Like the rest of the country we are all at the mercy of the elements; the weather gave some of us a tough time at the weekend, thankfully many of you hardy souls battled on regardless:
Snorkelling to Victory… Under 8s, M2, M4s
Doggie Paddling but still Afloat… L1s
Made of Sugar… M1s, L2s, M3s, L4s, L5s, M5s
Special mention and warm towels to the mighty Under 8s for battling to their first tournament victory (1 win, 1 loss, 1 draw with +2 goal difference)
Under 8s
Our heroic u8 Saplings travelled to Old Loughts today for 3 epic encounters!
We were victorious in the first match, winning 3-1, goals from Cole (2) + Aaron. We lost the 2nd match just 0-1. In the third match their tired little legs saw them crowding a lot – although with hindsight it could have just been the gale force winds blowing them all to one side of the pitch. We drew 0-0.
A tremendous day in all!
Ladies 1s
Waltham Forest created a lot of chances in the first half with Katherine Abbie missing an open goal and Jenny Field having a number of one on one shots at goal. The second half saw Forest come out of the blocks first scoring 2 goals in the first 5 minutes. The first was a penalty flick won by Katherine Abbie and scored by Lucy Butcher. Katherine Abbie then tapped in the second from close range to make it 2-0. Forest with only 11 players started to tire and Ashford created a chance down the left and scored. Another was added 5 minutes before time when Forest conceded a short corner and Ashford scored after the ball spilled from the goalies pad and they tapped in the ball at the far post. Final score 2-2.
Ladies 2s
Ladies 2s lost 0-2 vs Havering yesterday. A close game of midfield play with few chances. Our best hit the post. We’ve played better and WILL play better next week!
Mom goes to Michelle Twitchett and Dod to the Havering player that stuck her tongue out at umpire Matt Lovell !
Ladies 4s
The Ladies 4s travelled to a cold and blustery Maldon with 9 players.
Sasha had an epic debut game in goal, the defence were described as ‘sturdy’ and we made things difficult at times. But their extra two players outfield made the difference. However we didn’t play badly and had some great runs from Clare and Rachel, passing from Francis, Jane and Harriet and a great team goal scored by Jane.
Unfortunately a 7-1 lost but with a full team it would have been a different story!
Ladies 5s
Great match from the ladies 5s today. Chelmsford won 6-0 but the goals they scored were well deserved and they were great to play (no bias here at all…!). They’re at the top of the league and a heavily experienced team but said they couldn’t understand how we were bottom considering how well we play. Kept it simple today, everyone doing the positions they know, lots of good passing and breaks and some frustratingly good defending (frustrating for Chelmsford) when they couldn’t quite get it together in their set pieces. Michelle Twitchett experienced her first penalty flick and came close to saving! If we keep this going, playing simple and easy, the league is ours (sort of!)! Everyone played fantastically, despite some nasty illness and injuries which people played through, and most got a mention for Lady of the Match, but being shoved into a new position and coping well, Amarjit Myers deserved the title!
Thanks to umpires Ray Russo and Jack Rumbold, we loved you!
Next week Old Loughts will feel the ladies 5s!
Men’s 1s
We travelled to the deepest darkest depths of Norfolk to play Harleston Magpies, who hadn’t won in 8 games. Having not signed up to payroll giving, or not having done any recent bucket collections, Forest decided Sat 8th Feb would be a day for charity… Despite playing well in the first half we abandoned our usual style of play to lose 4-1, with the help of some unreal umpiring.
The post match discussions from the team were all based around when Mal would be finished teaching the umpires how to do their job properly… Even Ed Ed Jackson stealing Phil Peacock’s goal was forgotten, until this morning! Jacko managed to avoid POP, mainly because Rich Lowe can’t tell the difference between Rich Arkle and Mohammed Iman… Maybe we need to spend some quality time together at the pub quiz next Sat, hopefully after a win against Bishops Stortford.
You can also follow the men’s 1’s on twitter…. Because, in the immortal word of James Price, we are a bunch of salty potatoes…
Follow us on Twitter @Salty_potatoes (please do, it will mainly be updates on what James Price said and who Mal offended, thrown in with some photos and chat).
Men’s 2s
Thirteen men assembled for our 1pm push back against Saffron Walden.
Twelve men left covered in glory.
The thirteenth, Ed Bear Stubbing shamed himself with a sending off near the end and a record breaking 50 fines. To be fair to Ed, it was a generally high scoring day at fines committee as the team looked to raise James Greveson Hickie some cash.
A 7-2 victory with goals from Edward Cheng (his first for the club), Guy Kuipers, Matt Tanswell, Imran Arshad and Marcus Webb.
Other highlights include Toby Foot going for a baseball swing off the line (but missing) and Mark Terris falling over whilst trying to keep his 100% pass completion rate intact (he didn’t)
Men’s 4s
We drew the short straw yesterday, 4.30pm away at Saffron Walden 7s, the graveyard shift!!!!
With the wind howling, and the temperature rapidly falling, the only saving grace with the weather, was the rain held off, but it was very cold. The 3rd of our 6 Cup Finals, in our quest to gain promotion and become champions.
For the 3rd week in a row we made a quick start, playing some good stuff, creating a chances, and as seems to be customary, Frank opened the scoring, after about 10 mins, slotting the ball into an unguarded goal after the GK had made a couple of good saves. 1-0 Forest. Their Keeper by the way had a Worldy of a game….
To their Credit SW, hit back and with the exuberance of youth, were playing some good hockey, and giving our defence, quite a stern examination, which we passed, with flying colours.
It was now becoming a very tough game for us, and we needed a 2nd goal to calm the nerves, which duly come, as Travis chased a lost cause, played the ball back to Phil, who finished with aplomb. 2-0 and a little breathing space. SW were still causing us problems, but we surely had put this game to bed when, after a magnificent run by John, he cut the ball back to Alex Heath who made it 3-0, and that’s how it stayed until HT.
The 2nd half from our point of view, was very disappointing, we got complacent, didn’t play well at all, passing was poor, players losing the ball in dangerous positions, but some of the credit goes to the young Walden team, who really made us work hard, and defend well the whole way through the 2nd half. The game finished 3-0, job done another win, another 3 points and halfway to achieving our goal, 3 Cup Finals down 3 to go.
We got an added bonus this weekend, as the league leaders drew 2-2, and with that we went top of the league, with a 1 goal better goal difference. Still lots of work to be done, to reach our goal, starting with a tough trip to Redbridge and Ilford, next up. Keep it going guys, onwards and upwards. Let’s all try to make training this week, it’s very important, and I’m sure it will help us in our final push.
Men’s 5s
The 5s started well against Witham 4s and took the lead when Nate worked a space to strike from distance. But we fell behind to 3 consecutive drag flicks from short corners, executed with an ease and precision that belongs in a higher Division than ours.
Two further goals came from short corners but, given the scoreline and the greater size and aggression of the opposing team, our youngsters battled extremely well, typified by George in midfield, as we conceded only one goal from open play, showing great stamina and spirit. We had a spell of attacking pressure in the last 10 minutes, but couldn’t improve on a final 1-6 scoreline.
