OC Hockey Club

Ladies 1s  2 – 2  Tulse Hill & Dulwich 1s

With an away game that was hit and miss since Friday evening due to the first frost of the season, the Ladies 1s took to the (long) road to Tulse Hill and Dulwich (with traffic, traffic and more traffic).

OCs took an early lead with Easy scoring a goal in the opening minutes after some excellent passing between the lines. Minutes after this, a short corner straight-strike from Danny meant OCs were 2-0 up before 4 minutes on the clock! This excellent teamwork, high press and passing put us in a really favourable position.

However, the second half brought a shift in momentum with Tulse Hill scoring two goals of their own. While we had multiple attempts at goal, nothing could be converted to put us back in the lead. The game concluded as a draw, with a point for the board. OCs defence put up a great fight, especially in the second half, shown by Emma gaining MOM and Hazel having special mentions.

Written by Easy

POM – Emma Davis

DOD – Gabriella McErlain

Scorers – Gabs McErlain & Dani Judge

 

Men’s 2s  5 – 0  King’s & Alleyn’s

Following a comprehensive victory the week before, the Men’s 2s XI faced Kings & Alleyns 1st XI away on a cold winter morning, as they looked to further solidify their position at the top of the league.

The OCs started off with great intensity, setting the precedent from the opening whistle with captain Roberts leading a high and aggressive press, putting the Kings & Alleyn back line under relentless pressure. Despite this relentless pressure, the opening 20 minutes of the game yielded little chances for either side, with OCs squandering their majority of possession. The OCs grew in to the game and after a number of missed opportunities, their short-corner practice from Thursday night paid dividends as a well worked routine resulted in a penalty stroke being awarded. With captain Roberts off the pitch, and no willing volunteers coming forward, Charlie Lamb reluctantly collected the ball and calmly slotted it into the bottom corner. 1-0 OCs. The opening goal seemed to bring more freedom to the side, with Lawson, Means, and the newly promoted Matt Simpson pulling strings throughout the midfield. On the stroke of half time, veteran Ollie Davies caressed a backhand across goal which was tapped in by Lamb as he doubled his tally for the game.

Following Dave Matthews’ uncharacteristically positive half time team talk, where he even referred to Lawson as being ‘immaculate’, the OCs were keen to ensure they sent a message to the rest of the league by the time the full time whistle struck. The experienced back line of Freddie RJ, Davies, Ward, and West (who very recently purchased a delightful new hoodie, by the way), set the tone as they transferred with pace and patience, before Dave Roberts was able to add to the score line. The remaining 20 minutes saw the OCs midfield and forward line ‘queuing up at the top of the D like it was a Tesco check-out’ as they each vied to add to their season tally. Means and Wilson were successful with two good finishes, and bar a few smart saves from Barber, the OCs remained untroubled for the rest of the game. The scoreline ended 5-0, and the team then made their way to the bar to discuss the likelihood of the M1s game going ahead despite the dropping temperatures. It was a collective majority that the game would 100% be on, without any doubt.

Victory sees the OCs 2nd XI go marching on ahead of the winter break next weekend, as they sit 5 points clear at the top.

MOM: Charlie Lamb
DOD: Charlie Lamb
Champagne moment: Ollie Davies

 

Ladies 2s  1 – 5  Wanderers 4s 

The match began on a crisp afternoon. Temperatures were low but moral was high. The suspense was brewing with this top of the table clash. The match began with an instantaneous goal from a well earned short corner.  A perfectly timed flick by Sophie off a shot at the top of the D from Alice set us up 1-0.

Unfortunately Wanderers reciprocated this intensity with a lucky goal towards the middle of the first half. In spite of having most of the possession and lots of action in the oppositions D the goals just weren’t coming. A quick turnover from the Wanderers then led to them being 2-1 up. This score did not reflect the run of play.

Despite being a goal down our half time team talk remained hopeful and we entered the next half aiming to regain the lead.

Throughout the second half Oc’s intensity and drive  remained strong however Wanderers were fast paced and clinical in front of goal, leading to 3 more good goals from them. When the final whistle went the score was 1-5. OC’s put out a good fight but just couldn’t match the quick goals of the Wanderers. Wanderers were definitely a good team however we didn’t deserve to lose by a 4 goal difference.

Well done to Alethea for a great debut performance, and to Jo M and Jess T who joined the squad this week. All three of them having great games.

POM – Candela UG for her great drag flicks and strong runs down the line.
Goal – Sophie N

 

Mens 4s  1 – 4  Wanderers 3s

Bullied, battered, pickpocketed and beaten up in the park in the dark 

A 16.30 November visit to a London park is never an enticing proposition. Even keeping one’s valuables tucked away and seemingly safe hardly deters the pickpockets even those highly visible. Trying to avoid Mr Khan, the pickpocket supreme, with his ULEZ and congestion charges required a sophisticated plan to frustrate the tentacles of his money pinching efforts. Bus, tube, overground trains and feet deflated the mastermind of cash collection as we all made our way by any means to avoid the clutches of the grab. Dickens would be proud that Scrooge lives on in the 21st century.

However the parks are dark sinister places as we found out between 16.30 and 18.00. Creative work from Adam and Guyser saw us pitch up with a healthy number of players, 13, but not as healthy as the oppo in yellow with their 16. As an aside the age demographics suggested that they were healthier than us too. The game proved the point as we were battered for the bulk of the game, only really competing for 5 to 10 minutes after their first goal and for the last 10 minutes with us 4 down.

Quicker to the ball, far pacier and better organised saw us being bullied all over the pitch. On the positive side we were not robbed as we were two weeks ago on our last visit to South London.

Their first goal was well deserved although we did raise our game at this point forcing 2 short corners that tested their excellent keeper, had a hugely valid call for a stroke ignored and a Nashy attempt clawed away by the said keeper. Once they scored their second with one of the best tomahawks you will see it was evident that we were in for a long early evening. 2 more goals in the second half saw us go 4 down with there just being time to grab a consolation in the last minute with our best move of the match that gave us a far post tap in.

Our youngsters, Oscar, James and Fraser were our best players and subject to disappearing to university on the not too distant future give us good reasons to be confident of the future.

We remain mid table with the realistic aim of finishing 4th or 5th which would more than consolidate our position in the league following our promotion last season.

Goal – Knapp

POM – not sure but probably James Eggleton

DOD – Sadiq Khan

 

Stormers 4 – 1  Spencer 

Stormers welcomed Spencer to fortress TD on a cold Saturday for a hotly anticipated top of the table clash with both teams separated only by a small goal difference at the start of the weekend. We also had additional weight on our shoulders with the knowledge that apparently no OC teams had gleaned a single point to date this season from Spencer!

With some of last week’s squad deciding to see if they could hit the fairway more often than the proverbial barn door and others catching the sniffles, we had 13 but were strengthened at the last minute with the addition of last week’s MoM Craig. Just as well really as barely a quarter into the game we lost Heardy in defence to a freak injury which will result in a lengthy spell on the sidelines.  In a stroke of luck, apparently, it’s only his left wrist. For someone who’s played pretty much every game every season for as long as I can remember it’s rotten luck and we all wish you a speedy recovery Heardy.

Despite the cold, the game started pretty quickly both teams fired up as you’d expect, and it was Spencer who took the lead after some neat work down the left and along the baseline, with a tap in at the far post. With our forwards and midfield working hard to win us a short corner, Ash opened his account from the top of the D with some follow up unoriginal hockey banter between both sets of players raising the temperature on the pitch even further.  A second short before half time for Stormers was rifled into the top corner from Grant which even impressed GB Stu.

2-1 at the half, Goalie said a few words to which we pretended to listen. We all knew the job wasn’t done, but we deserved our lead.  The second half saw both the air temperature and feistiness between the 2 teams drop a little bit as the Stormers took control of the game, everyone putting a shift in for each other, playing some good fast, calm hockey and leaving Spencer fighting for scraps so much so Goalie claims he didn’t have to make a save in the second half. I think he’s including the couple of shots that just went wide but actually had him beaten. However, testament to the great defensive display from our back 4.

2 further goals for the Stormers, a tap in for CB following fine work from GB Stu and Will and then a rifled shot from JJ in the bottom corner before the keeper could move saw us move clear at the top of the table. A good win, a great squad performance and the kind of games at our age we all want to play in. Spencer probably have a slightly different view this morning but I’m sure the return fixture is equally as hotly anticipated.

Thanks to Martin and Jess for umpiring a tough game very well.

Report by CB

Scorers: Grant Taylor (2) Ash and JJ

MOM: Grant Taylor