Match Reports For Saturday 5th February Season 2004 - 2005

Mens 1st XI

In a mid table clash on saturday, Staines went down 2-1 at home with Tulse Hill scoring in the last minute.
In a closely fought game neither side created many chances and it was Staines who took the lead after a period of good possession. Geraint Hughes received the ball from Mike Farmer and entered the circle before placing a reverse stick strike past the helpless 'keeper. After this strike Staines did not have many more chances and the game became more of a midfield tussle and this continued until half time.
Into the second half and Staines were looking for the next goal to kill the game off, unfortunately this did not happen as Tulse Hill got more into the game and began to threaten the Staines defence. Soon they equalised after Staines lost the ball on the attack and the Tulse Hill forwards broke swiftly. As the game wore on chances were still at a premium and neither side looked likely to score, until right in the last minute Tulse Hill earned a penalty corner and after a slight deflection scored to take the game 2-1.
Although dissappointed with the result Staines took heart from a performance that was much improved on recent weeks and will be looking for the maximum three points from next weeks game away at PHC Chiswick.

v. Guernsey (Harrods Trophy)

On sunday, Staines took on Guernsey in the HA Trophy and came away with a 2-1 win. Again it was a tightly fought game with not many chances created by either side.
It was Guernsey who took the lead in the second half from a penalty corner and this woke Staines up and they pushed hard for goals. The equaliser coming fom John Stannard who's strike from a penalty corner took a deflection to beat the 'keeper. This somewhat deflated Guernsey and with ten minutes to go Staines got the winner, this time James Chapman scoring from a penalty corner. This result takes Staines into the last 16 and one step closer to some silverware this season.

Mens 2nd XI

Mens 3rd XI

Mens 4th XI

Mens 5th XI

Mens 6th XI

Mens 7th XI

Mens Centurions

Ladies 1st XI

Ladies 2nd XI

Dear Diary

Wed 2 Feb: Big game coming up this weekend, training was a must, but sadly injuries, work commitments and MOT failures left the 2s a bit thin on the ground, and Coach Duncan was on a course. So 1s & 2s bonding session this week with Coach Shay at the helm. Dismiss the thought that this might have been an easier session that usual. OH NO Coach Shay devised training around the WHOLE of the pitch with horrendous amounts of cones and running. Feeling slightly sick towards the end of the session, and starting to wonder if I'm not becoming just a little too old for all of this ??

Sat 5 Feb: Scheduled meet time of 10.30, set off in plenty of time as v nervous, B***dy traffic and now I'm late by a nanosecond…S*** can sense the tension already.

Sat 5 Feb: 10.40 - 10.55am: Assemble in changing rooms, Coach Duncan is pacing like an Agent of Satan……brace yourselves girls. He's straight in for the kill with a b*llocking for being late (even a nanosecond late is NOT acceptable), god help us all girls. So Coach Duncan exorcises his PMT and mellows into the Coach we have come to love and respect. First thing is to thank Julie P for standing in for the rest of the season as our keeper. Thanks Julie we all really appreciate it. So big game today against 3rd in the league Teddington. First blood to Teddington as we lost 2-1 away to them. We had a moment of madness for 10 mins and despite all our efforts we couldn't get the equaliser. As Coach Duncan pointed out this was their last chance to challenge for promotion and that top of the league spot. But we have no reason to be nervous about it, we are top of the league for a reason (technically coz Harrow have been deducted 3 points), and this is our chance to send a message to the rest of the league that we mean business. So get out there and show them that we mean business.

Sat 5 Feb 11.00am: Time for Fish to take the warm up. So gentle jog around the car park to start, and then our customary huddle for stretches and general chit chat. It transpires that it is Fish's birthday. Happy Birthday Fish. She admits to being 34, to which Alex replies 'That's like 13 birthdays after 21' 'and your point is Alex ?????'. Honestly the youth of today….you may well pay later for that comment young lady.

Sat 5 Feb 11.15am: Still stretching those muscles, I swear this gets more painful each week. Alex, bless her, felt the need to share the fact that her morning was all a bit rushed as she had been to the Library early. Queue Baldy to enquire loudly 'The Library what the hell is that all about ???' Alex then made it all worse by saying that she had gone there, parked and paid the extortionate amount of £1.50 (it's a student thing) to find that the Library was shut on Saturday morning. Raucous laughter all round to be fair. When asked what she needed from the Library she made yet another error by telling us that she required a book on Crisis Management. Baldy was in her element.

Sat 5 Feb 11.20am: Jog back to pitch where Coach Duncan has got the cones out….ok girls let's go.

Sat 5 Feb 11.30am: Game under way

Sat 5 Feb 11.30am - 1pm: Another Fantastic team performance. Notable diary points:

1: We THRASHED Teddington 8-0
2: Goal scorers Jo Ive 3, Alex 2, Baldy 1, Ez 1, Oli 1
3: Jo you scored a hat trick, but no jug ?? what's going on there ??
4: Ez scoring from a short corner - now I'm not one to bear a grudge but I've been stopping 9 out of 10 short corner pushes each week and you choose the one time I'm not there to score-care to explain ??
5: Oli scoring from a short corner - and yes it was good. Blimey you must owe me a fortune now.
6: Suki and her gadget arms picking up all those balls on the reverse - awesome.
7: Suzi, Lou and Fish working like demons in the mid field
8: Alex dazzling everyone with her stick skills - shame you didn't get more goals, but that will teach you to pass comments about the age of the team !!! We love you really Alex HONEST
9: Yvonne being outstanding in defence as always.
10: Teddington thinking that a young speedy winger on the left would worry Ali….NO CHANCE, when that didn't work they made a sub for a younger model…why bother Ali's far too experienced for those shenanigans !!!
11: Julie P making a couple of excellent saves. It's only fair that we get her involved since she has kindly stepped into the breach.
12: Remember we had a miracle at half time last week when Coach Duncan said he didn't have anything to say…well it happened again this week. Thought lightening didn't strike twice ??
13: 4-0 up at half time and Coach 'I've been on a course' Duncan is lost for words. The only thing he can really say is that we need to be prepared for the fact the Teddington will come at us hard in the second half
14: Second half begins and there we are waiting for the Teddington onslaught to begin. We waited, and waited and waited.
15: OK girls we've beaten them into submission, let's up that goal difference.
16: Coach Duncan shouting from the sideline 'Come on girls just one more' goal

Sat 5 Feb 1pm: 8-0 victory over Teddington was more than we had hoped for, but we were awesome as a team. Going into the half term break that leaves us top of Div 1 with only Harrow challenging for promotion at the moment.

Sat 5 Feb 1.15pm:: The team is voted Man of the Match this week. We now have three weeks off. Anyone skiing over the half term break (Fish ) please don't break anything. We have a league to win Ladies.

Ladies 3rd XI

After a hard warm-up (taken by Wendy the hard task master!), Staines were rearing to go, however, Chiswick had neglected to mention that the game had been put back slightly, so when we eventually got started most of us had cooled back down again!

Despite this we got off to a very good start and dominated the first half of the game. There was some great passing between the mid-field and the forward line and some wonderful balls from Ingrid at the back who seemed very cool calm and collected on the ball despite some 'panic' situations! Student was her usual self and made some lovely runs down the right wing with some assistance from Debs in mid-field (who doesn't understand the word 'iron' as she came dressed as the local tramp!).

Burkie was her usual calm but very effective self and carried the ball from the back through to the mid-field which led to a short corner. The short corner routine almost paid off, with Ju making a strong and accurate pass and Kate striking the ball 100 miles an hour. Kate seemed determined to hit the ball as high as possible ? it looked impressive when it hit the top net but unfortunately we weren't awarded any goals.

At half time we were 1-0 down through a 'lucky' goal on Chiswick's part. Although Chiswick were fairly quick on the ball we had more of the play and were unfortunate not to score through a number of short corners given.

We lost a bit of momentum and some of our structure in the second half, however, we weren't giving up easily and continued to fight back. Although we had a number of chances it just wasn't happening for us and the final score ended in a 0-1 result.

Debs won 'Doris of the Day' for not ironing her skirt but at least it helped put the opposition off! Ingrid took the title of 'Man of the Match' which was very well deserved.

Ladies 4th XI

Staines Hockey Club women's 4th XI were unrecognisable from the team that lost 6-1 at Paddington the week before. Led by their captain Caroline, their enthusiasm and energy gave them an immediate advantage over their opposition. Staines enjoyed most of the possession and continually put pressure on the NPL defence. The first goal came as a result of Staines constant pressure and the home side went to half-time 1-0 up thanks to the finishing of Ali.
The second half saw Staines converting their pressure into goals. Kerry and Ali were on target and 'man of the match' Jana, playing centre back, made sure there was no way back into this game for the visitors. When Elly cut in from the right wing and scored from an impossible angle Staines were playing with the confidence they've been lacking in recent weeks. Ali completed a hat-trick and Staines were rewarded for their brilliant performance with a 6-0 victory.

Ladies 5th XI

Staines won 2-0 Westhamstead played us giving their newly formed 6th XI a run out on our grass pitch. Again the girls were supported by the Ladies 3's - thanks to Jeanette Tucker, Julie Purbrick, Ingrid Fear, Alison Ford, Carole Leslie and a couple of ringers (friends of friends drafted in at the last minute - Lyn and Karen). Ingrid put the girls through their warm-up paces. Sam Collins was nominated as Captain on the pitch and encouraged the rest of the team when required. Alison took an early dive and throwing herself at the feet of the opposition (I feel this is because she decided she'd take a little breather - well what do you expect when your 40!). Falling over seemed to be the theme of the day as young Emily Steer played well even when she found herself on the ground, she quickly got back on her feet to make a very good tackle (although she did get the vote for DOD by the team!). Half time score was 1-0 to Staines. Hazel made some great tackles in defence to keep the opposition at bay. Emma Crawley worked hard running up and down the right midfield supporting the forwards, attacking and defending well. Lauren Fear made some great plays calling well to her team mates and helped distribute the ball well. Heather Forster came on for the last 10 minutes and made an impact on the game getting involved and making some good plays.

All in all the girls coped well on grass and everyone got involved - Well done - great game! We're already looking forward to the next fixture.

Final score was 2-0 to Staines with Lauren Fear voted as Man of the Match.