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.

A fantastic effort from a very young team saw an undeserved result away to Leighton Buzzard. With just four adult players, including a keen dad and our usual umpire, the odds were against us from the start, but we weren’t going down without a fight. A much disputed first goal gave LB the lead early on, with the VC being less than happy with the umpire’s decisions in the preceeding passage of play.

Finding ourselves 3-0 down at half time spurred the team on, and both young and older battled hard in the second half, frustrating the LB captain and his team. Swift passing, good ball-retention but nobody to put a finish on the excellent build-up was frustrating, but neither colt nor adult let their heads drop.

Wave after wave of Ashford attacks came to nothing, and the dissapointment was made worse when we conceeded a short mid-way through the second half. A well struck shot on goal made it 4-0. But we kept on, and some more fantastic link up play down the flanks got some promising positions, but still the final ball evaded us. Twice catching us on the break, the LB front line scored another 2 to push the tally to 6, but a fantastic performance from the team meant the captain wasn’t too disheartened be the result - and the final 20 mins of the rugby in the club house made the pill a little less bitter.

Ashford Scorers:
Anthony Sheard

First game in a new league and despite the best efforts of the captain the 6s were only able to put together 8 players for this match and even though the opposition lent us a player the depleted team that took the field faring the worst.

Swans were soon into the attack and it took some heroic tackling from Bob Evans, Howard Nicholson and young Ian Doggett to keep them at bay. In goal Tom Johnston looked solid and in control and up front the treble strike-force of Shaun and Craig Smith and Anthony Sheard caused the home side some problems as the Ashford team passed the ball around well. After 15 mins Swans went ahead from a short corner with Johnston in goal not quite reaching the strike. Ashford had one really good chance in the half with Craig Smith not quite connecting with a perceptive Evan’s through ball.

Half-time 1-0 to Swans.

The second half saw Ashford upping the effort and a number of good breakaways occurred. Craig Smith had the ball in the net but was outside the D and Shaun Smith went close a couple of times. There was still some sturdy defensive play from the Ashford backs with the guest player performing well against his colleagues. With five minutes to go Ashford mounted an attack on the Swans goal and Anthony Sheard slotted home for the visitors. Although Swans came back hard the grizzled veterans of the Ashford defence held firm.

A great display by all the players and it proves that when things are difficult Ashford sides can rise to the challenge.

Thanks to Surinder Jhas for his umpiring.