalie’s shoulder and be burped more often.
We scored 3 more goals in the second half, a brace from the Lidl “2 for the price of one” stick of Ben and one by Eds who managed to score whilst standing behind the goal but pushing the net far enough in from the back to touch a goal bound effort from a sharp deflection with VAR later showing it had a touch of Geoff Hurst about it, the third one from 1966 that crashed into the back of the net.
Highlight of the game has to be Ports one career chance to score followed by a knee based plea with arms held out in the air looking like the Pope or Billy Graham imploring the adoring American loonies who believed he was God to part with their money “Virge you can buy a jug, you can buy a jug, just believe and have faith”.
2 more games to go v Epsom and Boks again so let’s not slip up. Happy Easter One and all.
Men’s 4th XI 1-10 Cranleigh 1s
Men’s 4XI suffered a crushing 10-1 defeat to league leaders Cranleigh who proved much too strong on the day. After a disastrous opening ten minutes where we conceded three quick goals, we weathered the storm and created multiple chances of our own to score so at half-time the game was still just about in the balance. Five minutes later we were 5-0 down and the goals kept on coming as we tired and they hit us on the break, time and again. The consolation goal was no less than we deserved for a thankless morning’s work! Still three games to go to salvage some points and secure a top six finish.
Men’s Barnstormers
No match.
Men’s Hamstrings Tulse Hill & Dulwich
Match report to follow.
Ladies 1st XI 3-1 Sunbury & Walton Hawks
With OCs ladies 1st XI squad not having played a league game in what felt like an age they travelled away to Sunbury and Walton Hawks on Tuesday evening for their penultimate game of the season.
With spirits high, OCs started well by scoring their first goal within 5 minutes. The goal was scored by Katie Richards who took a strike from the top of the D and capitalised on the keeper not having her feet close enough together. The OCs took control of the game from then on and we’re pushing for further goals. With Georgie Syms securing a couple of short corners, OCs were unlucky to convert any. Sunbury had their chances on the break but with solid defending from the backs and Michele in goal they were kept at bay. OCs entered half time 2-0 up thanks to a lose ball interception which was driven up half the pitch and into the D by Amy Mighalls who shot successfully from an acute angle. Half time 2-0
After a team talk and refuelling OCs started the second half slightly scrappy and took a while to settle into the game. Unfortunately, the OCs continued to struggle to find the rhythm they had in the first half with a more panicked style of play and a few more errors but still with the drive to further extend their lead. Nearing the end of the second half and after battling continuously Katie Richards managed to enter the D from the left and smash a ball into the back of the goal taking OCs 3-0 up. Unfortunately it was not meant to be for the clean sheet and on their third successive short corner in a row Sunbury managed to reduce their deficit by one. Final score OCs 3, Sunbury and Walton Hawks 1 which secured OCs the 4th place in the league, a very positive placing for the newly promoted team this season. OCS final game of the season is away to Wayfayers 3s.
Ladies 2nd XI 4-2 Spencer 6s
It was our final match of the season, at the mighty OC home, against Spencer 6s and we were all excited but tinged with the disappointment that it was our last game for a while. Yet again, we knew we had to continue our winning streak if promotion was an option, and we had lost against Spencer at Battersea Park earlier in the season. After what may have been a slightly excitable/undignified warm up (and under the lens of a certain Mr Williamson), we were raring to get on the pitch and finish our season off with a bang. We knew our oppo had varied results across the season, so their form was somewhat unpredictable. That said, we knew we wanted to play our game.
We started off strong and with five minutes, Amy had weaved her way through the defenders, into the D and calmly negotiated around the keeper to secure our first goal. However, they had some seriously quick players, with great skill, and caught us on a break, equalising relatively quickly. We continued to work hard transferring the ball around the back and getting it up to the forwards who were fighting hard, and a few short corners were awarded. Although the first didn’t find the backboard, the second used our favourite East German formation, which Rachel and Kara executed to perfection. The oppo then scored off a simple short corner which took us to 2-2 at half time.
Our half time talk was a reminder that we needed to calm down, not panic pass and reflect on the good play that we had been doing. Some deep breaths later (and a few jelly babies) later and we were ready to go out and secure the win. Now the details get hazy but Ellie then scored off a short corner, following a good save from the keeper, so were now sitting at 3-2. The oppo continued to have some good breaks, and really put our fitness to the test. A number of us, including Evie, can definitely recall a speedy forward approaching her for a 1:1 when Super -Hero Emma appeared from nowhere to clear the ball out of danger – seriously impressive play by Emster 🙂
We held them out with great grit and determination, and managed to win another sort corner. This time Kara’s strike was a perfect left corner winner -we had finally nailed it, and also secured our final win of the season. 4-2, game over!
What a win! Such a great team effort, but Kara won the player of the match for her awesome skills- well done Mrs (don’t go) Thanks to Virge and Cookiey for their unquestionable umpiring and to the committed supporters on the sidelines for their valued cheering. It means so much to us! What a way to finish our first ever season as OC 2s – Thanks to everyone who has played for the 2s, you are all a part of this! Over and out, until September 🙂
Ladies Vamps 0-1 Kenley
Vamps struggled to get players for our last league game and had to enlist help from back to hockey players, a couple of the 3’s and Helen, for which we were very grateful. Sue Dewar became available on Friday and gave us 12, so we were a bit more positive starting. Nici our fab goalie prevented many goals with Kenley being awarded several short corners. First half, although Kenley had several short corners, they were unable to score, but during the second half Kenley’s persistence paid off and, although we thought the umpire should have blown with Nici, on the floor bombarded by attaching sticks, Kenley got their only goal. Helen and Jane had 2 attempts in the Kenley D but were unsuccessful. Hannah had tanked a bute into the D and Jane managed to connect with it but the goalie was on form and prevented us equalising. Probably a fair result 1-0 to Kenley.
Ladies 3rd XI 2-0 Cheam
Match report to follow.