Match reports - January 26, 2008

The 3rd XI enjoyed a rare winning outing with a 3-2 win at Camberley to lift themselves out of the relegation slots for the first time this season; the Ladies also battled to a gutsy 1-1 draw with second-placed Spencer; the 1st XI just about did enough to beat lowly Surrey OBs 2-1, the Veterans dragged themselves off the bottom with a 31- win over leaders St Albans; but there were defeats for the 2nd XI and the 4th XI.

Surrey OBs 1-2 1st XI
Well, we were poor and very lucky to come away with three points against a spirited but limited SOBS side and had the rub of all the umpiring decisions – a half season’s fortune in one go. As it is we are still very much in top with February our decisive month. A state of flux existed at 8.20 on Friday evening with the sudden unavailability of Bruce due to injury but luckily Adam Davies was available and at 16 was playing his first game of men’s hockey being home for an exeat weekend and slotted strait into Bruce’s position. Adam then proceeded to be man of the match and is a player that we should see playing at least at the highest club level.

The first 20 minutes did not give any indication of what was to come and with us playing the ball around and wide a number of chances were created and squandered with our short corner drill being woeful. The final 15 minutes of the half heralded the rot with too many long balls shooting off the edge and end of the pitch. Nevertheless the half time team chat sorted things out and five minutes into the second period good build up play followed by a defence splitting pass from the streamlined Cook enabled Knapp to roll the ball home. The lead should have been doubled by Knapp who proceeded to dumfound Preston by winning the 69 shirt for the rest of the season with a crass effort at goal. Chances came and went with Robbo a spectator which continued as we all watched the SOBS best player run unchallenged into our D and push the ball speculatively towards the goal for Robbo to be outwitted by Ed B and the scores were even. Eds C restored the lead with a short corner strike and we held out for an important but less than decisive win.
UCL are next up and play like we did for most of the game today and it will be goodnight nurse. Thank you Adam for playing and showing us how easy hockey can be when playing the simple and commercial options. David Knapp

2nd XI 2-3 Barnes
A cracking game which we lost but again showed the fighting spirit which has seen us turn in some good performances of late. We went two down ten minutes into the second half and that seemed to be that against a physically big and good Barnes side, and although we pulled one back, Barnes restored their two-goal lead with 15 remaining. Then the fun started, Chris Tiss, who had got under the opposition’s skin with his skills and mouth all day, scrambled a second – earning a green card for his yell of “Eat that” into the defender’s face – and we pressed hard and had we had a short-corner routine which involved being able to stop the ball might have grabbed a draw. Neil Grimes was immense in midfield and again Dodie and Heardy controlled the back like the old pros they are. The cry-off of the week comes from Chris Porter in an apology given to Tiss who was waiting to collect him from the station. Porter, if he is to be believed, had been up all night "with a lady" and was in no position to leave his flat because of exhaustion.

Camberley 2-3 3rd XI
The 3rd XI delivered a rock star performance taking a full three points away at Camberly with a hard fought 3-2 win. An early 10am start, damned cold and Tim Cook, our designated umpire, had forgotten his cards … it did not bode well. Starting with the low sun behind us, we moved the ball effectively albeit, slowly on occasions. Movement up our preferred left attacking flank was effective and a returning Chopper made a nuisance of himself for the Camberley defence. Strong marking at break downs and a good control of the game led to a short corner which deftly taken by Bruce, beating the advancing defenders, shelled home an excellent goal. The game continued with a more confident team and Rich L attacking up the right flank provided Bruce in the centre a range of options with his control of the centre of the field. An attack followed through and a strike into the D led to Dave L perfectly angling the ball in a cramped D past their keeper. This was also the first time that we had gone two goals ahead all season. Camberley started to find their rhythm and on an attack, some poor tackling led to a lapse in attention and from a dead ball, they scored.

Half time came and a usual inspiration of a team talk followed. A slight line-up change of Rich L going up front as proving successful last week started the second half by pushing up higher. The tactical problem we had was that their attack was also pushing high creating a gulf in the centre of the field. Both sides attacked and counter attacked. Tim had to have a chat with the captains although slightly more directed at the opposition as we are all good chaps! The short resulted from one attack and a slip from Bruce to Preston, flicking it past the keeper it still required Chopper to glance it into the goal to take it to 3-1.

Camberley came back with several attacks and from a short corner, we became overloaded and Camberley had an open attack and scored. With five minutes remaining, Camberley loaded the pressure however what many have described as the heroic moment of the season and others as the moment they were standing amongst giants, a fighting defence became exposed and with the keeper caught in no mans land, a ball slipped past without question on its way to the back board, Armo slid past the Camberley striker and cleared the ball off the line to keep the team in with a shout (Guess who write this report …). In what remained of the two minutes, Camberley narrowly missed an equalising opportunity but the force was with us for arguably the first time in two years. Man of the match, Armo (not bad that, nominating yourself!) but a team effort, three points and a safety out of recession. James “Modesty” Armitage

Ladies 1-1 Spencer II
An early start after a week off saw us playing second-placed Spencer II at home. We had been one of the only teams to take points off them this season, holding them to a draw before Christmas, and inevitably both teams wanted to take the full points this time around, us to move up the table and them to sustain their position at the top. It was always going to be an eventful match.

Both sides started well, us against the sun after having lost the toss. The first 15 minutes saw good attempts coming from both ends a couple of penalty corners each and on 20 minutes Spencer manager to lift one into the net over keeper Katy who had just made a terrific save on the floor. We continued to pile the pressure onto the Spencer defence our forwards of Caz, and May doing an excellent job of closing down their defenders and driving the ball up and into the Spencer area but to no avail and we went into half time 1-0 down.

The second half was far more eventful. Our oranges at half time especially prepared by coach Mott obviously gave us the extra boost we needed. Going out hard, the midfield of Vikki, Nina, Jax and Sarah H were working harder than ever with some good movement, one touches and passing around and up to the forwards. We had several close calls, a ball chipped over the cross bar, Jax and Caz managing to get on the end of excellent crosses into the Spencer circle by May (Carl Lewis) Evans and Nina (Mike Tyson) Sutton, but just cleared wide of the goal by the Spencer keeper. Eventually our hard work, determination and perseverance paid off as an intercepted ball was passed into Vikki (silky skills) Mottram who moved the ball around her Spencer defender and 'melted' the ball into the goal. 1-1. We kept the pressure on and just shortly after our levelling goal, Caz (Wayne Rooney) Hall found herself racing the Spencer keeper towards a loose ball on the edge of the circle. The two collided and ended up in a skirmish before the keeper booted the ball away - but from outside of the D. She was yellow carded and sent off while the match was put on hold as another Spencer player kitted up. We were determined to capitalise on Spencer having one less player on the pitch and a sub keeper in goal but in true OC fashion we probably played better when they had 11 players on the pitch! We tried not to let the break in play interrupt our flow but inevitably it did. We conceded several short corners which our rock solid defence of Rossie P, Mez, Tux and Muriel as ever defended well and Katy in goal was called upon to make a couple of saves. Tempers had been rising through out the match and eventually a Spencer player snapped and Nina found herself on the end of the girl’s fist! Neither umpire saw the punch and play continued until it was time for the Spencer keeper to come back on again so with six minutes left to go, play stopped again while she kitted up. The game finished 1-1 all a great game by our ladies and we were unfortunate not to get another goal. Jax Joyce