Ashford (Middlesex) Hockey Club

This year Ashford is hosting its first mixed 7 a-side festival on Saturday
the 12th of May 2012.
http://www.ashfordhockeyclub.co.uk/ashford-olympic-hockey-festival/
The festival will include a tournament with pool stages with all teams
going through to either the trophy or plate knockout competition.
There will be other competitions running throughout the day, with an
Olympic themed party in the evening.

We welcome teams from within the club but we do have a limit on the number
of entries, so please get your entry fee and form back as soon as possible.
The festival committee is very excited and we require all the members
support to make the festival the success we know it can be.

We will require volunteers on the day to help support the running of the
festival”

In true Ashford tradition, I started Sat lunchtime with 12 maybe 13 and exited lunchtime with a bare 11…never mind, we were 11 men, good and true (mainly) and up for a crunch game with fellow strugglers, Slough. Two minutes into the game, James Berressem attacked the ball with his knee and hobbled off. Rishi dropped into centre mid and was knackered after 30 seconds. Nevertheless, we defended resolutely and had a bit of play especially when one of their players was sin-binned for being naughty. After 10 minutes or so, Jimbo came back on and I thought, a man up, we could exert some pressure. Nope, we conceded a soft goal from a short corner and, although we had good spells during the first half, Adesh and Aranvir looking particularly good down our right, we were a bit nervy. Aran would have been a bit more dangerous if he didn’t have to keep adjusting his glasses mid-dribble! Anyway, I was happy to get to half time one down and amaze the team with my tactical nous, which boiled down to play better in the second half than we did in the first.

And we did! Forcing our 3^rd and last shortie, Rishi lashed it home and knackered himself again doing his victory celebration. We entered our best phase of the game as Screaming Lord Sutch and Jonno were at their destructive best, Jimbo pushed us forward from the middle and Gordo and Matt winged it successfully at the back. In the middle of this, their no. 8 (who claimed afterwards to have played National League) (probably not hockey though) wobbled forward in a blur of stick work and as the team looked on, Gordo entered bullet-time and, reminiscent of Yazdi’s on SuperWuss, made the Tackle. Ten minutes to go, Slough forced 3 shorties one after the other and we got through them due to a Jonno block and 2 saves from Andy R in goal. Thereafter, Slough were in the ascendancy but if there is one thing we are good at (mainly cos we do a lot of it), it is defending especially of the last-ditch kind and we held on for a much-needed point and one closer to safety!

Ashford 3 Henley 3

A game full of incident to bring the curtain down on the first half of the
league programme.
Three down at the interval, the ‘Ford staged a remarkable comeback but just
as goals from Matt Emmerton, Jas Nijhar and Alex Betts brought them level, a
rash of temporary suspensions left them with eight men for the closing
stages threatening to undo all the good work. However, Dave Baker got on
the ball deep in his own half and winning free hit after free hit ran down
the clock and all things considered it was in the circumstances a point
salvaged rather than two dropped.

For the third home game running the ‘Ford began sluggishly and conceded an
early goal. This time, however, the visitors were allowed to go further in
front and when they scored a third from a corner just on half time it
looked a long way back.

The interval gave the ‘Ford the opportunity to regroup and change their
formation and they seized back the initiatve from the restart.
Scarcely allowing Henley a touch, the ‘Ford passed the ball aound with
purpose and goal by goal the deficit was erased.
Matt Emmerton got the first with a sumptuous deflection and then  Jas
Nijhar worked his way through the Henley defence to shoot under the keeper.

When Alex Betts finished off a well worked corner move with eight minutes
remaining it seemed that the ‘Ford might just be able to push on and snatch
a famous victory. However, as Henley rallied and managed to stage their
first real attack of the second half, Luke Cottrell found himself
outnumbered and a last ditch tackle brought a temporary suspension. Further
cards for Nijhar and Chris Bolton gave Henley a three man advantage for the
last few minutes but the ‘Ford, or what was left of them held firm and they
settled for a point which looked distinctly unlikely 35 minutes earlier.

Maybe it is a little frustrating to lose top spot but the ‘Ford can be
satisfied with their work so far in 2011/12. They are very much in touch
with the leaders and have also successfully negotiated three rounds of the
EHB Trophy so there is plenty to play for after the Christmas break

A 10.30am start in deepest Berkshire meant leaving Stanwell at 8.30am but
the ‘Ford did not seem troubled by the earlier than normal push back and
were a goal up inside two minutes, courtesy of a Phil Lewis penalty corner.
Moving the ball around with assurance, the ‘ Ford controlled the rest of
the half allowing Sonning not even a sniff of keeper Adam Smith’s pads.
The game was effectively put to bed just after the break. Ryan Holland had
caused problems from the start and in trying to stop him, the Sonning
defence left plenty of room for Jas Nijhar to exploit and he set up the
‘Ford’s decisive second and third goals . First, The Wizard of the Dribble
mesmerised the home defence before firing an adroit pass to the left post
where Chris Bolton controlled and fired home with clinical precision. Then
the veteran stickmeister weaved his trademark brand of magic to suck in at
least four defenders before laying it off for skipper Luke Cotrell to scoop
home.
The one blemish on a fine team performance was a collective lack of
concentration which allowed Sonning a very late consolation.

 For the second time in three games the ‘Ford beat the league leaders 3-2 after going behind early on. Three weeks ago Eastcote were the victims  and on Saturday it was newly promoted Marlow who suffered the same fate.

 Hoping to be at full strength for the first time this season, the ‘Ford’s plans were dealt a double blow when first, Joe Siman was told he would need surgery on a hernia and then leading scorer Phil Lewis found out he could not re-schedule his first aid course.

 Full of confidence after running away with Division 2 last season and an impressive start to this, Marlow forced their way into the ‘Ford’s circle straight from the opening whistle. Taking full advantage of some poor tackling they won a penalty corner which was converted a little too easily. The ‘Ford regrouped and slowly took control and with Luke Cottrell dominating the midfield and Ryan Holland once again prving to be a real handful, they started creating openings so it was no surprise when Jas Nijhar scored a fine equaliser with a crisp finish.

 The game was effectively decided in the ten minutes after half time when Ryan Holland broke through to find himself on on one with the visiting keeper and finished with aplomb and then Alex Betts fired home a penalty corner.

 Marlow did manage to reduce the deficit with 15 minutes left from another penalty corner but the ‘Ford held their collective nerve and if anything looked the more likely to score in the closing stages.

A good weekend for the ‘Ford as they moved up to 2nd place in Middx, Berks, Bucks, Oxon Regional 1 with a 2-1 win over Maidenhead on Saturday and reached the last 16 of the EHB Trophy with a last gasp victory against Bexleyheath and Belvedere.

 If one described the ‘Ford’s opening half against Maidenhead as lack lustre it would be paying them a huge compliment. It was one of the worst 35 minutes of their season so far and they had to thank custodian Adam Smith that they were only one down at the break.

 Fortunately, much of the first half slackness disappeared and based on a much tighter defensive performance, the ‘Ford slowly but surely clawed their way back into the game. All the hard work that is going into the ‘Ford’s penalty corner routine once again paid dividends as Phil Lewis equalised and then scored the winner with another brace of fine strikes.

 With Matt Emmerton and Dave Baker already out with family commitments, Freddie Cottrell being taken up the Zambezi again and Alex Betts nursing an ankle injury, the ‘Ford’s resources were stretched almost to breaking point for Sunday’s Trophy tie when Adam Husband woke up with a stiff groin and Ryan Holland called in with ‘flu. Luckily, they were able to bring in utility man Joe Siman who has just returned to the area, Dawson Hardiman and the ever faithful Andy Sonden

 After difficult league matches the day before, the ‘Ford and their Kent, Sussex League opponents played out a quiet opening half and when Phil Lewis converted a corner midway through the second period it looked like it might be the winner. However, it was merely the prelude to a remarkable last quarter of an hour. Throwing caution to the winds, Bexleyheath and Belvedere started piling forward and bundled home an equaliser in the 60th minute. Sensing blood, the visitors went straight back on to the offensive but in doing so left their defence wide open and with five minutes to a crude challenge in the circle led to a penalty stroke which Andy Barnes rolled home to put the ‘Ford through, or so it seemed.

 As the visitors once again set up camp in the ‘Ford’s 25, a couple of efforts went close and then in the 69th minute the equaliser came from a scuffed penalty corner. With the large crowd resigned to golden goal extra time, Jas Nijhar had other ideas and his persistence won a last minute penalty corner which Phil Lewis rammed home to grab his second pair of the weekend and keep the ‘Ford in the competition until after Christmas. The reward is a visit to Marlborough HC who play in the third tier of the Wales and South West League on Sunday 12 February.

Police are scouring Middx, Berks, Bucks and Oxon on the the lookout for 11 men dressed in Red-and-Black. They are accused (and profoundly guilty) of stealing a point from poor old OMT’s! There have been various sightings of them in back gardens looking for more draws to steal…

The 3rd-personed Gordo was looking after the team and was conscious he needed to be a role model and example to the team, unfortunately he forgot about the positive and good bit. The first half was a bit tough as the oppo had a goal disallowed, numerous chances and short corners and keeper Ritchie had several chances to impress his fan on the touchline. We did compete and had OMTs on the backfoot at times though didn’t look threatening. Little did we know but that was our good half!

We did not start the second half well and I didn’t realise how long it went on, Jimmy B in midfield performed wonders and we worked very hard but were close to being overrun. Their umpire blew for a shortie as their forward finished brilliantly and they then managed to stop 2 goal-bound shots on the line – I have seen this happen once very occasionally but twice!!!! The second was very amusing as their guy flicked the ball through our last defender only for another forward to stop and keep it out with his gut! And of course, with 4 minutes to go their defender miscontrolled and our goal machine, Rishi G, made some space and smacked it through their keepers legs. One shot, one goal, one all!! 5 draws in 6 and a big game against fellow strugglers, Slough, awaits this Sat as long as we can avoid the rozzers!

Please be aware that we are having issues with our fixtures calendar, and the times shown may not be accurate. Please refer to the details originally sent to your fixtures secretary for confirmation

Nuggets of good news across the last 2 weeks…the 4′s gave themselves a reasonable chance of staying up by beating Maidenhead Magicians 3 goals to 2,  a late goal by Big Ad gave us the points, believe Shane and Adam got the others. The 5′s won this week beating Amersham & Chalfont 4-1, Jonathan from Luxembourg guested and scored from 1 yard (as ever) from a mis-hit shot by Ram who managed not to get sent off this week – and the 5′s have now won 4 games and sit in the lofty climes of lower middle! The 3′s played the league leaders and almost certain champions, OMT’s, last week and played some really good stuff. We really should have scored to make it 2-1 but didn’t and they got a late goal but a good performance and game. This week, they got a welcome point against City of Oxford who equalised in the last minute, mind you, we went in the lead with 3 mins to go from a MattSam p-flick.  He was going for top left, cocked it up and it dribbled along – fortunately the keeper had dived athletically to his right and could only watch the ball creep over the line! The 2′s had a really good game against Maidenhead 2′s equalising from an overtime short corner at the end of the first half, Gordo playing his first game in the 2′s for 13/14 years deflected it in and got very very excited! When Karan scored from close range, we were in Nirvana but a soft equaliser put the home teams tails up and they eventually won 4-2 but considering we wonly had 4 2nd team players, we should be both pleased with our performance as well as disappointed with the result.

I’m going to concentrate on the positive here covering the last 2 weeks. The 4’s got a very creditable 2-all draw against West Hampstead 6’s, which gives them real hope they could beat the drop (big game against Maidenhead this week), but played poorly this week against Leighton Buzzard. The 5’s won 4-2 against LB 3’s, weapon X getting a hat trick and I believe Kulvir, but lost the previous week 5-1 against WH 8’s. The 3’s finally got back to some decent form this week against league leaders, OMT’s 2’s. We lost 3-0 but really gave them a game and we enjoyed the contest…unlike the previous weekend where we lost 5-1 to LB 2’s, Adam H scoring and 4-1 (Frypot)  to Harrow 1’s on the Sunday to cement 11^th spot in the league!!!

While the 1’s unfortunately suffered heavy defeats, the 2’s have really picked up with another win over basement team Amershame & Chalfont by 4 goals to 1 (mind you, we lost to them the last time), Stewpot got a hat-trick and Chris B the other.

The hardy Boys u10′s jetted off to the exotic climes of Wimbledon for an early start – though hardy boys were thin on the ground and 4 of our girls (Jess Jacob, Steph Botwell, Amber O as goalie and Emily Bashford) and their parents were good enough to help us out and ensure all had a good if bracing day’s hockey. We had 3 games and lost the first to Wimbledon 1-0 as we got the journey out of our legs, Nathan Bridger played particularly well. The second game against the home side we were much better and dominated the game – a lovely move involving Nathan, Reece (who had a very strong game in midfield) and a James Bashford cross/shot set up Nathan for the winner. We then played Trinity who were a good team and big with it though their best player was a young girl and they were a bit too strong for us and we lost 2-0. All in all a good effort by a young team, all bar one can play next season..

The ones continue to play some decent hockey but need to achieve more from their periods of fluency and pressure. Lewes made us pay and although they deserved to win, 4-1 (our goal from a The Lip drag-flick) was harsh.

The important thing about the 2’s was they won and 3 more points away from the bottom 3, the performance though left a lot to be desired (according to my unnamed Podge-like source) against a 10-man GX side that were deservedly 1-up at the break. Karan and I believe Jas scored the goals.

The 3’s Gordon Bennett if you are squeamish, look away now, I wish I had cos I watched the whole thing as we conspired to hand GX 2’s their first and almost certainly only points this season. I almost hope we were bribed to lose…all we can do is ensure we learn from the game and apply the lessons to this coming week. We are playing Leighton Buzzard who are just above us so I will hopefully be a happier bunny next week.

The 4’s did very well against the top team in the league, Brunel University who are leagues below where they should be. They breezed into a 3-0 lead before a nice move involving Jim B, me and Chris Lunn set up Shane Smith who still had a bit to do but reverse-sticked home. Soon after, a similar nice team move gave Adesh a chance and his zippy flick was clawed away brilliantly by their keeper. 2^nd half we were under a lot of pressure but coped very well with it, Doggers did very well but Dom Hillman had a barnstormer (?)of a game, absolutely fantastic…and it was a real team achievement to keep it at 3-1…

Again 5’s played well against a decent Marlow team and lost 4-0 – good to Mark Bell back in action Ding Dong!!!

Looking for silver linings in cloud this week – nul points for the boys. Sir Alex (2) and Rhino got the goals and we equalised twice but loose defence allowed Tulse Hill to score 5. The 2’s were plucky but lost 3-0 to a useful MK Dons 2’s.

The 3’s oh dear it was going so well…we finished the first half 2-1 up against Phoenix & Ranelagh, just about deserved it with a Big Amit whack and the same with a  Gordo deflection and gratifying to see some creative forward play and pressure with Dave Merchant impressing and great to see Dawson scaring their defenders again! Then did I say oh dear? In 5/6 minutes we conceded 2 goals that are hard to describe without me getting tearful and the guilty need to be protected (well, it must be worth a pint if I do)…anyway 3-2 down and the oppo had their tails up and we were a bit deflated, then we conceded another poor goal and then chased the game and got caught on the break for no 5 and then Carl scored near the end and yes we lost and time to move on, nothing to see, onwards and upwards etc etc

The 4’s were plucky too and really competed against Eastcote and were un-plucky to lose 3-1, goal from ????????? 5’s were up against the Wycombe whippersnappers and it was all a bit too much and we didn’t score any and they scored more than that!

Results for the Men have looked up in the last 2 weeks – even for the 1’s who have lost both games. The 1’s lost 4-3 to Henley (Jimmy Webber scored 2 and my eyesight is going cos I managed to confuse Justin with Rhino and now my memory is going cos I can’t remember which one I mistook for who! Anyway one of ‘em scored) and yesterday they conceded a very late goal to lose to an impressive Eastbourne team 3-1. The things to concentrate on are the performances by the teams and the closeness of the results – the first round of games were not close. We have a lot of new (and a bit rusty) players and it is not surprising that they are tiring towards the end of games. We do have time to turn things round though and need to keep our form and confidence and we will be fine.

The 2’s had one good ‘un and one bad ‘un. They lost 3-1 to Henley with MattE scoring a bobbly equaliser but got what they deserved, nothing…but bounced back in a game they really needed to win beating Slough 3-1 and going above them. Crabhands got 2 and a Darren Adams a shortie straight off the training pitch (sarcasm alert).

Similar for the 3’s – week before we played an MK 3’s team who are more than useful and for a change we did play well in the first half and held them to 1-0 and really competed. 2^nd half we built on this and pushed MK back a bit though Croxster was still very busy in goal and equalised midway through the half. Ryan Dare did some excellent work ferreting his way through the right to cross, Gordo got a deflection, off the keeper and Shaunie was in the right place to put it away. The last 20 mins were great fun but very hard, all the team played their part and Ryan in goal pulled off a spectacular airborne stick save from their lad who could really flick the ball, and we held on for 1-all. Great result and performance and why we play the game and turn up every/most weeks!

This week was disappointing…if we’d played like we had the week before….but we didn’t…and we were up against the best 4^th team in the universe (West Hampstead) and going 3-0 down pretty early didn’t help either!! Lost 4-1 with an Amster shortie.

The fours finally won a game! 2-1 against BA (and Teto again!!). Adamski short put us in the lead before the zippy Shane got the winner. Fantastic and off the bottom! Week before, they did very well to hold MK 4’s (and their ex-National League player) to 4 goals.

The 5’s lost an entertaining game to Staines this week 5-3 (with the not-very-zippy Peter Cottrell getting a hat-trick) (and Ram getting himself sent off cos he needed a rest). Week before, we beat Eastcote (did the double!) 4-0, I know Weapon X got the 4^th but can’t remember the others, sorry

Anyway that is 3 wins and a draw, for us that is a heck of a return!!