Stormers 5 – 3 Reading
In a thrilling encounter between Stormers and Reading, the Stormers emerged victorious with a 5-3 win. The game began with Ash striking first blood with a short corner conversion, opening up the scoreline 1-0 in favour of the fine gentlemen. However, Reading quickly replied with a goal of their own, making it 1-1.
The game was not without its fair share of drama, with both teams experiencing injuries. Cato was hit by a violent Reading stick to the head, while Andy hurt his groin. Despite the injuries, the Stormers pushed on, with debutant Powelly playing well in the midfield and up front.
Kingo managed to score twice, leading the team to a 3-1 lead at half-time. During the half-time chat, Mani made an jaw dropping prediction, claiming that Reading were still in the game if they scored a scrappy goal and short corner – and lo and behold, that’s exactly what happened in the second half, bringing the scores level at 3-3. Mani seemed like the Nostradamus of the hockey world!
Tongy of the Stormers was lucky to escape a penalty after blatantly kicking the ball away from a Reading payer like a petulant man-child right in front of the umpire. However, the game wasn’t over, with a scramble on the goal line going in favour of the Stormers, with Goose (Willy N) scoring by pushing the ball across the line to make it 4-3.
Maverick (Willy M) secured the victory with a world-class goal, finishing the game 5-3. It was a hard-fought victory for the Stormers, with both teams giving it their all. In the end, it was the Stormers who emerged victorious, much to the delight of their fans.
Scorers – Ash Garrett, James King x 2, Will Naylor and Will Marshall
POM – Goalie
Ladies 4s 0-2 Aces
We knew this was going to be a tough game against top of the division Aces. They had already beaten us in a match back in October and are a solid and experienced bunch, who take their hockey (and pitch side umpiring) pretty seriously, so Paula prepared us for the upcoming battle with a defensive 4-4-2 formation.
We started strongly and for most of the first half it was end-to-end play. A solid defence from Tash, Roz, Paula and Carolina largely kept them out of the D and away from the goal. That’s not to say there weren’t a couple of close calls, including one strike that hit the far post, but nothing that we couldn’t handle. Sam was called on a few times to demonstrate her excellent goal-keeping skills, and delivered some cracking kicks, which were swiftly cleared by our defenders. And when we were onthe ball, we made the most of it, turning and attacking, with Charlotte and Yasmine in the middle, ably moving it up the pitch to Ailsa and Alex, who had some great runs. Selma and Josie, at left- and right- mid, both had a great game and fought for every ball, helping to keep it high. Sadly, we couldn’t quite get the goal we wanted, and when we got a short corner we were unable to convert it, but we had a few good chances and with the first half ending 0-0 there was everything to play for.
The second half started with them coming out fighting and pretty soon they got the first of a string of short corners. And with a straight shot that we thought was high until it zinged off the backboard, they moved the scoreline to 1-0. We kept our heads and came back with some good attacking runs, some great 1-2s between Yasmine and Ailsa and an excellent pass from Charlotte into the D, which missed Ailsa’s stick by a whisker. The pitch was a sandpit and we skidded everywhere, taking it in turns to go flying, but we didn’t stop trying. However, before long they managed to get a second goal, again off a short-corner – kicked away by Sam but picked up them on the rebound, passed back across the goal and bopped in off the left post.
2-0 down, we carried on fighting, battling for every ball, standing our ground and, in Yasmine’s words, hustling and rattling them. We reminded each other not to be riled by the on-pitch chat and to keep our heads up and play the game. Special mention to Carolina, who was a picture of calm despite being up close and personal time and again with their most vocal player, and also to Alex and Selma for laughing it off. It was not a friendly game and we didn’t much like their attitude on the pitch [off the pitch they were very pleasant and brought us homemade cake!], but at the end of the day we didn’t let it phase us. We produced some excellent team play, ending on a high despite the 2-0 loss.
POM Yasmine, with Carolina and Charlotte in joint close second.
Written by Zoe Jones
Hamstrings 2 – 2 Guildford
Not to be
Our chances of finishing second are now out of our hands although our good run of only one defeat since late November continues. 3 wins in the remaining games will put us there or there about and not to far behind Surbiton who are likely to win the league.
Fair to say the first 20 minutes was absolute tosh and we deserved to be 1 down. As the second half proceeded we clawed our way back into the game and levelled when a massive stick block stopped us from equalising that we redressed by popping home the resultant flick.
The second half was much better but we went behind for a second time as we were caught out by a swift break and good finish. Oddly we upped our game on going behind and equalised at our fifth short corner tucking home a loose ball.
We could have won the game in the dying seconds but that would not have been just as a draw was a fair result.
Thanks to Phil and Wade for their giving up part of their Saturday to umpire.
Sunbury Hawks next up early doors on Saturday.
OCHC Ladies 6 2 – 2 OCHC Ladies 5s
Match report from Ladies 6……
So it was finally the much anticipated Derby day, not people dressed in their finery off to Epsom Downs, but the crunch league match between OC Ladies 5s and OC Ladies 6s. We train together, often play together and have shared more than one post-match tipple together, but regardless off this the gloves were off. We had a slightly nervous start, allowing the 5s a bit too much time on the
ball. Resulting in them taking the lead with a fantastic strike after about 10 minutes. However, we regrouped, kept our heads and started to play good passing hockey. Leigh, Frankie, Sarah, Isa and Hels at the back distributed the ball confidently to the wings and the youngsters (Chralotte, Josie, Poppy and Evie) used their pace to make some electrifying runs into the opposition’s half. Their attack was backed up by some calm and supportive play from Ami, Jenny, Nic, Fi and Nadia. After a period of pressure Fi took a fantastic near post opportunity flicking passed the keeper. The next 20minutes the 6s had most of the ball and pressure – Poppy P made a great run into the D, kept her head and calmly dribbled round the diving keeper to slot the ball into the goal – a really great moment of individual play and maturity from one of our colts. The rest of the half was end to end stuff, the 5s finally pulled one back just before the half time break.
The second half was no less attritional, everyone on both sides really was there to win the game. There were some close chances from Josie and Poppy, but we were unable to break the deadlock. A 2-2 draw was probably the right result, there was some great hockey, some great sportsmanship and mutual respect on the pitch – a brilliant day for all those involved. Finally a massive thank you to Darren McKay for his level headed coaching from the side, George for kindly running the bench. Finally the biggest thank you goes to Nic and Isa for their marvellous fair and encouraging captaincy. Everybody on the team wanted to win it for you, and we nearly did………
