Men’s 1st XI 0-1 Teddington
A disappointing result on a damp afternoon as we went down to a first-half penalty-flick in a game we again should have got something out of but one in which we lacked the killer final touch. Report might well follow.
Men’s 2nd XI 1-3 Oxted
Oxted were the latest victims as OC’s losing streak came to down, with two late goals a dagger through the hopes and dreams of the orange and navy. We took the opening 10 minutes to adapt to the new formation, before giving away the first of three converted short corners. DOD’s deliberate inside edge onto his foot to give James Dick the chance to be a hero was in vain as the teenager failed to stop the penalty flick, giving Oxted a deserved lead. We countered and countered well after falling behind, looking dangerous once their counterparts could get them in the game. One such chance early in the second half led to Cooper feeding Cook, who produced a Bergkamp-esque turn to slot past the keeper for 1-1.
Man of the match Kingham was the lynchpin of OC’s increased ball retention as they stood up to a talented Oxted side. And it showed as Oxted slowly started to mentally unravel, spending much of the second half down to 10 men for a string of offences followed by a tirade of abuse towards the umpires. Thus, it made for an intriguing plot twist when Oxted took the lead from a controversial penalty corner. Wildbore taken out, only for the umpire to blow the other direction. And a third corner buried us minutes from time. A valiant effort from all involved against a good team. OC’s won’t stay bottom for long playing at that standard.
Merton 1-1 Men’s 4th XI
Merton always provide a tough opposition and this game proved no different as we dropped our first points of the season. A hard-fought match on the Blenheim School beach was short of skill but made up for that in commitment. The early stages hinted that we would dominate but Merton battled back and had the better of the middle section. Nonetheless, Hugo Snell gave us the lead midway through the first half but then proceeded to give the ball away too often and there was a certain inevitability about Merton’s equaliser ten minutes into the second half. Both sides had chances to secure the win, Kieran twice having to make good saves from penalty corners while at the other end Eds went close twice as he hurled himself into the fray. This he did with such commitment that he was sent to the side with too much blood on his shorts. Covid regulations do not cover the resulting suggestions he swap shorts with someone else, but fortunately nobody was willing. A point each. No complaints.
Men’s 5th XI 2-2 Croydon
The advantage of being around erudite fellow humans is that we never stop learning. However lessons can be learnt the hard way.
Seven days ago I thought that I was learning some hockey related Afrikaans which meant something along the lines of “well played sir” on listening to the Epson umpire ahead of his gentlemanly chat with skipper Zed Crumbie. Wind on a week and there I am congratulating the oppo’s left half on some world class tackling only to be brought to book by Ravo at half time. I was educated that the word i used was a little bit away from congratulatory. To be fair to Ravo he was preparing himself for his local nativity play as a hypocrite in the synagogue as recounted in Matthew 6.2. Post half time Ravo was heard uttering not dissimilar words to the Croydon bench. Having told me that there were children around his utterance was in pretty well the same place as my uttering and therefore in front of the same children.
The conclusion of the 8 days is that somewhere in the SHUA manual there is a section that all umpires must have learnt entitled “how to address players in a less than judicious manner”.
As for the game this was recorded by Mearsy presumably to show the 1s of the dangers of deteriorating to the 5ths standard rather than this is how it is done. A highlights show was later circulated which certainly did highlight many things….
We decided we needed to start better due to being on the back foot in both the previous 2 games. Our warm up was slightly changed but we still managed to avoid touching the ball within the first 5 minutes other than the now available Seb in goal. As the game progressed we did start to play some decent hockey and were somewhat unfortunate not to be awarded a stroke from our fist short corner, the strike deemed to be a bit high when crashing into a defenders foot on the line. Both teams conceded a short corner to make the score 1 – 1 at half time before Joe popped up in true poacher style to pop home the rebound from a cross that was half stopped by their keeper to put our noses in front.
Press though we did we were unable to score the crucial third goal with their keeper making a number of top saves. We were reduced to 10 for 2 minutes when Zed enhanced his growing reputation of offending up umpires by picking up the ball and summarily being shown a green card.
With 7 minutes left on the clock Croydon equalized with their last corner. Although we managed to create pressure we were unable to sneak a winner, our day epitomized by our last short corner that was taken off the line by the same guy who was the recipient of the first corner into his shins.
After the game Croydon were generous enough to admit that they were the happier to come away with a point and also said that their keeper was more often than not their man of the match.
2 days later we were treated to a quite bizarre finger showing contest that reminded us of our school and formative days in more than one way
Resignations during the week and resignation at dropping 2 more points was tempered by reflecting on our best performance of this fledgling season.
OGs away this coming Saturday at 16.15 with another good game beckoning and a host of new gloves on show.
Ladies 1st XI 2-1 Wayfarers
On Saturday 10th October the Ladies 1st team took on London Wayfarers 2s in our 3rd league match of the season. Fresh off a goalless draw the week before, we were keen to get an early goal away. However, it appeared we hadn’t quite woken up when an early Wayfarers attack led to a shot on goal within 30 seconds of the first whistle. Luckily, it was saved by the ever calm Molly Warner in goal. Wayfarers set the pace for the first 10 minutes as we worked hard as a team to win back the ball. Towards the end of the first half, Amy Hume hit a cracking ball through which found Laura Sealey on the halfway line. Laura ran the ball up the pitch before passing to Amy Mighalls who was perfectly positioned on the right hand side of the D. Amy coolly slotted the ball past the Wayfarers keeper and we went into half time 1-0 up.
Following our now traditional half time oranges and a talk from coach Lauren, we started the second half determined to build on our lead. Shortly after half time, Wayfarers equalized from a short corner following a series of rebounds. We were disappointed when a shot on goal by Holly Hume was stopped by a foot on the line and we were hoping for a penalty stroke but it wasn’t awarded. However, all was not lost. Towards the end of the second half Captain Richie played a fantastic ball across the pitch to Ellie Hauck on the left. Ellie very calmly reverse flicked the ball into the goal giving us a 2-1 lead. The remaining 5/10 minutes felt like hours as our solid defence fended off multiple short corners and we were all incredibly relieved to hear the final whistle. Lots to learn as always but a good result and great team effort. Special mention goes to MOM Ellie Hauck and also to Helen and Hazel who were a solid duo at the back throughout the game.
Clapham Common 2-0 Ladies 4th XI
Not many looking forward to a 4pm start at Alleyns School, Dulwich, apparently no parking, no teas and rain forecast, joy. But hopes were high to take home a win. Game started well and a squad of 13, quite healthy for such an unpopular venue/time. However, a lack of energy, not so good passing and an exposed midfield, lead to a goal in each half by the opposition. Some good personal performances and hats off to Jo for some good goalkeeping, it could have been worse. Clapham were up for it and you could tell they gelled as a team, whereas we are still settling in and getting used to each other’s game. Or well onwards and upwards. Final score 0-2. We will do better.