Ashford (Middlesex) Hockey Club

Man of the Match
Ant Appleyard

Scorers
Dan Williams, Gordo

A new tip and a reminder this week - Tip no 4 for young, aspiring hockey professionals – don’t be cheeky to your mother and get yourself grounded so you can’t play hockey. I have been guilty of the first 3 but have never fallen foul of no.4 being a confirmed mummy’s boy.

I did however fall foul of Tip no 1 – don’t eat a curry the night before a game – especially not a Chicken Vindaloo! I knew at the time I shouldn’t be doing it but couldn’t help myself. Come Saturday and 5 no 2’s and I was feeling a bit light-headed – in fact a bit lighter generally – anyway with the thought of one of Rosemary’s teas later, I clenched everything together and curry-ed on with the game.

Aylesbury are a decent passing team and that is always a good way to play against us! Fortunately they were a little wasteful up front and Ant had his best game of the season for us and so we were only 1 down at halftime, which - again – became 2 soon after the restart.

As usual we then got our act together and started to have some possession and force the oppo back a bit – they also only had 11, which may have been a factor in the last 20.

We got one back midway through the half when a cross from a nameless person on the right found Fat Dan in time and space 6 or 7 yards out. All expected him to lift the ball over the bar as per usual but he didn’t get it quite right and flicked it into the roof of the net! OK Dan finished well! We gained confidence from this and could have had a couple from shorts and time was running out when Dicky Chessman picked up a clearance and cracked it behind their defensive line where Gordo was lurking out of position to do the Gordo deflection (copyright pending) from 4 feet out – cue the manly roar.

So our first draw, a great point and with 4 games to go, a strategic win i.e. in 2 weeks should see us stay up

Ashford go down in Kent

Ashford went to Maidstone with high hopes after a fighting performance last week against the league leaders but the story was going to become a familiar one after a decent first half performance was thrown away by a return, in the second half, to the sort of performance from earlier in the season.

The astro at Maidstone takes getting used to with its spongy texture making it difficult to keep the ball on the ground. Players with good technique can cope but even those players need more than five minutes to warm up especially if they are playing away from home.

Manager, Martin Smith was concerned with the low key warm up but nevertheless Ashford started well with good possession and pressure on Maidstone. The pressure told as 3 short corners were won and all 3 were cleared off the line. Maidstone have some fine players with good skills and accompanying the skill there is an element of steel with tough physical players prepared to use their body and strength, sometimes illegally, to gain advantage. Some of these ‘tackles’ may be punished more harshly in Middlesex then they are in Kent but would be perfectly legal on a rugby pitch.

It was against the run of play in the 21_st minutes when a hip high pass across the pitch from left to right found a Maidstone attacker un marked, he ran into the D and from an angle hit a shot that hit the backboard. Ashford came back and after some good attacks won a short corner resulting in Mcfarlane dragflicking the equalizer.

Ashford were comfortable at half time and were confident that superior fitness would give them the edge in the second half. That was short lived as a break from the right just 3 minutes into the half gave Maidstone the lead. 7 minutes later it was 3-1 as a short corner routine was dispatched clinically.

Ashford fought back and they were still in the game. Just as you thought the tide was going to turn Maidstone broke again and made it 4-1. There were still 17 minutes to go when Joe Lewis positioned himself perfectly at the far post to guide the ball for Ashford’s second goal The 5_th Maidstone goal was a great individual effort with the player running through beating 2 defenders and hitting a shot that thudded against the backboard.

The second half performance was disheartening; a lack of fight and passion with some naïve play and individual errors took away the good work of the first half. A missed penalty flick could have made it 6-2 minutes from the end as Appleyard, in frustration, clattered a Maidstone player.

The result leaves Ashford second from bottom with just 5 games to go and there needs to be a dramatic improvement over the next few weeks if Ashford are to play in this division next season.

9 Feb Ashford 4’s 1 Abingdon 2’s 2

Goal scorer:
Big Amit

16 Feb Birkbeck College 3 Ashford 4’s 0

Goal scorer:
them!

We managed nearly one decent game across these 2 games - unsurprisingly we garnered nul points.

Abingdon was a much better performance against a better team though Birkbeck we didn’t get the best prep turning up at the wrong venue through no fault of our own.

Abingdon first - poor first half by us, they passed and moved well and we were fortunate to be only one down at half time and they soon stuck another in. Then something strange happened - our best player, Dawson, hobbled off with a dodgy groin - I told him to groin and bear it - and we managed to first hold the oppo then with a lot of effort rather than flair or skill push them back and had the last 20 minutes as they tired. Amit scored with the Big Whack and the ‘keeper made a very good save from a Gordo deflection who was then very upset with himself when he managed to miss another Big Amit Whack and we put numerous balls across the D, sticks were flailing but nowhere near the ball and we lost 2-1 to a team who are 3^rd and looking at promotion.

Birkbeck was not a good day at all, sent to the wrong venue by the oppo, we arrived late at Cranford, which is a horrible surface, and were never at the races. 2 goals down in the first half we did improve in the 2^nd but huffed and puffed to little effect and when they added a 3^rd with 15 minutes left that was it….and then no tea!!…So we departed with no points, sweaty, smelly, grumpy and hungry (the other 3 dwarves were missing)…

Proud performance

Ashford took on leaders Fareham who had been scoring an average of just under 5 goals a game and only conceding 1 in all the league matches they had played so far. Promotion is almost certain for Fareham while Ashford’s season is certain to carry on being a roller coaster ride.

Despite the difference in league rankings Ashford started well but conceded an early goal after just 7 minutes when the ball was needlessly given away from an Ashford free hit in the Fareham half. The lapse of concentration was punished with a counter-attacking move, which resulted in Fareham celebrating an early lead.This spurred Ashford to play some of the best hockey of the season as they fought to claw back the game. Emmerton hit the post and there was a fine save from the Fareham keeper.

Good possession and good tempo meant that Ashford looked like a side quite capable of competing with the top side as they camped in the Fareham half looking for a breakthrough. That came when they won a short corner after some good pressure. The set piece became a farce as the ball went past Olly Smith and Jimmy Webber; Fareham broke away and within 15 seconds of the short corner had added a second.That goal took the stuffing out of Ashford as within the next 5 minutes Fareham scored another 2. Ashford had 3 yellow cards making the half time team talk somewhat challenging as the boys went in 4 nil down.

Fareham don’t lead the league by accident. They are an excellent side, well drilled playing a 3-1-3-3 formation, first introduced by the Germans in the 80’s. There’s good movement off the ball, they pass with high tempo and no player holds the ball long enough for anyone to close them down. This gives them fluidity and movement that the lesser sides in the league cannot live with. It was starting to look the same story for Ashford.

Starting with 8 men for 10 minutes of the second half meant that Fareham added a 5^th and before long it was 6 nil. Despite the scoreline Ashford fought back and a bad foul by the Fareham keeper not only earned him a yellow card but allowed Ashford to get back into the game through a penalty flick which Jimmy Webber put away.

The break gave the boys time to think and for the last 15 minutes they played hockey on par with some of the games of last season. Suddenly the belief they had in the first 20 minutes of the game came flooding back. Beautiful and vintage Ashford pass and move hockey came visiting Short Lane.

With 3 minutes to go Ashford had scored another 3 goals bringing the score back to 6-4. Fareham looked flustered and it would have been the first time that this side had been under any real pressure this season, the side doing this to them was an Ashford side short of resources made up by sheer passion of not wanting to be embarrassed on their home ground. As the clock ran down Fareham were relieved and a brave effort by the Ashford boys ended in a defeat but a proud performance.

There were some excellent performances especially from Dan Appleyard and an eye catching one from Mark Bryan. Andrew Webber played one of his best games this season as he revelled against opposition who will comfortably sit in the National league next season.

Hard fought victory lifts Ashford

A cold sunny day at the Sussex University yielded victory for AHC after an ugly but hard working performance saw the boys pick up their 4^th win in 5 games. That wasn’t the only result as Martin Smith celebrated becoming a granddad as Mr and Mrs Jody Smith became proud parents of a baby boy half way through the game.

Both sides looked tentative with little goalmouth action but after just 6 minutes AHC broke away and Andrew Webber picked the ball just outside the right hand side of the D and played a pass to the far post where a well anticipated run saw Matt Emerton deflect the ball to make it 1-0.

Rather than the early lead being the catalyst for Ashford to play a more expansive style of hockey the goal resulted in a style of play to protect the lead. Brighton are a poor side and never really looked like coming back into the game. In previous years this Ashford side would have scored a handful of goals in the first half for a decisive victory but confidence is fragile at the moment and the focus is on achieving results, Dan Appleyard, in goal, had very little to do for most of the game and the 3 short corners in the game were all won by AHC.

There is a determination in the team to get some positive results after being at the wrong end of the table for most of the season. The hockey isn’t pretty but slowly, steadily and painfully Ashford are starting to put results together that has seen them climb a couple of places over the last few weeks with the only blip being the 4-2 defeat against local rivals Staines. Kessels has been a revelation in partnering Olly Smith in the centre of defence. Jimmy Webber has played out of position for most of the season and has had to adapt to playing a position, which has restricted his attacking play.

McFarlane, Baker and Jody Smith should return to the side next week as Ashford take on runaway league leaders Fareham. The formbook says that Fareham should comfortably pick up 3 points but the Ashford boys should have a point to prove and perhaps with no pressure and no expectation these boys can rally and put in a performance that harks back to the days when the opposition came to play at Short Lane with damage limitation as their target.

Goalscorer

Cuffey

See 26 Jan post on Marlow game posted today for a much better result and report!

Hmmm well this was a case of men against boys…and we were the boys….Henley played short, pass and move hockey and had much better control of the ball and we struggled all first half to cope with them…even though on paper we were much stronger than the previous week against Marlow (who beat Henley the week before that!!).

We had chances early on but could not trouble their keeper whereas they were troubling Ant - at 3 down he hurt his ankle again and Matt Samouels deputised very well for him but he let in another 2 for a scary-looking 5-zip scoreline at half time.

2nd half we more than salvaged a bit of pride with Cuffey scoring instantly but then doing his knee in unfortunately - and the game was more even as we showed a lot of backbone although Henley continued to pass the ball better.

We could have got a couple of goals back and should have had a penalty and hopefully we have our form back for next week (although we are looking at a raft of personnel changes)…Henley scored in the last minute to equalise the half!…onwards and hopefully upwards next week!… 

AHC Social Function

Saturday 9th February AHC’s first ever Barn Dance 7/7.30pm until late

With a professional caller to talk us through the dances!

TICKETS - £5 available from Wendy or Captains. Email Wendy on ahcsocial@hotmail.co.uk

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

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!

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:
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.

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…