This week more magical tales that would give J.K. Rowling a run for her money. Thanks as always for your contributions (fictional or otherwise).

Scores

Thanks to Charlotte Pether, Charlotte Harris, Gemma Butterworth, Phil Peacock, Rich Mills and Mark Fisher for their contributions to this week’s reports.

Ladies 1

The only goal scored came from Lucy Butcher after 5 minutes after a great run from the 25 followed by a strike from top of the D from the left hand side. Forest had lots of chances throughout the first half but failed to convert. In the second half forest dominated play but again couldn’t turn their possession into goals and had 2 shots also hitting the post. Despite their dominance Mog Campbell kept Waltham Forest in the lead with a couple of great saves from a two quick Basildon breaks near the end of the game. Forest changed their formation and another 3 points were secured. Man of the match was Hannah Dobbin.

Ladies 3s

Another hard match for the ladies 3s today. Settled much better in the second half and showed great team spirit, fighting back to draw the half 2 all. Final score though 5-3 to East London. Very proud of my girls for their grit and determination and not giving up!

Ladies 5s

The Ladies 5s had a tough match against Chelmsford, who were fielding their amazing youth up front. They made some fine shots on goal although our Kat chucked herself frequently on the ground to save a few! We lost 7-1 but we played hard and some much better structure in playing which led to a goal and some good hits on goal.

Men’s 1s

The 1s took their possibly strongest squad for their match against City of Peterborough, which also included their returning player/coach, Malique, after his 3 match suspension.

Forest started strongly and could have been 2 up within the first 5 minutes but a combination of poor finishing and selfish play kept the game scoreless. Forest continued to press and more chances came and went until eventually Liam Radley opened the scoring which owed a lot to his persistence. The few times the opposition did venture forward the defence easily kept the Peterborough forwards at bay. Forest went two up from a well worked short corner routine which Luce Da Silva tapped in at the far post (actually Chris Brown scuffed a shot which somehow managed to dribble to Luce who did well not to break down laughing before lifting the ball over the keeper). That should have been game done and dusted but as ever with the 1s we like to make a match of it and a lapse in concentration allowed Peterborough to get back into the match. Forest stepped up a gear and Jacko scored from a rebound after a short corner had been saved. Again though, as so many times this season so far, we gifted a goal to the opposition to set up a tense final 10 minutes. The tension was lifted when Forest were awarded a penalty flick, can’t remember why, and man of the match, for his fine left back display (that really is his position despite what he may tell you), Nico Kurt dispatched it high into the roof of the net.

All in all a good performance and a well deserved 3 points but Forest will have to improve their finishing if they are to have any aspirations of promotion, which they really should have with this squad. Performances will need to be kept high as competition for places is strong with Terris, Stubbing, Price and a few others with first team experience all playing 2s just itching to get back into the team.

Men’s 2s

It had been foretold by the Oracle of Zetter that last season’s captain, Ed Stubbing, would soon return from his tour of hockeying backwaters with the 1s to take his made up mantle of QB. Who knows if this would have come to pass if he hadn’t injured himself celebrating a goal last week?!

The 2s started in disarray as last week’s hat-trick heroes failed to arrive. As Marcus had turned up early to take some photos it fell upon our part-time Peter Parker to do a quick spot of pilates and swing into action. With a great camera comes great responsibility. It wasn’t long before Webb-head found himself through on goal and opened the scoring. Immy made it 2-0 before Kristis picked up the ball and a card for throwing a flag on the play. Witham threatened to get back into the game by sacking the QB and driving through on goal, but the composure of Tom Lowe and menacing presence of Dan Metcalfe in goal kept the door shut. Forest closed out the half with another goal as Mills pounced on a rebound, briefly thought about attempting a crossbar challenge, before deciding to dink it over the scrambling keeper to boos from Terris.

Immy killed the game as a contest early in the second half by rounding the keeper and rolling the ball into an empty net. Witham were determined to go out swinging and make a mark on the players if not the game. Immy received a card for knocking away a stick after winning a short corner ending his chances of a 4th consecutive hat-trick and ensuring himself plenty of fines. Terris took advantage of some confusion in the D to get in on the fun with a tidy finish. A trio of bizarre umpiring decisions culminated in a Witham p flick, which was cooly taken to make the final score 5-1.

Men’s 4s

Our third match saw us return to Havering where last year we were beaten in a very physical game. I remembered that their tactic was to simply get the ball down the channels and whack it into the D to pick up a short corner for a foul in the area. I played a 4-4-2 formation and told my squad to defend high.

Aamir scored our first goal after about 20 minutes through sheer determination in the D and Frank retired with an ankle/heel injury from a heavy knock. Ice packs were sourced from the kitchens at Campion School. Aamir scored our second before half time after a series of quick passes that covers the length of the pitch at lightening speed.

Our half time talk identified room for improvement in midfield distribution where we were getting caught on the ball. I decided that our defensive strategy was working well even though Stephen has been called a few times to make some impressive saves.

Havering came back at us in the second half to level the score. We could not convert any if our penalty corners into goals; and Frank seeing his goal tally under threat rejoined the team.

Dike almost scored his first goal for the team after a great run with the ball down the wing and into the D. Frank saw us secure the victory with his usual composure in front of goal, again after some quick breaks out of defence to cover the length of the pitch.

Gary prevented a goal against us in the dying minutes with an overhead clearance from the goal line for which Havering were mistakenly awarded a penalty corner. The final whistle was blown.

A great competitive game and the umpires acknowledged the errors made, but each has a good game overall and let it flow. We forward to the return match. A great squad performance that puts us in 2nd place in the division. Congratulations boys.