Ashford (Middlesex) Hockey Club

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!!

Disappointing week generally although one standout result for the 2’s. The 1’s resumed their league campaign against fellow strugglers, Ashford (Kent) and went one-up from a short corner conversion by Phil the Lip – unfortunately the visitors came back strongly and were 3-1 up at half time with the final score 5-1 as we chased the game. The enforced break probably didn’t help us here.

The 2’s had a fantastic result against Eastcote 3’s who are in the top 4 – we didn’t concede early and confidence increased when their defence could not cope with the blistering pace of Podge – his shot was parried and Shaggy did his batty-boy hit to put us 1-up. Although they equalised just before the half time whistle, our boys kept their shape and good form and were rewarded late on when Fry finished from close range. A superb result, which moves us up into mid-table – well done, lads!

The 3’s were a bit disappointing …Eastcote were nippy and inventive and played the ball round us for much of the game, they dominated the first half and we were 4 down and couldn’t complain. The second half we got into the game and played some decent stuff and we drew the half 2 apiece, Rishi finished off a very nice team move and Gordo scored from a short corner rebound. The 3’s and the 4’s who lost 6-0 probably do need a break now and make sure they are refreshed and ready for 8 Jan resumption.

The 5’s did great too beating GX 3’s 5-3, more than doubling their goal tally!!! Weapon Alpha got one, don’t know about the others

The 2’s continued their slow and steady improvement earning a well-deserved 1-all draw with Maidenhead. A win out of their next 2 games will probably put us in to mid-table and set us up for the 2^nd half of the season.

The 3’s were young even by this season’s standards with Robbie being 4^th oldest at 18. We lost 5-2 and made it very difficult for ourselves with a few soft goals – despite this, at times we played some very enterprising and skilful hockey and certainly made COO work for their win – the boys always put the effort in! Rishi G flicked in a shortie to make it 3-1 but their 4^th goal did for us and new player Perm (Rishi’s pop) smacked in our second late on from another shortie – thinking about it Perm shoulda curled it in.

4’s played a useful Bracknell 2’s – good game despite the freezing conditions but they were just a bit too good for us netting 7 goals

Christmas, Diwali, Hanukah, Ramadan and Halloween came early (or late) as the 1’s got their first points, giving their supporters palpitations while doing so, and the 2’s and 3’s also drew to improve their league standing…a memorable day for us given the last couple of seasons!

Chiswick Poly were the designated whipping boys – also struggling this season and having watched most of the game we were good value for the win. Alex Betts settled our nerves early on finishing off a Grainger meander through their D from a long corner and play was fairly even with Justin marauding around the pitch like an out-of-control bull (except that is being a bit harsh on the bull)…he certainly puts the wind up spectators so don’t know what he does to the oppo…

2nd half and we got another! 2-0 up through the improvising Jazz!! Then some Twilight Zone play and defence from both teams saw us give up a poor goal then their defender unaccountably passed the ball straight to Justin in the D and he reversed it home and went on a celebration sprint like a tubby Usain Bolt that must have knackered him. We then gave up another poor goal to irritate BBM (ok me too) but then their keeper in trying to stop a longie kicked the ball outside the D!! Off he went and Phil the Lip lashed home our 4^th to seal the win! Great stuff and sets us up for another 6-pointer with Epsom this week

The 2’s had a great game against Banbury and produced the first draw of the whole league – backs to the wall for a fair amount of the game they also had their moments but another point moves us out of the bottom two.

The 3’s had a great game against Wokingham 2’s who are the first team to match the pace of our side. We didn’t play particularly well first half, we took the lead against the run of play when Ryan made a barnstorming run into the D and his shot looped up off Robbie’s back, bounced over the keeper for Ryan to push home and their umpire gave it! They equalised straightaway and then we conceded a poor second. Second half we really got the bit between our teeth and shaded the game deserving our equaliser from an Angry short.. We could have won it at the end but have to be happy with the score and 2^nd half performance. We do have a habit of starting slowly and handing the initiative to the oppo and need to work on this if we want to avoid continually chasing the game. Even so, a very young team are doing exceptionally well in a difficult league. The 4’s lost 3-0 to Maidenhead Magicians.

The 4’s took centre-stage this week acquiring their first point with a 1-all draw against a high-flying (Leighton) Buzzard 2’s. It was a stellar performance and testament to the spirit of the side and the organisation and tactics of Bubbles (so he said). LB were a goal up at half time but the 2^nd half saw the 4’s get the hang of the M or W shaped midfield that could pivot eiher way with the extra lad joining the defence or attack as he chose – see, sounds good, doesn’t it!? Collective teamwork and a Shane Smith cross set up Chris Lunn who scored from close range.

Though they lost 2-0, the 2′s put in a much-improved performance and need to maintain their form and confidence and they will be alright. From reports received, Amersham & Chalfont belied their position and were very useful.

While the ones were losing to Richmond, another very young 3^rd team went to play OMT’s and we were on the end of a lot of pressure from the home team who bossed us in midfield – unsurprising since they probably had 70 more years experience! – and shoved us back. Jonno in goal played very well. They scored early in the first half which they more than deserved but the second was disappointing with Jonno being stick-tackled (!) before they put the loose ball away. We did play better but weren’t going to get 2 goals back.

Just the 3 games this week. The 1’s paid for early goals conceding 3 from short corners, they did hang on in there and got a goal back when Jas threaded the ball through to Rhino and he expertly rounded the keeper and belted the ball home. The second half saw the game even up as Ashford grew in confidence – they had a golden chance from a shortie to make it 3-2 but it didn’t go in and 2 minutes later it was 4-1 and game over. Oxford Hawks are top and with Ashford playing 6^th-placed Richmond Saturday, they will have the bottom half of the table to play in the run-in.

OMG the 3’s have an unbeaten run (I have taken to considering one game as an unbeaten run but we have got to two!!)!!! Playing Leighton Buzzard 1’s, for the 4^th game of the 6 we’ve played, we were battered in the first half (in fact for portions we were bread crumbed) but we hung on in there, just, for 1-0 at half time. We had noticeably improved in the last 10 minutes (and were very unlucky not to have equalised) but we continued our play into the 2^nd. When we get it right, we really make our pace count and although LB always looked more dangerous, we had them on the hop numerous times as the game opened up. A long ball set Steve T on goal and although he and the ball were kicked up in the air, the ball was retained and Adam passed to Rishi G who displayed unbelievable tekkers (mun) to make space and crack home the equaliser.  Game on and great fun it was too, the whole team worked very very hard. Last 10 minutes, we tired and it was backs to the wall but we held on for a great win I mean draw.

The 4’s continue to have a far from dull season and were having a good game against West Hampstead and 1-0 down when ….can’t be named for legal reasons….and draconian umpiring spoilt the game – final score 5-0.

Many congratulations to Dasmesh (Dash) Sandhu, who had a very enjoyable time at the Under 16 England Hockey Futures Cup last weekend. Dash’s team the Saxon Tigers (basically the former south team) convincingly beat the other regional teams, Wessex Leopards 5-0, Mercia Lynx 4-1 and Pennine Pumas 6-0, over the three days and won the tournament.

Dash, who has worked his way through the AHC Colts and Senior teams from the Under 9’s to the Men’s 1st team, playing in all seven junior age groups and all five men’s teams, deserves great credit for his efforts. More importantly, he has worked very hard on the training ground and his coaches also therefore deserve a mention. The tournament was a display of great hockey apparently and Dash was proud to represent the Red & Blacks at it, and I am sure as he always is, he was an absolute credit to the Club.

Further details and some photographs can be found on the web link http://www.englandhockey.co.uk/news.asp?itemid=9227&itemTitle=Futures+Cup+Day+Four&section=22&sectionTitle=News

Luke Wheeler was also away over half term holiday with an Under 14 boys side drawn from the Home Counties to play at a tournament in Holland.

Well done all, especially Dash, good on ya!

Hold the Front Page – the Men bag 2 wins on same day! Unfortunately, not the 1’s who paid for a poor first half against Lewes losing 4-1, they drew the 2^nd half with BigEll scoring from a slipped shortie. The 2’s were masterful on Saturday totally dominating a Gerrards Cross 1’s but only had a Big Amit strike to separate them though a 2^nd goal was disallowed eventually once the umpires worked out the subtle difference between Fry’s stick and nose. The 3’s had a great game against GX 2’s, great obviously cos we won but also the 2 teams make-up were identical with a few ropey old boys and 8 or 9 sprogs so it was Game On. We started much the stronger and dominated the first 25 mins – eventually a great run by Doggers saw Robbie get a shot in and Ryan ‘Dan’ Dare nicked it off him! We then got a bit nervous (not used to being in front) and let GX press us back in the final 10 mins of the half and they deflected in a dubious short corner. Undaunted, we continued to dominate the game though GX were having their moments but lovely play involving Rishi G set up Ryan who clipped in a nice reverse-shot for his 2nd and then Rishi banged in his debut goal from a shortie. There was still time left for young Harry to tee up Ryan who batted in his 3^rd (well done, Ryan!!) and look forward to the jug from his Dad. GX got a consolation 2^nd from an excellent short corner deflection. The 4s are having fun and games in their league, Brunel jumped 3 leagues from last year but are still miles off their standard, the lads did very well to hold then to 6! 5’s continued their good season with a close game against Marlow 3a’s eventually losing 2-1, goal from jeez I forgot but not weapon X!

Well we are getting closer in the 1′s. Playing Barnes, we didn’t start well and shipped too many goals early to be trailing 4-1. Cue a superb second-half and I like to think we we run out of time, scoring 2 minutes from time to make it 5-4, Ben Washer got 2 with Jas and Ed Green getting the others. The 2′s struggled to a 5-o defeat, the most unnerving thing for the oppo to handle was undoubtedly Podge’s helmet hair which drew admiring glances and comments from all who were lucky enough to see it. The 3′s were all at sea 1st half against Marlow and were lucky to only be trailing by 2 at half time. We had a very young team with the 4-man midfield totalling 69 versus a very experienced and useful Marlow team who went top on this result. Fortunately their short corner routine was pants and they were a bit Arsenal-esque in over-complicating their play – having said that we played very well in the 2nd half, never let our heads go down and really gave them a game. We have now played top, 3rd and 4th in 3 games so would be nice to have an easier game!?! The 4′s put in a plucky performance against a strong Marlow’s 3′s  losing 6-1 while the 5′s had an enjoyable but losing game against the mini-men of Bracknell

Another difficult week for the Red-and-Blacks.

The 1′s continued their difficult start losing to Tulse Hill and never really got going. The 2′s at least won the second half  1-0 courtesy of a Darren Adams shortie but unfortunately (we’ve checked the rule books) the first half counts so we lost 4-1 to MK 2′s. The 3′s couldn’t build on their success of last week against probably the best 4th team in the world and  lost 7-2 to Phoenix & Ranelagh 1′s. 2-0 down at half time and far from their best, we rallied in the second hand and scored a superb breakaway goal from the oppo short corner no more than 10 seconds after they had taken it! We cleared it out to Adam who passed to Matt and his first time pass left Jonno running in on the goalie and he passed it into the corner! Unfortunately, an infringement was missed for their 3rd and although we were well in the game, Phoenix moved the ball quicker and better than we did and made it count as we tired. Matt S scored a nice reverse-whack goal but overall disappointing to ship that many goals. The 4′s lost 2-0 but finally had a fair game – and a good one against a development Eastcote 6′s – only one down until the last 2 minutes, they were always in the game but were unable to trouble their goalie unduly. It was the 5′s turn to wonder at the make-up of the oppo with Wycombe 7′s being far too strong, they drew the second half 1-1 with Rishi scoring but had shipped 5 in the first, still they played very well.

Quickie this week sorry busy busy and all that…the 1′s had a similar experience to the week before – competing first half before losing way 2nd – against better oppo and lost 7-1. The 2′s paid for a poor first half and were 2 or 3 goals down before losing 5-2.

The 3′s had a fantastic result against West Hampstead – who will be up the top of the table come the end of the season. Having been battered first half but only one-down, we dug deep and then deeper still to hold WH and then – crikey – Robbie, our Ace of Pace, finished off a superb team move from the back to equalise 10 mins into the half. From then on, the team played outstandingly to hold their own until the last 10 mins when we were very tired but we held on. Felt like a win to be honest.

The 4′s have not had an easy time of it with the ex-National player last week and this week, Teto (who would be in our 1′s) playing for BA 3′s!!! Add to that Bubs being caught by an oppo stick (the stick came off worst of course) and no surprise we were on the end of a 7-1 defeat. The 5′s went down by 5 to Staines 6′s.

Goals from…Ryan Holland, Alex Betts, WeaponX (2)…

And So It Begins…(from the opening credits of what show?)…well we are off and running, maybe a bit slower than hoped for…

My info on the 1′s was they had just as much of the first half as the oppo – Henley – but were made to pay for two lapses, got back into the game with a nice Rhino goal after good work by Sha…but then too many of the team hit a wall after 50 mins and faded from the game…final score 6-1. The 2′s had a really good opener against Henley losing 2-1, very open and even game with Sir Alex scoring a sweet reverse-stick whammy for our goal and having 2 shorties at the end for the equaliser.

Well the 3′s was an adventure with only 10 men 20 mins before the meet time away to MK! Step up, Hary Weigner for his first league game ever and I owe him a pint when he is allowed to drink it. We played against a very confident, newly-promoted MK team on a bouncy but nice pitch – no-one was missing the mulch from last time! Pleasure to have 2 good umpires provided by MK and our boys collectively played really well – Robbie aka the Flash was th 5th eldest at 18 and David Sutch was older by a year than his other 3 defenders! 1-0 down at half time was something to be proud of and we got tired in the second, conceding 3 more. The 4′s was over-shadowed by a horrible injury to GK debutante Andy Ritchie which meant an ambulance and an early end to the game with MK – with an ex-National League forward playing miles below his standard – 8 goals to the good. Hurrah for the 5′s who beat Eastcote 8′s 2-1 with 2 goals from Weapon X.

The annual start of the season Club Day will be held on Saturday 4th September at Short Lane, starting at midday and all current, past and would be players of all ages and abilities are welcome. Your Team Captains’ will be sending out further details soon, but please make a note in your diary.

In addition, if you fancy giving hockey a go and haven’t played before, please come on down..

Tickets are now available at £1 each or £5 per book for the Grand Draw to be held at our 90th Anniversary Ball on Saturday 24th April. The prizes are many and various:

Cinema in your living room – LCD TV, Blu Ray Player

Hockey Heaven? A selection of Ashford Hockey Club sporting goodies including personalised shirt by WeAdmire.net and hockey kit from TK

ZZZZ…..not now! £100 voucher from Zoppo Hockey

Turning pro? A hockey stick from The ProShop

Ladies Pamper Hamper! Mini spa day at Virgin Staines & other goodies

Picture perfect – A 20” by 30” canvas of your choice from canvasRus.co.uk

Thirst quenching – A selection of South African wines from Cape Wine and Food, Staines.

Restore and revive – a Kinesiology session with Devin Dyason

Time for tea with Teapigs.co.uk – teatime treatsDriving forward? A round of golf for 4 at Stockley Park

Smile  A digital photo frame

Howzat? A pair of tickets for Surrey county cricket at the BritOval

Bubblicious – A bottle of champagne

Bowled over? Glass bowl from Classic Miniatures

Plus others – Buy your tickets from Tracy/Lynne at Short Lane or Wendy/Hayley on ahcsocial@hotmail.co.uk, or buy on the night!