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!

Come on down for a curry and quiz night! £5 ticket.

Your quizmaster is Lucy and she’s sourced a variety of rounds and question writers to test your grey matter with, so worry not, they’re not all by me or all devised by Sherpa.

Bring some friends to build yourself a team beforehand or join one on the night!

RSVP ahcsocial@hotmail.co.uk.

The astro draw winners for January 2012 are:

£100 Hilary Hull

£50 Jane English – who has kindly donated her winnings back to the Club

£50 Gordon Smith

Congratulations to all the winners and your cheques should be with you soon. It is only £12 per year for a ticket and a draw is made every month throughout the season, with the extra big money prizes being drawn at the AHC Annual Dinner in April. Application forms are available on the website (see link on side bar) and on the Club Notice Board. Help support the club and give yourself a chance of winning some money at the same time.

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.

Happy New Year and I hope you had a good Christmas and besides hockey training if you would like to do some extra exercise, why not try the new Zumba classes being held at Short Lane:

Starting in the New Year there will be a new Zumba class down at the Sports Club every Monday from 9 January 2012 between 18.15 – 19.00, classes are £5 per per person or £40 for a 10 class pass.

Members and non-members are welcome and classes are open to anyone 16 years and over contact Sophie (facebook name SOPHIE VITAL SIGNZ) for further details.

Sorry to report that AHC lost the challenge pool match v ACC last Thursday by 4 games to 2, hard luck shane and the boys and we will get them next ime!

On a brighter note:

Ashford Cricket and Hockey Clubs are holding a Family New Year’s Eve Party this year.

To celebrate 2011 and see in the New Year the club will be open from 8 pm ’til late, there will be games/quiz and music and dancing, and food/buffet will be provided.
Entry will be free to members but on a first come first served basis and numbers may be limited – tickets are available from Tracey Roberts and please get yours now if you want to attend. Non members will be charged – £10 adults, £5 children.

Full details to follow.

Get you tickets now to enjoy a great night and while continuing your support for your Club.

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.

The astro draw winners for December 2011 are shown below:

£250 Gordon Smith

£100 Ian Jenkins (Sherpa)

£50 Alex Saunders

£50 John Tomkins

Congratulations to all the winners and your cheques should be with you soon. It is only £12 per year for a ticket and a draw is made every month throughout the season, with the extra big money prizes being drawn at the AHC Annual Dinner in April. Application forms are available on the website (see link on side bar) and on the Club Notice Board. Help support the Club and give yourself a chance of winning some money at the same time.

Thursday December 15th – Pool match between ACC and AHC. Teams of eight players, nibbles nad prizes on offer. Shane Smith is running the AHC team, so please let him know if you want to play or come down and support our team against the mighty Cricket Club. The challenge begins at 7.30 pm, hope to see you there.

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Ashford 3 Henley 3

A game full of incident to bring the curtain down on the first half of the
league programme.
Three down at the interval, the ‘Ford staged a remarkable comeback but just
as goals from Matt Emmerton, Jas Nijhar and Alex Betts brought them level, a
rash of temporary suspensions left them with eight men for the closing
stages threatening to undo all the good work. However, Dave Baker got on
the ball deep in his own half and winning free hit after free hit ran down
the clock and all things considered it was in the circumstances a point
salvaged rather than two dropped.

For the third home game running the ‘Ford began sluggishly and conceded an
early goal. This time, however, the visitors were allowed to go further in
front and when they scored a third from a corner just on half time it
looked a long way back.

The interval gave the ‘Ford the opportunity to regroup and change their
formation and they seized back the initiatve from the restart.
Scarcely allowing Henley a touch, the ‘Ford passed the ball aound with
purpose and goal by goal the deficit was erased.
Matt Emmerton got the first with a sumptuous deflection and then  Jas
Nijhar worked his way through the Henley defence to shoot under the keeper.

When Alex Betts finished off a well worked corner move with eight minutes
remaining it seemed that the ‘Ford might just be able to push on and snatch
a famous victory. However, as Henley rallied and managed to stage their
first real attack of the second half, Luke Cottrell found himself
outnumbered and a last ditch tackle brought a temporary suspension. Further
cards for Nijhar and Chris Bolton gave Henley a three man advantage for the
last few minutes but the ‘Ford, or what was left of them held firm and they
settled for a point which looked distinctly unlikely 35 minutes earlier.

Maybe it is a little frustrating to lose top spot but the ‘Ford can be
satisfied with their work so far in 2011/12. They are very much in touch
with the leaders and have also successfully negotiated three rounds of the
EHB Trophy so there is plenty to play for after the Christmas break

The AAs are hosting the annual challenge trophy match v Sunbury Stars of the Past (SSOPs) this coming Saturday at Short Lane at 1.30 pm. Unfortunately snow and ice have caused the postponement of this popular fixture for the last two years, so please can you all try and arrange for some beter weather for us this year. Once again star AAs players are travelling from far and wide, including across the pond from the US of A, to play in this prestigious event. Numerous festiviites and ceremonies are held before and after the game and everyone is welcome along on the condition that they either wear a Santa hat or something festive. Hope to see you there and “COME ON U AAs”.

A 10.30am start in deepest Berkshire meant leaving Stanwell at 8.30am but
the ‘Ford did not seem troubled by the earlier than normal push back and
were a goal up inside two minutes, courtesy of a Phil Lewis penalty corner.
Moving the ball around with assurance, the ‘ Ford controlled the rest of
the half allowing Sonning not even a sniff of keeper Adam Smith’s pads.
The game was effectively put to bed just after the break. Ryan Holland had
caused problems from the start and in trying to stop him, the Sonning
defence left plenty of room for Jas Nijhar to exploit and he set up the
‘Ford’s decisive second and third goals . First, The Wizard of the Dribble
mesmerised the home defence before firing an adroit pass to the left post
where Chris Bolton controlled and fired home with clinical precision. Then
the veteran stickmeister weaved his trademark brand of magic to suck in at
least four defenders before laying it off for skipper Luke Cotrell to scoop
home.
The one blemish on a fine team performance was a collective lack of
concentration which allowed Sonning a very late consolation.

Forthcoming events at Short Lane:

Friday evenings – Informal quiz in the Members bar, hosted by Shane Smith – all welcome.

Monday December 12th at 7.30 pm, ‘Ideas evening’, where we hope representatives of ACC and AHC will meet to thrash out further ideas to help solve some of the current financial problems. We plan to issue some ideas in advance to promote discussion at the meeting, but we would be grateful if you could ensure that we are primed for a inspiring debate and hopefully some innovative ideas. Please could you let me 9Lynne) know if you would like to attend this meeting to represent AHC.

Thursday December 15th – Pool match between ACC and AHC. Teams of eight players – food – prizes – time etc. to be defined. Shane Smith is running the AHC team, so please let him know if you want to play or come down and support our team.

Saturday December 17th – Children’s (2-12 years old) Christmas party from 4.30 pm. Tickets £4 each (available behind the bar) and food, games, prizes and a gift for each child, with also of course a visit from Santa.

Saturday December 31st – New Year’s Eve party, 8 pm until late, there will be games/quiz and music and dancing, and food/buffet will be provided. Entry will be free to members but on a first come first served basis and numbers may be limited – tickets are available from Tracey. Non members will be charged – £10 adults, £5 children.