Ladies 1s

Unfortunately L1s had a bad day at the Redbridge office losing 2-0. There were flashes of positive play with a lot of pressure in the oppo’s half but we paid the price for making too many errors.

Good news is we get to play again tomorrow in the cup!

MoM Anna-Marie Parker

DoD Philippa Leguen De Lacroix for trying to take a side line ball when she’d been subbed and for stacking it all by herself

Ladies 2s

So another week, another match, another frustrating result….. but there are a few positives – I am no longer DOD (although I think we should rename it P.O.P. or “Pillock on the Pitch”. Much nicer don’t you think?) and we had cake! However, back to the match report…

We had an early start as we had to travel all the way to Colchester. Once we arrived we were asked about who would be staying for teas and we struggled with the basic maths involved. I am sure the opposition thought they were in for a sure win! We eventually got ourselves together, ran around the pitch and warmed up. We took a few minutes to get into the first half but once we were in it we played well. We were passing like we had played together for years, maintained our shape and ‘kept it simple’. What do you know – it worked!! The opposition scored a goal but we were having no more of it in that half. We set up our presses well and attacked with a hunger that would make any Waltham Forest club member tear up at the dedication to succeed. We had some great calls from Kirsten who made running into space look like modern art! We became a little frantic (for no reason that I could pinpoint except that perhaps we REALLY wanted to win) and the half time score was 1-0 to Colchester.

We started the second half with the intention of maintaining our composure. We had had numerous opportunities to score in the first half but the goals had just not happened yet. As we started the second half something had changed. We seemed to lose our shape and they got past us more times than we would have liked, constantly testing and challenging our midfielders and defence. Unfortunately, we lost our shape, muddled into each other and the result was that Michelle had to change roles from stealthy keeper to Sumo keeper, hustling to keep the ball from going in the goal. Despite our efforts they managed to get 2 more goals in the back of the net – making the final score 3-0 to Colchester. It was, however, by no means an easy victory for them – they had to work for it.

We played well and fought hard but there were moments when we lost our simple hockey and that’s when they managed to get the better of us. They were a good team but no better than we were. They just got the ball past the keeper more times than we were able to. Everyone fought hard and the score is by no means a reflection of the effort we put in. There were several nominations for MOM but it deservedly went to Kirsten who had a storming game and the most votes by a landslide! Great play, Kirsten. P.O.P. (see how I just such that in seamlessly?) went to our captain, Sarah. She almost escaped until a little bird let us know that she brought 3 left contact lenses for the game (and we will just keep the buggy manoeuvring ‘issue’ amongst ourselves…).

As we said last week – onwards and upwards ladies. Let’s get as many of us to training, sort out some set plays, chase down the victory that we deserve and ‘live the dream’. Special mention to Keisha, Daniel, Finley and Seb – our ever faithful and patient supporters on the side line

“D”

Ladies 3s

Just a quick match report this week but, I am absolutely delighted to say, the Ladies 3s have secured our first win of the season! In a beautiful display of hockey on the Olympic pitch, we beat Maldon 2s 3-1. Goals from myself, Katie and Amy with lovely set ups from Charlotte, kindly playing down from the 2s, Melanie and Minty. Excellent and strong defending all round too. I’ll add MOM in comments when I know 🙂 go team!

Ladies 4s

Ladies 4s took on Southend 3s today at home at 4pm. The whole team played well and should be very proud and happy with their effort.

Final score WFHC 0-7 Southend.

Ladies 5s

Ladies 5’s played away at Witham today. We were a few players short so played with 9. Did really well, but lost 6-0. They had a full team, and we didn’t! Most importantly we played well, passed the ball. Defensively we were very strong, just had no attackers for other end of pitch. Catriona M and Jackie C ran continually from one end of the pitch to another and deserved a medal, and Vicky B was fantastic, did really well, for her first game in the ladies league so we were very proud of her game.

Men’s 1s

2-1

Men’s 2s

Men’s 3s

Brentwood will not be toasting victory in Sugar Hut tonight because the men’s 3s have stormed to their first win of the season!!
Dan got us on roll with a calmly placed finish from a penalty flick, Brentwood managed to grab a equaliser but before half time Sean got his first goal for the club and sent us 2-1 up into halftime.

The hockey we played in the second half was the best we have played this season, the passing and marking was great, we defended well and we were creating good attacking moves. There was also a few green cards 2 for Brentwood and Alex receiving one also for some aggressive tackling.

Alex grabbed a goal after a good attacking move, Dan got his second of the game, tapping in a goal bound shot from Parvin. Then Parvin got in on the act smashing the ball into the top corner of the net. The last 10 minutes of the game was very nervy, we switched off and Brentwood grabbed 2 goals in 2 minutes. Steve and the defence were called into further action with 3 back to back short corners in the last minute stopping the opposition getting an equaliser, final score 5-4.

A massive improvement from the team today, onwards and upwards!

MOM – Daniel Clark for his 2 goals

POP – Alex for his green card and tantrums on the side line

Men’s 4s

2-2

Men’s 5s

2-2

Otters

The Otters recorded a second away win of the season with a 3-2 victory at Romford. We dominated the first half and led at the break through a long-range strike from the Captain, and a neat finish from Alastair, his first goal for the club.

Always looking dangerous in attack through joint Men of the Match, Samuel and Haider, we didn’t take long to regain our 2-goal advantage after Romford had pulled one back in the second half, Samuel scoring his first goal in adult hockey to round off a flowing move.

Though Romford managed a scrappy goal at the end it felt more comfortable than the score line suggested, as, with Mark dominant in the middle of defence, we worked hard as a team to control the game.

(Scorers: Matthew Hale; Alastair Mossman; Samuel Owen.)