Hockey returned after the second lockdown with a fairly full round of matches although the men’s 1st and 2nd XIs were not in action
Men’s 4th XI 9-2 Old Reigatians 1s
On paper this was was a cracking match to return to. Our 4th XI back to full strength after the lay-off allowed injuries to mend against an unbeaten OR side sitting top of the table. The first quarter lived up to the hype, with both sides playing slick passing hockey without creating too many openings as both defences looked solid. The ORs went ahead on 12 minutes when a rifled free hit from 30 yards out found a deflection in the D. We pressed hard and secured a deserved equaliser from a short corner after 24 minutes and then took the lead two minutes later. Crucially, we added a third from a simple straight strike off a short corner with the last hit of the half.
Two goals to the good at the break but the game far from won. That all changed with three minutes of the re-start as we hit two more – one a well-worked short, the other from a break – and then, bizarrely given their league position, the ORs not so much fell apart as throw in the towel. ORs did sneak one back on 50 minutes but then four more by us within eight minutes of that reflected the waves of pressure. The last few minutes were scrappy but such was our dominance by then that Chris Porter was even able to smile benignly when a 50-50 decision went against him.
The exact goalscorers remains unclear. Cookie and Eds grabbed two each but, rather like Battle of Britain kills, the remaining five were claimed by seven other people.
Old Reigatians 2s 0-4 Men’s 5th XI
As the hockey season cranked back into gear with some of us like joyous children on Christmas morning as we were allowed back out to play others found a marvelous array of excuses as to why their clubs were unable to turn out and fulfill their fixtures. Being on the league organiser’s email list I received a bumper crop of emailed excuses. Many were banal but others were corkers. The theme of many was “we cannot possibly play as we have not been able to train. To assist those clubs here is a tip, buy some running shoes and move forward at a pace quicker than walking for 20 to 30 minutes x four or five times a week.
The top two have to be:-
a) in second place “we can’t play on the 2nd January as we have too many players away coming back that weekend”. Hmm, wonder if they are changing their name to Superspreaders 2021
b) top of the pile was “there has been an increase in incidents of soft tissue injury that is likely to cause a problem if we cannot train”. What on earth does that mean? The club shall remain nameless as they are just the other side of the railway from us.
An 9.30 start was going to be a rude awaking for us as we fittingly visited St Bede’s school in Reigate. Born on lands belonging to the twin monastery of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow in present day Tyne and Wear, Bede was sent to Monkswearmouth at the age of 7 and later joined Abbott Ceolfrith at Jarrow both of whom survived a plague that struck in 686, an outbreak that killed a majority of the local population. Sounds like a plot line to one of Crumbers books.
Other than Grant who has been feeling unwell with a shortage of breath for two months, only playing for 3 of the last 8 weeks, we could all say that we are devout followers of St Bede having survived the incarnation of the Monkswearmouth plague. The rude awakening did not wake up any of our cabal of umpires who were n/a and instead CJ and Crumbers did a half each. Having been the only player that I have ever seen in 45 years of hockey to receive a green card for picking up the ball during a match the gamekeeper ensured that we received a firm dictate that “when I am umpiring anyone who picks up the ball will receive a green card”.
We all assembled at St Bede’s gaff save Seearsy who, whilst on the subject breaching laws, contacted the skip to say he would be late as he had to stop to buy some petrol. Unfortunately he then said that having left the petrol station 10 or so minutes previously he realised he had forgotten to pay and being an honest guy had gone back to settle up. We can all now see why he has grown a beard in Lockdown 2. Four weeks after our being saved by Noah in his ark at Cheam the sport resumed with our spread of players from all bar the 40’s of the post war the decades.
We actually played reasonably well even though our 4 week break had done zippo to our ability to pass the ball to the wrong coloured shirts. Seb, aka Gareth due his habit of baling us out of trouble, baled us out of trouble 4 or 5 times when we were caught on the break enabling us to reach half time at 2-0 up. Jonkers senior picked up a loose ball coming back off their keeper at our first short corner and squeezed the ball home whilst Joe continued his regular goal scoring when receiving the ball after an excellent supporting run to slip the ball home.
Having had a series if results that resembled a couple of lower domino tiles we wanted to keep a clean sheet and this was achieved. 2 more second half goals from a short corner and a deflection from a top cross from CJ rounded off our scoring although we probably should have scored a couple more. Jonkers junior was unlucky when a rasping shot went just wide whilst a couple of edges from defenders were enough to thwart final passes. All in all a good squad performance with everyone playing well. Thank you to our two and the OR umpire for very good performances that kept an open game flowing. Have a good holiday in the Maldives Crumbers with the cyclones hardly noticeable when in the shelters provided.
A 16.40 start v Woking away next week with the probability that Malcolm will have consumed his two Scotch Eggs by that time of the evening.
Surbiton Jokers 3-4 OCHC Stormers
So, the real question coming out of Lockdown 2 and coming back to the pitch was “Is Rippers too big for hockey?”. Despite the 1,000 squats, 150 press-ups and 200 sit-ups keeping him busy every day for the last 6 weeks, the resounding answer was “no”. But, generally speaking, some of us went into the game with a bit of trepidation at the levels of fitness, given that Joe Wicks has disappeared from the TV to the beach to write another cook book and Tongy is no longer torturing us with his faulty stopwatch twice a week. Fitness we would need, fingers crossed then that some of it survived.
After a pre-match team talk, where Matt pulled us off to a “discreet” corner to impress upon us the importance of discipline, we were all raring to go and determined not to talk back to the umpires or get dragged into any chat.
The game started at quite a pace and it was evident that Surbiton had some skill and energy with no.16 seemingly everywhere in our half. Our back four was, however, up to the challenge and we defended stoutly. Our first chance came just 5 mins into the game and Matt powered home from a slick short corner. Unfortunately, Surbiton smashed an exact replica corner past a prostrate Goalie only a minute later.
We were playing well, attacking with speed and making some early headway down the right with both Packers and Jody finding great space. In fact, minutes later, Jody found himself on the end of a wonderfully slick OC passing move, after we had carved through their midfield. He sauntered up to the keeper to slot it past him, but put his shot wide…a shame that such a combination move lacked the finish it deserved. But wait…in a flash, a moustachioed hero came sliding in at the far post to guide the ball into the open goal. Amazing chasing and following up from Gerry, and he deserves real credit for putting massive effort in to get there, just in case. 2-1 OCs
The next goal is quite forgettable, well I at least wish it was. Anyway, one of our brave defenders scored an own goal (a pretty fabulous one to be honest). 2-2
One of the highlights of the first half was the quite intriguing umpiring. I honestly thought one of them might break down for being “undermined” and the other, it seemed, could point only one way. At half time, we promised ourselves again not to let our discipline go…
On to the second half and the litmus test for fitness. This was not a pretty 35 minutes of hockey. Highlights for me (I’ve gone with highlights because this is now a very long match report and I’m boring myself as well as you):
1. Rippers hiding behind one umpire to avoid a card from the other (it worked!)
2. Matt being a great example to the team, saying almost nothing to the umpires (ahem)
3. Goalie getting quite annoyed at the third goal (love the passion)
4. A sublime, wrong-footed finish by Jody
5. A match winner from Jimmy (assisted by the moustachioed hero)
6. Backs-to-the-wall defending for the last 5 mins
7. It turns out we did have the fitness after all
8. 4-3 win for OCs
All-in-all, we were the better side and deserved to win. There’s something special about walking back to your car at Surbiton having just won. Some really great stamina, slick passing and pace in attack. If we’d have lost though, we’d have been complaining about our discipline, so let’s not gloss over that.
MoM is Gerry for fantastic running, never giving up, one goal, two assists and a great moustache.
That poor brave defender…he’ll have nightmares tonight.
Ladies 1st XI 2 – 1 London Accies
On Saturday 5th December the Ladies 1s travelled up to Bermondsey to face London Accies. We were both promoted last season and, having drawn in an early season friendly, we were prepared for a close game. As always, it was an aggressive and hard fought contest, but we were super excited to win the match 2-1. The first goal came from Amy Migs from a deflection off a penalty corner strike. The second goal came from Laura Sealey after about 20 rebounds with us all scrabbling to get a goal away. Accies scored their goal from a penalty stroke. Highlights included…some incredible saves by our super goalie Molly Warner, our defence successfully defending approximately 10 Accies penalty corners (it could have been more), some super strong play from Captain and MOM Richie and a really great performance from our youngest player Poppy. Rather foolishly, I left the half time oranges in my fridge and also tried to go on the pitch with Syms’ stick instead of my own (hence why I am writing this match report for the 3rd time this season). Next week we face top of the league Wimbledon. With us currently sitting second it is sure to be an exciting an important match.
Wimbledon 5s 2 -1 Ladies 2nd XI
We warmed up and got ready to go out onto the pitch. We knew it was going to be a scrappy game because neither of the teams had been able to train for the last month. In the first half, it was messy to begin with and we were finding it hard to link up with other players. However, as the first half progressed our passing improved and we did some good set plays up the pitch. Our defence was particularly strong getting the ball and immediately out-letting it up the pitch to the midfielders, and Elsa and Holly making some great tackles. Our midfields, Bella and Foxy, were particularly good at receiving the ball and running it up the pitch and passing it into the D for the forwards to get. We went 1-0 down after the first 10 minutes of the match, however, we fought hard and we equalised soon after with a good run down the pitch and cross in from Ellen which was then tapped in by the forwards. Just before half time, Wimbledon turned over the ball near their D and whilst everyone tried to get back to defend they managed to score. So it was 2-1 at half time. We went back onto the pitch for the second half eager to get ahead, we started with high intensity, pressing the ball well with good pressure from the forwards. We did some really good attacking play and we got awarded several short corners. We tried many variations, drag flicks, right slips, Jo Mir and Laura both had some great attempts at goal but, unfortunately, we didn’t manage to score. Wimbledon managed to score a 3 further goals in the second half. Despite this, we fought hard to try to bring it back. Lizzie made some great tackles and created some promising attacking opportunities. We set up early and played at high intensity until the end of the match. Although we lost, it was a good game with some aspects of great play and from the match we are able to identify areas which we can work on in training to improve our performance for the upcoming games.
Chertsey Thames Valley 1 – 2 Ladies 4th XI
We were looking forward to playing again and we got off to a great start, despite our umpire, Louise, going to the wrong ground and arriving half time and, Debbie turning up 20 mins late due to a puncture. However, we put the pressure on and 10 mins in we took the first goal curtesy of Jane with a surprising reverse stick action. The opposition fought back and during the first half, in spite of some excellent defending from the 4’s, Chertsey equalised. The passing was a little suspect at times but come the second half with Kate back in the squad we continued to pile on the pressure. Several short corners later, but none converted, and despite the opposition going up a gear, Lana scored to secure the match. A worthy win and back to 3rd place in the league.
Ladies 5th XI 0 – 2 Surrey Spartans Ladies 2s
The sun came out for our first match post lockdown 2.0, making it feel like we were kicking off the season once again. After a four-week enforced rest, we knew we had a tough game ahead against Team Surrey Spartans. We’d been pretty evenly matched in previous meetings and they are slightly ahead in the league with goal difference and an extra game held pre-lockdown.