Category: Mens

By Posted on Posted in 2022-23, Ladies, Mens Tagged with , , , , ,

WH&E M1 1 : 1 West Hampstead M5

The M1s bounced back after a string of disappointing results, with a fine performance against West Hampstead, dominating the game and could easily have come away with all 3 points.

West Hampstead took the lead early on against the run of play, but Winchmore fought back with a deflection goal at the far post from Colin Foad (who else) to make it 1-1 at half-time.

In the second half we created chances and had several penalty corners, but just couldn’t get the winning goal.

One game left of the season, and everything to play for next week!

WH&E M2 4 : 1 Richmond Redoubtables

A home fixture for the M2s followed the M1s impressive 1-1 draw, with an almost full squad with help from Luke, Calum and the returning Piriyan, to take on Richmond Redoubtables. Richmond were hampered due to traffic chaos, meaning that one car turned round and went home, but with 10 men they still put up a great fight.

Some good efforts and a lot of possession hockey in a tense first half saw the visitors take a 1-0 lead courtesy of a great bottom corner strike from the top of the D.

Half-time rolled in and some encouragement from goalkeeper John led to a fired up Winchmore in the second half. Siva, Jonny and Piriyan working some nice movement in the opposition D to win a penalty corner, which was injected and deflected in by Calum, from a Joe Small shot, for his second goal of the season! 1-1.

Lots of pressure from the away side chasing a goal led to a great Winchmore counterattack from Siva, sliding the ball in to Jonny who rounded the keeper and slotted home for 2-1.

Smooth passing and dribbling from Guy, Tom and Theo led to another penalty corner, injected and powered on to goal by Joe – hitting a foot on path to goal gave Winchmore a penalty stroke. Luke stepped up and slotted his flick narrowly past the keeper’s right pad in the centre of the goal to make it 3-1 and taking the 2’s top scorer mantle!

More silky passing and aerials from Tom P (Tomaldinho) led to more penalty corners and Winchmore’s third from Luke with a traditional “Luke-in” to grab his 11th goal of the season and a 4-1 finish for Winchmore!

WH&E L1 1 : 3 Old Merchant Taylors W1

The game began with Kylie making a golden entrance and we played AMAZING! The first 29 minutes we were very unlucky not to capitalise on the plethora of opportunities.

Beth “scored” a few from outside the D, Gemma was involved in EVERY play of the game and was solid as they come, Sarah didn’t have much to do, nor did Nic. We had three penalty corners that Gem got shots off on all of them and their keeper was being the wall we didn’t want.

Abbi, Kylie and Vicks all had goal mouth chances that were ALMOST there, and we were dominating in the midfield with KG, B and Amy making beautiful runs, gorgeous little passes and setting up the forwards.

On their first run into our D, an unassuming foot and they scored off a shot that snuck through Nic and will haunt and taunt her everyday (😂). The last 10 minutes of that half we almost got it back but we were 1-0 down at half-time.

In the second half, the play was pretty even and Nic was our wall that we needed, Sarah also was a wall at the back with her tackles and Gem/Beth had great games running up and down the pitch. Abbi nonchalantly popped one in after she picked off a pointless hospital pass by their defender – cool as a cucumber, and at that moment, Abbi was sacred. 1-1.

Their second goal was saved off the line by both Nic and Sarah, but in what seemed like 7 minutes of goal mouth scramble, it eventually dribbled in. The last 10 minutes involved more chaos and somehow they scored a 3rd but we’re not sure what happened?!

WH&E L2 0 : 2 Hampstead & Westminster W6

Match report coming soon…or perhaps not?!

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WH&E M1 1 : 7 Indian Gymkhana M3

A tough week for the M1s on the road against top of the table Indian Gym. But the team battled hard, equalising through Colin Foad (who else?!) after an early Indian Gym goal and then holding the game even until Indian Gym retook the lead just before half-time. A different story in the second half as the home team found their shooting range (and some good fortune) to run out comfortable winners.

We all then had a lovely curry 😋

WH&E M2 1 : 2 Old Merchant Taylors Demons

The M2s headed to OMT for the late game, and a very close battle it turned out to be. 0-0 at half time, OMT scored two in quick succession midway through the second half after Winchmore were reduced to 10 men through a green card. However, the M2s battled back, Luke Trevill finding the net with a well taken reverse stick strike, but despite pushing hard in the last 10 mins could not find the elusive equaliser.

WH&E L2 0 : 2 Old Merchant Taylors W2 [Saturday]

No goals and no match report, coincidence?!

WH&E L2 4 : 2 Eastcote W4 [Sunday]

After their disappointing game on Saturday, the L2s had the chance to put everything right in a rearranged game on Sunday. And so they did, taking a comfortable 3-0 lead at half-time, only for a bit of a wobble in the second half as Eastcote battled back with 2 goals of their own, before Winchmore slotted one more to take a well-deserved 4-2 victory.

WH&E L1 P : P Southgate W4

Match postponed, frozen pitch 😟

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WH&E L1 6 : 0 London Royals W1

The ladies 1s hate late games…they mess with our heads…but apparently, they turn out to be pretty good games for us though.

We started strongly with a billion shots on goal but their keeper kept everything out.

Shell bottled a shot at the top of D; Amber did the same. Sam, Bethany and others all decided to aim for the corners of the football goal instead of the hockey goal.

But then we decided to actually score: A lovely penalty corner calmly put away, and then another soon after by Gemma! A third was scored when Amber forgot what to do and Bethany had to score for her.

3-0 HT.

In the 2nd half we sat back and kept dominating, but seemed to forget to shoot. Then a penalty stroke, and after a mini domestic between Sam and Shell on who was taking it, but it was calmly put away to make it 4-0.

Soon it was 5-0, when a great link up saw a “rugby huns” goal from open play.

And then 6-0, with the slowest goal ever from Karen Goode after some pinball bouncing of the ball around the goal.

Six goals (again), a clean sheet and a fine all round performance!

WH&E M1 3 : 4 Southgate M5

Southgate really know how to put on a show, and with news of WH&E coming to town, they decided to dedicate “Super Saturday” to trying to break the record home crowd attendance in England. They accidently had the stands facing the wrong pitch though.

Anyway, we got off to a fast start which saw Dan hit a ball into the D, which was swiftly deflected in by Colin for a 1-0 opening. This usually doesn’t happen to us, but we’d had an inspired team talk from the captain!

We were rather dominant for some time, however Southgate managed to get themselves a penalty corner, which then turned into a flurry of corners and it finally paid off as they managed to scramble a ball into the back of the net.

Soon after this, another penalty corner found the back of the net for Southgate, with a deflection over the Winchmore keeper. “Why always me?!” cried Josh!

Just before half-time, Dan wanted to be the man of the show and passed the ball into chairman Dom who decided deflecting at a 5 degree angle was a good idea… it was and it popped its way through a gap between the keeper and the post. 2-2!

In the final moment of the first half, Dan latched onto an Ollie aerial and found himself 1v1 with the keeper…only for the umpire to blow for half-time ☹.

The half-time team talk was very inspired – Dan had two assists to his name in one of his best performances for WH&E EVER, yet Jack was picking up a spare man so had all of the captain’s plaudits at half-time. [Ed – who wrote this 😂]

Into the second half, we finally managed to get a penalty corner of our own about 5/10 minutes in. Up stepped Joe T with the drag flick and the legend sent the ball into top bins for an outstanding goal – the best of the day to put us back in the lead at 3-2 up. After this, no idea when but Southgate found their hat-trick from short corners to make it 3-3, much to the dismay of Dan Steer who tried to big up his peers by allegedly saying “come on lads, we ain’t Everton”.

Ahh it wasn’t to be though, as Southgate managed to get a winner in the dying minutes of the game, from yet another penalty corner – 4-3 a seemingly harsh scoreline.

WH&E L2 0 : 2 West Hampstead W4

Us (9th, 3 wins incl. a walkover) v Them (top of the league, 1 loss, won 19-0 the week before)

“We won 2-0 but bloody hell did they make us work for it.”

WH&E M2 2 : 4 Indian Gymkhana M5

A tough game for the M2s against top of the league Indian Gym. But Winchmore made the visitors battle hard for their win, picking up two well taken goals from Harry and Theo.

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WH&E L1 6 : 1 PHC Chiswick W3

We started well with Beth keen to repeat her goalscoring record against Chiswick and she quickly put one in. Not long after, Abbi popped up at the back post when nobody was looking and put the ball in for a second. Karen followed up to put us at 3-0.

Then we decided we’d done the job and wanted some chaos – a few mistakes, a bit of “relaxed” defending and Chiswick clawed one back to go in 3-1 at half time.

But it was fine. 2nd half and Beth again decided one wasn’t enough and very calmly went one on one with the keeper, forcing the keeper to dive and calmly slotting it past her. Kylie joined in the fun and scored a 5th with only 3 minutes to go. But no, we weren’t done.

70th minute a short corner, a call for a flick. An epic run back by Beth to win the ball back. Some lovely 1-2 play between Beth and Amber to bring it back to the opposite D and a slip to Sam who flicked the ball in at the far post, with Kylie there to tap it just as it crossed the line “just to make sure”….!

A 6-1 win. Not the same as the 11-0 last time we played them but a very happy team. We’re even willing to forgive the freezing temperature.

A big thank you to the M1s who answered the call for jumpers and coats very quickly and willingly. You kept us all warm!

WH&E M1 1 : 6 Hampstead & Westminster Thirsts

The M1s stepped onto the pitch with 10, luckily the opposition didn’t notice until late in the second half! But unfortunately the extra player and some well-orchestrated penalty corners did mean the M1s entered half time 3-0 down.

Determined to hold our heads up high we fought on! Some good runs from Colin, Dan and Jake led to a few good opportunities! We dominated the final phases of the game and pocketed a deserved goal from Colin from a penalty corner strike. Game ended 6-1, hopefully numbers allow us to do some damage against Southgate next week!

MoTM: Josh for helping keep the score as low as possible!

WH&E M2 0 : 2 West Hampstead M8

A difficult game for the M2s away West Hampstead. The team battled well, but just couldn’t find a finish in the opposition D.

WH&E L2 0 : 0 Old Uxonians W1

An unlikely nil-nil, nothing much happened and no match report to the contrary!

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WH&E L1 0 : 2 Hampstead & Westminster W5

We started well, but it became obvious very quickly that H&W were a top of the league kind of team (we lost 8-1) last time. The way it started we looked like we’d go the same way but no…..

Goal line clearances by Amber (one in mid-air with oppo already celebrating), Sarah, Beth and Shell kept us in it while our tiny little keeper flew around the goal keeping the ball out when at times she had no business doing so.

The game was spent predominantly in our half defending. We had a quick break and one penalty corner where despite 3 shots by Sam couldn’t get the ball in the goal.

67 minutes – despite heavy pressure it didn’t really look like H&W were going to score. Then they snuck one in past our hero keeper, and a 2nd came in in the 69th minute.

Final score 0-2 – after the fight we put up a very unfair result but a huge improvement on 8-1….

WH&E L1 2 : 1 Richmond Ravens (Sunday)

1 word….CHAOS

We parked in about 4 different car parks…all from the same entrance.

Shell turned up without any bottoms and so the chaos began.

We started well dominating play throughout the game but couldn’t get a breakthrough….Our tiny little keeper Nic came to our rescue when we decided to be chaotic and let them try to score. Demonstrating that 9.5 hours sleep is just as good as 11. Shell got green carded for some body checking…

Then someone decided to add to the chaos…Pippa the most defensive of defenders played a match made in chaos…from left back to right back to left mid to left wing to right wing to left back to right wing….she moved everywhere and sealed her name in the history book of chaos with a goal! Two very excited big sisters and a dad on the sideline may have been embarrassing.

Then more chaos…Bethany got yellow carded and sat in shame at the sideline. But Richmond decided that 11 v 10 was unfair…and quickly picked up their own yellow card to make it 10v10. Not to be outdone Shell couldn’t resist joining her…a challenge at the top of the D led to another yellow card and a penalty stroke 🙄. Tiny little keeper Nic was sooo close to saving it but no, 1-1. And now we were 9v10…

Then biggest sister decided littlest wasn’t allowed all the scoring glory. Calmly taking on the keeper to put us to 2-1 up with about 5 minutes to go. Everyone got brought back on to make it full teams again.

No-one could forget what happened the day before and so we spent 5 minutes of chaos trying to make sure we didn’t concede.

MOTM: Nic for yet again keeping us in the game.

WH&E M2 3 : 3 Osterley M2

The half-term curse returned to WH&E as the M2s found themselves short of numbers. Big thanks to Luke, Ollie, Dom and Theo for all stepping in and doubling up. Nick also rolled back the years and stood in goal for the missing John, big thanks to him too.

The match started very well. In not-so-typical WH&E fashion, we did not concede an early goal which was fantastic, however we went one better as Guy, Theo and Luke linked up in the middle with some 1-2-3 passing, straight from training, which resulted in Guy putting WH&E 1-0 up very early.

In fact, in the first half we were rather dominant as we held onto the ball well, and had countless chances at goal, as we managed to pass it seamlessly through the channels. At one point, we also had a penalty corner which was lovingly converted by Joe Small. We also managed to fire a ball straight to Tom Pajak at the back post who had a great chance to find his first goal for the club, but was unlucky not to. Prior to the half ending too, Dom found himself in the D to also convert to make it 3-0.

All sounds lovely right? Wrong.

The second half started in similar fashion to the first, with some WH&E dominance, however the scoreline relaxed us, and the urgency just simply was not there. We had chances, but could not finish. Theo found himself on the end of some chances but their keeper saved well. As time went on, so did the WH&E legs, as Osterley managed to claw back not one, but two goals.

And with the final whistle approaching, Osterley managed to get a ball into the back post, with Nick producing a great save, but worried about not smothering the ball and giving away a stroke, an oppo player managed to just poke in the rebound to make it 3-3. A disappointing end to a game that was there for the taking.

MOTM: Pippa & Lisa. What a wonderful game it must have been to umpire.

WH&E M1 0 : 2 PHC Chiswick M3

It was a beautiful 10:30 start away at 3rd place PHC Chiswick, which was not a deterrent to a guest appearance by Aidan, and Theo joining from the 2’s.

We started the match on the front foot with Ollie and Jake holding down the defence which also gave the wing-backs, Matt “Paqueta” Dray and Theo a lot of opportunity to support our attacks. This proved successful as throughout the first-half we managed to infiltrate the D and had quite a few penalty corner opportunities. Ollie unfortunately used all his penalty corner goals up during practice. It wasn’t until Chiswick got their first penalty corner that they showed us how to score. An unlucky deflection off someone. No idea who. Probably Ollie.

At some point, Winchmore were blessed with the Enfield Paqueta who decided left-back wouldn’t hold him back anymore – a darting 60 metre run, Lionel Messi-like dribbling in between the opposition, found himself breaking into the D. Luke to his left, Colin to his right… No. This was European night-esque. He saw the glory and unleashed a furious shot – which bobbled to the keeper to easily kick away. HT 1-0 to Chiswick.

The second half began a lot like the first in that open play was fairly even, however the right side opened up with a gaping hole in which Jack, Theo and Harry exploited. We were still able to penetrate the D and also win some more corners, but the team wasn’t able to convert. At some point Chiswick also scored another penalty corner – a well-executed deflection from the attack this time, and despite our best efforts we just couldn’t find a goal. Full-time a 2-0 defeat.

MOTM: Aidan and Jack.

DOTD. Wasn’t Jake. S for forgetting all his comments in the previous week’s post-match interview. Wasn’t Jack for saying ‘well played’ to a keeper who hadn’t played yet. It was Luke. But why?!

WH&E L2 0 : 5 West Herts W3

No match report was written, it seems,
For the ladies 2nd XI hockey team.
They played away against West Herts that day,
But unfortunately, lost 5-0 in every way.

The opposition was just too strong,
The scoreline showed it all along.
Our team battled hard with all their might,
But they couldn’t seem to get it right.

No one wrote a report, but fear not,
For ChatGPT stepped up to the spot.
Though the game may not have gone as planned,
Our team fought hard and took a stand.

They gave it their all, despite the score,
And left it all out on the field and more.
We may have lost, but we’ll be back,
Ready to take on the next attack.