Match Reports For Saturday 27th March Season 2003 - 2004
Mens 1st XI
Mens 2nd XI
Mens 3rd XI
Lots of lasts this week. Last league game of the season. Last long away trip.
Last league game for Staines for Mr Safety and therefore last ever match report.....sniff.
On the bright side we were able to call on the services of Mr Duracell (aka
Kitt) and Sponging Student. As a reward for his efforts captaining the M5's
this season, Chris Marcus was awarded a promotion to the dizzy heights of M3's-dom.
Also, hearing we were going near the coast and that would be a nice day out
to sit in the fresh air, tartan rug over the knees, sipping tea - Keith Hine
begged to be our Umpire. We set off with Chewy Patel riding shotgun with Sohail
in his mobile exhaust (see earlier report re: rude boy exhaust propelled by
tiny car, etc.). It appeared that Sohail was determined not to get the 'Driving
Miss Daisy' award this year as he managed a creditable three digit speed on
the way down. Or perhaps Alpo was reaching across holding his foot down on the
peddle. Premature celebration by Alpo and Sohail for arriving first was short
lived when they failed to negotiate the Park and Ride car park, allowing the
Blue Turbo Nutter with the ironing board on the boot to nip in front at the
Clubhouse finishing line. We then had the pleasure of watching Ashford 2's get
tanked 11-1, oh dear, how sad, what a pity.
Holcombe were ready to provide two Umpires, but Keith had come for a nice day
out down the coast and was having none of that. Kick-starting his bathchair,
he screeched onto the Astro, drip trolley dragged snaking along behind like
a badly loaded caravan, spraying sand in the eyes of the stunned Holcombe Umpires
as he handbraked to a halt in the centre circle. "This is our Umpire"
said Mr Safety "It would be wise to let him". "How many sugars
would you like in your half time Tea, dear?" the remaining Holcombe Ump',
kindly asked. "DRINK ?...DRINK!...........ARSE!" replied Keith. Bloody
hell! the strain of the season is turning him into Father Jack !
For the last time Mr Safety attended the tossing ceremony, which proved to be
a rare win (those zinc supplements are working). So Staines elected to start
with the ball just to make sure we could recognise it, if we ever got to see
it again after the whistle blew. The game started reasonably well with both
sides exercising the full dimensions of the pitch. Holcombe achieved an early
short corner which was defended and then Staines let a bit of naivety creep
into our play and a few too many lapses in composure on the ball allowed several
telling attacks by Holcombe. On one of these the blue defence was forced back
into our own D and a poor attempted clearance allowed a Holcombe attacker through
to lift the ball over Roy as he was committed to block. The rest of the half
was evenly balanced although territorially Staines spent most of the time in
Holcombe's half, ultimately it did not result in a goal and several short corners
were also missed. Holcombe regularly exploited Staines errors and forced the
blue defence to be ever alert. Numerous strong tackles and nippy interception
were required to keep the red hordes at bay. This would be the last time Mr
Safety would enjoy seeing an opponent scramble back to the pitch from Row Z,
to where he had been punted........sniff, snivel. Half time 0-1 down, everything
to play for, personnel pride, the honour of the blue shirt, the lovely swan....well,
maybe not the swan. This weeks Bottle Bitch (Dave Farmer) did an excellent job
providing us with some splendid fruit flavoured refreshments.
Back to the battle and Holcombe started very strongly. Royston our anorexic
keeper performed several acrobatic manoeuvres to keep his net empty. For a good
10 minutes Staines struggled to escape our own half and then as if a magic wand
had been waved the Blue Army surged forward with vim and vigour for our best
spell of the game, it looked likely we would score. Holcombe starting shitting
bricks and building walls. Unfortunately both KK and Sponging Student collected
green cards for some over enthusiasm. Even more unfortunately Staines got well
and truly caught with our pants down. Caught too high up the pitch pressing
home another attack several Staines players were well out of position when Holcombe
engineered a very well played breakout. The remaining defenders tried for a
last stand behind a flimsy wall of mealy sacks, bayonets fixed and only one
bullet left. But 'Sarg there are thousands of em' charging across the veldt!
Roy was soon picking the ball out of the net with a couple of assegais sticking
out of his helmet and chest pad. As Staines battled back into the game another
set back occurred when Sponging Student was further penalised for more over
enthusiasm, this time collecting a yellow. Despite being down to 10 men, it
did not stop the blue army pressing forward at risk. But with some diligent
hard work the team managed to stop Holcombe exploiting the advantage. So a final
victory for Mr Safety's last league game was not to be, having to take a 0-2
defeat....Sniff, Snivel..blub. But the team can be very proud of the fact that
they stayed clear of the relegation zone with the limited resources at their
disposal this season.
Season End Awards:
Hero: Roy, Mr Duracell and Bouncy Jim got nominations, but a landslide vote
went to Mr Safety for a typically gritty and committed (no not mentally) performance.
What a wise decision by the team, just shows what a great bunch and all round
good eggs they are. For achieving this honour the most times, the M3's Seasons
Hero award also goes to Mr Safety.
Olde Woman: The voting went completely wrong here. Somehow Mr Safety gained
another landslide simply on the pretext that he is leaving. A smell conspiracy,
not least mutiny in the ranks. Bastards, how can you vote for your lovely skipper
like that, what a bunch of knobbers. However, the seasons big gay mare is a
chap who is never short of a word to say, especially to Umpires. His gift in
communication is that he never seems to talk himself out of trouble, Tanker
Lazlo, with five votes you are the pinkest link.
Most Goals Award: Bouncy Jim
Best Teas Award: Havant, very nice Chilli and well brewed tea.
Worst Teas Award: No f##king teas Chichester - tossers.
Petulant Award: Chichester
Lack of Manners Award: again, Chichester.
Worst Showers: The freezing meat locker at Purley W's.
Best Barnet Award: Can't be awarded this season as Porno Hudson was unavailable
for team selection due to exceeding the weight limit for the bridges on the
A3 and M3.
Slimmer of the Year: Anorexic Roy.
Mr Grumpy Award: Its too far, We're too early, I want a drink (DRINK!.....Feck
arf! Be quiet Keith we are doing the awards) the award goes to Racer Rodders.
Driving Miss Daisy Award: For getting overtaken by a bus on the M3 and refusing
to exceed 62 mph, Kingsley wins.
Rude Boy Award: This award is a special one-off as he missed out on the Driving
Miss Daisy prize. For his amazing mobile exhaust which deafened Alpo and made
his ears bleed, Sohail wins.
Best Shot of the Year Award: The Notcutts Sniper. Who can forget him taking
out Stuart Hall at the flat out gallop, making a four foot long gash in the
Astro with his nose.
And finally Mr Safety is signing off for the last time. Thankyou to all my readers
and I hope the new crop of scribes keep up their entertaining efforts. Goodbye.
Its been........emotional.
Mens 4th XI
Here we go, it's the bottom of the ninth and the score is tied, it's time for
the big well it may be if it were Baseball, or indeed we were all in the really
dated film, "Topgun" but it wasn't as this is hockey and the rest
is just silly. Where was I? Ah yes, all we needed was a draw against Henley,
a team who had hugged the second place spot all year, only for it to be snatched,
most rudely from their sweating hands by us with only 3 games left to play.
Stepping up to this game required something that's been lacking in the last
few performances, something that was seen briefly at Ashford and then not seen
again. Morale was good and has been for most of the season, but a certain coordination
that would keep us on the straight and narrow for 70 minutes has been obvious
by its' absence.
Team changes this week saw Rodders replace Deano and the return of Leaner Landon.
The injury list was still critical with at least 3 players all hoping to last
this game without serious harm befalling them, Sid's back was still crook, Tart's
knee was only good for sitting girls on, Gnashers shins have been pulped through
to the marrow in places (This was not helped as they had taken a battering from
a bed frame the night before. He was up all night apparently {Ooo Matron!} and
now they have a bit of an Orange tint to them...Crivens!). Leaner was also doubtful
if he would last a half, but with 12 men, we could sacrifice at least one of
our ailing lambs and still have a full team..... Game on! The time, 1pm, the
venue, The Stadium of Light.
From the first whistle to the last, Staines showed Henley a great deal of respect
and quite rightly so, OK, so the visitors form of late has let us catch them
up but they are a very good team nevertheless. Henley pushed us back from the
start, but with Tart and Hudson acting like great big overweight pair of slamming
doors in the middle, the opposition had to go the long trek around rather than
through us this week, the first 5 minutes were wisely used by Staines to assess
Henley, find out who marks who and try to get the measure of them, the next
5 minutes were a different story, as we found that we could break Henley down
and we started to play some really good, flowing hockey. Movement was at a premium
this week and solid Blue pressure resulted in a short corner that the Chubster
pushed out, Tart stopped and Leaner converted neatly for an early lead. Now,
I've seen early leads sink without trace for us before as we tend to change
the very things that got us the lead in the first place but this game was different.
Our boys were finally talking to one another. Sid and myself were squawking
away at the defence and any midfielder foolish enough to come within earshot,
Rich and the Tart were constantly encouraging each other along with Gloria and
the Toad, The Shermanator and the Chubster had their ears pinned back too as
we began to take Henley apart.
Leaner was on fine form and we found him again and he used his ball time wisely
to score his second, or so we thought. You see Mark must have been reading Sgt
Major McDunners's copy of the rules and so his goal was rubbed out, as I think
you actually have to hit the ball inside the D for it to count. Never mind,
it was all practice. Practice which incidentally paid off as an almost identical
manoeuvre by the King of second half Lethargy a few minutes later, resulted
in a goal that did count this time around. Hooray for Leaner Landon and a well
deserved 2-nil up lead for Staines. Enraged at Staines' new found confident
lead, Henley stepped up their work rate somewhat and the solid Blue wall that
was made up of Gnasher, Rodders, Sidney, Colin and myself meant that Henley
could only get near the goal from short corner routines that, although they
tried to vary, were all to no avail, one in particular that was flicked in at
quite a rate that I just managed to redirect with my stick before if could make
a difference to the familiar shape of Sidney's dome. Clearances off the line,
post rebounds, saves and plenty of Gnashers leg dents meant that short corner
after short corner was awarded to Henley, but denied by Staines. Finally, we
beat them back so we could regain the offensive and this time, Tart Rengger
received and held the ball in the Henley D. In order to score though, Tart figured
he needed the Henley Keeper to drop to the floor, something he eventually did,
so that the Monkey boy could reverse flick the ball over him and into the waiting
net. Annoying for the goalie, but great for us! And we were not quite finished
just yet with this half as the ever present glandular figure of young Jezza
pushed down the left and with a bit of verbal instruction from the whole team,
Das Kapitan, Alex, moved in from the flag post to a more goal threatening position
in their D. Jez slaps the ball across and The Shermanator opens his account
with a nicely deflected ball into the net.
Henley couldn't believe it. We couldn't believe it. And the half time talk was
a hugely animated chat about more of the same and sewing up some of the holes
that Henley could possibly seep through, every now and again the words "Let's
not get excited" rose above the highly charged (read, excited) babble.
4-0? Surely we could not concede 5 goals in the second half to blow this? Well,
I don't think 5 goals have gone past us in a half before, 4 perhaps, but never
5....... All we need is a draw remember, have we done enough? Well dear children,
read on and find out......
And so it began again.
This time Henley were really piling on the pressure, throwing at us, not only
the kitchen sink but all the stuff underneath it as well, Domestos, half used
cans of Mr Sheen, boot polish and a collection of manky old J-cloths as well.
For the main part of this final game, we were camped back in our half, as another
10 or so short corners were awarded, all of them again being twatted at Gnashers
shins which by now had the structural rigidity of a packet of Rich Tea biscuits.
Those that our Blue Excocet couldn't reach, Tart, Sid, Colin or myself handled.
Colin had his go at tipping one over the bar this time, Sid defending head high
balls off the line as well, whilst we truly frustrated Henley. They pinged one
off the post that Monkey scrambled away and when the corners finally ceased,
we looked up and saw that the goal was still intact. Now, usually, tiredness
and pressure all end up that we start conceding goals, but even though all our
Blue boys were done in, nobody gave an inch and we still managed to release
Simon "Mr Toad" Schute down the left hand side, for him to cross back
in and find the waiting Chubster, who went round the sprawling keeper to score
his first and quite fittingly our last goal of the season. This took Jezza's
personal goal tally to 28 to clinch the top scoring honours. More pressure was
soaked up well at the back and with the clock ticking down, it looked like we
may claim a famous clean sheet. Alas it was not to be as with a couple of minutes
to go, Henley finally had their hard work rewarded when an unmarked player was
picked out and strolled into our D and ruffled the Staines backboards to make
the final score Staines 5, Henley 1. Disappointment and frustration were taken
out on poor old Gloria, who had run his heart out in the game, soon turned to
joy as the final whistle blew. We had done it! Promotion had finally come to
us. For some, who had seen their team promoted before, it was a great day, but
for those whom this was a new experience, this was a fantastic day.
Today's game was a shining example of what we were doing in the early part of
the season and admittedly, when Alex said at the start of this year that all
we needed to do to gain promotion was to win every game, I though he had been
at the Sherry Trifle, but with a good draw against the top placed side and some
narrow wins, I started to believe him. It was always going to come down to the
last game and it did, but we produced the goods when they were needed. A quality
all round performance. We not only controlled this game, we kept talking to
one another (Alright, shouting more than talking) but we didn't panic when things
were getting tough, OK, so we didn't get a clean sheet, but who cares, it was
a 100% full on game for everyone who took part. Let's face it, if Rod comes
off the pitch, not only smiling, but openly admitted that he thoroughly enjoyed
the game, it had to be a good one!
Some players paid the price with injuries this year. Groin strains, back problems
and a tricky knee for the Tart, Sidney's spine is not what is was, Mark's knees
mean that his stick is used more of as a walking aid rather than a playing implement
and Gnashers legs have taken such a beating over these last 5 months that they
may need replacing with some Douglas Bader style new Aluminium ones. And who
knows, perhaps at the start of the new season Mr Nash, we can expect the patter
of "Tinny" feet?
Aluminium Legs, Tinny feet, get it? Eh? What do you mean "Groan"?
That joke was top drawer that was...
The Man of the Match voting was a close thing as everyone played well. Votes
were spread out, but it was Mr Hudson who scooped the honours this time for
a very timely return to form.
Dick of the day. Well, after such a game this was going to be a tough one, Jezza's
green card, Vileda short corner and a spectacular tumble got a mention, but
the hat and bowtie went to Deano, who in Rod's own words "Was having a
Rodney strop and didn't want to play for us today".
Celebrations went on into the night and a few more awards were handed out, one
was for the "most Kicking Captain" won by Alex, obviously, another
was "Most goals scored" which Chubby picked up, "Most Dick of
the Day's" was also closely fought out between Alex and Chubby, Jezza winning
by a deciding show of hands (12 votes to nil!), "Most Man of the Matches"
was obviously a home win for the Housewife's Favourite and Mr Hudson carried
off the award for "Campest Barnet".
The Stats for this season for those who are interested, go something like this:
Played 20, won 14, drew 3, lost 3. Scored 81, conceded 47. Cool huh?
Early in the season Paul "Dunners" Dunne departed for greener shores,
which was a shame as he had just learnt the seasons new rules. (The hard way).
As usual, we used a plethora of players borrowing from the 3's and 5's on occasion,
Dave Farmer, Danny Penny, Dan, Laz, Brendan, Lil Phil, Tufty, Lil Andy, The
Plumber, Mik, Forrest, Suhail, Pid and John Loughts to name but a few. Thanks
for all your help, thanks too, to the umpires for doing their stuff for us,
it's much appreciated, it really is. Thanks also to Ed for sorting out all these
match reports and putting them up on the Web.
No thanks go to the Notcutts sniper, who has been a thorn in Jezza's side this
season.
See you all at the Dinner Dance on Friday, or if I don't, have a great Summer
and good luck with tours and tournaments if that's what you are up to. Chances
are I'll see most of you about anyway!
Mens 5th XI
The final league run in continued this week, as Road Runners barmy army looked to continue their return to form.
First thing first, well done to Road Runner who has done an excellent job this season and as a reward, is being taken away from us to join the thirds for next season. This was slightly guessed by the team, due to Road Runners slacking off a bit in recent weeks from his high standards (well can you blame him!).
The barmy army all met up at the club, to find Road Runner out of gas. Apparently Road Runner was need as an umpire for the sixes, only their match had been cancelled the night before, but no one told Road Runner who set off at 7.30pm for the game, never mind he only had to wait around 2 hours for his next game.
Then Major Charles Ingrum staggered up to the clubhouse looking very pale, then announced Im not driving, Im pissed. Mr Flash (Luwellen, Sue Ellen) spun into to the car park 5 minutes late, wheel spinning to make seam he was at least trying to get to the clubhouse on time. This left one character remaining Diamond Geezer, the team waited 15 minutes and then this short Staines Pikey fell through the bushes (it was Diamond). Road Runner said what time is it Diamond and Diamond replied I dont no but Im here (wrong answer!)
Brave Heart took over the captaincy and the team set off. During the travel the Major fell asleep trying to recover from the Officers Club, were he had enjoyed 12-year-old booze. Flash decided to wake the Major by playing his CD of Japanese trumpets. The Major woke and for minute thought is was Monday!
The team arrived in good time 40 minutes early, at an all girls school for the match and Flash took an interest in the girls pool. Brave Heart sorted out the team in the absence of Road Runner. Hobo had an excursion to find the bathroom, mean while the rest of the team concluded and accused Hobo of bird watching.
The team lined up for the start, Neo Maximus in goal. Major Charles Ingum, Flash, Brave Heart and Samurai in defence. The midfield consisted of Penny Racer, Mat (Duracell 2), and Greg (Quiet Man). Then in attack Mad Mexican, Hobo and Dan (Xmen). Diamond Geezer rotated in when he didnt feel injured.
The game got off to scrappy start and it took Staines a while to settle down, eventually Penny Racer and Xmen combined down the left wing and Xmen scored to give Staines a 0-1 lead, but the Staines snakes and ladders were back and Sanderstead sliced through the Staines midfield and skinned the defence to create several chances and created a goal which fortunately for Staines was disallowed for an infringement. This was all too much for Diamond Geezer felt injured again and limped off. The words of Oh Sh*te came from Brave Heart, While Flash shouted opps and O dear. The Major tried to fire the machine gun, but there wash to much pressure and only the keeper could save Staines and Neo Maximus showed why he is the one and stopped all shots.
The snakes and ladders game continued until 10 minutes from half time, after the pressure eased Diamond recovered from injury to rejoin the team. Penny Racer then released Hobo, who flew down the right wing and crossed to the P-spot for Mad Mexican, but Mad Mexican missed. Diamond, who had reappeared to cross the ball in again, but before Hobo could convert at the far post, the Sanderstead keeper did the job himself, putting the ball into the net, to gave Staines a 2-0 half time lead.
At half time Brave Heart gave the team a rollicking for not helping enough in the defence. Brave Heart asked for simple hockey, less scrappy play, less mistakes and more slicker play and width, which was basically the prescription Road Runner gave for the last three weeks.
What ever Hobo had put in the drinks for the last three weeks, it seemed to have worked again, but it took a little while to hit the team brain cell.
The second half got under way with Staines under the cosh again and yes Diamond limped off injured again. The Staines defence was sliced open by the Sanderstead right wing who hooked the ball into the Staines net. But the goal was ruled out as the ball had crossed the by-line. Staines immediately woke up and Quiet Man set Hobo off down the right wing Hobo wiped in a cross to Mad Mexican who steered the ball low into the corner of the goal to make it 0-3 to Staines.
The Sanderstead, dejected after a two disallowed goals were not happy with Mad Mexican and the Sanderstead No 14 defender started argy bargy and told Mad Mexican he was like his dog, only unlike Mad Mexican he could control his dog it. Mad Mexican replied with a word, which started and ended with F.
Meanwhile Hobo had ran round the back of the defence, while Mad Mexican spoke in his native South African tongue. Penny racer collected the ball and passed to unmarked Hobo, who slotted the ball home to give Staines a 0-4 lead.
Staines sensed a wrought and Major Charles Ingrum wanted a goal. The Major shoe shuffled up the pitch ready to launch one in the D. Flash and Brave Heart were putting on bets when the Major would hurl, but Major managed to keep it in.
Sanderstead No 14 defender was not happy with the Major coming into the D so he started an argy bargy with, the Major. Major shouted come on then son any time the Sanderstead No 14 defender replied No Im old enough to be your father, the Major replied I am your Fing father.
Staines continued to press and had a hatful of counter attacking chances Diamond Geezer reappeared again and had the Midfield to himself, but chose to fake shots at the Sanderstead defence. Mad Mexican went insane again and Xmen was in full throttle down the left wing.
Eventually Staines had a shortie, Penny Racer fed Diamond Geezer, on the left hand side of the D, who smashed the ball from a tight angle into the bottom left hand corner to give Staines a 0-5 lead.
Staines almost made it six when Mad Mexican had a shot which rebounded off the keeper, which found Hobo who put it narrowly wide and Flash said thats your vote sorted to Hobo, to which Hobo gave Flash the finger.
The game ended with Staines winning 0-5. The barmy army quickly dispersed after the game, before a riot took place and headed off to Staines.
Then a session of do you think your a nutty driver took place. The race was on Flash desperate to be first back, (before Penny Racer and Brave Heart). Flash revved his engine and flew out off the car park, before Brave Heart had a chance to belt up. Then to Flashes disgust Penny Racer reversed into Flashes view and then turned left, Flash unhappy with this gave Penny Racer the horn. Penny Racer responded with a finger and burned away to leave Flash standing. Then Brave Heart appeared from a side road. Flash stopped to let him out then burned past on the by past, to make up time Flash cut up anyone in the way and flew over speed humps as if they were jumps, as for traffic lights they were just decorations to Flash. The Major held on to his hurl, Mad Mexican shocked said This is obviously a company car then Flash and Hobo joined the banter by asking Flash can we try the three point turn now? and have you taken your theory test yet ?. Flash flew though roads taking no prisoners and into the clubhouse car park, to the foot of the ramp, to beat Brave Heart and Penny Racer. Flash said that completes my learner lesson, the lads replied not driving through the bar to day Flash?.
Well its been a long season and so has this report, the end is either now or next week. According to the records one game remains with possibly of another. The game that remains is against our old friends at Reigate Priory, will they show ? (If they do war will be imminent, Staines will do nothing else but give, Shock and Ore). (Is this end of the road or is there another junction and is there an end of season curry?)
Final Score Sanderstead 0, Staines 5
Scores Xmen 1, Own goal Sanderstead keeper 1, Mad Mexican 1, Hobo 1, Diamond
Geezer 1.
Man of Match Mad Mexican, for energetic effort
Dick of Day Sanderstead No 14 defender, for being a total head case
Mens 6th XI
Mens Centurions
Ladies 1st XI
Last week saw Staines Ladies 1st XI win the Middlesex Premier League when they
defeated Chiswick Poly a staggering 14-0. Player of the Match Sarah Chandler
scored an outstanding 7 goals, Mel Attfield, Chrissy Lind and Sarah Hamilton
claimed two a-piece and Jo Ive made up the 14th. It was a convincing victory
which secured top spot in the league, six points clear of Southgate.
On Saturday 27th March Staines played their final league game of the season
away at Paddington against Hampstead and Westminster. Mel Attfield smashed in
the ball to score the only goal but it was to be the 99th goal scored by Staines
in the league. A commanding performance this season has led to the team breaking
the previous goal difference record in this league. In 16 games Staines have
only conceded 5 with a goal difference of 94. The girls are now looking forward
to the play-offs for South Division Two, which are to be held in Guildford on
the 17th and 18th April.
On Sunday 28th March Staines played in the Middlesex Cup Final against Harrow,
who have just been promoted to South Division One. A hard fought game saw Harrow
take the lead when they were awarded two penalty strokes and subsequently slotted
them into the goal despite the valiant efforts of Staines keeper Maggie Owens.
In the second half Staines got one back after Mel Attfield, taking a penalty
stroke, flicked the ball into the left hand corner. Harrow came back again and
got their third through a penalty corner but Staines continued to battle hard
and Sue O'Connell tapped in a short corner. In the last 10 minutes Staines had
all the play and kept bombarding the Harrow defence, but as the final whistle
went Harrow claimed the Middlesex Cup for the second year running with a 3-2
win.
This was not the first time that Staines had met Harrow this season. Staines
defeated Harrow 1-0 in the 5th Round of the All England Hockey Association Trophy
last month. Staines have now reached the Semi-final and they are playing at
home against Shrewsbury on Sunday April 4th at 1pm.
It has been a fantastic season for Staines Ladies 1st XI squad, under the expert
guidance of Coach Seamus O'Connell. The support from the club has been superb
and the players, under the captaincy of Kate McClean, are determined to secure
the well-earned place in South Division Two in three weeks time.
Ladies 2nd XI
Ladies 3rd XI
Ladies 4th XI