Ladies 1s

Well this will be short as disappointingly we lost 1-2. Even my East London nephew was sad about it. Goal from Katherine Abbie. MoM Emily DoD Kathy.

Ladies 2s

L2s played some great hockey today against top of the league Crostyx. 1-1 at half time (cheeky goal from Kareen) we went out strong and definitely gave them a run for their money. 3-1 final score doesn’t reflect our team effort.

MOM to goalie Martha Watson (some brilliant saves!) with special mention to Lucie Fish. No specific POP this time – Rachel McKimmon (hangover & some lovely language), Kirsten Geekie (got a wee bit emot) & Harriet Barber in a threat to make her captain next year….

Ladies 3s

Ok so yes we won 4-1. We descended on Southend with a massive squad of 16!!!

Despite a promising opening attack and early short corner which created a frustrating near miss we then began to look rattled. By half time we were not playing our best or making the most of our army of players and let Southend take the first goal. I think the pressure of having to win had messed with our minds. A short corner in our favour led to a superb deflection by Sarah Todd from a cracking strike by Nicky Palmer which ricocheted into the goal. 1-1. Game was back on but we were still not performing at our best and Southend were dominating.

At half time we got our heads and act together and went out the second half playing the hockey we knew we were well capable of. We kept possession and drove forward to attack making great passes which led to more chances on goal including an unlucky deflection by myself from another rocket shot Nicky Palmer which narrowly missed. Sorry Nicky! Issy then knocked in a goal from a well worked attack by the forward line. We continued to break through their attack stay strong in defence. Sarah Toddd drove forward to send a shot flying from the top of the D into the back of the net… awesome! Issy put another away and we were well on top. It was a fabulous effort by all with everyone eager for the win. We out played Southend and deserve to stay in the division.

MoM to Sarah – I’d give it to her just for taking the toss as captain whilst feeding her baby on the half way line.

POP (an unusual one this) to Southend who said we won cos it wasn’t their usual goalie and for not joining us for teas!!!

Ladies 4s

Yesterday the Ladies 4s faced Romford 2s at the Academy. We dominated possession from the start and played an absolutely cracking game. Unfortunately, despite having lots of attempts, we struggled to convert any into a goal. Romford managed to break through and scored a messy goal, putting them 1-0 in the lead. However, Charlotte answered it straight away with a lovely strike. Again, though, Romford took advantage of a break, putting them 2-1 up at half time.

In the second half, Romford had a little more possession and scored another scrappy goal. Happily, Minty managed to finish a messy goal of our own, putting the score to 3-2. Although Romford scored again, it was disallowed for football, so 3-2 was where it remained.

It would have been nice to win a game we deserved so very much, but we did ourselves proud and worked so hard. Thank you all. It’s been an absolute pleasure smile emoticon

MOM: Melanie and Charlotte, with honourable mentions for Alex and Fiona.

POP: The Romford girl who kicked a goal in, bragged about it and then was surprised and irritated when it was disallowed.

Men’s 1s

To follow

Men’s 2s

What a terrible day out for Clacton. They could’ve had a nice day at the seaside, but instead they took a beating from us.

Having been 1-0 up at half time, we made it hard work in the second, but eventually won 4-3.

Congratulations to the best llama in the club, Tim Slack who earned himself man of the match. He’s not very good at wall ball though, and that’s what really counts.

Kristis Bubnelis scored a fantastic individual goal and Imran Arshad continues his birthday celebrations, having bagged his second hat trick in two weeks.

Tom Lowe was POP for giving lots of chat to the umpire, getting a green and taking up golf.

Men’s 3s

2-1 win to the Mens 3’s woohoo!

Men’s 4s

Last Saturday the men’s 4s travelled to Brentwood, to play the newly promoted Brentwood men’s 4s.

We drew 1-1 in a game that in all honesty we completely dominated, played some fantastic hockey, created so many chances, but were so wasteful in front of goal, our season in a nutshell.

Goal Scorer Martin Hands-Clarke

MOTM Kam Arshad so solid in defence when called upon.

Just one more game to go then, months of boring Saturday’s to follow…

Men’s 5s

The 5’s welcomed a young Crostyx side to the academy in their push for promotion. The 5’s were very scrappy in the first half and Crostyx were playing the better hockey, the 5’s did take the lead though Hashim Aamir and that one goal advantage into half time.

After a dressing down by the Captain at half time, the 5’s started second half on the front foot. The 5’s soon doubled there as the Captains inspirational change at half time moving Gino Toumazi to wing paid off, after Gino drove in the box before slipping to Zain Rashid for a tap in. It was soon 3 after a bound sweep shot from Zain was blocked on the line and penalty flick, up stepped Ben Firth-Salam to score the flick. Aamir Sultan soon found himself on the score sheet after a fine move from the back found him the D to slot home. The 5’s did get a 5th after Aamir got his second of the game, after beating the keeper to a loose ball in the box.

The score line does flatter the 5’s slightly as the young Crostyx push them all way and never gave up, but could not get though the 5’s back line. The 5-0 win cemented their position in second place in the division, but with other results going their way are ensured of a second place finish and promotion.

‪#‎cleansheetislikeagoalforthedefenders‬

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#‎onecupfinalleft‬

Mixed

Today saw the last mixed game of the season against champions City Slickers (who have a 100% record) so we knew it was going to be tough. We started really brightly and went close to taking the lead after some fine work by Harriet (and probably Kristis and Emma but I can’t quite remember!) At half time all was equal at 0-0.

The game continued in much the same way with Sir Ed bossing the midfield (for very short stints, admittedly) and City Slickers running at our defence. Eventually a dodgily (is that even a word?) cleared ball led to them getting a goal, which they followed up with another one soon after. Boo. So the final score was 0-2 but possibly our best performance of the season, and as usual the girls (Kim, Francesca, Emma, Harriet, Katrina, Jenny, and even Sarah wink emoticon ) were absolutely outstanding!

MoM goes to Fran, who was superb in stopping the City Slicker’s forwards. PoP has to be Nati who did a Matt O’Hara and failed to show but we’ll let him off as he got his train times wrong for his great northern expedition…

So finally, at the risk of sounding like Gary Joy, can I say a massive thank you to you all for playing this season. We’ve had players from 9 of the 10 teams playing for the mixed team throughout the season (we’ll let the M1’s off as they’re gunning for promotion :D) so a real club effort throughout!