While 2005-06 was a season of consolidation and rebuilding, 2006-07 was one we can look back on with satisfaction as we turned in solid performances throughout the club, typified by the 1st XI who came within a whisker of gaining promotion back into the Hampshire/Surrey league.

The 1st XI's good second-half form of the previous season was carried into the new campaign after a hiccough against UCL in the opening match where we went to sleep in a game we should have won comfortably. In the end that, plus a defeat at champions Old Whitgiftians in a week we were without four of our senior goalkeepers, cost us automatic promotion. After that loss in early November we put together a run of 15 wins in 16 matches, enough to see us into the play-offs but one point shy of the title. Our final goal difference - +98 - highlighted how we had dominated most opponents.

The play-off was a game too far, and against a younger and well-supported Yateley side - the Hampshire runners-up - we led twice but ran out of steam, and our short corner routine, the bedrock of success in the league campaign, failed to fire. Our continuing failure to train with any regularity was another factor which could not be ignored.

But that result should not deflect from what was a good year, with new faces adding strength and a few old ones who returned to the fold underlining our experience. Last year we commented on the side's poor disciplinary record, so it is only fair to praise the team for a complete about-face, highlighted by Ed Breton, the recipient of weekly cards in 2005-06, adopting almost angelic status. It showed in most matches where we increasingly won more marginal decisions against opposition who took on umpires as well as us.

The Ladies struggled near the top of Surrey Division One in 2005-06, and more of the same was expected in a league where opponents ran as many as six ladies XIs compared to our one. But Helen Hawes, in her final campaign, led by example and we didn't lose a match until the week before the Christmas break, finishing third in the table.

The 2nd XI, under the workhorse Billy Smart for the final season, started strongly but the retirement of several stalwarts and the loss of one or two key players to the 1st XI meant we were unable to dominate games as we had for much of the previous decade. The goals from Tom Sexton (retired) and Mark Selby (promoted) were sorely missed, and availability after Christmas was an increasing problem. We were second at the mid-season break but fell away before a late rally enabled us to secure third after being seventh with a fortnight to go.

The 3rd XI's season turned on two events. The first was a pedantic deduction of a point by overzealous league officials early on - we missed out on promotion by that one point - and the second a serious knee injury sustained by James Armitage, the inspirational captain, in January. Without his solid defending we lost shape and confidence, and the return of five points from the last five matches was not enough.

The 4th XI's performances again proved to be a complete curate's egg. Before Christmas they were often a shambles, winning one of their first eight matches before hitching up their collective shorts with five wins in the next seven. With mid-table anonymity seemingly assured, they once more went to sleep and only a hard-fought win in the last game of the season ensured their survival.

The Veterans continued to chug along, under the alternating captaincy of Wade Pollard and Andrew Eve, the Brown and Blair of OC hockey. An injection of some (relatively) new young blood from within the club helped to reduce the burden on some of the old lags, and results were good enough to ensure that the side were not blighted by promotion to a regional league which would need more travel. One sad record was that Roger Loveland, an ever present since the late 1950s, did not play because of a long-term injury and so ended a remarkable run of appearances.

At the end of the season Christian Davies stepped down after several years as an amicable and often hazy Club Captain and was replaced by the no-nonsense David Knapp. Several other skippers called time, and so the 2007-08 season will be a new beginning. It also coincides with the relaying of the Astroturf, the old surface finally running out of puff after 15 years (we had been promised it would last ten). The new, higher-quality surface was put down in May and at the same time considerable cash was spent on new drainage and major refurbishment of the clubhouse. Not since our return to TD in 1993-94 have the grounds looked so good.

We continued to attract some recent leavers, but we could always do with more. The summer leagues proved a good recruitment area, and with an end-of-season tour in the pipeline, more socials planned, and a spanking new surface, the future is bright.