Ashford (Middlesex) Hockey Club

Ashford Hockey Club Dinner Dance 2009. Is the date in your diaries? 25th April 2009 – http://tinyurl.com/ashdin09

In preparation for the separate schools and clubs competitions that will happen under the single system for hockey in 2009/10, England Hockey have decided that School Sports Partnerships (SSP) should be allowed to enter combined teams into the national schools hockey championships for boys and girls as very few state schools enter in their own right. In 2007/08 season the following state schools in Surrey and South West London entered the Surrey championships:

• Heathside School, Weybridge U16 Boys Championships
• Nonsuch HS, Cheam U14/U16/U18 Girls Championships
• Tiffins Girls School, Kingston U14/U16/U18 Girls Championships
• Wallington County GS U18 Boys Championships
• Winston Churchill School, Woking U14/U16 Girls Championships

The date of 2008/09 Surrey championships are:

Surrey Hockey are currently completing a survey of junior hockey players at the 32 hockey clubs in stste schools in Surrey & South West London and any junior hockey player wishing to register interest in playing for their local SSP team should contact Richard Nixon, Surrey HA Junior Tournament Organiser on: richard_j_nixon@hotmail.com 07762 380633 / 01293 525820

The 18 SSP in Surrey and South West London are:

With a bit of work and time Ian has managed get us some summer friendlies.

Hopefully each game will allow us to play slightly different teams with a mixture of 2nd XI down to 6th XI players.

For more information, contact Ian McAllan.

Goalscorers
Gordon Smith (2), Rosie, Fred Cottrell, Phil Lewis, Adrian Hewes

Man of the Match:
Rosie

What a great game! Great goals, excellent result and the first goal for Bubbles in 30 years!! We turned up to be told by the umpire, Steve Smith, that it was too cold to warm up – in fact he had so many clothes on it was hard to tell it was him.

Anyway off we went with the main tactic to run around and warm up. The game was very open as you would expect from a rare friendly for 2 sides who try to play decent hockey. First goal was not long in arriving, good team play involving Coach and Rosie set Gordo up from his favourite distance, one yard, and he made no mistake. We edged the half and though conceding an equaliser, we soon were back in front, Phil ‘The Lip’ Lewis slapping home a Rosie cross. We then fell apart in the last 5 mins and let them equalise again before Neil seemed determined to get Eastcote in front at halftime giving endless short corners despite Bubbles protestations that he got the ball/the man fell over by himself/it only looked like he’d taken him out deliberately….so 3-2 down at half time.

We actually didn’t play as well in the 2nd half but were sharper in front of goal nonemoreso than Bubbles who wason hand to deflect in an Adam bazooka for his first goal since decimalisation – and he didn’t buy a jug!!!!! Shocking. Straight from push back their defence gave the ball away and Gordo played in Freddie who smacked it first time like a rocket as it came into the D just inside the right-hand post – great goal – and his dad didn’t buy a jug!!!! Shocking.

They got a goal back and then we scored another 2 goals – Adam fed Freddie – he was peckish – who passed down the line to Rosie and while he was scooting down the line and doing his stuff – Gordo ran 70 yards and dived the last 5 to deflect the cross in – and he didn’t buy a jug!!!! Not so shocking. 5 mins later, Rosie got the ball in a similar position, scooted in a similar fashion and was able to pass the ball into the goal…they scored again – Tom was disappointed – however he had been pretty busy and played very well so we’ll let him off this once.

Goalscorers:
R Holland, A Bhamra

Man of the Match:
Tom

Controversy reigned at Herschel as the home team raged over a disallowed short corner which they felt cost them the match. It happened midway through the 2nd half amid concerted home pressure – the ball was hit hard but squeezed and though the ball clipped the backboard it looped in the air – Steve disallowed the goal as it went over the line above the backboard height and stood his ground against a dismayed South Bucks team. To be fair, it would have been hard for any team to take but SB have found this season tough up in div 3 (so have we!) but were bossing the game and probably had their best chance of a win this season agaianst us. Miracle of miracles, Steve was correct and after the game their captain and I made up and wished each other well for the season.

We did not play well and the lack of matches showed the way we played – we won due to being a little bit better in goal and the form of our young goalie, Tom. We took the lead after 20 minutes from our 3rd or 4th short corner- their keeper had already made 2 great saves from Amit and Adam but finally let a Bhamra Big Whack in and we held out until half time.

Having decided to squeeze up a bit more and for the midfield to play a shorter game, we decided to ignore that and most of the midfield decided to sit on our 25 yard line and further back! This obviously invited South Bucks into our half and caused us problems the whole half. Having survived ‘that’ short corner, we then rubbed salt into SB wounds when Rhino flicked home superbly with them complaining to their umpire of a double-hit on push-out.

Goalscorers:
Emmerton (2), Meadows (just – more of an own goal really)

Saturday 8th December and the 2nd XI travelled through torrential rain storms, heavy winds and freezing temperatures to the darkest depths of Kent…or Sevenoaks as it’s known on any decent road map. After last week’s dissapointment of throwing away 3 points and drawing with a mediocre Henley side, we went with 11 to a team 4th from top, a reputation for being fit, physical and pretty decent. That said, the weather was the leveller in this match. It was awful.

Just like the week before, we started brightly and had plenty of possession and soon found the Sevenoaks weak spot: The left side. So we attacked and pressed well through Dan Holland and Joe Lewis, fresh from his sejourne with the 1st XI. Typically though, buoyed by this confident start we switched off for a second and tackled weakly allowing Sevenoaks a venture into our ‘D’ and win a Short Corner. Now, fair enough, it was well pushed out, the strike was awful but my attempt at defending on Dan’s pads was truly something – First I strayed in front of his head and then I decided to attempt a lovely forward defensive on a peach of a delivery only to see it knick off my inside and into the goal. Fair play, I’ll take the DOD for that. Things though, were really confounded when we allowed Sevenoaks another free run at our defense which, coupled with poor marking saw them rack up another goal. Fair to say that Billy and Digger looked like having their work cut out.

Alarm bells were now ringing in my head, not again chaps…come on. Well, no not really, the 2s are now starting to find some belief in their abilities which has been severely lacking this season and it was a joy to see us attack and press as we could. A couple of lovely moves down our right through Holland, Lewis and the ever improving Dan Rose really racked up the pressure on a slow Sevenoaks defense. We even started to boss the centre of midfield through Washer and Ram man (you could say we looked the fitter out of the 4 centre halves on display…like I said….looked). So it was no surprise really when mini Sherps popped up in the D (literally) and executed a trademark reverse sweep across the keeper for his fifth of the season. It was a breathless first half (and a cold one too) but we went into the break feeling the stonger of the 2 sides….and we knew we could get a result out of this one. Something we hadn’t felt good enough to say for quite a while.

And we carried that into the 2nd half. Starting with the push back, we held onto the ball (I lost count of the number of passes) but we somehow ended up in the Sevenoaks ‘D’ after another pick and lead by Rosey skinned their left back, a peach of a ball across the ‘D’ fell to Carl Meadows who with a trademark Gretsky, via a defender, another defender and finally past the keeper ended up in the back of the goal (just). Can you count that as a goal for Carl? Well he seemed to think he could. Regardless, that folks was the best bit of hockey we have played all season and to get a goal 2 minutes into the half, without the oppo touching the ball has to go down well. 2 – 2 but still a long way to go.

Now though the game started to stretch, tackles became ‘less professional’ (Dan Holland somehow escaping a certain yellow whilst breaking up a 2 on 1 with Dan in goal), Rakey got the finger out in the umpires face…I ended up on my aris again. And although we were under the cosh for a long period we kept attacking down the left and eventually on one breakaway we scored again through mini Sherps with yet another trademark reverse sweep, this time over the keeper who clearly hadn’t learnt that Matt is completely clueless when it comes to this piece of skill. Still, we now had a lead and were determined to hold onto it.

And we did, right until 2 minutes from the end. We were under some real pressure for the last 2 minutes from 10 attackers and 1 umpire (I think that’s fair to say that – he wasn’t very good to be honest). We must have repelled a dozen short corners (yours truly attoning for his first half disaster by putting one wide and 2 over the bar to deep gully) – Dan even made another fantastic save using his head…just like last week…keeping us in the game. But then came the turning point. Joe tracked back the lumping Sevenoaks centre back and tackled him cleanly, from the wrong side. But still, he went down like a beached whale, Seveonaks appealed and had a free hit outside the ‘D’. The result? Well, poetic justice really to Sevenoaks, the ball came in, off Dan in goal, Digger stumbled, I fell over (again)…the world tilted on its axis, in fact we went through another ice age all before the Sevenoaks forward followed up the rebound and squirmed it past Dan. 3 – 3, one minute to play. Gutting.

Sevenoaks even had a chance to win it at the end with a short corner but we held out well, stepping up quickly and clearing to the sideline. A draw, again like last week was a fair reflection. Terrible conditions for a game of hockey, great game, great performance by our young, improving side, another point but more encouragingly, 2 decent performances back-to-back.

Report card for the first half of the season? Plenty of effort, good application at times but room for improvement next term. Well done lads.

Washer.

Goalscorers:
Adam Smith, Gordo, Amit, Bob Billins

Man of the Match:
Adam Smith

Wow under pressure from Ben’s 2nd team novella! A great result for the 4′s – yours truly a little surprised given we were 4 players light – but we deserved this win and it pushed us up the table to 4th from bottom – or as I like to call it – 9th from top.

It was not very nice at Imperial College and we weren’t allowed in the changing rooms either so we had to move to keep warm and started off pretty well keeping the ball and pushing the game into the Hayes half. We had a couple of half chances before Amit played in Bob whose first shot was blocked and he then belted the ball in from an acute angle inside their keeper – poor cross, nice goal!! 5 minutes later, we got a short and Adam smacked this in, the lad on the line got his stick to it but the pace took it over the line (in fact Adam really got his eye in as the game went on and drew compliments from a couple of the Hayes team which doesn’t happen very often!).

Second half they had a couple of half chances which we just about defended well enough and we then started to push them back again. 20 minutes in we got our 3rd when Amit matched Adam and whacked in a shortie and then the best goal of the game – according to Freddie – when the ball was cleared out to Amit on the halfway line and he smashed the ball 40 yards into the D where Gordo had run from left to right post to deflect in like a rocket from 2 yards. Get in! 4-1 and 3 points were coming to Short Lane!!

Amit still had time to see red when he was called a ‘silly man’ – not the red card fortunately – but it was quite amusing after the fact. So another 3 points – leapfrogging Hayes – who will merge with BA at the end of this season and it can’t come soon enough for them I think – that’s 2 wins in the last 3 and we can see some light at the end of the tunnel. If we stay up, it will be a real achievement as the side is not as strong as last season but we still have the same spirit and determination and have given ourselves a more than decent chance.

….ooh and while I’m here, the under 18s had a marvellous result on Sunday beating Teddington under 18s (with 4 first eleven players) 3-2 in a Premier Legues game. I don’t think we’ve ever beaten them at under 16-up and we have a very small squad, the kids were fantastic – well done! 2 goals for Sharpy and 1 for Rosie…

Erm this was a really hard game for us – Sonning have obviously gained a ton of players and we were facing a team that would have dispatched the 3′s comfortably and given our 2′s a decent game.

Given that not a bad result, we restricted them to 3 short corners and a harsh penalty from the nervy and seemingly intimidated Neil Smith. One down at half time was a small miracle given the pressure we were under – the second half, when they scored 3 goals, we were actually a lot better putting some moves together and keeping the ball much better – most people played well and nobody had a bad game

Fingers crossed for this week against fellow strugglers Hayes!!

Ashford entertained Mill Hill 1st XI at Short Lane on Saturday and although skipper LAURA SAMOUEL was still injured, coach MANDY WAIN was able to field a squad of thirteen players. It was particularly good for Ashford to be able to welcome back former 1st XI regular PHIL WORSFOLD who had unfortunately been out for well over a year with a long term knee problem. The game started in a lively mode and the visitors obtained a short corner after only two minutes of play that Ashford easily coped with. Not long after Ashford got a short corner themselves but they also failed to convert it. The Red & Blacks then followed up with some more attacking moves and secured another short corner which unfortunately striker LIV YOUNG just failed to control well enough to get a good shot in. After fifteen minutes of play Ashford got a third short corner and this time striker SHARON McGLINCHEY struck for goal but it was cleared by the visitors. Further pressure from Ashford following some skilful runs from midfielder KATIE GREENE and the ever improving ANNA PROTHEROE resulted in the ball being struck across the front of the Mill Hill goal with three Red & Blacks players free in the goalmouth. Unfortunately none of them were able to convert the chance and the game remained goal less. Mill Hill then broke away at the other end and the Ashford keeper SAM GRANT came out well to smother the forward’s attack on goal. The Red & blacks retaliated with a shot from KATIE GREENE being well saved. Ashford were by now well in control of a rather low key game, but were getting frustrated with some of the decisions and their own lack of finishing power; which wasn’t helped at the very end of the half when a finely struck free hit by STACEY KENWARD from the right of the visitors goalmouth wasn’t converted. Thus at the end of a half which saw Ashford on top, the score remained goal less.

After the change round the visitors played more constructively from the off, and after only four minutes of play they capitalised on some poor defending by Ashford and scored the first goal of the game. The goal encouraged the visitors to continue with their good team work and they scored another after a further four minutes of open play. Ashford eventually started to wake up from their half time slumbers after coach MANDY WAIN moved veteran sweeper JACKIE PARSONS up from the back to add her skills, striking power and finesse to back up the forward line. The move worked and JACKIE created problems for the visitors. Her presence also enabled KATIE GREENE to be more creative and a good move from KATIE on the left saw her put striker SHARON McGLINCHEY through with only the goalkeeper to beat. SHARON duly slotted the ball home to put Ashford back in the game. The visitors weren’t thwarted though and continued to threaten the Red & Blacks defence, but keeper SAM GRANT kept them well at bay. Despite more forays and moving more players playing up front and JACKIE PARSONS brushing the left hand post from a fine strike from a short corner shortly before the end of the game, the score remained at a very disappointing 2-1 to the visitors at full time. The Middlesex league programme for the Premier League has now finished for the Xmas break and resumes again on 11/1/08 in what will be a tough second half of the season for the Ashford.

Team:
S. Grant (GK), S. Smart, K. Fry, P Worsfold, A. Protheroe, K. Greene, J. Parsons, S McGlinley, S. Kenward, O. Young, J Basford, A. Donelan, T. Holland

Goal scorer:
Gordo (2), Amit, Ryan Holland

Part 2 in my advice to young aspiring hockey professionals (part 1 was don’t eat a curry the day before big game) is don’t attend a function with a free bar the night before a big game – 9 times out of 10 it’s going to end in tears. OK this happened to be the 1 time in 10 it didn’t although the person in question was sick an hour before the game, he did score his first league goals of the season as the 4′s notched up their first points in 8 games!!

As usual we gave the oppo the lead but at least we kept it to 1 goal this time and then equalised fairly quickly as Coach slapped a good cross in and Gordo deflected in from 5 foot (and then had to go off). Play was fairly even but we looked reasonable only to go behind early in the 2nd half. Rhino scored a very nice goal a few minutes later making room for himself and reverse-stick smacking it home surprising their keeper. This was the key to us going onto win the game – equalising quickly – as we dominated the rest of the game. We took the lead when Adam unleashed a bazooka exocet missile of a free hit – he makes Big John from MK hits look like paper bag efforts – and Gordo deflected in from 2 feet – and cue his most manly squeal. Amit smacked in a short corner when their defence dared Amit to score – and he did – so a much-needed win and back in touch with the rest of the strugglers – and remember kids – Just Say No….

Goal scorer:
Shaggy

Our habit of only starting when we had conceded 2 goals went one better as we were 3 down after 20 minutes and things were not looking good. We found some backbone and play and held them until half time.

Second half we were much better and were in the game although Witney were the stronger outfit. Should have had a penalty when Gordo was bundled over just as he was about to miss a good chance and then Shaggy scored with a neat reverse-stick shot from a short corner rebound. Not a bad performance but not a good one.

Goalscorers:
Shaggy

Our habit of only starting when we had conceded 2 goals went one better as we were 3 down after 20 minutes and things were not looking good. We found some backbone and play and held them until half time. Second half we were much better and were in the game although Witney were the stronger outfit. Should have had a penalty when Gordo was bundled over just as he was about to miss a good chance and then Shaggy scored with a neat reverse-stick shot from a short corner rebound. Not a bad performance but not a good one.

After a 2 year recovery break Pop Idol returns to your local clubhouse on Dec 1st 2007.

Once again we are asking you… the stars to make it an unbelievable night at Club Ashford.

more info here.

In the meantime, here is a teaser:

After a weeks break Ashford recommenced their Premier league programme with an away fixture at Harrow, the club one place above them in the league. Due to work commitments, coach MANDY WAIN wasn’t able to travel with the team and things were became even more disruptive before the game for the Red & Blacks, when it was discovered that goalkeeper SAM GRANT had left a vital personal part of her equipment back in her car at Ashford. Thus one of the squad was dispatched back to collect it, whilst the rest of the team and SAM warmed up as best they could.

The set backs did not seem to affect Ashford too much though as they played some good flowing hockey in the first quarter of what was a very open game. The return of youngster LIV YOUNG up front brought a bit more punch to the Red & Blacks front line, whilst the experienced JACKIE PARSONS was having her best game of the season at the back. In the second part of the first half, Ashford kept the momentum up and created numerous chances and were unlucky not to convert any into goals. Unfortunately their concentration lapsed a little just before the break, and they allowed the visitors in to score the opening goal of the game. Thus it was somewhat disappointing that the Red & Blacks went into half time 1-0 down.

The second half started similar to the first and Ashford were once again putting the Harrow goal under pressure and they secured several short corners as a result. The newly practiced corner routines were working well for the Red & Blacks though and after a first time shot was saved, left midfielder STACEY KENWARD followed up well to score her first goal of the season and more importantly, secure the equaliser for Ashford. Things then got even better for the Red & Blacks, when continued pressure resulted in another short corner from which sweeper JACKIE PARSONS hammered home on of her trademark, thunderbolt strikes to put Ashford deservedly 2-1 ahead. Unfortunately shortly after scoring the Ashford Player of the Match JACKIE PARSONS got a nasty blow on her ankle and had to leave the pitch. As the game came to a close skipper LAURA SAMOUEL was all ready to celebrate their first away victory of the season. Alas with only three minutes of the game left, Ashford unfortunately conceded a penalty flick, which Harrow duly converted to snatch a late equaliser and leave the Red & Blacks disappointed.

Next week Ashford have to travel to nearby Teddington to take on their 2nd XI who are currently top of the league. Coach MANDY WAIN will be back to help direct operations though and if they can maintain their good team work and keep working for each other, Ashford will be aiming to gain at least another point.

Team:
S. Grant (GK), S. Smart, K. Fry, E. Hynes, A. Protheroe, E., T. Holland, J. Parsons, J. Bashford, S McGlinley, L Samouel (Captain), S. Kenward, O. Young