Welcome to the new season!
Old Cranleighan 1s 6 – 2 Brighton & Hove 1s
Saturday the 23rd September marked the beginning of the OC’s Men’s 1s 2023/2024 National League South campaign. The OCs had seen a lot of change over the summer with talismanic captain Ollie Davies stepping down and away from the team. Many faces who were key to recent success have also stepped away including Charlie Lamb, Ben Wilson and Matt Cornwell. However, the return of Matt Simpson alongside the summer signings of David Mawhinney, Joe Roberts and Seth Hislop have injected new blood into the squad.
The leadership has also seen change with William Phillips taking over the captaincy and David Matthews stepping into the role of Men’s 1s coach.
After two close games and a close run relegation battle in 2022/23 the OCs knew that Brighton offered a good test of where the squad is whilst also being an extremely important early game in terms of league positioning. We therefore decided to turn up with 14 players due to illness and other unfortunate events. After a rousing pre game team talk from new coach David “Pies” Matthews and stand in Captain Alex Batstone the OCs were ready. 
After a bright start from OCs the deadlock was broken after a sublime finish from Jack Jamieson who waltzed into the D before rasping the ball into the bottom left hand corner in the 9th minute. Brighton, clearly taking a disliking to this, decided to silence the home crowd a minute later by coming up with an equaliser through OC’s archnemesis Joe Naughalty. The OCs then capped the 3 minutes of madness by scoring again in the 10th minute through Jack Jamieson again to go back to 2-1 up.
With the game in need of a side taking charge the OCs proceeded to dominate possession for the rest of the half with some extremely neat passages of plays being set up by the back three of Matt Simpson, Alex Batstone and Seth Hislop leading to multiple short corners and one awarded PS which was cruelly overturned. The OCs were finally rewarded for their dominance when in the 35th minute a neat ball down the line from Mawhinney found Will Heywood in enough space to beat the keeper and score the 3rd.
The half time team talk was simple, keep playing the same style and moving the ball out of congested channels and the OCs would go onto win comfortably.
Sensibly, the boys listened to this advice and in a sublime 3rd quarter performance completely dominated the game and possession. A lovely move in the 42nd minute was capped by a deserved Ben Roe screamer on the backhand. A 5th shortly followed courtesy of Will Heywood’s 2nd goal of the day after a great assist from debutant Harry Lankfer to make the scoreline 5-1.
The 4th quarter was a little more frantic with Brighton chucking everything at the game to try and turn around the scoreline. The Ocs defense and midfield handled the pressure admirably and were unlucky to concede a 2nd through another Naulghalty goal. The OCs were never rattled by Brighton’s second and ended up scoring a 6th thanks to a rocket of a PC giving Jack Jamieson his hattrick on the full time whistle.
The boys will look to consolidate on a sublime performance against a strong Bath team next week.
Ladies 1s 2 – 3 Hampstead & Westminster 3s
First game of the season for the Ladies 1s in the London Premier Division against Hampstead and Westminster 3s, and with a bigger squad and cooler temperatures the pace was set from the start.
There was some good play with plenty of transfers round the back, and good ‘easy early’ moves down the wings led to a corner. A straight strikefrom Danni was deflected over the keeper and we were 1-0 up. After battling hard we saw our lead disappear but didn’t get our heads down and a smart corner routine was deflected in at the near post by Sam for a 2-1 lead.
Unfortunately the opposition did not give up and continued wave after wave of attack which led to 2 late goals and despite some late chances we were unable to capitalise and the game finished 2-3. Plenty to build from and an encouraging start.
Congratulations to all our new members making their competitive debut for the 1s: Aimee, Gabby, Mia, Macy, Danni, Ella and Mackenzie.
Men’s 2s 5 – 4 Teddington 3s
“C’mon kids time for bed, which story would you like?” Asked their father. “Daddy, daddy please tell us about the time you played Teddington?” With a glint in his eye he pulled them in closer “Okay but this is for the last time….
The sun shone high over TD and the anticipation of the new season hung in the air as the Men’s 2nd XI started to arrive. A changing of the guard saw Freddie Russel-Jones lead the warm up as he took the new faces in the team to the Church of The People.
But those blessing were short lived as Teddington started the stronger, giving themselves a 3 goal lead….
“But Daddy why are the bad men winning? I thought this was a nice story?” His daughter cried out. “Shh shh settle, this is the People’s Team remember”
… with the first half coming to an end and as former Barcelona HC player Ben West would later describe as a ‘turning point’ in the game the ball fell kindly to David Roberts who slotted the ball home at the second time of asking. 
Manager Meers and Assistant Mathews gave their long list of improvements to the players eager for them to be implemented. The score line moved to 4-1 Teddington.
Enter the MOM of our story William Means, a young farmer from the East of England who can spot a Lamb from a mile away and as Charlie ran through it was no different on the pitch playing a quick freehit to his midfield partner who produced our champagne moment as the ball slammed into the far netting. 4-2.
For every MOM there is a DOD and with the tide of the game changing the ball fell to Roberts and with the goal gapping he shot wide, very wide, sideline ball Teddington…
“No, no I don’t like this story Daddy” his Son burst out. “I know the Peoples Team won’t win now, I don’t like it tell me about the time you won the HA Trophy with Tom Stratford instead of this.” “Next time Son, this story isn’t over”
…Redemption was quick as Cornwell pounced to gift DR a goal. 4-3. Time was short and as another debutant Ollie Davies found Roberts in the D with a pinpoint pass the ball raced past the helpless keeper. 4-4.
Nervous looks from both sets of players and as they wondered “how much time left Mr Wolf?” young Will replied “enough” with the ball expertly controlled the team gasped as the pass to the back post took a detour via the keeper but Charlie Lamb mopped up. 5-4 to the Peoples Team. Scenes.
And with that the father tucked his children in “Goodnight kids” and as he crept out of the room his daughter called out half asleep “but did you do a boot?” As the father pondered for a moment “next week my love, next week”.
OC 2nd XI – 5
Teddington 3rd XI – 4
Scores – D. Roberts x3, C. Lamb x2
MOM – William Means
DOD – David Roberts
Champagne Moment – Charlie Lamb
Next game vs OC’s 3rd XI (away) at TD, 14:30 start.
Ladies 2s 2 – 0 Ashford 1s
After our tackticle warm-up and getting ourselves into the zone, we were ready to begin. We knew our first game of the season against recently relegated Ashford was going to be a tough match but we weren’t intimidated. The white board discussion and drawing (which resembled a 2yr olds scribbles) meant we all knew the game plan … GOAL TIME!
The first half started a little nervous but after a lot of perseverance and determination we managed to get the ball to our right mid Charlotte H who fantastically ran the line, not letting anyone get in her way, and travelled done the baseline slipping the ball to Grace R who sent it to p-spot, where Anaya P was ready to finish the sequence. Goal!
0-1
After a few more runs and some well earned short corners which sadly didn’t turn into goals we reach half time.
We fuelled up on orange slices, sweets and after our technical half time talk and we were ready to finish what we had started!
We started the second half very strong winning a penalty corner within a minute but sadly didn’t convert. Much of the second half was spent with OCs pressing a very few D entries from Ashford. With ten minutes remaining we are able to win a short! Liz N injected it to left slip were Nikki S was ready to stop, Candela GU drag was saved by the goalie but with everyone to fight for the rebound it was Liz N who luckily managed to win it back and slip past the goal line!
0-2
In the remaining minutes Ashford tried and make some runs but we shut them down together immediately, no one was taking away this victory from us! Fabulous win for the Ladies 2s. Great start and with so much ball possession, opportunities it looks like it is going to be an exciting season.
Final Score: 2-0 win
MOM: Grace R
Goals: Liz Norrington / Anaya Patel
Stormers 2 – 2 Reading Rustlers
The hockey season seems to come around a lot quicker than it used to and (un)surprisingly Reading away at 3pm as an opening fixture delayed half the usual stormer’s availability for at least another week with golf in sunny Spain preferred over a 2 hour journey down the m4 to take on a team who are always strong at home. Nevertheless Goalie mustered a classic 11 with local boy Richie stepping in to’only play 10 minutes’.
Reading started strongly passing the ball quickly amongst each other but not really creating much in the final third, a couple of shots dealt with easily by our Welsh international keeper. Fair to say against the run of play, Will then picked up a pass from the back around the half way then proceeded to do what he does best and burning past three people, beating the fourth and fifth for fun, then slotting a reverse stick in the bottom corner as you do. Will doing Will. Tails up, the passing and running off the ball was great and led to a short corner from which Matt did what Matt does beating the postman with a sweet strike.
2 up at half time, we wanted to keep playing our hockey in the second half but the 16 men of Reading had other ideas and again started quickly. A rising short corner led to their opening goal. A second short squeaked in at the post made it 2-2 and we were hanging on. A couple of chances for either team to grab the 3 points were spurned so a share of the spoils was probably fair enough.
Great commitment by everyone on the pitch (bar CB) with Richie playing pretty much all game and a solid debut by Haucky. Good to get the season up and running with newly promoted Sonning visiting fortress TD next week with (un)surprisingly a lot more availability.
Match report by CB – Chris Brewer
Goal scorers
Will Naylor
Matt Heslop
Mom – Andy Alderson-Evans
Ladies 3s 3 – 1 Old Kingstonian 2s
The sun was shining for our first match of the season for the fabulous Ladies 3s which saw us came face to face with Old Kingstonians. Some new faces and some very old faces graced the pitch with a winning combination of youth and experience. After a 0-0 draw during our friendly a few weeks ago, it was difficult to gauge how tough this match would be.
Our team consisted of a solid defensive line with Emma, Erin and Connie and versatility throughout our forwards and mids. We showed intensity in our play from the whistle and had some early shots at goal including some tantalisingly close near misses and an aerial that was goal worthy but denied by the OK’s strong and agile keeper. We had more possession of the ball and kept pushing towards the goal leading to our first short corner, but even a Manny missile strike could not get past their goalie. We continued to push them back and apply pressure to their defence, winning another short, again a straight strike was denied but Manny followed up and managed to find the backboard giving us our first goal. 
Obviously giddy from the first goal our concentration lapsed a little and an untimely substitution just meant a little confusion with our defence. OKs capitalised and scored a lucky goal, as our defensive wall of Erin, Connie and Emma let very little past for most of the match.
Half time score was 1-1, we focused on our press and moving across the pitch as a team, defending solidly and stretching the oppo. We dominated the second half, which saw us turning over the ball and pushing them back again and again, leading to another short corner. A great injection by Sophie to Josie who hit powerfully and found the backboard. 2-1 up and we were thirsty for more to ensure a comfortable win, we had some great runs and again lots of shots on goal. A great team effort led to our 3rd and final goal. Emma, who for once wasn’t on the floor, created space and opened up the pitch for Sophie in mid who brought the ball up. Ailsa’s young legs started a great run along the right and a fast bobbled ball into the D found Yas’ stick and the backboard.
A fabulous win in the sunshine ending the game 3-1, a brilliant start to the season and hopefully more of the same! POM reflected the team effort and was jointly held by Connie, Sophie and Yas. Onwards and upwards ladies 3s 💪🏾
Men’s 4s 4 – 1 Surbiton 5s
The summer has rushed by and the league season kicks off after a mixed pair of pre season results, one win and one loss.
A new season always brings those thoughts of hope and glory for all teams including our oppo, Surbiton 5s, who ran us close in the last campaign and finishing second. With one win each either side of the break in the two games. Fielding Richard Mills for his dayyyyyybooooooo and a good number of last season’s stalwarts the signs were positive. The following 70 minutes did not dash those hopes as we ran out 4 – 1 winners, annoyingly conceding their goal with the last hot of the match.
Our performance was our best since the game against the same oppo in the spring that pretty well secured last season’s title.
We started off on the front foot and this remained the picture for the whole game as Surbiton struggled to cope with the speed of our passing and general play. No surprise when Emmers deflected home a pin point Nashy pass from left midfield after 10 minutes with a repeat of the set up for Knappy to guide another Nashy pass to score our second.
Millsy completed the first half scoring with a quick shot from the top of the D that caught out the keeper on his near post.
The second half saw Surbiton having a greater presence as we tired a bit although we went 4 up when Oscar picked up the ball in the middle of the D and expertly converted his one on one to open his 4th XI account. He made a difficult finish look very easy. Jake with his golden stick had a number of goal bound efforts saved well by their keeper.
The last play of the game resulted in a crisp reverse stick hit from the left of the D that nestled into the far corner giving Mike N no chance.
This was a very encouraging start to the season with an excellent team effort with everyone contributing to our win.
Off to Epsom this Saturday in what is a one versus two in the fledgling league table.
Warriors 0 – 3 Barnes Accidentals
New season, new league, same oppo. Barnes Accidentals had the honour of coming second to Warriors in last season’s tightly fought title race, with home wins for both sides. Our return to Duke’s Meadows this season came with a warning – not a freezing pitch as per last season, but of
traffic congestion. The warning initially paid off with most of the team arriving early, with time to warm up for what transpired to be a very competitive first half of hockey.
The squad had a different feel about it from last season with half leaving Warriors to form the new OC Samurais team. At the same time we were very happy to provide a platform for OC debuts from Jack Walker and Joe Pullinger. Whilst playing old adversaries, the game and level of hockey felt it had gone up a level with good ball retention and movement around the back and down the wings and with a solid core at the centre of the pitch. We edged possession % and even had the ball in the net from Jack at a short, only for it to be too high to count. Unfortunately we were unable to find many clear cut chances to beat their keeper and half time came with the score 0-0.
The second half and luck was not on our side. Early in the half a Barnes short was squeezed in past Frazer foot at the far post after a goal mouth scramble. The score stayed that way for most of the half as we dominated…without scoring. Powelly and Jonty both had chances that either narrowly missed or hit the post, whilst their goalie produced several class saves. As we chased the game and pushed higher unfortunately we let in two late goals that flattered the home side.
The Warriors performance was more than competitive for this league and on another day, with more luck, we would be coming home with all the points. We will turn the disappointment into motivation for next weeks game.
Ladies 5 0 – 8 Wimbledon 8s
What a gloriously sunny day at Oaken Lane, the location for the Ladies 5s first league match of the season against Wimbledon 8s.
Everyone arrived positive, energetic and upbeat, helped by our warmup music on the new ladies 5s playlist provided by Rae!
We took a first look at our oppo and that’s when we realised this was going to an interesting game, all players looked under 16! but our saving grace was they had no goalkeeper, so we stayed optimistic.
A strong but cautious start saw us being challenged right from the start, it became very clear quite quickly this was going to be hard, their speed, skill and youth combined with their great team play meant we were on the back foot from the start. 
By half time the score was 4-0, and the half time talk was all about how we could stop the ‘tippy tappy’ skillwork of their skillful forwards, we went out confident and with our awesome GK Issy making numerous saves and our resilient defence we played a better second half.
Half way through the second half our lovely Emma Wilson took a nasty stick to the head which has manifested itself in a impressive black eye and fractures to her eyebrow, she was super brave and the 5s rallied around her to help – get well soon Emma!!.
We restarted the game to play the remaining 10 minutes but unfortunately conceded further goals, with the final score at 8-0.
Our POM was unanimously voted as Issy Padget, fantastic saves – well done!
Onwards and upwards Ladies 5s, you showed how not to give up and kept going to the end, be proud.
Barnstormers 2 – 4 Old Georgians Phoenix
Those looking to ease themselves into the season were disappointed when we got handed Old Georgians first game. Always a feisty encounter, this one didn’t disappoint.
OCs started well, moving the ball around and we got awarded a well deserved short corner after around 5 minutes. Up stepped Grant and his power flick, drilling the ball like a rocket into the top left corner.
OGs then fought back with three short corner routines that found the net but intermingled with those scores was a disallowed goal for Si which should really have stood and was overturned by the umpire up the far end. At half time, after a calming chat from Captain Yongey, highlighting the importance to keep calm in the second half, a few of us must have still had our minds on our holidays and those 2 for 1 cocktails and ended up in the sin bin with our tails behind our legs. There was some good hockey, from both teams on display, but we lacked a bit of quality in the final third and they finished the game deserved winner 5 – 2 to the good.
Special mention to Dougie and Cuzza. Dougie for the most outrageous goal line save running back from the halfway line and pushing the ball round the post. And Cuzza for terrorising their defence every time he got the ball.
We now need to lick our wounds and bounce back quickly… and forget about those 2 for 1 cocktails!
Ladies 6s 8 – 0 Mitcham 1s
What a start for the L6s! As many of us have pointed out, we’re no strangers to an 8-0 scoreline, but
it’s not usually in our favour! With four juniors playing their first Ladies league match it was
brilliant to kick off with some strong attacking play right from the get-go. After an exciting first half
(4-0 at HT) we reset to make sure we didn’t let the game run away from us in the latter stages.
Goals came as follows; a hat-trick from Freya Sunderland, 2 from Kiran Welsh, and 1 apiece from
George Anderson, Rosie Robson and Izzy Archbald. Other than one from Freya’s lethal strike off a
short corner, the rest were created by fiercely relentless attack. Amelie Ruocco and Izzy A were
exceptional in driving the ball up the pitch, and assisted many, many of the aforementioned goals.
(Shamefully I think I lost count…)
OCs clearly had the attacking advantage for most of the game, but Mitcham 1s definitely came back
at us in the 2 nd half, and our clean sheet was absolutely down to a rock-solid defensive line run by
Frankie and Pam, and our Ninja GK Izzy S. I must give huge thanks also to Caroline for helping us out
in our times of no-sub need, and for roping us in a friendly umpire.
All in all, a complete team performance. Lovely to be back – and you better believe I’ve screen-
grabbed the Ladies 6s being top of the table!
POM: Freya Sunderland for her hat trick. Honourable mentions to Izzy A and Amelie R
Ladies 7s 2 – 2 Berrylands 1s
In a first adult match for some of the juniors, Berrylands, a team that have played together for years, took a very swift lead, working together and exposing the fact that we barely knew each other’s names.
Nonetheless, the team took a collective deep breath, and dug deep, pushing forward to allow Amanda Jones to slot one in and equalise shortly after.
With a cameo from Roz Clarke, testing her fitness, and a stunning display by Ella Turner as the lynchpin of the team, we grew in confidence and kept the pressure up, pushing forward.
With a sold defence from Hels Lovett, Inge Winn and Leigh Johnstone being matched by our debutantes Lia Lorenz, Belle Sieger and Jemima Denning in midfield, and Jenny Ripley, Amanda and Fiona MacPherson all pushing forwards, another goal was sure to come, and come it did, courtesy of Amanda once more.
There were missed opportunities on both sides to change the score line, but with plenty of attacking play and some fine runs by the midfield and attack.
Berrylands mounted a spirited attack in the second half, and that is where our lack of gameplay with each other was found out. Lack of communication between players and some poor marking have Berrylands an opening and although we saved four attempts, the fifth finally went in, drawing them level.
We had three short corner opportunities on the trot in the last 10 minutes, including a belter from Jenny that unfortunately crossed the line too high before dipping to the backboard. That too looked promising, with some crisp pushouts enabling swift hitting and passing around the opposition D.
Berrylands are a great team to play against and have proved themselves to be competitive but friendly as ever. Can’t wait for the replay after Christmas with a team more used to playing together!
The idiot capital (me) forgot to do player of the match, but with a team willing to pull together like that, and fighting so hard from the off, they were all stars in the first league match of the season and I am looking forward to the rest of the season.
OC Ladies 045 2 – 2 Southgate Flutes
Our first masters match of the new season and it was a cracker! Everyone turned up on time, no one got stuck in traffic en route, perfect weather and high quality hockey. The smiles say it all….
t, defense impenetrable and distributing beautifully and mids and forwards connecting and keeping the pressure and the pace high. A few early attempts on goal didn’t quite come off until a driving run from Isa from pretty much one end of the pitch to the other ended with a spot on pass to Nicola to run the base line and tip it to Jenny to strike it home. Text book stuff! Our fabulous defence team continued to absorb everything thrown at them and we again delivered on the through balls, this time picked up by Carolina and Nicola in combination to find Jenny who was on fire and sent another cracking shot to the back of the net. Now, just for a minute or two, heady with success, we left a few holes and Southgate delivered a great cross of their own that found a cheeky player lurking by the post to end the first half 2 – 1. The second half held to the same patterns, everyone was on top form but could not quite find that next shot on goal and Southgate upped their determination and ultimately they just pinched the late goal we were all seeking in the last few minutes.