Ashford (Middlesex) Hockey Club

Ladies hockey Saturday 21.1.12
The Ladies 3’s game today was conceded by the opposition, so they had a 2-0 walkover and the three points keep them in 4th place. The ever keen 3’s squad decided to meet up at Short Lane to practice instead and coaches Bubbles and Mark Appleton turned up to put them through some drills. . Pleased to report that the 1’s won 3-2 away and scored in the 2nd minute (well done Nicky Benedict) and move up to 5th place in the Premier division. The 2’s were held to a 0-0 draw at home despite the opposition only having ten players, but still remain in 4th position. The full results were:

1st XI beat Hendon & Mill Hill 1st XI 3-2 (away)

2nd XI drew with Hendon & Mill Hill 2nd XI 0-0 (home)

Funnily enough, the two men’s games played at Short Lane were also 0-0 draws which is very unusual for our pitch/teams!

Besides the league fixtures already confirmed for the Men and the ladies 3rd team this coming Saturday 14/1/12, there is now an additional fixture at 10.30am at Short Lane, between the Ladies 2nd team and Southgate Ladies 4th team. This is a reaarranged league fixture from before Christmas. There may also be a Ladies 1st team friendly at 3pm at home, but this has yet to be confirmed. Come on U Red & Blacks.

Apologies that we haven’t been able to update the website, but there are the following friendly and two rearranged Men’s League fixtures this coming weekend. Sorry, I haven’t got push back times for the Men’s games, but they are all afternoon matches:

Home Games
Ladies 1st XI v Sunbury, Walton & Weybridge Hawks 1st XI at Short Lane at 1.30pm

Away Games
Winchmore Hill & Enfield 2nd XI v Ladies 2nd XI at 1.30pm

Epsom 1st XI v Men’s 1st XI

West Hampstead 6th XI v Men’s 3rd XI at 2.30pm (League)

Leighton Buzzard Fledings v Men’s 4th XI (League)

Good luck all.

The Xmas newsletter 2011 has recently been sent out to members via e-mail and it contains all the latest AHC news, information from Ashford (Short Lane) Sports, Ashford Antiques gossip and the league tables for all teams at the half way stage of the season and lots of other articles. Please contact me president@ashfordhockeyclub.co.uk if you haven’t recieved a copy and we hope to have a copy linked to the website soon.

Plans have been finalised so….

FRIDAY 9TH DECEMBER

Ashford Ladies are obvioulsy classy ladies so get you party frocks and celebrate Christmas in style at Soiree (did you like my little play on words in the title?!)

TIME: 8pm at Soiree or maybe a bit earlier for a cheeky one somewhere before? Food served at 8.30pm
PLACE: Soiree, Staines (just up from pizza express, before roshni’s)
DRESS CODE: Dress to Impress!! (think people are thinking dresses/similar to last year!)
COST: £20 to include own area with delicious buffett including hot and cold selection, disco and dancing the night away!

I know its not far away, so need to know numbers pretty quickly, and £10 deposit asap. If you definately want to come, but not going to be at club to pay deposit before the 9th Dec, just let me know!

The more the merrier and if you want to bring a friend thats great, just let me know for numbers!

Please can you give your deposits to captains on sat (or let them know you definately want to come)

Thanks
Em

14/11/11
Ashford 2s vs Winchmore Hill and Enfield 2s
Away
3-1
The Ladies 2s travelled through the depths of London to play Winchmore and Enfield 2s. For such a long journey and having the game played in the afternoon the energy was somewhat lacking in the Ashford side. With our usual 2s goalie Dyson unavailable Charlie Poulter stepped in to guide our team from the back. Ashford were slow to get off the mark and for the first part of the game the oppo took control and in quick succession scored their first two goals. The Ashford side struggled to make the attacking runs desired and failed to capitalize on many short and long corner opportunities to make a comeback. After half time Ashford were still struggling to play on the 3G ‘beach like’ pitch with most hits being slowed to a stop but showed determination. With some brilliant play from Jules Steer, Sam Clarey, Beth Jefferies, Molly Davis and Cath Evans we finally got into our rhythm and started to worry the oppo so much the a couple of physical shoulder barges were seen. In one instance though this was not enough and the oppo sneaked in a goal in the right corner. With the final whistle imminent Ashford kept pushing on and with some great attacking play down the left Beth Jefferies soon hit home from an impossible angle.
For what was a hard match for the Ladies 2s the determination and spirit the team showed soon pulled through but unfortunately came too late in the match. Let’s hope next week we can see a winning result.

Saturday 5th Nov: Ladies 2s 4 – PHC Chiswick 2

Our first November game of the season brought the Ladies 2s back at home ground with a freshly swept pitch. With the absence of Captain Hannah Stokes we had our strong goalie Dyson to organise and bring ‘the master plan’. With an attacking game in mind within the first two minutes of the game we were awarded a short corner, a strong injection from Lynne Morgan to striker Gill brought a superb hit through the goalies legs to award Ashford their first goal. Throughout the rest of the first half Ashford managed to maintain control of the game with our solid defence consisting of Groomy, Hills, Alex Saunders and Sam Clarey pushing back Chiswick’s central attacking runs. More goal scoring chances during the first half saw Ashford dominating the game but failing to capitalise.

At the start of the second half Ashford had another set of attacking play and a short corner awarded in the second minute. Our occasional top goal scoring forward Jackie Parsons stepped up to receive the injection, with a rebound off the Chiswick goalie, Lynne hit home and bought the game to 2-0. Confidence was strong in the Ashford side and in the ninth minute Beth Jefferies swept in the third goal from another short corner on the left hand post. A determined oppo fought back taking advantage of a small blip in Ashford’s concentration; their quick passing down the right hand side soon beat our defence and bagged two goals. A draw looked imminent but Ashford soldiered on and with patience and resolve in the 34th minute a penetrating run from Becky Hewes saw a pass to Jackie Parsons who spotted Sam Clarey on p-spot for a final match winning goal.

Ashford Ladies 2s – Away to Eastcote, lost 5-1 (Becky Hewes)

This week’s game saw the Ladies 2s travel over to regular rivals Eastcote. With two blinding wins under our belts we were buzzing for win number three. Even if we were in white! The first half started off with Ashford having the main possession and another win looked promising. With some fast breakaways our rivals they soon got their first goal. Hungry to come back Sam Clarey and Man of the Match Jules Steer, made some great attacking runs through the middle. Shots towards goal were many but Ashford struggled to score. A much worn out side finished the first half 3-0 down but fought to keep heads up with our loud supporter Jacqui Bashford.

The second half started with strong attacks from the Eastcote side who in turn added 3 more goals to their tally for the first part of the second half. Strong defending from Hilary Hull and Alex Saunders saw Ashford hold their ground to push back any more attacking runs from the opposition. With the ball now out of our half Molly Davis and Cath Evans made an excellent pairing down the right wing to see some goal scoring opportunities worry the oppo. Eventually with another tough attack down the right wing Jules Steer picked up the ball at p-spot for Becky Hewes to slap the ball bottom corner for a goal.

For what was a tough match for the Ashford side this was a very positive game with the entire team playing really well. Even if we did have Alex hit on the head with a ball, Sam winding herself and Nicola ‘Groomy’ Groom running out of water because she drinks likes a fish. Did I mention we were in ‘unlucky white’?

Whilst the times against fixtures seem to have a bug, here’s the times for you as per the latests fixture sheet I have…but please, do check in with captains and let them know your availability…just in case there’s been another update!

SAT 22nd OCTOBER – also PLACE YOUR BETS SOCIAL from 7pm
ladies 1s vs Winchmore Hill HOME at 10.30
Men’s 1s vs Wallingford HOME at 12
ladies 3s vs PHC CHiswick HOME at 1.30
Men’s 5s vs Marlow HOME at 3
Men’s 2s vs Gerrards Cross AWAY at 12
Men’s 4s vs Oxford AWAY at 2.30
Ladies 2s vs Eastcote AWAY at 3

SAT OCT 29th
Ladies 3s vs Hendon & Mill Hill HOME at 12
Mens’s 2s vs Maidenhead HOME at 1.30
Men’s 4s vs Oxford Hawks HOME at 3
Men’s 1s vs Oxford AWAY at 1
Men’s 3s vs Phoenix & Ranlagh AWY at 2.30

We’re doing our first shopping event this week! With some exciting options for us….so bring a friend, grab a drink from the bar, and have a mooch whilst gossiping.

7.30pm to 10.30pm on Thursday 13th October

Come and peruse and purchase the following:

Jewellery from Stella & Dot
Kitchenware from Jamie at Home
Lingerie from Bluebella
Beauty from Avon
Cards from Phoenix Trading
Jewellery from Amber Designs
Scarves & Accessories from Moosbags

Ladies 1/2s Home to Brunel University, won 3-0

Ashford Ladies opened their preseason games with a 1/2s squad facing the students from Brunel University. In the midst of University ladies was home grown talent Kelly Taylor! But we moved on the game. Ashford dominated the first half, with Nicky Benedict, Clare Emmerton and Club Captain Emma Hynes controlling the midfield, and Sophie Smart, Tracey Holland and Captain Jacqui Bashford (returning from injury) easily repelling the few student attacks that did make it through the midfield. However, with Maria Cavilla back from a season out with injury, Ashford were in charge up front, with positive play from Gillian Clegg and youngster Rasna sending them into half time 2-0 up. Brunel’s coach clearly had words in the half time talk, and they reemerged more determimed and came back in to the game, creating chances which Ashford kept out thanks to young Chris Taylor standing in to help out the ladies at the last minute. Not much sibling rivalry there Ashford went on to win a number of short corners, but on this occaision failed to convert them. There were a few more near misses from the Ashford forwards before Cavilla clinched the game with her hat trick goal.

AHC is hoping to register itself in the England Hockey initiative shown above, by inviting any Ladies who used to play and are interested in returning to hockey, to come along to the first hour (7.30-8.30 pm) of Ladies winter Wednesday training sessions during September (7th, 14th, 21st, 28th) and 5th & 12th October. If you know anyone who maybe interested please bring them along or let Emma Hynes or myself know and we will contact them. They just need to turn up in sports kit and trainers, we can supply a stick.

The AHC pre-season Newsletter has been e-mailed/posted out to all paid up members today. Or view it on line here. Pre-season Newsletter;
Hard copies are also available at the Clubhouse. Men’s, Ladies and Colts midweek winter training dates are contained in the latest, 6 page edition of ‘Read & Black’, details of the forthcoming Club Day on 3/9/11, along with all the other latest and other Club information. Please contact your team captain, the Men’s and Ladies Club Captain or pressofficer@ashfordhockeyclub.co.uk for further details.

‘Ashford will be kicking off the 2011-2012 season with our club day tournament on Saturday 3rd September. Meeting at 1pm for registration, we’ll be holding a mixed team, mixed ability tournament! Exact team size dependent upon numbers, but usually around 6-7 aside playing on half a pitch…a more gentle reintroduction into the game . Games should start at 1.30pm. Alongside the tournament, we’ll also be hoping for sunshine as we get out the BBQ and to have some social beers. If you are definitely able to make it or are hoping to, please let us know to aid catering. Should you know someone interested in playing hockey for Ashford, this is a great chance to come and meet us…so bring them along! Hope to see you there, Hynes, Lucy, Wendy & Cole’.