Ladies 1s
Sooo this week L1s headed to Basildon looking for our fourth win in a row. A few players took a tour of Baz vegas but finally managed to join us and Katherine Abbie’s failed ‘your mum’ joke provider some changing room merriment.
Anyway, the game… We took a while to get going and Basildon went ahead with a lucky bobbled short corner. We then had a bit of a regroup at half time and Lucy Butcher put us 1-1 with a straight strike from a short.
Fish then hit herself on the head with the ball and a couple of us styled out some failed moves before Izzy had a goal disallowed so unfortunately it ended 1-1.
The post-match teas entertainment was mainly seeing how many chips, sausages and then chocolates can Amy get in her mouth.
MoM Lucy and Amy
DoD Claire Shrimpie Boyling for forgetting her astros, luckily she did have her trainers unlike the time Fish forgot hers and only had steel toe-capped boots!
Men’s 1s
D0-0
Ladies 2s
Ladies 2s were at home to Havering 2s. DJ (Captain) Toddy rallied the troops into action with some…choice….tunes to get us going.
Not long into the first half, the opposition found the back of the net after a good few attempts. Then this here FP came onto the pitch.
This here FP didn’t like the constant back chat that one of the umpires was receiving and made it known that one shouldn’t talk like that to an umpire. Said individual seemed to know her stuff though and then referred to me as “paddle woman”…fighting talk.
Into the 2nd half and the Forest army kept the ball well up the pitch. Nicky Haden-Homer took over the reins at the back when Dee got a knock and covered everything that came her way. She even had time to have a giggle with an opposition player about the mouth of the aforementioned Havering player! Probably just after Kareen got hit in the face by our favourite player using that savage weapon, the nose!
We attacked hard driving into the D with many many…many many…many, yup many chances but the ball just couldn’t make the back of the net. Even the deployment of the freshly riled up FP wallop on penalty corners didn’t manage to get through.
The game ended 1:0 to Havering. Nicky HH got MOM with Nicky Y taking a close 2nd.
I offered the player an autograph at the end, I’m still waiting for the PM with her address.
Men’s 2s
I’m not going to go into how we scored but instead say a massive well done to every single player as we put everything into this game. We work so hard and the team spirit was amazing.3 Goals from Matt Tanswell, and one each from Horace and Daniel Clark gave us a 5-1 win over Chelmsford. Just to rub salt into the wound we completed the double!! Mom went to matt tanswell for scoring 3, pop went to myself due to Amy Louise Mcnair not being able to stay quite during fines. Over all a brilliant team performance and spirit!! Also happy birthday skipper!!!
Ladies 3s
Ladies 3’s were away at Chelmsford but unlike the men’s team just missed the appearance of Ed Sheeran at teas! Cue several unnamed players making a run for it outside to see if they could spot him anyhow….the game…
Despite some wicked passing, shots on goal and solid defending, we were defeated by Chelmsford’s several hard shots on goal. We were by no means the weaker side, they just got lucky. Final score 4-0. Great team work ladies, welcome to Ellie for her first game for WF and to Jordan for her second game with us. Player of the match rightly deserved by Zoe
Men’s 3s
The 3s faced a strong Clacton opposition at the academy this morning. Both teams started off strong with Clacton getting their first goal off a short corner. (1-0 Clacton)
The 3s were quick to respond with a ball flicked into the top of the net by David. (1-1)
We started switching off towards the end of the first half which resulted in Ed missing a flick and Clacton Scoring two more; making use of a well camouflaged striker being constantly unmarked, sticking tight to our goal.
The first half ended 3-1 to Clacton.
The second half started much better, with forest creating chance after chance. Many of these chances being created by Joe Russo on the right wing, who was able to inject a ball in and follow up on the rebound making it 3-2 to Clacton. We kept pressing as a team and this saw Imran Arshad ruthlessly strike the ball into the bottom corner making the final score 3-3.
If we had just 10 more minutes I’m sure we could have scored a couple more giving us the win we deserved.
Pop: 2nd place was an ethnic tie between myself (for success at the Brit awards and being late) and Vinay Chhana (for viciously tackling a kid, flipping him over a few times and resulting in getting himself sent off)
However runaway winner was Ed for missing a flick.
Mom: Runner Up was Joe for an overall good performance.
However it went to Kieran for constantly applying pressure by pushing forward, disallowing them getting the ball in our half.
Ladies 4s
Ladies 4’s played Braintree 3’s this afternoon at Lea Valley. It was a great solid game, both teams played well and both teams had a few chances but pleased to say … we won 1-0 ! Minty was our goal scorer Well done everyone!
Men’s 5s
The Men’s 5’s hosted Wavering for the early morning pushback at the Academy – the home of hockey. Club spirit was strong today as despite a few last minute withdrawals, the 5’s were still able to field a strong 14 in search of their 1st win of 2017 and only their second of the season. A special thanks therefore to Ben, Gary and Frank for playing with us today.
The 5’s started brightly as usual but once again couldn’t grab the initiative via a goal and after allowing Wavering into the game and conceding several short corners, Wavering went ahead half way during the first half. The 5’s responded well to this setback and quickly began to take control of the game once again and this time were rewarded with a well taken goal from Mick Lane. Despite obtaining a green card (sorry Martin) to finish the first half with 10 men, it finished 1-1.
The second half was a much stronger performance from the whole team and our regular players seem to gain a great deal of confidence from playing with more experienced players. We looked very solid at the back, calm and confident in midfield and very dangerous up front with Morgan and Biel both providing strong attacking performances from the wing. The pressure eventually took its toll and the 5’s took the lead mid-way through the second half with an excellent strike from Aamir that was quickly followed by another strike from Ben which looped over the keeper and nestled into the roof of the net. 3-1 to the 5’s.
With good support from the waiting Men’s 3’s, this was how the game finished and the 5’s did indeed secure their first win of 2017.
Although loads of positives from a team perspective – the club was the overall winner today.
Well done WFHC.
Otters
The Otters took on a Romford side featuring 4 of their first-team players whose qualities showed in two early sharply-taken goals against the run of play. We continued to press on both sides of the break, forcing multiple short corners, but Mohad’s first goal at adult level was all we had to show for it, and a couple of soft goals conceded on the counter-attack made it a 1-4 final score line. Euan did some great work as the holding midfielder but Peter Walker was man of the match for great defensive work, keeping Romford’s star players in check for the majority of the game. (Those star players did not include Shrimpy’s Dad whose highlight was running around in a circle then falling over when attempting to pick up a through ball with not an Otter in sight.)
