A mixed bag of results, kind of like pick and mix at the Cinema!

The never fails Gummy Bears … L1s, L2s, L3s
The take it or leave it Dolly Mix … M4s
The disappointment of the Liquorice All sorts… M1s, M2s, M3s, L4s, L5s, M5s, Mixed All-Stars

Well done to the winners, enjoy your sweets at the movies tonight! More details of who done what, when and where below.

L1s

Waltham Forest ladies onsies faced top of the league, Holcombe 2s, at home on Saturday. Having lost 4-0 to them away, with a very depleted squad, Forest were fired up to be playing them again. With a strong squad & the perfect sunny hockey weather the pre match vibes were positive & focused.

Both teams came out strong & determined but it was Forest who took the lead in the first half. From a 16 yard hit out, Shrimpie played an early ball through to Mandy Briggs in the centre. A quick follow on ball was played to Katherine Abbie who then played a great ball into the dee & Jenny Field managed to get a touch on it. Changing it’s direction just enough for it to pass by the goal keeper & into the goal.

Holcombe started to get riled but Forest kept their cool & their focus. Both teams came out hard after half time & Holcombe really started to pressurise Forest’s defence, with numerous consecutive short corners. But Forest’s defence were brilliant, with player of the match Mog Campbell making some fantastic saves, and the team consistently clearing the ball & avoiding an equalising goal.

The end result was an impressive 1:0 win to Forest. No so impressive for Anne-Marie Perry who tried to sub back on with her bib still on and inevitably won the title of this week’s DoD.

L4s

Ladies 4s travelled to Mile End for an early start and were up against a strong East London side. We hassled well and made breaks down the sides but the oppo were just too strong. The 8 nil defeat was unlucky as we played some of our best hockey so far this season. Player of the match was Sarah, who had a brilliant game!

L5s

We improved on our last result against Crostyx of 13-0 to make today’s match 5-0 loss.

As always 100% effort goes onto the pitch and it was a hard match with some aggressive play from the opposition. We just need to watch our feet, keep sticks down and get playing around the pitch to get our winning form back on! LOMs were Nikki B and Helen Cooper for sheer blimming hard work!

M1s

The men’s 1s are all but assured of remaining in Premier B for next season, and yet the hope after last week’s excellent performance was that Waltham Forest would finish the season strong. Waltham Forest played host to Long Sutton, a team that started the day a point below them. Any hope that the opposition would have suffered from their long journey down from Lincolnshire was soon replaced as Long Sutton started strong. Waltham Forest were left confusion and disorganised after 10 minutes when they found themselves 3-0 down.

Waltham Forest continued to struggle with the basics as Long Sutton moved the ball well and maintained the pressure when defending. This pressure, combined with the inability to maintain procession of the ball, made for a tough first half. Forest limped into the half 4-0 down and barely playing hockey.

With a few wise words at half term and a reminder of how to play hockey, Forest started the second half. Despite the poor first half performance Forest began to find their feet and applied pressure on the opposition, quickly scoring a goal. However the damage had been done and it wasn’t long after that Long Sutton scored a fifth killing any chance of a comeback. The game continued but without the same intensity and the play became spread. Waltham Forest managed to score one more but Long Sutton put two more away. Final score 7-2.

With two more games remaining Forest need to refocus on the hockey and demonstrate their intentions for next season in the final fixtures.

M2s

Men’s 2s lost 2-5 against promotion rivals Brentwood. They played well, we didn’t. We started to play a bit when we were 4 goals down, getting 2 goals to offer a glimmer of hope before they got the final goal to kill the game.

James Price and Cillié Truter got the goals. Thanks to Sean Bean Carey for helping us out at the last minute. James Price inevitably got PoP.

M4s

For our Final League Fixture of the season, 2013/14, on a beautiful sunny day, we had the pleasure of travelling to Old Southendian’s.

With Promotion already secured, (Still waiting confirmation on the League Page) we went into the game as last week, with 5/6 regular team members missing, for various reasons, so brought up some players from the Men’s 5s. So a very make shift team for our last game of the season.

With so many players missing, it was a very sluggish start from us, no fluidity, misplaced passes, hanging onto the ball too long, in fact all our basic and core hockey skills, seemed to had disappeared, we were playing very poorly and could not get our game going at all.

Although we’d were defending very well, and the oppo were not creating that many chances, the inevitable did happen, from a Short Corner, we defended the initial shot well, but failed to clear our D, and conceded an extremely soft goal, 1-0 down and deservedly so.

We did manage to get some attacking hockey going and force, some Shorts of our own, but our execution was woeful. And just before the break, Stephen Kilbey the GK, made a super save to keep us in the game. I think a 2nd for Southend would have knocked the stuffing out of us, and that would have been game over. But 1-0 down at HT, and still in the game just.

For the first time this season at HT, we got the Hairdryer treatment from skipper, Mark Fisher and rightly so.

We didn’t initially seem to heed the HT words, as our play was still very sluggish, and we were putting ourselves under pressure, but still defending defiantly.

Finally we began to play, with the fluidity that had been a hall mark of our season. We made chances and had shorts but our finishing was still very poor. But as it always seems to happen, from a blown short corner, the ball was played back into the D, where I played it across to an unmarked Philip Parr, to equalise, 1-1.

We then went back into our shell, when we should have gone on and tried to win the game, and although both sides, created half chances, but there were no more goals scored, it finished 1-1, which on reflection, was a fair result.

Not how we wanted to end, what has been a fantastic season for the men’s 4s. We’ve played some cracking hockey at time, our desire commitment and work rate has never been in question.

So it only leaves me to say, congratulations guys, a great season, a new bench mark set by this seasons men’s 4s, and it has been an absolute pleasure to be a part of it, and also an absolute pleasure to be your team mate this season.

See you all next season, first game 20th September, Div 7 SE.

Mixed

Today what looked a very strong mixed team, went into battle at the Academy on a glorious afternoon v Stevenage HC in The EHB Mixed Plate.

Forest started extremely brightly, playing the much better hockey and after about 10 mins were awarded a Penalty Stroke, which James Price was very eager to take.

Have to say it was arguably the worst flick I have ever seen, but managed to dribble it’s way beyond the sprawling GK 1-0 Forest.

We kept playing well, and creating opportunities, and made it 2-0, and I apologise profusely, but I cannot for the life of me remember whom or a great deal about the goal..
At 2-0 Forest were still the dominant team, and had many chances, to put the game to bed, but poor finishing and a little bad luck, meant we were still only 2-0 up.
In the space of a couple of minutes, the game was turned on its head, twice we were caught, by quick Stevenage Counter Attacking, 2-2, very much against the run of play.
That’s how it stayed until HT.

Second Half, saw Forest again, quick out of the blocks, and creating goal scoring opportunities, but failing to take advantage. Eventually some very good build up play, earned us another flick, thus time taken by Luciano Da Silva which was much more emphatic. 3-2 Forest.

Again our hockey was better, and we had enough openings to wrap the game up, but didn’t. For which we were punished.

An Absolute Worldy, made 3-3, after an error by yours truly, not playing to the whistle, basics…

Then the 3rd flick of the game, unfortunately given against rather than for this time, 4-3 Stevenage.

For the last 15 minutes we absolutely, piled the pressure on, again making openings and creating chances, but again, we were wasteful and unlucky. The final whistle blew, we had lost, and the over riding feeling was, How?

We played very well, were on top for long periods, and arguably played the better hockey and were the better side, and in the end unlucky to be on the end of a defeat…