Ladies 1s
Although incredibly excited to be back to hockey, unfortunately the L1s didn’t quite have the dream return we wanted at home against Redbridge.
We were a little rusty but put some good passages of play together. However, we didn’t take our chances and Redbridge took theirs on a penalty corner going 0-1 up before half time.
Second half was a similar story, lots of effort but no goal. Mog made some amazing saves, Katrina Hurrell took one on the knee running one on a short and Emma Haward saved on the line to keep them out so it ended with a 0-1 loss.
In other news, Liverpool lost again! (Sorry couldn’t resist Katherine Abbie)
MoM Amy
DoD Claire Shrimpie Boyling why didn’t you play today?
Ladies 2s
Ladies 2s travelled to Romford. We didn’t score enough. We came home! Final score 1-1. MOM to Anne and Kate.
Ladies 3s
Ladies 3 played Colne at home at Lea Valley today.
We went out with a fighting spirit (if not a little rusty after the loooooong Christmas break). We played some good hockey, with great passes from midfield and several attempts on goal. Olivia set up a great pass to Katie I who scored in the first half (whoop whoop!) Olivia also unluckily had a shot bounce off the post.
There were some strong moments in defence too and a couple of wicked saves by Martha, and one cleared off the line by Kim. The hail stones and pitch turning white mid game was err interesting. Overall a great team effort, especially with no captain at the moment (Emma Page we miss you!). Also a big welcome to Amanda joining the team! The final score of 3:1 to Colne doesn’t reflect the game we played. Onwards and upwards ladies
Ladies 4s
Ladies 4s played against Havering L4s today at the Academy. We played really well and dominated the pitch for most of the game.
Well done Minty for her 2 goals and Katie for her goal.
Score WF 3 – 1 Havering.
Great game today! We certainly started the 2nd half of the season on the right foot.
Men’s 1s
Men’s 2s
Another tough game for the M2s who took on Brentwood 1s at the Academy today. I’ll keep it short because there wasn’t all that much good to say. We headed out for the first half buoyed by Jonesy’s ‘uplifting’ team-talk, showed some good stuff at times and created a few chances, but switched off just before the break, conceding a couple of sloppy goals.
In the second half the team worked tirelessly to match Brentwood but our lack of subs began to take its toll in the last 15 and the score line took an unpleasant turn, no point dwelling on the exact number…
Massive thanks to Luke Clark for stepping up after Tim Boxall was forced off injured – hope you’re feeling alright after that ball to the head!
Mom – me for running and passing a bit
Pop – Daniel Clark for snapchatting our warm-up
Men’s 3s
The men’s 3s played away to Brentwood this afternoon, we started well attacking from the off. However Brentwood found their rhythm and went into half time 4-0. They scored a couple more goal in the second half. The final 20 minutes saw us get a groove in the game and we were producing some good attacking moves, Zain lost his marker and got on the end of one my cross. We got our second goal through a rebound off a short corner from Rob. Final score 8-2, not a great day but we can still take some positives from the game.
Onto the important stuff, POP & MOM.
There could have been a couple of good choices for pop, but the runaway winner was Tim “I’ve played prem b this season” Slack
Man of the match went to ladies’ man Zain who got one of the dinner ladies number #ladladlad
Men’s 4s
Fixture: WFHC M4s vs Chelmsford 4s (4th vs 2nd)
Pushback: Too Early
Venue: die Akademie
Weather: Actually not bad at all
Fact of the Day: Chelmsford, Essex, UK is not to be confused with Chelmsford, Middlesex, USA.
The 4s started very well, passing, moving, spreading the play like Arsenal c. 2003/04. Unfortunately it wasn’t long until Chelmsford, in scenes more recently familiar to Arsenal fans, scored two fortunate goals from a few brief periods of possession.
A few contentious incidents seem to conspire against M4s – disallowed ‘goals’ and a sprinkle of winter rust prevented the 4s from drawing level with Chelmsford.
Despite a spirited attempt at fightback from 5-1 down and a good (but with plenty of room for improvement) performance the game ended 5-3.
Match highlight: Oli, slightly short of match fitness after a month in India, deliberately scored a pin-point drag flicked short that he didn’t stop outside the D so he could have a tantrum at it being disallowed and justify subbing himself off.
Goals:
– Oliver Loessl p-flick after an opponent’s thigh stopped my shot crossing the line
– Oli drag-flick from a Ben Summers to Nadeem short corner lay off number
– Lesser-spotted poaching from Samir Akram
MOTM(s):
– Jon (dynamo at right mid + ‘goal’)
– Ian (solid at left back + great distribution)
– Oli (Hatrick – 2 goals + 1 tantrum).
Men’s 5s
A changed team for the Men’s 5’s travelled to Upminster today for the graveyard 16:00 pushback. Firstly, a huge thanks to Peter C, Peter W and Mark for a) stepping up b) providing much needed transport c) for keeping the average age of our back five to 45+! The latter is no mean feat and should be noted as may be relevant towards the end of this match report.
Similar to last week, the oppo started the brighter and to be fair to them did rather dominate the first 15 minutes or so with several short corners which led to them taking 2-0 lead. Again, similar to last week, the 5’s then started to get a foot hold in the game and managed to pull one back with an excellently timed run from George down the left which led to Andrew Falk scoring his first for the club. Congratulations Andrew. The first half finished 3-1 to Upminster with a very clean strike from the edge of the D.
The second half was better but despite the 5’s spending large parts of the game in the oppo’s half we just couldn’t find the net to reduce the deficit. With Upminster now counter attacking swiftly with younger legs, our ageing backline (see, I said it was relevant) struggled to keep them out on every occasion despite another great performance from Shaun. I believe we conceded two break away goals and another from a short corner leaving the final score at 6-1.
Disappointing score line but thanks for the effort today everyone and lots of positives again. We just need to put some in the onion bag as they say!!!!
Otters
With some of the Otters regulars missing or playing for the 5s three 13-year-olds played their first adult matches against a strong Rochford side that had already beaten us twice this season. After a tight goalless first half, punctuated by a break for a hailstorm, Rochford’s use of long aerial balls and a powerful striker paid off as they took the lead.
With great character, and William R and Mohad contributing some great work on debut, we battled back, and the third of the debutants, Jack, was the obvious Man of the Match as he started to dominate midfield with pacy, skilful runs and provided the equaliser with a crisp finish following a dribble inside the D. The match could have then gone either way with chances at both ends, but the final 1-1 score was a fair reward for a hugely promising performance.
Scorer: Jack Feather
