Puricrans 8 – 1 Surbiton
Back to the gladiatorial arena of league hockey after a 5 week sojourn with another emphatic win against those from the other side of the tracks.
This game was probably the most one sided game many of us will play in this season and but for an inspired performance by Frosty in the Surbiton goal and a lack of WD 40 to loosen the rust of our playing ability we could have doubled our score.
As it was 4 goals without reply in the first half from John Marnitz, Andy Macleod 2 and Rob Leach was scant reward for all of our pressure which was pretty well repeated in the second half with another 4, Knapp and Sanders 2 each. Annoyingly we conceded a deflected short corner that looped over Simon’s head at 5 – 0 thus failing in our target of keeping a clean sheet.
Pick of the goals was an overhead smash from Andy S following a wild shot from the returning Lee Marntiz, welcome back, that was going well wide at more than head height.
Derek Wright also returned until he found an egg on his head that curtailed his day.
Much more tricky contests to come but a good way to kick off 2025.
Goals Andy Macleod 2, Andrew Sanders 2, Knappy 2, Rob Leach and John Marnitz.
MOM Andy S
Hamstrings 1 – 2 Chelmsford Supervets
With a Top Gear dash into the land of white socks we arrived ready and eager with DoD in the bag already (no mouth guard). Jamie’s bootcamp warm-up kicked us off with 15 mins of excellent play but no goal. The passing “around the back” between Si Eastie Justin Crumbs Nige Robin and our midfield of Howie CJ Richard and Jamie had the Chelmsey crowd applauding. When the Oppo scored first, the Umps had to have a quick chat to decide if it was so against the run of play it should disallowed. Or were they discussing black and white cats watching Nige behind the goal ? But OC’s focus didn’t waver, and a slow-mo short routine came up with a Manmeet goal..1-1 at h/t. We had great moments in the 2nd half with Baz Mike & Rosco making the keeper look good. But we all played some footy too and now it was slow claps instead for the general passing. 2.1 loss. Curry & Beers to help move on. Mike given MoM & DoD.
Goal – Manmeet Poonia
MOM – Mike Newton
A chilly start to the ladies 5s first game of the second half of the season against Wimbledon 7s.
The team warmed up preparing ourselves to face the very young opposition, our saving grace was they had no goalkeeper!
A full on start to the game with action both ends, with the oppo pressing us high in our D.
Our first goal was a great team effort with break away play into the D and finished off nicely by Hildegard putting us up 1-0, a few minutes later a great run down the right wing by Freya where she crossed it into the corner of the goal, 2-0 up!
With constant pressure in our D we conceded 1 goal, to take us to half time 2-1 up.
A strong, positive talk by Paula at half time got us ready to face what we knew would be a tough second half and it was action packed.
A minute in, our third goal came, another team goal, great defence driving from the back into the mids, up to forwards, Hildegard to Nicola and then to Bernie who finished off into the goal! 3-1.
For the next 20 minutes we faced a barrage of running and great passing by the oppo to secure them 2 goals to draw with us.
We kept our calm and played the ball lovely switching across the pitch, triangles and into the D, a finish by Nicola took us to 4-3, but we felt the pressure rising as they were constantly putting the pressure on.
We stretched our lead to 5-3 by a great goal from Freya, text book finish, and now we just needed to hold on for the last 10 mins. In the 69th minute the oppo scored, meaning our last 5 mins was nail biting, but the team stayed confident and strong to secure the win 5-4.
A highlight of the game was an exploding ball with
a big hit from Paula, stopped us all our tracks!
A massive team effort but our POMs go jointly to Chloe for an awesome game in midfield and to Rachel her debut game in forward, great skill and running!
Well done ladies 5s. The win pushed up back up to the top of the league!
Written by Nicola Protasiuk
Ladies 6s 4 – 0 Mitchan 1s
L6s had a great game against Mitcham on Saturday with a 4-0 win despite all of us finding it hard to get back into hockey after Christmas! It was a very enjoyable game for all and a new opportunity for some of us to play in a different position than usual. We were lucky to welcome our new player Briony, who was a great addition to our team and really contributed to our win and won player of the match!
The order of goals was 1st Briony, then 2nd was Amanda off a penalty corner straight strike from Eva, rebound and goal, and then 3rd goal from Darcie, so we reached 3 – 0 at half time. In the 2nd half, we had one more goal from Briony which was assisted by Carolina, who charged up for the attack from the defence line.
Ladies 3s 5 – 0 Old Kingstonian 1s
Fuelled with mince pies and pigs in blankets, the Ladies 3’s made the short trip to Old Kingstonians for the first match back since the Christmas break.
After a solid warm up, we kicked off the first half with some well executed passes and controlled dribbling and continued to advance up the pitch where we were awarded with some short corners. A rebounded straight strike made its way to Elle on the post who slotted the ball in nicely to give OC’s a well deserved lead. The rest of the half consisted of some great attacking play that couldn’t quite end up in the goal. Some solid defensive work and nice saves from Hannah kept it 1-0 going into half time.
With some squashies and fancy M&S peach sweets handed round, the tactician Sangster altered the line up to include a drop forward and helped avoid people “running into one another”. We were ready to begin the second half.
OC’s began strongly and were soon rewarded with the ball making its way to the front of the goal where Ailsa made sure to slot it home to give us a more comfortable lead.
Now it was time to have some fun, some lovely passing up the right hand side of the pitch made its way to Alice who calmly dinked it in to the opposing corner. OK’s tried their best to get through but were met with an unbreakable defensive wall. Some nice play made its way to Jenny who slapped the ball towards goal only to have the rebound return towards her and this time made no mistake hitting the ball past the goalie into the corner.
A final flourish of play consisted of a lovely timed run from Holly to get ahead of the OKs defence who passed it across the D to Molly, who had a one on one with the goalie and calmly slotted the ball in to give OC’s a final score of 5-0.
Overall a great team performance, but Jess in defence had a dream debut and was awarded player of the match!
Men’s 2s 3 – 2 Croydon Trinity Whitgiftian 1s
Lamby, the People’s Dear Leader, set the manifesto clear: win the league, keep commitment levels high and work hard for each other, embodying the true spirit of The People’s Team. Like promising your newly-wed missus you’ll never watch porn every again, it was a manifesto doomed to fail.
Leftovers from the Christmas break had us misfiring, passes going awry and the dynamic play we’d promised our supporters was nowhere to be seen. Like trying to find your keys after a 12-pint bender, it was a complete cluster… Croydon, with their secret weapon, Matt Laidman, a defector from our ranks, exploited this. He scored with a drag flick that had Dobs fearing for his life. 1-0 to Croydon.
Croydon kept pressing their advantage, doubling their lead before the break. It was a moment where any lesser team might’ve thrown in the towel. But not The People’s Team, not today.
Lamby’s halftime talk was less pep, more firebrand. “I’m bored of saying this,” he declared, “but we’re the people’s choice and we’re not backing down!” Inspiring words.
The second half saw The People’s Team in full revolt. The magic started when Lamby intercepted the ball on the 23, spinning a reverse pass to Wilson on the left of the D. Wilson then delivered a wonderful reverse stick pass that found Philpo, whose deflection was nothing short of masterclass, bringing the score to 1-2.
The momentum was ours; we were rallying the crowd behind us. Then came Lankfer, our towering figure, making a mockery of Laidman with a dummy so audacious, it could’ve started a riot – he was all over the place but somehow made it work. He scored, equalising the match, showing that the spirit of the people cannot be quashed.
As the match drew to a close, Wilson found the net with a forehand strike that crept in – 3-2 to us – the people had spoken.
The People’s Team remains a-top the league, proving that sometimes, it’s the heart, not the hype, that wins the day. Like a feel-good sports movie where the underdogs triumph, except this time, we actually lived it, without the sappy Disney ending.
MOM – Tim: For his stalwart defence, standing firm like a true representative of the people.
DOD – Stott: His outburst was more like a political gaffe, a reminder that even in victory, we must keep our composure.