Match reports - November 24, 2007

NPL 1 1st XI 2 A win is a win, and after three defeats and a drew in the last four outings, anything is welcome. But against a side rotted at the bottom, without a win, and whose goal difference was minus 32, we could and should have done much better than this. After a dismal opening ten minutes,Gav Adair gave us the lead, Eds Copleston doubled it and we then dominated the half and should have had countless more. But NPL hit back after the break although we held on to take all three points.

Ladies 1 Croydon 2 On a bitterly cold Saturday morning we were fired up to play second-placed Croydon at TD. We went out hard and probably had slightly more possession throughout the first 20 minutes having some good scoring opportunities and a penalty corner just lifted over the bar by Mrs Mott. They too had some good opportunities and a couple of penalty corners making our defence of Ros, Rosie, Tux and Muriel work hard and forcing a couple of good saves from Katy. Unfortunately a debatable umpiring decision (sorry Armo - i'm sure you'll get your own back in your match report!), gave Croydon a penalty stroke - to be fair from and where I was standing it looked that way too. Croydon converted with an excellent flick that gave Katy little chance. Two minutes later a mix-up defending gave Croydon their second goal.

At half-time we knew it could easily be 2-2 at least and kept our heads up and played hard. Lots of running as always from the forwards of Caz, May and Nina. Within minutes we were attacking their circle with some great team work and movement by all. Before long Nikki had put the ball in the back of the goal and Armo had failed to see it hit her foot on the way in. Unfortunately Martin and the rest of the team didn't and the goal was quite rightly disallowed. Croydon continued to push for more goals and won more corners which we defended well. Eventually a goal came. Nikki slammed the ball past Croydon’s keeper after a penalty corner didn't go quite as planned. It didn't matter as we scored anyway! For the last 20 minutes we kept pushing hard and had some more close calls looking like we could easily equalise but just couldn't seem to finish. We won the second half but the damage had been done in the first. A good but unlucky performance by us, but an enjoyable game against a good and fair team. Jackie Joyce


3rd XI 0 Sanderstead 1 (Click here for photos) We failed to capitalise on a good win last week with a 0-1 loss at home. Before the match report commences, for the record, there were three qualified umpires playing for the us and two more on the sideline. We understand and appreciate the time, dedication and difficulties that being an umpire can entail and do not wish to detract from this in this report. We also appreciate the need to train new umpires as well and therefore endeavour to do so. Saying that, the opposition umpire was so inconsistent, power crazed and ineffective that we were always playing 12 men on the field, and in the closing moments of the game an opposition player felt he could get away with running 10 metres off the ball into the OC captain from behind. Not only is this dangerous it is a disgraceful display of umpiring delivery that this player only received a yellow card.

More importantly, the game. We started with strong optimism and pushed back on a still-to-be-bedded TD pitch. Although a little disjointed to being with, we began to find some consistency and movement from the ball. Stu and Jock once again held the back four in structure and ordered the central midfield well. Chris Bents and Armitage were holding the ball well and distributing to the flanks with the wind backs moving the ball up the line effectively. The first indications of problems occurred when a decision went the other way and without prior warning to the team or captain, the umpire responded by a shocked "what!" statement with the ball being moved up 10 metres. This was then repeated again and again, with almost every penalty being moved up the pitch. So often was the umpire’s fist raised in the air that he seemed to be auditioning for a part in a recreation of a Nuremburg rally. Any queries were greeted with a shout of “learn the rules”.

The opposition moved the ball fluidly in midfield and created some threatening attacks. Of particular note was their young right wing who will be a useful player for several years. The game continued openly until the umpire had an altercation with one of the supporters after he had called back a quickly-taken free hit in the middle of the pitch because he wanted it taken one meter – yes, one meter – further back. The supporter said "that's right Stu, move it back the full eight inches". The umpire immediately reversed the decision and, almost inevitably, also moved it back up the pitch ten meters – actually about 15 which made his original pettiness even more absurd. Two minutes later, the OC captain was called over to the sideline to be told that the supporter was being offensive, the captain went to the supporter and as doing so, the umpire stated that the supporter was questioning his every decision and being rude. The supporter (ironically Level 1 qualified) responded and it came down to the captain telling both the umpire and supporter to shut up although the umpire said he was going to have the supporter banned from the club! We would all like to know how he is going to do that!

Never-the-less, the game continued and some good play from both sides eventually led to a short corner which they capitalised from and a clean shot into the bottom right corner proved the only goal of the game. The remainder of the half showed some good play with Bruce and Chaz threatening up the flanks and Preston looking dangerous up front.

Half-time came and the team knew that consistent and structured play would deliver and some excellent attacks from Dave L, CD and Chris led to some good opportunities. Decisions were becoming more unpredictable, stick tackles and body checks were allowed with impunity and the game grew ever more fractious. As if to underline his incompetence, by this time the umpire was running up and down the middle of the pitch blowing decisions everywhere and on occasions getting in the way of the play.

We still pressed well and created chances but full credit to the Sanderstead who had an excellent game, keeping several attempts out as Chaz, Preston, Bruce and Dave all goalless.

Niggles grew as the half progressed whileTim had a great display of composure and confidence through-out the game kept two potentially crucial attacks at bay. As the game came to its conclusion, the aforementioned cowardly body-hit occurred. We will take the opportunity to say that other than that hit, the opposition were enjoyable to play against, an end-to-end game. We look forward to playing them later in the season but do request a different umpire.

Man-of-the-match, Tim Judd and you can make your own conclusions who d;@! of the day was.

At this point we should reiterate that these reports are not the view of the club and are purely personal reflections on matches!

View from the sideline While echoing Armo's general sentiments, and congraulating the side on not losing their collective cools, it was not so much that the official in question didn't know the rules - he knew enough - but that he didn't have a clue how to apply them. So a cynical body check or violent stick-tackle just got a standard hit and no warning - and that applied to both sides - the mildest of questioning was severely punished. The sole reason the game started getting fractious towards the end was that lack of any control. Full marks to Jackie for keeping things flowing at the other end despite her colleague increasing taking a central midfield role and attempting to officiate the entire pitch.

Match reports - November 17, 2007

Bank of England 4 1st XI 3 Arguably our season’s ambition of promotion after last year’s monumental disappointment is all but over. I suppose 13 wins out of the last 14 matches will be sufficient to claim a play off place but that is a tall order. Ironically but for the first shocking 10 minutes we played as well for the last 50 or so minutes as we have done all season but the first 10 minutes were probably the worst.

On a slippery but fast pitch and following the best training session of the year including an effective short corner with Simon Bray at the helm there was an air of confidence about us as we prepared for the game. The first set back was the non appearance of Simon who although possibly carrying an injury would have been effective with clever use of the substitution rule. We knew that Bank of England would prove a stern test as they have a spine of quality players and gave us two real tests last season – one win each. We had to get off to a good start and in the first eight minutes created three chances, two flashing just past the post and one falling to Gavin which should have been converted. Bank used their experience well, played the ball around at the back, drew us up and caught us on the break. The first short corner in the second minute resulted in a stroke, Nigel making a good save but Bank showing the benefit of having the natural ability to put pace on the ball being sent goal ward when the ball was loose in the D resulting in a foot on the line. The ensuing eight minutes resulted in the mole hill being converted into a mountain as two horrendous passes out of defence when not under pressure gave Bank the chance to extend their lead to a comfortable three goals. The third goal was the pick of the bunch as a strong run from just outside the 25 was finished off with a crisp shot inside the far post.

From this point onwards the traffic was all one way. Nick Lewis slotted home a chance created by Bank’s misplaced pass and the first 10 minutes of the second half saw Mark Smith and Gavin level the scores again with the help of poor defending. We continued to press, won 4 short corners and it seemed as if there would only be one winner. Sadly for us Bank broke away again and took the lead 10 minutes from the end a lead that they did not relinquish. We did show character with Rippers, Gavin, Eds, Smudger, Cookey and Nick Lewis all going close and testing the opposition’s defence but we were somewhat profligate with the chances that presented themselves.
There were positives from this match in the shape of Rippers and Cato combining together in the most effective way they have done all season with both having their best games of the year and running the last 50 minutes of the match. CB did little wrong and Nick and Eds ran themselves into the ground to stop the Bank’s attacks down their right.

Bank were very gracious in victory and conceded that they were fortuitous to take away the 3 points but all said and done the quality of their forwards and attacking midfield players was evident in the way they put away four out of five chances whilst we converted three from a much larger number of chances. Other than one bad looking stick tackle by Bank – that was more of a desperate attempt to try and force home a semi loose ball in the D – a pacy game was well umpired with both sides being allowed to play their hockey. The last few weeks have certainly seen a much higher and consistently good level of umpiring than we have seen for a number of years. David Knapp

Wimbledon 1 Ladies 3 We arrived in plenty of time for the game, which gave us the opportunity to implement the '4 Key Elements', which make us winners.
1. Discuss our tactics and pitch formation
2. Plan our strategy
3. Visualisation of success
4. Yoga
The first half was mainly spent on building ourselves up for the second half. We had some great running into space and some even better passing from the midfield. The defence kept their heads under pressure and we were switching the ball around in a way Wimbledon could only dream of. (Key Element Number 1 was no longer just pre-match theory). Half time came and it was 0-0, we has some positive words from coach Duncan and we were ready to go again.

The second half was all about Team OC's - we dominated! It was only two minutes into play and Sarah had found the back of the net! All the preparation we had done in the first half was now coming together like a big hockey fantasy. We need to keep the momentum going, letting the pressure drop off now was not an option and so we let Wimbledon score. This was all part of our strategy (Key Element Number 2), Wimbledon thought they were back in the game but due to (Key Element Number 3) it was a short-lived thought. As we knew we would, we score again. This time the goal came after lots of battling from everyone and eventually May smashed it home. There were lots more attempts on goal from Nikki, Vikki and Dora but is was May who had been focusing particularly hard during Key Element Number 3 and so she scored her second of the game, (let this be an example to all of us.) The final whistle blew and it was three points in the bag! Everyone played exceptionally well and due to Key Element Number 4 no injuries were picked up. Bring on Corydon! Nina Sutton


Addiscombe 1 3rd XI 2 We clocked another three points in a gritty 2-1 win over Addiscombe. Had we lost we would have been bottom, had they won they would have been equal top. As it is, we are next to each other in seventh and eighth, so tight is the league. Playing at Croydon High School, which is still in the arse end of nowhere, we welcomed Chris Bents to the team hoping that by halving the average age of the team would be inspiration.

The game started with some stronger pressure on Addiscombe and a fairly open game developed. As things started to play out, it became apparent that Addiscombe's two young central midfielders were the play makers. A still unfit Armitage and Bruce initially held the centre with some difficulty although a structural change moving Chris into the centre started to neutralise their impact slightly. Short corners went both ways although a returning Dan Knowles defended admirably and nothing came from them. Addiscombe however were first to score with one of their youngsters turning and releasing a shot from the top of the D that defied several laws of physics bounced off and then around Nigel H to stutter into the bottom right corner.

Jock and Stu held court in the central defence and with Tim Judd, gave a strong structure and composure to the team. A momentary break through came from a short corner where Armo dribbled through three players into the D and upon an advancing keeper, slipped the ball to Dave L on the P spot who even as he unleashed his slap at the open goal cried out "not again" as the ball flew harmlessly wide of the left post. The breakthrough actually came from a short corner that CD miss-hit to Bruce who drifted to the right and fired in to draw the game level on the end of half whistle.

A tactical change of 4-5-1 started in the second half however after five minutes this was abandoned as it became obvious we were absorbing more pressure. Stu held the defence in strong structure and Bruce proved of danger advancing up the right flank. Strong marking and good tackles started to control the game to our advantage and although an ever present young midfield kept our defensive ability busy, we started to get an upper hand on the game. Several short corners occurred and although not fortunate enough to score, proved threatening. Chris, CD and Dave L all were linking up nicely up the left flank and pressure from Preston started to show as we started to become more dominant in the game. Although Dave was unlucky not to score from a well delivered hit from Bruce the winning goal came from Preston off a muddled short corner where the central defender gave the ball to him and he released to open his account for the day.

The last four minutes showed our experience as we controlled the game and their hurry became the weakness as loose balls were easily picked up. Potentially a fair result would have been a draw but a well-fought game, if not a little gritty. Man of the Match, Mr Stu Steele, although Nigel Hawes was a close contender. James Armitage

Match reports - November 10, 2007

1st XI 0 Wanderers 2 (Click here for match photos) Today was the day that our problems came home to roost. Having been relegated last season and had a patchy start to their season in our league Wanderers were always going to be a side that were able to play a more pacy and aggressive style of hockey that would find out sides in our league. So it proved to be as we were played off the park in the first 15 to 20 minutes and should have been two goals down, with Wanderers squandering a gilt edged chance in the first three minutes and messing up a three-on-one five minutes later. Robbo made a wonderful save with his left foot before the half was out.

The final half of the first period saw our best period of the match and we could have also scored a couple following some good build up play, the spreading of the ball wide and attacking the back line. We welcomed back Smudger from injury and inSimon Bray made his debut and showed that although ring rusty he has the skill to create danger in the oppo’s 25 and the innate ability to score goals. Adair had a half chance to open the scoring when the ball came quickly off the keepers pads, Bray flashed a shot inches wide and the Wanderers goalie made two difficult saves look easy. When we did force short corners the routine was woeful breaking down as it did at the top of the D. An even score line at half time was about fair on the balance of play but it was always going to be the case that the first 10 minutes of the second half would decide the game.

Having pressed us hard at the beginning of the match and utilising their pace and the space between our forwards and midfield and midfield and defence Wanderers were expected to do the same as the second period commenced. Accordingly we allowed ourselves to be dominated and instead of having the sense to slow the game down and play the ball wide and up the flanks we continually gave the ball away and it was only a matter of time before we conceded the first. A few minutes later it was two as Wanderers showed us the benefit of practising short corners slotting their first one home from a well worked move our conceding an unnecessary corner from a sloppy tackle in the 25. The first was a product of the left hand side of the defence being overloaded and Wanderers queuing up to roll the ball home.

From the point of the second going in there was only going to be one winner and although we had three more short corners we never looked like threatening the goal until Simon Bray popped one home two minutes from the end for the umpire to rule it out for some unknown reason. Even so it would have been too little too late and in any event we did not deserve anything from the game against a side that was better drilled, fitter and faster than us who cracked the ball about at real pace. Wanderers were without a doubt the best side we have faced this tear – not only because we competed for a mere 20 minutes but because of the control they had for 75% of the game, snuffing out most of our offensive play. A switch in the middle towards the end gave us a slightly different impetus and we should now look hard and honestly at ourselves and decide if we wish to coast for the remainder of the season or change our attitude and approach, start training and resurrect our faltering season.

Time and in particular the next two weeks will tell.David Knapp



Tulse Hill 1 Ladies 1 A 9.30am push back meant an early start for the ladies, especially as we were having to travel over to Tulse Hill and Dulwich. The start of the match was fairly eventful in itself as at 9.30 we were short of a goalkeeper an umpire and a striker, all travelling up from Sussex, and the journey taken even longer than anticipated. Luckily by 9.35 they arrived just in time as the game could not be held up any longer than 9.40. So with no warm-up Katy padded up and ran onto the pitch. The game eventually started at 9.40 minus the captain and vice captain as at 9.38 Tulse Hill informed us our cars couldn’t be parked in the centre car park and that the ticketman was on his way round! (tactics….?) Helen and I moved our cars and ran a good ½ mile up the road back to the pitch to discover the game had started. We were obviously on the back foot from the start as the girls moved into some unfamiliar positions to cover myself and Hels, luckily we had two subs! We subbed onto the pitch but the unsettlement of the start left us struggling to find our footing and playing our game. We struggled to get organised for the first 15 minutes, TH pressing us hard and Kety having to make some storming saves (we shall consider not warming her up more often!). But our defence of Ros, Tux, Rosie and the two Helens held strong and they failed to score. As we began to settle into our game we put some pressure back on them and had a couple of good breaks some good crosses into the circle but failed to convert. At half time the score was 0-0.

We went out hard in the second half, determined to have a better start than the first, and within minutes were attacking there goal with a couple a near misses. The midfield of Vikki, Ana, Sarah Hardiman and myself upping the work rate. We won a few short corners but no conversions. The first substitution we had in the second half was unusually the umpire! Poor Nigel wasn’t feeling best and fortunately the umpire for the following match stepped in for him! Tulse Hill kept the pressure on though also winning short corners and eventually managed to score a goal leaving us 1-0 down. We didn’t let our heads go down though and having the advantage of subs this week meant that our forwards of Nina, Dora, May could keep their work rate high and keep putting the TH defense under pressure closing down their free hits and intercepting balls. Our work rate was paying off as we began to dominate possession. Left back Muriel found herself in the usual position of in the oppositions circle by the post and came close to scoring but couldn’t quite convert! Eventually the pressure paid off and from a long corner, and some good crossing throughout the team Dora managed to put the ball beyond the keepers reach! 1-1. We continued to press after levelling with several good chances and 1 1/2 minutes form time had a penaly corner but TH held strong. The match fininshed 1-1 another five minutes and it may just have gone our way! It was a great team effort from the girls who all played really well and did well to keep our heads up and pull it back. An excellent performance to take us into next weeks match at Wimbledon!

Minutes of committee - November 6, 2007

In the spirit of New Labour, but without the war, the spin and the corruption, we will be publishing committee meeting minutes from now on. Here are the minutes of the committee meeting of the OCHC held on November 6, 2007.

1. Sponsorship. Decision was made to run a raffle for the sponsorship with tickets to be sold at £250.00 each. Rather than rush it through this eason we would look to sell tickets between now and the end of the season and draw the winning ticket at the end of season dinner dance. This would give plenty of time to ensure we made a real success of this initiative. All club members to try and sell tickets.
2. Life members. A new category of members is to be introduced. A select bunch will be invited to become life members. A list will be drawn up and published accordingly.
3. Social committee. A modest profit was made from the fireworks although turn out from some sides was poor. Sarah T was congratulated for her efforts and should now come on to the committee in a formal capacity. For future events each team’s social committee member must push the sale of tickets and be pushy in this regard. The next event is the 8th December at the club with ticket prices to be set at £5.00. Must start selling these straight away.
4. Mixed league. Although the meeting did not know the number of teams whohave committed themselves to the concept of a league – form recollection it was 4 – and so unless more can commit to the league it would be best to shelve the ide for this season but ensure we have a league in place for 2008/9.
5. Subs. A list of payees and non payees will be circulated by MW and captains will be asked to press those hwo have not paid. After a further 2 weeks the non payers wil be listed on the web site.
6. Teas. Away teams will be given teas. 8 teas will be provided as a matter of course with the club paying for any extras that are ordered by the away side up to a maximum of 12. MW to liaise with Alison Breton.
7. Availablity. The problem has been huge. DT will circulate a spreadsheet used by Steve Harmer so all captains can use this process. Team captains must be encouraged to ensure they know their likely squad availability by Monday lunchtimes to avoid 11th hour problems. Players who say they are unavailable must be asked if they are able to play elsewhere in the club as often their not being available is only due to a timing issue of their particular game.
8. Umpires. The 1st XI in particular and other club members must be more willing to umpire other teams. An initiative used by the girls ought to be introduced club wide of encouraging the home teams to produce 2 umpires so that when playing away we do not need to provide any umpires and vice versa.
9. Dug outs. These are to be situated on the stand side of the pitch. MW to liase with Ed Breton. Any German speakers please come forward so we can interpret the cnstruction notes for the second dug out and goals..
10. Easter tour. A volunteer or volunteers are needed to organise this if we wish to enter a tournament with a mixed team being the best idea.
11. Kit. The new kit has arrived. Before distribution captains must have a list of the number of the shirt given to each player. This is imperative to enable a track of the shirts to be kept.
12. Next meeting. 12th December to enable us to assess the event involving the school as we will ned to follow this up properly. 20.00 at TD.

Record number of visitors to OC website

In October the website broke the record for the most unique visitors in a calendar month, the 1734 beating the previous record of 1730 (March 2007). The number of page impressions (13613) was the second highest, again behind March 2007’s 14636.

Match reports - November 3, 2007

London University 4 1st XI 2 We lost our unbeaten record against lowly London University but deserved nothing more after late cry-offs left us with ten players, a situation made worse by the non availability of Knapp, Stevens and Robson. Stuart Ripley gave us the lead but then we conceded two soft goals from short corners and, chasing an equaliser, left ourselves exposed at the back and inevitably shipped more goals. Eds Copleston’s last-minute strike was no more than a consolation effort.

2nd XI 3 Epsom 1 A good performance earned us the points against an Epsom side who started the day in third. Epsom controlled the first quarter without creating any real chances but the half thereafter was even. We came closest to opening the scoring when a cracking shot hit the upright but we went into the break behind when Epsom’s first shot on target went in with the last hit of the half. We equalised two minutes into the second half with scrambled goal from David Knapp and were the stronger side the rest of the game as Epsom defended too deep, their only other shot on target cleared off the line by Abeed Janmohamed. We sealed the win with a crisp strike four minutes from time and rubbed salt in the visitors’ wounds with a third in the last minute

Old Reigatians 2 3rd XI 3 We remedied a poor start to the season with a hard fought 3-2 win over Old Reightan 1XI. With international duties, injury and a complete lack of organisation marring earlier games, we knew that the Old Reightans' would be expected an easy victory. The first 10 minutes commenced with some excellent pressure on their midfield with Preston and Bruce getting involved. Some early pressure lead to short corners however nothing came from them. As the Old Reightans found their feet, our defence was called into action with Stu Steele and Jock being called into action. It was however against the run of play that a cross from their attacking right and a low mid-air slap beat Nigel H to start us 0-1 down. We continued our pressure with Chaz showing some flair up the right flank with Bruce and Dave offering some problems to the OR defence. Our first break through came as Bruce drove through the defence and from a tight right angle, delivered the ball across the keeper into the back of the net.

The OR team, not to rest on its laurels and although one of their midfield decided to catch a somewhat undangerous ball and then got aggravated when being called up on it, scrambled another goal past an unlucky Nigel.
Although some hard play, OR's had the lion's share of the play and only some strong defensive work from Adam, Stu, Jock and Rich keep us in the game. An inspirational half-time talk with renewed strategy from returning captain Armitage was promptly ignored by all under Stu's strategic advise! With the midfield made us stronger attacks came together and some driving runs up both the left and right flanks provided a lone Dave up front with good opportunities exposing a slower OR defence. A break through came from some quick thinking and a good umpire decision of a slow retreating OR defence providing a short corner. What arguably was one of the weakest shots to go under a keeper, it nevertheless did and Jock brought the same level, 2-2.

Renewed pressure applied, attacks up both flanks and Preston and Bruce creating options and the defence keeping the attacks at bay, the winning goal from a slight scramble for Rich L to open his season's account. The remaining 10 minutes gave the defence the opportunity to excel itself and Will on the left covered a lot of ground in this period. With the final whistle going, we took our first win of the season and Jock took man of the match which he credited to his imminent subscriptions to be paid.

Reigate Priory 5th 0 4th XI 1 Report to follow.

Purley Walcountians 2 Ladies 9 In cricket, a batsman can ‘play and miss’, where as in hockey it's usually something to have a good giggle at, with the poor player wishing the ground would open them up and swallow them. Therefore, the shock of the day was seen at the Purley Arena when Gadget took not one but two fresh air shots. Instead of the reassuring clunk of stick on ball, all we heard was the faint swish and a barely audible expletive.

However, by this time though the game was won. We had raced into a 4-0 lead in the first ten minutes and Purley never looked like getting into the game. Goals from Gadget (2), Nina and Caz, had Jax reaching for her notebook as she couldn’t keep count of the goals bonanza. Totally against the run of play Purley had finally got of their half, by-passed the deckchairs of the relaxing defence and plonked one in the back of the net. Before half time, Manny had belted another one past the goalkeeper.

Therefore, 5-1 at half time and Jax continued to ring the changes, using the virtually unknown luxury of having two subs by allowing herself a nice sit down, whilst her charges continued where they left off in the second half. Another goal, this time from Ana, then Jax went on the pitch, scored a goal, and then went for another sit down. Ros managed to play for 20 minutes before going for snooze in the dug out. There was not a great deal of defending to do as Purley managed to pea roll one in to double their tally. We punished Purley immediately by marching straight up the other end to score again. Midfield generals Manny and Gadget added further goals to make the final score 9-2.

A good performance all round, some great passing hockey on show, and it was important to keep battling to the end especially with so many players with a whole host of illnesses and ailments. It was rumoured that Muriel had dropsy and Tucks was so pale it was thought she was suffering from a bad case of scurvy. Fingers crossed they're feeling better for next weeks game on Saturday at sparrow's fart v Tulse Hill and Dulwich. Barrie David

Vets 3 Cheam 2 The comeback of the day was completed when Andy Eve rifled home the winner two minutes from time, and all after we had gone two down in the first half. Andy Loates pulled on back before half time with a short-corner strike and then Viv Pyne levelled the game from close range midway through the second half. Both sides created chances, the Cheam umpire gave some imaginative decisions (Tommy Trinder might use another adjective) before the tireless Eve secured three points.

Adrian White and the New York Marathon

Those familiar with Adrian White’s speed for the 4th XI will be amazed to learn he runs in this weekend’s New York London Marathon. As at October 31 he had raised £1,818.77 for Leukaemia Research and if you want to add to the pot, click here to make an online donation.

”I have been absolutely overwhelmed by people's generosity and certainly have every incentive to get the job done,” he said. “For those of you who are not quite as mad as me and who will be taking it a little easier on Sunday - you can watch the race on Eurosport at 2.15pm.”

Jax gets engaged after 26-mile chase

Congratulations to Jackie Joyce on her superb run in Monday’s Dublin Marathon. She finished in 926th place in a time of 3:26:30. I am reliably informed this is the best time for a member of the OCLHC, beating Rosie's time of 3:29:32 for the London Marathon set in 2006!

Better was to come ... Helen Hawes told the website: “On Jax's return from Dublin, Ian was obviously so impressed that he got down on one knee and proposed ... she said yes and then duly turned up to training two hours later (note the commitment boys!). Ian wanted to propose in Dublin but the result of too much Guinness for a highly trained athlete meant that Jax may never have remembered so he decided to wait …I am sure we all know the feeling (being highly trained athletes!)”