Ashford (Middlesex) Hockey Club

Goal scorer:
Dan Rose

Man of the match:
Paul (entrapment) Neyton

Saturday 26th January and it was derby day two of the season as the 2nd XI travelled the short distance to local rivals Staines.
A beautiful winter’s day provided the backdrop to probably the best game of the season for the 2s. We travelled with a re-jigged team. Shar popped up from the 3s to add experience and composure to the defence, allowing captain Washer to move back to the right side of midfield and Dawson ‘I did 10 miles before the game’ Hardiman returned from the North sea squalls to add much needed presence up front.

Following a heavy defeat to Winchester the week before, the focus for this game was communication and enjoyment. No pressure, just play as you want. Quite possibly the best advice I’ve given so far this season. What a response from this team. Yes, we lost…but my god it was close and great fun to play in. Things couldn’t have started better, early pressure on the Staines defence found weak spots in their full backs so from there we built. As always, chances were hard to come by and Staines too started to work themselves into the game. The defence however, in contrast to previous games, was far more balanced and organised with Shar doing some great work to get people into the right places; Digger as always mopped up any loose balls and Billy and Charlie finally found their voices shouting at the midfield to do something for them. Up front, young Dan Rose continued to play like someone far beyond his years responding well to Dawson’s more experienced methods. And so it was no real surprise when we took the lead following some fantastic pressure from Cole and Washer in the midield to break up the Staines Defence. Feeding Dawson on the right he crossed for Rosey who finished neatly from a couple of yards. 1 – 0 was so very nearly followed by 2 – 0 shortly after when Cole found Washer hammering into the ‘D’ only to see his reverse hit skim the crossbar from the top (ish) of the ‘D’. Staines continued to exert pressure through their central midfield as the half came to a close and started to show the form that has put them at the top of the league. A knock to Smarty in the midfield meant we had to change things briefly which disrupted our rhythm for a while and this coupled with a sustained period of pressure saw Staines pick up two very fortuitous goals. First, after the ball ran up Billy’s stick and off his face, Staines were allowed to play on and bury the chance from a yard or so. And the second? Well let’s just say that I haven’t seen a ball go like that off an attempted reverse hit before and I don’t think Dan in goal has either – he wasn’t quite sure what to do with a reverse bob scuff. It threw us all and trickled in. We turned in disbelief and I think Staines turned in shame.

Still, half time, 2 – 1 down and very much leading the game. We kept things the same for the 2^nd half and weathered early pressure from Staines repelling short corners and counter attacks. The last 20 minutes? Well that was all Ashford with some of the best attacking and patient hockey we’ve played. We put the ball into channels, we made leads, we won corners, we hit the post, we kept the ball moving and started to run Staines off the pitch but we just couldn’t find that finish we so richly deserved.

Some lost patience with a couple of green cards being flashed but all in all this was possibly the best derby I’ve played in with Staines.
No malice, no aggro just good hockey with both teams desperate to come out on top. The game ended on a series of short corners to Ashford where we learnt another valuable lesson. Perhaps if we practiced more at training we might have come away with the win as we appeared a little clueless at the top. Still, the game ended on a high for us.

This was a much, much better performance by the 2s and although we dropped 3 points we’ve found the belief to take into the rest of the season and keep ourselves in this league.

This was a big performance. The 2s welcome Brighton to Short Lane on Saturday looking for 3 points.

Washer

Goal Scorer:
Jackie Parsons

Player of the Match:
Jacqui Bashford

It was derby day at Short Lane on Saturday as Ashford entertained local rivals and neighbours Staines. The Red & Blacks were able to welcome back regular goalkeeper SAM GRANT and midfielder STACEY KENWARD, who both had fully recovered from recent injuries’. In fact, with the exception of KATIE GREENE, coach MANDY WAIN had the ful, regular, first team squad available for the game.

In bright conditions and in front of a relatively large crowd, the home side Ashford started well. The fluent team work, adventurous attacking format and ever increasing confidence on the ball were again in evidence in the opening part of the game. It therefore was too unexpected when after fifteen minutes or so of play, Ashford opened the scoring. A quick through ball from skipper LAURA SAMOUEL just outside the Staines circle, found sweeper JACKIE PARSONS who had moved up the field to aid the attack. JACKIE let the ball run into the circle, then spun round cleverly and swept it into the back of the visitors net, to put the Red & Blacks one goal ahead. Despite the early Ashford dominance, Staines hung on for the rest of the half and showed determination and skills of their own, as Ashford sat back a little on their early lead.

The second half saw the Red & Blacks trying to up the pace again, prompted well by their midfielders. Best amongst them was Ashford player of the match JACQUI BASHFORD, whose numerous neat touches, jab tackles and endless running on and off the ball down right flank were causing lots of problems for the visitors. The forwards were also doing well with youngster LIV YOUNG using her speed and silky stick skills harass the Staines defence and also to combine well with fellow striker SHARON McGLINLEY to mount numerous attacks. Surprisingly though, the home team’s pressure didn’t result in them gaining any short corners during the entire match.

As the game moved into the final quarter, Staines upped their game and pressed hard for the equaliser, and after several attacks they secured a short corner. They took it well, but the Ashford keeper SAM GRANT saved the shot and stalwart defenders EMMA HYNES and SOPHIE SMART helped to clear the Ashford lines. The Red & Blacks then rallied a little, but were unable to add to their lead and opted to play some safety hockey in the closing ten minutes of the game to retain their narrow lead. They did, and thus secured three more valuable league points and their second clean sheet and victory in the four games they have played so far in 2008.

Not surprisingly, the team, coach MANDY WAIN and the home supporters were all very pleased with the victory, which was a just reward for their improved form and cohesive team work. Next Saturday the Red & Blacks have to travel to north London to face Winchmore Hill & Enfield 1^st XI, who are two places below them in the League. It is another vital game for Ashford as they try to continue with their steady climb up the League table. Hopefully Coach MANDY WAIN will have a full squad of players to pick the team and that they will continue to work hard on their team work and goal scoring prowess.

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

Goalscorers:
Amit, Bob Billins

Man of the Match:
Amit

Tip no. 3 of a possibly very short list for young, aspiring hockey professionals – use a quality fabric conditioner for washing team shirts. Coach had invested in Lenor and most of the team commented on the feel of the fabric against their skin and the fact they smelled nice. It’s certainly a lot better than the 33p Tesco Value stuff I get! Mentally refreshed and positive from our fragrant shirts, we went out and got the result of our season!

We were 4 players short – thankfully Marlow had their main player out too – so we decided to play 4 in a tight midfield and force them down our flanks – can’t say this really worked as they were coming through everywhere all game.

Our first chance came after 15 minutes after we’d ‘forced’ a 16 – Bob blocked it out superbly, slipped it to Gordo (I was a bit taken aback by this but he also passed the ball to me), who found little Tom who was stick-tackled for our one and only short corner! Out it went and got the Big Amit Whack – a precision-point shot straight through the gap between the ‘keepers legs!

Our second chance came 10 minutes later from a Marlow short corner. Big Tom saved/booted it out to the 25, where Coach picked it up and passed to Amit who lumbered forward at top speed, he lamped it into the D from the right where Bob – with his back to the goal for some reason – deflected it past the statuesque keeper for no. 2!! That would be the last thing their keeper did all game.

The sniper on the grassy knoll made a guest star appearance and took out Coach who went down squealing like a 10-year-old girl (and that is being harsh to 10-year-old girls). The most sympathetic comment he got was ‘you can get up now, Coach, we got the hit.’

Second half we had 2 nice moves early where we got the ball into the D and that was the end of our attacking. It was like the Battle of Alamo, Custer’s last stand (in an alternate universe where the fort survived and Custer was a goodie) and ‘300’ with less blood….we were under a bit of pressure basically….fortunately they had a woeful short corner routine and we obviously defended very well. They did eventually score one of their 15 or so short corners with 16 minutes to go. I’m sure if you have 16 minutes to live, it goes quite quickly but when you are hanging on like a punch-drunk Rocky it seems an eternity. But hang on we did for a famous 3 points and maybe we can start dreaming of mid-table obscurity!

Everyone played their part but gotta mention Big Tom in goal and Big Amit who covered every millimetre of the pitch…very slowly….

Man of Match:
Dan Rose

Saturday 19th January and the 2nd XI welcomed Winchester to Short Lane for what promised to be a tight encounter with top(ish) v not quite bottom(ish). Playing the same team at the start of the season, we lost 2 - 1 in an extremely tight game and were expecting much of the same this time round. So we tightened the defence up moving Washer to Centre Back with Digger Barnes, placing young long handle out to right back to work with Dan Holland down the right flank.

And did this work?

Err well, no not really!

Goal Scorers:
Anna Prothoroe, Sharon Mc Glinley.

Man of the Match:
Emma Hynes.

Ashford had to make an early start on Saturday for their 10.30am game away to sixth in the league team, Hendon.

Ashford coach MANDY WAIN was able to add regular midfielders KATIE GREENE and TRACEY HOLLAND to last week’s victorious out field squad.

However, an injury to regular goalkeeper SAM GRANT, gave an unexpected opportunity for young starlet keeper SARAH STEDEFORD, who has recently returned to the Club, to make her first team debut. The game started in atrociously wet conditions, but Ashford’s spirits were high and they continued to play their new system backed up with some solid team work. The game was fairly even for the first quarter, with the home team playing some rather dour, fairly physical hockey.

However, after eighteen minutes of play Ashford found a way through the Hendon defence, when they managed to convert a short corner.

ANNA PROTHOROE hit the corner out to fellow youngster LIV YOUNG, who struck a straight strike on goal.

The home team keeper blocked the shot, but the ever alert ANNA put the rebound in the net from a narrow angle on the left.

Ashford weren’t able to build on their lead though, and a lapse at the back by the Red & Blacks let the home team in for an equaliser shortly before half time.

The rain was still falling at the start of the second half, which followed a similar pattern to the first, in that Ashford scored first.

Once again, good team work helped to put SHARON McGLINLEY free on right, back line of the circle, and she cleverly scooped the ball past the Hendon keeper into the far corner of the net. Unfortunately Hendon hit straight back with a good goal of their own, to make the score 2-2.

Ashford continued to work hard as they strived to secure the winning goal, with defenders, and in particular full back and Player of the Match EMMA HYNES and debutant keeper SARAH STEDEFORD, playing well.

Likewise the midfield were also combining well and making some fine interceptions to keep the game flowing.

Unfortunately a late lapse by Ashford saw Hendon score a break away goal, which Ashford keeper bravely got a hand to, but it landed in the top corner of the Ashford net, to secure victory for the north London side by three goals to two.

Next Saturday the Red & Blacks are at home at 12 noon, to near neighbours Staines 3^rd XI, who are rooted at the base of the League table.

It is a vital game for Ashford who really need to secure more points to move out of the relegation zone and up the table.

Coach MANDY WAIN is optimistic though that with the improvements made by the team in the recent weeks, the good team spirit and keen competition for places in the squad, the victories will come.

Team:
S. Stedford (GK), S. Smart, K. Fry, E. Hynes, P Worsfold, A. Protheroe, J. Parsons, S McGlinley, L. Samouel (Skipper), O. Young, J Basford, K Greene, T Holland

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:
Jackie Parsons, Sharon McGlinley, Liv Young

Man of match:
Sophie Smart

In their opening league game for 2008, Ashford Ladies 1^st XI entertained Hampstead & Westminster 3^rd XI at Short Lane on Saturday.

Unfortunately, once again squad player and 1B standard umpire, TRACEY HOLLAND had to step down from playing to help officiate the game.

In addition, a late cry off from one Ashford player and injury to midfield regular STACEY KENWARD, reduced the squad to eleven players only.

However, a slightly new team format and system was tried by coach MANDY WAIN and it worked from the off, with everyone pulling together and playing some good team hockey.

The opposition also started well though and the game was very even for most of the first half.

In particular the Ashford back row of defenders SOPHIE SMART, EMMA HYNES and KIM FRY marked the Hendon forwards very closely, thus thwarting many of their attacks, whilst sweeper JACKIE PARSONS was enjoying her slightly more forward role and options.

The rest of the team were also performing well, with skipper LAURA SAMOUEL and midfielder PHIL WORSFIELD both having probably their best games of the season.

The positive attitude and approach by Ashford paid off shortly before half time, when a corner was injected from the left to the right hand side of the goal circle and switched back to striker JACKIE PARSONS.

JACKIE cleverly scooped the ball into the net and onto the backboard to secure a 1-0 lead for Ashford. The second half followed a similar pattern with both sides pressing for goals and Ashford playing some excellent team hockey to hang onto their slender lead. Almost midway through the half though, the Red & Blacks struck again from another short corner.

This time JACKIE PARSONS tried a straight strike from the push out which was initially saved by the Hendon keeper, but the ever alert Ashford striker SHARON McGLINCHEY followed up on the rebound to put the ball in the net and Ashford 2-0 up.

The Red & Blacks were now full of confidence and ten minutes later youngsters ANNA PROTHEROE and striker LIV YOUNG combined well, and LIV’s speculative shot from the edge of circle deceived the Hendon keeper and went into the net to take the score 3-0 to the home side.

The game was not over though and six minutes from the end the Red & Blacks goalkeeper SAM GRANT got injured, but she battled on and managed to keep the team’s first clean sheet of the season.

Thus it was a jubilant Ashford side who celebrated the final whistle and a well deserved 3-0 victory.

Next Saturday the 1^st XI Ladies have to travel to Hendon, who are only two places above them in the league and have only three points more, and on current form a win and further movement up the table is a realistic prospect.

Team:
S. Grant (GK), S. Smart, K. Fry, E. Hynes, P Worsfold, A. Protheroe, J. Parsons, S McGlinley, L. Samouel (Skipper), O. Young, J Basford

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.

Goal scorers:
Laura Samouel

As an opener for 2008, Ashford Ladies1st XI, faced a young Guildford 2^nd XI in a friendly game at Ashford on Saturday.

Ashford had several regular players, namely EMMA HYNES, KATIE GREENE and ALISON DONELAN, missing and youngster KIM DOWNS was drafted into the squad late on Friday night to make her first eleven debut.

Not surprisingly both sides were a little rusty and the game started somewhat slowly, with Guildford being the more dominant side.

In fact they took the lead after only six minutes of play when they scored following up from a short corner which did not appear to be fully controlled.

The goal appeared to wake the Red & Blacks up a little and they created a good attack down the right through JACQUI BASHFORD, which was later followed by a good effort by SHARON McGLINEY that went just wide.

Almost mid way through the first half the visitors scored their second goal from a free hit just outside the circle that was soundly hit home to make the score 2-0.

Undaunted by the second goal, Ashford prompted well by midfielder ANNA PROTHEROE and defenders JACKIE PARSONS and SOPHIE SMART, got back into the game well.

Eventually their hard work paid off when slick team work left skipper LARA SAMOUEL with an easy strike to score the first Ashford Ladies goal in 2008 and to make the score 2-1 to the visitors.

The play in the second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with the visitors combining well and working as a team.

However, Ashford goalkeeper SAM GRANT made several good saves to keep the visitors at bay.

In addition, JACKIE PARSONS stopped a well struck strike from a short corner on the goal line, and cleared the ball up the field.

Ashford tried hard to score an equaliser, but they were unable to penetrate the solid Guildford defence, so the score remained at 2-1 to Guilford.

As the game drew to a close, Ashford midfield STACEY KENWARD went over on her right ankle and had to be carried off for treatment and both Captains and the umpires decided to finish the game a few minutes early.

Thus Ashford started the New Year with a narrow defeat.

The Middlesex league programme for the Premier League starts again next weekend and Ashford 1^st XI have a home game against Hampstead & Westminster 3^rd XI at Short Lane at 12 noon.

Team:
S. Grant (GK), S. Smart, K. Fry, P Worsfold, A. Protheroe, O. Young, J. Parsons, S McGlinley, S. Kenward, L. Samouel (Skipper), O. Young, J Basford

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….