Match reports - February 23, 2008

Wanderers 2-2 1st XI By gum this was a good game of hockey and a fitting tribute to Roger Loveland. Thank you to the league, the umpires and Wanderers for agreeing to and taking part in the minute silence. At the start of the game a draw was not going to be good enough for us but with eight minutes to go it certainly was, and still gives us a chance to sneak into the play offs but in reality Wanderers are too good to slip up now having regard to their remaining fixtures and we still have a couple of tricky ones to play.

David and Rob whistled to a standard way above that we are used to and both teams repaid the compliment by playing an expansive attacking game with chances being created at either end. Either side could have gone in a couple of goals up at the break but whilst Mike was not called upon to do much – Wanderers missing a couple of gilt edged chances as the ball flashed across our circle – Murray in the Wanderers goal made three or four top-class saves and was a real nuisance with his domination of the circle. Perhaps with a little more poise he could have been by passed but his speed to close the ball down caused us problem. Wanderers soaked up the pressure well and had a release ball into our right hand defensive area by way of a chip or aerial which proved to be very effective.

Although scoreless at half time it was fairly evident that goals had to come. The game became a little stretched as both sides went for the win and again Murray dealt with all that came his way effectively. Wanderers took the lead with a powerful drag-flick that was kept low but we had to wonder why there was a gap on the post. Not daunted we pushed up and a quick interchange of incisive passes resulted in Smudger being illegally impeded and our being given an immediate lifeline with a stroke. Murray was again on hand to deny and from the ensuing break Wanderers won another short and Rippers took a break with a yellow. The ball was struck into Mike who made a fine save but one of three Wanderers players could have nudged the ball home but only one was required – 2-0. We were in trouble. Another short corner given away and now it was Mike’s turn to make a superb save from a really powerful drag-flick that would have buried us.

Our heads did not go down and just like last week we upped our pace of passing, made a couple of positional changes and began to press. Rippers came back on and their left midfielder went off for a bad tackle – more due to the pace of the attack rather than a malicious challenge. We pulled one back, Gavin deflecting a Smudger cross home – a breach in the Wanderers last line of defence at last. We were now making all the running and as we broke out of defence the Wanderer’s mainstay in defence earned himself a yellow for an unnecessary stick block right under David’s nose. Four minutes to go and this time Bruce crashed the ball into the D with a pin point hit onto Cato’s stick who deflected the ball high into the net – 2-2.

Three minutes to go and there was only going to be one winner as we pressed and pressed. Two top-drawer chances went begging with the Man of the Match making a save with his face mask from Smudger and our failing to follow through the corner routine that we had decide to use in our huddle. The final whistle went and that was that. In past seasons we would have capitulated and lost by three or four, but when everyone is available we have a super squad and can play in a number of different ways as today showed.

Our games against Merton have been wonderful games but this was a real credit to both sides with Wanderers in both games showing that they are by far and away the best side in the league. Although both side wanted the win to snuff out the other’s chances of making the play off Wanderers will be happier with the draw albeit pretty well handing the league to UCL. David Knapp

Ladies XI 3-1 Tulse Hill (Click here for match photos) Captain Jax steered her troops to yet another victory this weekend against a usually very strong Tulse Hill & Dulwich (THD). Following a rousing, but shorter than usual, team talk from Coach Motty, who was struggling to talk at all after receiving a ball in the face in the previous game, we set about taking on the three-point challenge against a team above us in the league.

It didn’t take us long to settle and fortunately last week’s break wasn’t showing in our play. We soon took control, working the ball well through the midfield of Jax, Manny and Nikki up to the forward line of Nina, Dora and Viks. The teamwork held good to see us go ahead within the first 10 minutes through a brilliant goal from Dora.

The strength across the squad showed as Motty’s rotation system worked wonders and we were able to dominate the first half. Unforced errors and lapses in THDs concentration allowed us to split the defence through May’s pace down the wing for goal No. 2 as Dora neatly slipped the ball past the keeper.

Going into the second half leading only presented us with one issue … don’t concede a goal! We started strongly but THD had woken up and wanted to started to push the defence of Tux, Mezzer, Hels and Ros hard as they broke from their back line as we were pushing up high for our 3rd. After some poor short-corner attempts, a strike from another botched corner saw the ball squeeze into the goal and with angle being so tight even Katy couldn’t reach it.

Undeterred and with sideline support encouragement, we set about lifting our game and piling the pressure back on THD. Eventually the third goal came though a free hit just outside the D with Viks neatly placing the ball onto Dora’s stick … the shot came off the keepers pads and ‘poacher’ Caz nailed the ball home. Rumours are circulating that Dora could have got a third goal but ‘jug avoidance’ deterred her … where’s the commitment!

The final minutes of the game saw THD have a number of short-corner opportunities but Katy and Ros worked to keep THD’s strikers out as they cleared the ball away from the goal line. The final score ended 3-1 and 3 points secured.

Celebrations went on late into the evening as the girls took on the bars of Surbiton which oddly ended with two players at Kingston Police station following an altercation with a dumb taxi driver and another stranded in Hersham … I’ll let them explain! Helen Hawes


2nd XI 2-0 Surbiton For the second week in succession we played one of the two sides underneath us. Last week we beat Epsom 3-1, but a Surbiton side that boasted Pies, woefully underused in the event, in their front line were always going to be a tough proposition, and so it proved. We fielded about as good a side as we have all season and played some lovely hockey, but much of the game was played in the midfield with neither goalkeeper overworked – the match’s only short corner came in stoppage time at the end of the second half. We took the lead on 22 minutes with a scrappy goal after a slick move left the defence at full stretch, but Surbiton also had chances, hitting the post from an acute angle and forcing Kelson into a good save. We all but sealed the game when Neil Grimes’s shot from a rebound squeezed over the line eight minutes from time, and that it was out day was underlined two minutes later when Surbiton’s striker rounded Kelson and then blasted wide with the goal at his mercy. There was still time for us to make life difficult for ourselves as yellow cards reduced us to nine men for the final minutes, but we held on for a deserved win.


Sanderstead 3-2 3rd XI We went to some godforsaken place beyond Croydon to play Sanderstead and were unfortunate not to take a point with a 2-3 loss. Sanderstead had the lion's share of the start of the game and with strong runs up our left flank, an early cross within a couple of minutes from the left of the D took a cruel defection off the inside of the keeper’s foot and deflected into the goal. An event that no one likes to see was when a ball deflected high and with a stomach churning 'clonk', hit Adam in the head in open play. With a great deal of help and patience from Sanderstead, Adam made his way to the A&E department.

Able to stay with 11 men, the game restarted but a tactical change from Stu Steele (are we sure about that?) allowed us to step the game up. Some lovely passes up the flanks through Chaz and Tim started to show promise. A through ball from Armo to Preston let loose an excellent shot that was unlucky not to even the scores. As we started to press the advantage, Dave was creating problems up front and from that, a short corner game. With a clean injection, clean stop, Chaz struck cleanly to even the scores. The game started to find a steady pattern and the defence was stretched and Stu became a pivotal figure in the centre of the field tackling and distributing effectively and dangerously.

Short corners against us came, however Sanderstead couldn't breach the defence although a clearance off the line kept us even. A clean passage of play and strong movements started to wane in the last five minutes as Sanderstead started to find their feet, but it was even at half time. The second half started with Sanderstead pressuring the right and left backs of Robin Crumby and Nick Aston and moving the ball tightly and switching play started to draw our play. Our defence was holding well however a loose left winger found a lot of space and slotted home to take Sanderstead back into the lead.

The game continued but we began to find our feet again. Stu continued to control the centre of the park but strong runs through the left wing of Chaz and strong control in the centre of midfield by Preston started to create Sanderstead problems. A running ball which was going off was kept on by Armo and put onto the defender's foot to win a short corner. The resulting play was textbook, injected, stopped, slipped to Preston, drew the defensive runners, slipped the ball across the top of the D to Armo, who with far too much space drew the game level with a clean strike, textbook, kinda!

We held our own well and some excellent attacks up both flanks and through route one was escalated with Preston's distribution. The key however was Stu and Tim's defensive duties that kept Sanderstead's exceptionally gobby and generally unpleasant attacker (No. 34 and an individual we have been unfortunate enough to meet before) in check although his language was more appropriate to the football stands of Millwall than a hockey field. We wouldn't use the adjective Chav but pikey would be appropriate.

The game continued with some moments of flair and Sanderstead were switching the ball well. They broke up the right although an excellent tackle by Stu put the ball onto the attackers foot, it was missed by the umpires and across the D, the keeper was drawn and a well-flicked ball gave Sanderstead into the lead again. Some excellent attacks followed from us and Dave twice found himself with space, and time at the top of the D however defensive duties of the keeper kept the ball out. The final play came with a slipped ball up the right wing to Armo, passed across to the top of the D to Preston who was desperately unlucky not to bring the game level with an excellent piece of keeping which about summed up our season.

A hard-fought game from a physical Sanderstead and a draw would have been fair. Man of the Match was without question, Stu Steele. James Armitage

Match reports - February 16, 2008

The 1st XI came from two goals down to thrash London University 9-2, and with other results going our way we can move into second place if we beat Wanderers next week. The 2nd XI leapfrogged Epsom with a 3-1 win in a relegation six-pointer, but the 3rd XIs woes increased as they went down 1-3 to Addiscombe. The 4th XI secured a 2-2 draw with Old Reigatians thanks to a scrambled equaliser three minutes from time.

1st XI 9-2 London University (Click here for match photos)
A game in which the score line does not tell the story in a game where our opposition were the team that started the pre Christmas rot. Against a side of 10 we started by playing some pretty hockey but were far from incisive, squandering a great deal of possession and two short corners. A double wake-up call put us two down five minutes before half time - the first from poor marking and the second from a crisp short-corner strike. A rapid change of formation however saw Smudger – the unquestionable man of the match – set up Rippers with the easiest of tap-ins and the Knapp latched on to a loose ball in the D to level on the stroke of half time.

London Uni could have scored in the first minute of the second period but Bruce cleared off the line and after that we upped the ball speed, used Smudger to emphatic purpose and he set up three goals from Gavin and one for Eds C and was instrumental in the play leading to ECs second and the short corner converted by Rippers. Arguably we could have scored more but the LU keeper made a number of fine saves and towards the end we made the wrong choice in front of goal. Good to have Gavin back scoring his goals and matching his pre Christmas strike rate of a 25% goal to chances ratio – sorry, 20%.

An added bonus came our way late on Saturday afternoon with the news that Bank and Wanderers drew which means that for the first time since November getting promotion is once again back in our hands. Next week’s game now takes on monumental importance. David Knapp



3rd XI 1-3 Addiscombe
We went down 3-1 in a hard fought game that could easily have gone the other way. Electing to play into the sun in the first half, Addiscombe pushed back to start the game off. Some early good passing led to some build up play, it took 10 minutes for either team to settle. It was Addiscombe that looked more threatening in the first ten with a deflection off Kelson's pads glancing the ball left of the goal keeping the scores level. We started to move the ball fluidly and as the game unravelled, Neil and Preston started to pick apart the Addiscombe defence with some clever skills. We started to pin the game in their half and it looked only a matter of time before we were to score. Preston actually got the ball into the goal … well, half of it, as it split in half as he hit it leaving the keeper bewildered, but it was disallowed. The keeper then pulled off two very good saves.

However, against the run of play, Addiscombe broke free and in a muddled clearance that was not effectively dealt with an Addiscombe player picked the ball of a deflection from the keeper with a lot of time and space, took the lead. The game continued with us pressing home against a technically weaker team however even with the ball going across the face of the goal on no less than four occasions and some good keeping, we couldn't take advantage. Short corners occurred however we just couldn't capitalise on our pressing advantage.

Half time came and a focus on a hard 10 minutes was nulled by a defensive communication break down and Addiscombe capitalising and putting a second in within a minute of the restart. With great credit, the team kept fighting for the game and a tireless effort by Chris and Andy in the centre and Chaz up the left kept attacks flowing. Although we once again were pressing the Addiscombe half, there were more breaks against us occurring with CD and Adam cleaning up as effectively as possible. Chaz's attacks combined with Preston and Neil leading the attack finally came to fruition and Neil scored to bring the game back into reach.

The game became tighter as Addiscombe defended in numbers and breaching this was becoming more challenging. A moment of 'surging' attack came from skipper Armitage who was unceremoniously taken out putting him on the floor but the nail in the coffin came where Addiscombe sent the ball into the D and a deft deflection past the keeper and two defenders took the game out of reach.

Although we fought on, with five minutes left and a tight Addiscombe defence to breach, the game concluded with a loss that could easily have gone another way. Four games remain, three teams are fighting to avoid relegation with two of those still to play, all to play for, nothing to lose! Man of the match, Chaz and some serious thinking to be had over the week. James Armitage

4th XI 2-2 Old Reigatians
A draw left us without a win since Christmas, but it could have been much worse but for a scrambled equaliser – deserved after ten minutes of incessant pressure – three minutes from time. We will play far worse and win, but although we controlled a good-spirited game and dominated the midfield, we were behind after 64 seconds when our defence was caught cold, equalised, only to go behind against 12 minutes from the end with a well-placed flick off a short corner.