WH&E M2 4 : 2 St Albans M8
We started off in typical fashion of being pinned back quite a bit, thanks to their star player creating havoc down the right hand side. After a little bit we were 1-0 down. We then decided to stretch the play a little bit and found our feet. Stuart Symons hit the ball down the length of the pitch to Guy who picked it up and scored a goal. 1-1. They were a bit stunned by this and we definitely got back into the game. Not long after we found the ball in the D again where Jason slotted home for his second goal! 2-1
Things then got interesting as Luke got stick tackled whilst in possession of the ball, and then got a green card! With Luke back on the pitch just before the end of the half, it wasn’t too long before Guy received the ball top-D and shot, where Theo was at the far post to put it in for 3-1 at half-time.
Not too much happened in the second half, but the game opened up as they pulled one back. However, after this St Albans never looked like threatening again. Guy managed to get his second goal of the game to give us some breathing space, and he would have had a hattrick if it wasn’t for a sublime save from their ‘keeper too.
Comfortable winners in the end, 4-2.
MotM: The Chapmans. Two goals for Guy, an assist for Theo’s goal, and all watched by Guy’s dad too!
DotD: No comment (Luke!)
WH&E L1 0 : 0 Teddington L3
The ladies 1s played brilliantly against Teddington who are 4th in the league.
We started super strong with a few runs up front, lots of accurate passing, calling and movement off the ball to put the pressure on the opposition. They fought back similarly but Team Defence were on their A game and were able to dismiss their attackers easily. The first half was very even and ended with no goals.
In the 2nd half we decided we hadn’t worked hard enough so we decided to give ourselves several short corners to defend. A couple of them awarded due to dick of the day Rachelle Alexandra “diving” on to the ball to “accidentally” clear it off the back line!
We had a couple more chances up front but we just couldn’t get into their net.
In classic L1s fashion, in the last minute of the game Bethany stepped back into our defending D to mark and was about to beautifully clear the ball when it smashed into her foot instead…. Thank the hockey gods they didn’t score!!!!!
A 0-0 draw, the first draw of the season for us and the first point of 2020!
We’ll be building up the momentum from here and would absolutely LOVE if you lovely people reading this could come and support us next week at home against Southgate at 12pm.
MOTM was too hard to narrow down and absolutely everyone played their best so we have voted ourselves team of the match instead. Just need to get some goals in the back of the net now…
WH&E L2 0 : 3 Hendon & Mill Hill L2
The ladies 2s came up against Hendon & Mill Hill in a top of the table clash.
1-0 down in the first 36 seconds – it was going to be one of those days! Thankfully, we did begin to realise that we were actually playing hockey and held them to 1-0 for the first half.
The second half was played. However, none of the team can really remember what happened except for some notable moments including: half the midfield watching the “pretty rainbow in the sky” instead of the ball, missing the opposition’s 2nd goal. Then Lisa’s running commentary on her fabulous tackle (yes only one!), for which she then had to apologise, explaining that she never normally makes tackles like that and we think they scored a third one (they did).
Thanks to our marvellous umpire Dom, and to Gav for recruiting our new player, Paula, who had a fab first game.
MOTM to birthday girl Romy for excellent goalkeeping skills and getting us out of a fair few scrapes.
Still #teamoftheyear though ?
WH&E M1 2 : 7 Bishop’s Stortford M2
Things haven’t quite clicked after the year end break and this continued this week but at least some patches of good play providing hope.
A makeshift team due to injuries in terms people playing out of position. This resulted in a fairly early goal that put us on the back foot. The patches of good play resulted in several short corners with Asher twisting the opposition defence around. Two of these were expertly converted by Jim Gatting.
Unfortunately, the combination of broken possession due to a good Bishops Stortford press and fast attacking play meant we were outgunned this time. 7-2 loss. Not good enough but better than the previous week. Hoping now we can get a fitter team out next week.
Shout out in particular to Rafi Zeff for dropping into right back with no complaint to do his part for the team.