Ashford (Middlesex) Hockey Club

LEAGUE - HOME (Short-Lane)

LEAGUE - AWAY

LEAGUE - HOME (Short-Lane)

FRIENDLY - HOME (Short-Lane)

FRIENDLY - AWAY

FRIENDLY - AWAY

FRIENDLY - HOME (Short-Lane)

LEAGUE - AWAY

LEAGUE - AWAY

LEAGUE - HOME (Short-Lane)

People were anxiously scanning the skies for rents in the space/time
continuum as the normal score between these 2 teams was achieved
- 4-2 - but Team Ashford had got the 4 goals!!!

Very pleasing and slightly surprising result of our first game in MMBO 3
as we beat last years champions of div 4 for the first time in 3 seasons.
Our side had a different look with 14-year-olds Ian Doggett making his
debut in goal and Freddie Cottrell starting in midfield and Dutchie
Holland’s dodgy hamstring (or whatever) allowing him to play.
SB were without 3 of their luminaries and this allowed us to start
stronger and brighter and we were soon 2 up through Dutchie, the
first a lovely goal lifing the ball high over the onrushing keeper, the
second finishing off a short corner move.

To be honest, we should have made the game safe before halftime but
conspired to let them back in the game as the half ended 2-1.
The half time talk was fantastic - don’t be complacent, up the energy,
pass and move hockey, go for goals….unfortunately this translated into
10 minutes of dreadful hockey which saw us ship an equaliser and
up the stressometer to an unhealthy level! However we then settled down
and dominated the rest of the game - Amit lamped in a short corner
and then Rhino got the goal his performance and tenacity deserved and
not trying to undercut it first-time!! Excellent start to the season!!

Goalscorers
D Holland (2)
R Holland
A Bhamra

Team Ashford were anxiously scanning the skies for a temporal anomaly that might reverse the polarity of this result but unfortunately nothing could save us from the 5-1 drubbing we took at the hands of a more-than-useful Ram Sabha 2nd team. We expected them to be more skilful but they were fitter and had younger legs than anticipated and the first half was very difficult for us but we defended well as a team. Ant Appleyard playing his first game in goal since breaking his wrist had an excellent game, one reaction save to his right was outstanding. We had 2 chances in the half - the first, Coach batted a bouncing ball against the crossbar (never seen him hit it that hard at Cricket) and then we got our only shortie and Amit gave it some helmet to put us one-up. Unfortunately they equalised straightaway and the half ended one-all.

Second half we needed to keep tham at bay for 10 minutes and let their frustration and not-as-fit-as-us-ness get to them - sadly we fell apart a bit and they scored 3 times with a soft fourth not long after.

With the game gone, we kept our heads up and played our best hockey of the game, playing it around and controlling the game without looking incisive. All in a not a bad performance but brings home the fact we are in a league of mainly of 1’s and 2’s teams - still one major result was the ‘tea’ which was our national dish and lots of it….best I’ve had for years!….

Goalscorers
A Bhamra

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