MENS 1s

The men’s 1st XI travelled to newly promoted Ipswich and East Suffolk. Forest started brightly and were rewarded with a penalty flick when Jackson was upended by the burly Ipswich centre back; Radley coolly slotted home. Despite aerial acrobatics from Jackson, capitalising on the new rules for this season, Forest struggled to double their advantage despite guilt edged chances for Evans and Price when it had looked easier to score.

In the second half Ipswich picked up the tempo of their attack but ‪#‎DREWEFENCE‬ held firm, in particular thanks to an impressive double save from Ed Heathcock making his full debut, that is until a lucky ricochet found the Ipswich number 9 who finished with aplomb. Despite cards for Peacock (yellow) and Arkle (green) for poor discipline, Forest won a corner with the clock ticking down. Forest converted through Evans, but the celebrations were cut short when the Ipswich defence made use of their referral and took the decision upstairs to the TMO.

After examining the Forest routine from a number of camera angles, the TMO deemed that Lowe had illegally stopped the ball, and the goal was chalked off. The game ended 1-1 but the main talking point will remain; how long after a decision is given can the umpire retrospectively ask the TMO to review the play?

LADIES 1s

L1s headed to St Albans for our first league game. After some pre-game motivational ‘car driving’ we started well and Philippa Leguen De Lacroix hit one in to put us ahead. Katherine Abbie aka Juggernaut stormed through to put us 2-0 up. We kept going in the second half with solid displays all over the pitch. Phil and Kathy struck again and we ended with a 4-0 win!

MOM: Kathy. DOD: Lucy Butcher for forgetting captain duties but mainly for playing with a scourer under her shin pad.

MENS 2s

It was fitting that in Saffron Walden, famous for its yellow product we saw so many cards. POP Tom Lowe got two yellows and three greens all on his own. Pretty much everyone else got a green at some point too.

Therefore, losing 5-3 wasn’t a bad result given we rarely had as many players on the pitch as the home team.
Well done to Davis, scoring on his debut, Rob Martin with an absolutely sublime reverse stick flick around the keeper and Tom for a penalty flick. Biggest performance of the day and our congratulations go to Imran Arshad for arriving ON TIME and not getting a card.

The men’s twos will have to wait until next week for three juicy points.

MOM: Lydia Hale (goal scorer), DOD: Kirsten Geekie (thought it was 1-1).

Special mention to Harriet Barber for keeping the fresh captain calm and big thanks to those who pitched in to make up the numbers. Subs are overrated…

MENS 3s

A closely fought local derby against Crostyx kicked off our season today and gaining our first point of the new league with a 0-0 draw.

A new formation was tried which kept us defensively sound but reduced our attacking ability. End to end hockey, hard tackling, good saves, dodgy tackling and WFHC’s first green card of the season going to our esteemed chairman Matt The Chainsaw Lovell.

Thankyou to Ray and Cillie for umpiring.

POP: Matt L (Green card). MOM: Steve H (Clean Sheet)

LADIES 3s

So for our first game back in div 2 the ladies 3s hosted Colne Ladies 1s at lea valley, on a scorcher of a September day. With a week when it seemed half of the ladies section were on holiday or working we were very thankful for all the ladies 4 who stepped up to help out.

We started well going 1-0 up within 6 minutes but then crumbled to be 5-2 by halftime.

Ever the optimist though we started the second half trying to pull it back, we scored 2 more but they scored another 4.the game unfortunately finished 9-3 to Colne.

2 goals from Jane Blackborow and 1 from Emma Page. Hopefully the winning ways return next week.

MENS 4s

Men’s 4s began their 2015/16 league campaign with, a home fixture v Old Loughts Academy.
Always a tough fixture, and it proved so yet again today.

Loughts had no keeper, played with a kicking back, a couple if adults and the usual array of youngsters.
We started the game positively, and probably playing our best hockey, during the opening 20 mins, during which time a nicely worked short corner routine, saw skipper Frank Dijkstra, give us a 1-0 lead, soon followed by a nice deflected goal from Gavin Gynn, after some very good build up play, gave us a 2-0 lead which was deserved on the balance of play.

We then completely took our foot of the pedal, and let the Loughts side back into the game, and they really began to crank up the pressure on us, utilising that extra outfield player, superbly well. Although they didn’t create many clear cut opportunities, they forced a number of short corners, in many cases due to some extremely agricultural tackling. We defended these very well.

Although under pressure we had a few chances of our own, but were not clinical enough in front of goal.
2-0 at HT, could and should have been more for Forest.

To be fair the whole of the 2nd half, was a carbon copy of the last 15 minutes of the 1st half. Loughts Utilised the extra outfield man well, again didn’t create any clear cut opportunities, they forced a few shorts, which again we defended well. And to be fair, we defended very very well, especially in our own D. We again were guilty of being very profligate (hoping thats the right word) in front of goal.

So a 2-0 win to start the season, plenty for the 4s to work on, but we’ve hit the ground running, with 3 points on the board.

Couple thank you’s to Shaun Crowe for playing between the sticks for us. Matt Lovell for umpiring.

Congratulation to Alex Heath who won the MOTM vote.

So onwards to a date with Old Southendians next Saturday. ‪#‎GreenArmy‬

LADIES 4s

No Game

MENS 5s

The men’s 5s travelled to Romford for there opening game of the season. The 5s started brightly in the first half and created a number of great chances to take the lead and dominated the game. But against the run of play Romford took lead with there first attack. The 5s continued to dominated and got equaliser there deserved scored by Josh Field, the first half finishing 1-1.

The 5s continued to push for the winner, opening up the Romford defence on a number of occasions but couldn’t find the winner. Hashim did have the ball in the goal, but unfortunately this was chalked off due a earlier infringement.

A special mention to Hashim, Rob, Paul and Neil who were playing there first competitive game for club and a big thank you to Nati for agreeing to keep for the game

The game finished one a piece, but overall a great performance and things look promising for the season ahead.

MOM: Josh Field. SCORERS: Joshua Field

LADIES 5s

Fab start to the season for ladies 5’s…we scared off the opposition to secure our first win of the season!

MENS OTTERS

The Otters took to the field with an array of players on debut, including Mudassar from the Flyerz, and an age range of 67 years between them, from 13 year olds Jordan and Haider to octogenarian Pat.

An excellent team effort ensued, and, while not creating many chances ourselves, we kept a more experienced East London side scoreless to half-time, thanks to a penalty flick save from Shaun.

We continued to defend comfortably, with tireless work in midfield from Joao and George, until we conceded a scrappy goal midway through the second half, and, tiring as we chased an equaliser in the heat began to leave gaps at the back and let in a second late on to lose 2-0.

But it was a hugely encouraging performance, with plenty to build on in training and for the forthcoming matches.