A ‘happy few’ played last weekend, and never before in the field of human hockey has so much been blamed by so many on so few…

Heroes of the Skies… Otters
Heroes in their lunch Hour… Ladies Indoor Team
Too many Cadbury’s Heroes… L3s, M3s, L5s

Special mention in despatches to the Saplings and the L5s who almost didn’t lose with 8 players.

Ladies 3s

A big well done to the ladies 3s today! As always we battled to the end and held our own despite playing one lady down! Sadly Colchester slipped a sneaky one in the back of the goal with 5 minutes left to play, leaving the final score 1-2!

An absolutely ginormous thank you to the ladies who helped with the organisational nightmare that was this week and to those who stepped in at the last hour!

Ladies 5s

AMAZING play by the Ladies 5s today! We went with 8 players but Kiesha’s Mum, Michelle, thought that was silly and stepped into goal for her first ever hockey match, and she was so good! We didn’t lose 5-0 and she didn’t let a single goal in in the second half! She has now said she’ll play permanently in goal for the 5s. Thanks Michelle!
We played so well. The 5s have an excellent team morale and we’re a strong team. We had 8 outfield players compared to their 11 and as Southend said, if we had 11, we would’ve smashed them! Everyone worked so hard, a ‘valiant effort’ as described by the umpire. With not a single forward, we still even managed to get on goal.

We’re looking forward to injuries being better and Christmas to be over so we can all get back out there and start our second half of the season winning streak!

Well done Ladies 5s, I’m so proud of my hard-working, committed and enthusiastic team and am proud to be your captain.

Mens 3s

Mens 3’s played a tough game away to Old Southendians. We deserved to win but the lack of scoring goals and letting sloppy goals in is affecting our results! An end to end match led us into half time drawing 0-0.
The second half started with plenty of attacking from forest but we were unable to convert a couple of open goal shots or 1 on 1’s with the keeper.

From a bad free hit just outside the oppo’s D which was past back straight to an Old Southendians player, they broke with pace down the right, crossed into the D but an unluckily deflected ball wrong footed our last defender to an awaiting player, who slipped it into the goal. 0-1 down, a badly timed tackle from Vinay Chhana ended with a penalty flick which was saved by keeper Georgi Todorov.
The game ended with a 0-1 loss.

Mom: Georgi (unanimous) for the flick save.
POP: Matt L for missing an open goal.

Mens 5s

Away at Old Southendians with a nice balance of youth and experience in the side and from minute one to minute 70 we dominated the game.

We played some good passing hockey, defended very very well, don’t think Georgi had a save to make throughout the whole game and we created all the best goal scoring opportunities with Old Southendians GK having an absolute worldy.

It was 0-0 at HT, and I think we felt hard done by that we were not winning the game. Eventually with about 10/15 mins to go, and after 2 outstanding saves from Old Southendians GK, young Josh picked up the rebound and finished with some aplomb. 1-0.

And that’s how the game finished, a very good performance and thoroughly deserved win.

Thank you guys for the game, and it was a great pleasure to play, and be a part of your team. I was really impressed by the standard of your hockey and I’m sure under the guidance of Matt and Martin, plus the coaching of Shrimpy you will carry on improving.

Great win today, well done Guys.