Ashford (Middlesex) Hockey Club

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.

The 5’s were 2 for 2 going into this match and were buoyed by the return of ‘Captain Coach’ (somewhat under-enthusiastically). The order of the day was to continue to build on solid performances and take our chances when they came.

South Bucks started the game the better side and dominated early possession, Ashford then began to achieve a foothold in the game, this coincided with Coach removing himself from the pitch due to running out of diesel. Then came the moment of truth, a masterstroke by the Ashford skip bringing himself on up front and within minutes converting. Fantastic play by Sandy Bedi on the left and the finish applied from all of 2 yards, 1-0 to the 5’s and that’s the way it stayed until half-time.

The performance hadn’t reached the heights of last week, yet we were still comfortable. The half-time team talk was once again about weathering any early storms and then taking contol of the game, however the hurricane that was expected turned out to be ‘light drizzle with a gentle breeze’. Ashford took firm grip on the second half and won a string of shorties. Those elder statesmen will remember ‘Old Glory’ and the 5’s rendition proved useful as both an option and a fake. The first short used ‘OG’ - the Smith connection to Coach, Coach to Smith, the drag flick and a fine save. The second short was not switched and Smith applied a thunder bolt finish. The third was like the second another solid hit, which thumped the back boards. Smith then allowed fellow centre back Bhups to have a crack at the next, unfortunately Bhups managed only to find the top right corner. Our fifth shortie of the half gave Adam his hat-trick of shorts with a flick into the corner. South Bucks gained a consolation with probably the goal of the game, but I’ll gloss over that. Good performance once again and long may it continue, over to Feltham rema… Sorry Feltham Community College for our next battle against Sonning.

Goalscorers
Ian McAllan
Adam Smith (3)

A strange day for the 5’s as their inspirational leader was hauled into the 4’s. Could the 5th XI band wagon role on? After giving some instructions and encouragement before the game the first 25 minutes turned into a bit of a blur (probably because I was getting changed after the 4’s game), but I arrived with the team 1-0 through what I hear was a superhuman goal from Mr Bob Billins. We looked confortable and as the 1st half drew to a close we managed to snatch a second with some good work (again) from Bob and Greenie linking up, a good save from the keeper and Greenie finishing for a deserved 2-0 lead.

More of the same please was the order of the day, but after 5 minutes of the second period a miss-hit 16 led to Ramgarhia having the chance chance to pull one back, which they dually converted… The pressure was on, but the frantic pace was too much for the Ramgarhia right sided player, who was greened for a poor tackle and then yellowed for an even poorer challenge on our favourite MEP - Mr Robert Evans. Umpire Sherpa then pulled out a classic umpiring line stating “I think you’d better put a top on” as the lad trudged off…

So it was 10 Vs 11 for the next 20 minutes or so, but a spate of short corners could’ve led the home team to an equaliser at any time. Thankfully it didn’t and credit must go to the Ashford rearguard who have provided me with a massive selection headache. After 2 games the 5’s are now halfway to reaching their season total for last year, can the streak continue away to South Bucks next week?

Man of the match
Bob Billins

Goalscorers
Bob Billins
Dave Greenfield

A dreary early morning welcomed the Ashford 5th XI as they looked to start their season on the right note. Ashford, stout and rotund in places, lined up against an unfamiliar looking Eastcote 8’s. The Ashford team introduced 3 new faces including Bhups who has joined us from Hayes and U14’s Dasmesh Sandhu and Alex Betts, all making thier 5’s league debuts.

Eastcote started the game, but it was Ashford that opened the scoring with a good move down the right, a dumby pass and Matty Samoels finishing nicely on the reverse side. Ashford began to play the hockey and won a string of short corners. The 4th XI switch-right was the base of many efforts and soon enough it was 2-0 with Samoels ejecting to McAllan (Coach for those who are not aware), Coach slipping right to Rosey who laid back perfectly to Coach for a incisive slapped finish. Ashford made it 3-0 soon after with a nice solo effort from Rosey who had been making the Eastcote keeper work overtime throughout the 1st half, good goal and 3-0. Minutes before the break a lapse of concentration allowed Eastcote to make it 3-1 and the half-time team talk needed some adjusting.
The half-time team talk was about avoiding complacency and straight from the restart we managed to throw those comments out of the window. A poor pass on the Ashford right let in Eastcote who worked the ball well and made it 3-2, well against the run of play. It took Ashford another 5 minutes to settle into the second half, but once they did they didn’t look back. The goals began to flow with Rosey finishing from an acute angle for the 4th, Matt Samoels made it 5-2 and Greenie finish with aplomb from half a yard to make the score 6-2. Ashford were then denied horrendously from a short as play was once again switched, this time to the left for Samoels to scoop his hat-trick. The umpire disallowed the goal but did not deny Matty his hat-trick as he finished late on from a well work move. 7-2 and not really a fair reflection of the game, Ashford had at least 20 chances and the Eastcote goalkeeper definitely kept the score semi-respectable. That leaves the 5’s with a nose bleed sitting on top of Division 7, next week a tough trip to play Ramgaria 3.

Goalscorers
Matt Samoels (3)
Ian McAllan
Daniel Rose (2)
Dave Greenfield

Ashford Scorers:
Adam Smith, Dave Greenfield

As the light over Short Lane faded and the temperature plummeted, the Men’s 5th XI took to the pitch to face second place Eastcote Eagles. Our faithful crowd had long since sought shelter from the harsh condition, favouring the warmth of the clubhouse. With a bare XI, Ashford took heart in welcoming back Scott “the Aussie” from his travels and midfield rock Sandy Bedi, sporting a rather dynamic pair of lyrca shorts. The other appearance of note was the return of ex-Ashford 1st team keeper Mark Smith, who had kicked off his slippers (well, umpiring slippers anyway) to come back out of retirement and take to the field.

The game started passionately with both sides playing some quick and direct hockey. Eastcote took the lead early on when a through ball found their star player, a known Middlesex half-pint dynamo, in acres of space. There was then nothing Ashford could do but watch as he calmly passed the ball round Mark, who had unfortunately had a moment of indecision (I’m afraid to use the words “senior” moment), and into the goal.

This was not the start Ashford had hoped for, but the Red and Blacks didn’t let their heads drop and battled on regardless. A trademark Adam Smith free hit just outside the D was carefully deflected by Matt Chapman but the effort went narrowly wide of the left-hand post. With Ashford piling on the pressure the Eastcote defence showed signs of cracking when a short corner given against them resulted in a war of words and ended in some regretable verbal abuse from both sides. Umpires Dan Holland and Charlie Cottrell performed excellently the under pressure and slowly diffused the situation allowing play to resume. Ashford managed to convert the following short corner, but the ball failed to connect with the backboard as it deflected off the top of the keeper’s pads and was deemed to still be rising, giving Eastcote a 16 hit.

The break in play allowed Eastcote to gain possession as Ashford took their foot off the gas as half time approached. A crash ball through the middle to their centre-forward was skilfully laid off and the following shot did find the back of the net. However skilfully only described the way he used both feet to confuse the Ashford defence, and so the goal was disallowed once the Eastcote captain had owned up to the incident.

A rallying team talk at half time from a rather aggravated Dave Greenfield meant Ashford got off to a flying start. Piling on the pressure Eastcote conceded a short corner and the push out found Adam Smith who meandered his way through the oncoming runners with his usual deft stick skills and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner, past stranded keeper and the surprised defender glued to the post.

The Red and Blacks were on a roll and it didn’t take long for the pressure to pay off again when a fast ball into the Eastcote D found Dave Greenfield, Ashford’s answer to Robbie Fowler, who guided the ball into the back of the net with a neat deflection. Score: 2-1 to Ashford… what a turn around!

Now I’m sure that result would have made a few team captains in the league choke on their Monday morning cereal but unfortunately for Ashford Eastcote weren’t going to leave Short Lane with out a point. As the game entered its last minute another through ball found the Eastcote “Ronaldo” centre-forward who laid the ball back to their mini superstar, and with a lot of skill and a little bit of luck he scooted right, found an opening and scooped the ball off the deck, looping it just inside Mark’s left-hand post leaving him waving at thin air. Full time score: 2-2.

Looking at the league table, the Men’s 5th XI are now propping up the table due to Eastcote 8th XI stealing all three points against Bicester at the weekend. A good result against Bracknell next week is essential before hoping for another shock home result against league leaders Oxford Hawks in the last game before the Christmas break.

Ashford Scorers:
Ian McAllan, Adam Smith

Saturday saw the Ashford 5’s take on Eastcotes 8th team, with both teams languishing near (or at) the foot of the table already this game was set up to be a bit of a 6 pointer. The pre-match team-talk focused on the need not-to-lose, but the team felt confident that we were more than capable of winning our first 3 points of the season.

The game started brightly with Ashford seemingly taking an early grip on the game, some bright forward play from the debutant Shaun Smith set up a couple of bright moves for the Red and Blacks, although they came to nothing. Mid-way through the first half Ashford turned their dominance into a goal with a good move which was (eventually) bundled into the goal on the second attempt by the Ian ‘Coach’ McAllan, who, as it was later found DID NOT get snipered this week. A second goal soon followed from a short corner as Adam Smith recieved the ball then proceeded to make a couple of defenders look extremely ordinary with his skill, before producing a strong finish.

The second half continued as the first with Ashford playing all the hockey. Eastcote were restricted to a handful of chances which were dealt with very well by second debutant Ian Doggett, who looked calm and solid between the Ashford sticks and produced the 5’s first clean sheet of the season. Some great hockey was produced in the second half without a goal and none more so than the great interplay from the right hand side when superb composure and skill by young Freddie Cottrell produced an opportunity that was missed by millimetres. This capped a terrific performance from the young right-half and shows we’ve got another Cottrell who could potentially grace the higher teams.

A good display by all and a scoreline which didn’t reflect the balance of play - but a win is a win.