Ladies 1s

L1s had a miserable day to forget losing away 2-1 to Potters Bar. Personal highlight though was no-one noticed me fall over all by myself. We scored first with Katherine Abbie popping it over the keeper but then they came back with one from a short and one on a break.

Joint MoM me and Lucie Fish. DoD Lucie Fish for thinking Lydia enjoyed her half term because she’s a teacher.

Ladies 2s

Ladies 3s

Ladies 4s

Yesterday, the mighty ladies 4s faced Upminster at the Academy, in a match that had been rearranged due to frost. Again, thanks go to Alex for helping me organise our game this week.

For the first time all season, we had subs coming out of our ears, which was great for helping us keep our energy up on what was a very wet and windy day. In the first half of the game, Upminster dominated possession but we still held them off and had some moments of great attacking play. Kudos goes to our defence for preventing Upminster from scoring for as long as they did, particularly as it was the first time Claire, Catriona and Amy had played with us, so we were all getting used to playing with each other and Upminster had some very young and nippy attackers.

However, Upminster did manage to get one past Rosemarie, who was on top form and received a MOM mention. Almost immediately, however, thanks to a fab pass from Charlotte, I found myself in a one-on-one with the keeper and managed to equalise with a very lucky goal.

Following half time, we lost our momentum a little and conceded many short corners, most of which were superbly defended. However, Upminster managed to make the most of two more opportunities, putting the score 3-1 against us. In the final quarter, though, we found our oomph again and had some great opportunities. A strong cross from Goodness (I think?) meant I scored again, putting the final score to 3-2 to Upminster. Overall, we played well and scored four goals in two weeks, a new record!

MOM: Me – Thank you ladies, I think mainly for coming straight to the game from Gatwick, but I’ll take it! Also, well-deserved mentions for Heidrun and Sarah for their hard work in defence.

Men’s 1s

Men’s 2s

Men’s 3s

Men’s 4s

So onto slip week and our important game in hand, although not imperative, we wanted too and needed the 3 points, in terms of securing our league status for next season. We hosted Havering 3s, @ The Academy.

To be brutally frank, after a very slow start, we completely dominated the match, with fluid hockey, fantastic ball speed, great passing, super movement, wonderful work rate, and exceptional desire. We went in at HT 3-0 up, deservedly so and scoring, twice from very neatly thought out and executed Short corner routines.

Having been 2-0 up last week and not changing the formation, at HT to give us a more solid base for the 2nd half, as captain, didn’t make that mistake this weekend. We changed it up, had a much more solid platform to build our attacking play from, which is exactly what we did.

A fine 2nd half performance, gained us another 3 goals, and numerous other chances, but most importantly, looking at the bigger picture, a massive 3 points, which takes us a point off of fourth place.

So a fabulous performance and a 6-0 win. One more win, should mean achieving our season aim, of consolidating our position in Div 6SE. Hoping that win comes next Saturday, as we travel to Saffron Walden.

The defence, as a unit got 3 nominations, for MOTM, for being solid, great tackling, great distribution and a clean sheet.

This week’s MOTM went to Ben Summers for a solid performance at the back, and 2 quality finishes from, short corners. This in spite of his ability to get his feet in front of the ball, stopping it reaching its destination, without picking up a card…. ‪#‎DarkArt‬ ‪#‎Sasquatch‬

Goal scorers: Ben Summers (2), Oliver Loessl, Frank Dijkstra, Alex Heath (4s Top Scorer this season), Martin Hands-Clarke (Scoring from as far out as he has ever scored)

Thank you to Horace Keating and Alex Gynn for helping out this weekend.

Men’s 5s

The men’s 5’s travel to Brentwood for this rearranged fixture.

The 5’s started slow, making unforced errors, letting Brentwood have the best of the opening exchanges. The 5’s grew into the game and started to dominant the first half and we’re reward with a goal, Aamir’s shot from a short corner was deflected home by Mike Lane from close range. The 5’s did create a few more chances but the first half finished 1-0 to the 5’s.

The second half the 5’s pushed for a second and scored when a mistake in the Brentwood defence allowed Aamir Sultan to slot home from close range. The 5’s had a number of opportunities to increase their lead, but it was Brentwood who pulled one back in the last 10 minutes, which lifted them and but the 5’s on the back foot. Brentwood got there equaliser and the game finished 2-2.

The 5’s still continue to push for promotion in their remaining games

Goal Scorers: Mick Lane and Aamir Sultan

MOM: Owen Doody

‪#‎4cupfinalsleft

Otters

Considering that the win took East London top of the table and that we played the second half with 10 and at times effectively 9 men due to injury, a 3-0 defeat was representative of a good, battling away performance by the Otters.

Emran worked tirelessly in midfield, and Luke was solid in a strong collective defensive effort, the highlight of which was Man of the Match Steve Hare’s performance in goal which kept the score respectable.

Mixed

We turned up this afternoon, a couple sporting a hangover, to face Wapping back at John Orwell. Wapping took the lead in the first half but Forest pulled one back with a cracking goal by young Matt O’Hara after a fine bit of pass and move in the Wapping half.

Wapping then took the lead with a cheeky deflection of a goal that wrong footed us all before we pulled back an equaliser in the last minutes, some fine work by Joe, Alex and Matt again.

Final score 2-2. Goals Matt and Alex. MoM was ‘D’ for an absolutely solid performance. PoP Matt O’Hara for his amazing run from the back right into the opposition area and then a nice reverse stick shot that was so high we almost lost the ball over the fence…