Match reports - January 17, 2009
Old Kingstonians 3-3 1st XI
Two great mid season games, but boy did we slip up today, pressing the self destruct button on a couple of occasions.
The best time to concede is in the first minute and so having gone one down after 55 seconds we had plenty of time to respond. Matters were back on an even keel by the 5th minute when Ed Breton popped home our first corner and for the next 15 minutes OKs could hardly get a touch and it seemed only a matter of time before we scored and so it proved to be with Gavin sweeping the home expertly to make it 2 -1. This followed great work down the right flank. Perhaps we became over confident because our game deteriorated dramatically and we became sloppy, giving away possession time and time again and putting ourselves under pressure. We again failed to clear the ball leading to the oppo's first short corner that was beautifully converted. Knapp had the chance to restore the lead just before the break but somehow contrived to put the ball over the bar with the goal at his mercy.
At half time we seemed to have nailed the problem and although Ed B received a yellow that had been coming we regained the lead with Ed C cracking home a short. Another goal was key and would have put the game beyond OKs but as they showed in September they were going to fight all the way. Disappointingly we failed to convert two or three good chances at 3-2 and then conceded an unnecessary corner leading to Ed B's second yellow and a shot which bobbled home to level things up. We still had time to score from two more chances but it was not to be.
Territorially and chances wise we deserved to win but attitude wise we did not and OKs won this side of the battle hands down and fully deserved their point.
Quite simply we have to be cleverer. At the end of both halves we had the ball in the circle with a minute to go and instead of rolling it on a foot tried to create a chance. Our corner routine looks dangerous so we need to win corners in such situations. However having squeaked past OKs in game one with a last-minute strike the chances of doing so again were minimal.
A fair result with a bag full of work to do in the next 10 games if we are to win the league. Well played Nick and James Wood on their debuts with some plus points coming from the game. David Knapp
OKs v 2nd XI
Report to follow.
Purley Walcountians 2-4 3rd XI
New year, new start probably the Saturday that the whole 3rd XI has been desperate to arrive finally we have our first win of the season. Turning up to Purley at 4pm on a cold dark Saturday afternoon was not what anyone would have chosen but as you can see it was all worth it because of the result.
The match started off fantastically when only a few minutes after a great cross from the right Preston slotted an absolute corker in to take us 1-0 up. The whole team was buoyed by this and some the best hockey this season was to follow. Andy and Tom were making some great runs up each wing and Ross and Armo were controlling the midfield. Although the next 10 minutes was a bit end to end, eventually a short corner was won from another good attacking move. Using a route one tactic with the straight strike this was too good for the Purley Keeper and we went 2-0 up. The first half continued in pretty much the same vane with defence holding strong. We welcomed Jock back after a long absence and it was a really strong performance from him at right back with a number of good runs from defence and solid hit outs it did make a difference (Please do not tell Jock that we praised him). The rest of the defence was also holding strong with Ewan having a strong tackling performance at Left Back (before Rich admirably covered for him – when he wore himself out) Tim also seemed to relish his man marking role whilst Andy stood solid as a rock at sweeper. Despite all of this strong play unfortunately it was not enough to prevent Purley pulling one back with a scrappy goal. This unlike other times was not enough to force the heads down. Preston was again in the right place at the right time and managed to stick his second away to give us a half-time lead of 3-1.
After possibly our best half of the season there was not much other than encouragement required at the break. The second half got going and continued in the same way as the first we continued to make some good chances and were unfortunate not to go further ahead. Just as everyone had started to look at their watches to see how much longer we would need to hold out for our first win, Purley got their second this could have meant a dodgy nail biting last 10 minutes. Our heads momentarily dropped and Purley seemed to have got the idea of a draw into theirs. Thankfully for us though Ross had different ideas and was not in the mood for any nail chewing. After a great run and looking at a one on one with the keeper it looked like he had pushed the ball far too wide. Nevertheless with the deftest of touches he managed to cut the ball back and into the goal. Even though Ross was not even aware of it we were 4-2 up. This is the way it was to stay and as I have previously mentioned we finally had our first win of the season. All I need to say to finish this is, Please can we ensure that we don’t have to wait so long for the next one. Thank you to all who turned out for what was probably not the most inviting match in history. Nigel Hawes
4th XI 2-3 Walton & Weybridge
A breezy game to start the second half of the season, with plenty of good play from both sides, no end of goalmouth action and a late and cruel twist. Walton put together some slick passing moves without converting them into clear-cut chances, while we tended to rely on the indefatigable Louis Strover ( a word that he has never been called in his entire life before today) who created problems for the Walton defence throughout. We took the lead on 25 minutes, and conceded 45 second later from a poorly-defended short corner. We restored the advantage with what one of the Walton defenders described as “complete ***ing powder puff defending” ten minutes into the second half and looked good for that lead until we shipped an oh-so-soft equaliser ten minutes from time. Both sides continued to attack, but we gave away a short corner a minute from time, failed to take one of the three chances we had to clear the ball and paid a heavy price as one of several unmarked forwards rifled the ball home. A good performance even if the outcome wasn’t. Also, full marks for astute reading of the game to Steve Harmer. Standing next to the umpire when two minutes were signalled and shouted before the interval, he turned to one of our subs and told him to “warm up … you’re on in two minutes”.
Cheam 1-0 Ladies
Our first match back after Christmas, we were raring to go and had a strong side. Rewa had kindly stepped into goal for us and Ros was back out of retirement (her recent engagement to Baz clearly giving her a new lease of life!), sweeping for us again! We had scraped a draw against Cheam in our first match of the season and were determined to go one better second time around.
We started well with good distribution from the back through the midfield and pretty much dominated the first half, pressurising the Cheam defence well and giving them very few chances. We had several shots fly past the goal, free hits just out side the area and a short corner cracking first strike saved by the Cheam keeper. Cheam had a couple of near misses but it was safe to say we were the dominant side and by half time we clearly had Cheam rattled – it feels good when you see your opposing team bickering at each other!
Our work rate had been good in the first half and our defence pretty tight and we knew more of the same hard work and eventually a goal would come. Unfortunately it was the story of out season so far in the second half. Cheam had restructured slightly at half time and this appeared to have made quite a difference. For the first 15 minutes they had us on the back foot and we never quite regained our momentum of the first half. Cheam were moving the ball around much better and putting our defence under far more pressure. They won their first short corner of the match which we defended well and cleared but minutes later all our hard work so far was undone as we saw Cheam scramble a weak ball over our back line to take them into the lead.
Keeping our heads up we knew we were more than capable of getting ourselves back in the game. From this point on we began to take control again bar giving away another short which we cleared before Cheam could get a shot in. We managed to get the ball back into Cheam’s half and once again began putting the Cheam defence under pressure. Unfortunately despite our efforts we just couldn’t seem to get the ball in the back of the goal. Although we started the second half of the season with a loss, probably a harsh result, we did put in one of our strongest performance of the season so far, which bodes well if we can maintain this standard and hopefully score a few more goals in matches to come. Thanks to Helen and her bump for umpiring for us! Jackie Waite
Veterans 1-1 St Albans
Report to follow.
Two great mid season games, but boy did we slip up today, pressing the self destruct button on a couple of occasions.
The best time to concede is in the first minute and so having gone one down after 55 seconds we had plenty of time to respond. Matters were back on an even keel by the 5th minute when Ed Breton popped home our first corner and for the next 15 minutes OKs could hardly get a touch and it seemed only a matter of time before we scored and so it proved to be with Gavin sweeping the home expertly to make it 2 -1. This followed great work down the right flank. Perhaps we became over confident because our game deteriorated dramatically and we became sloppy, giving away possession time and time again and putting ourselves under pressure. We again failed to clear the ball leading to the oppo's first short corner that was beautifully converted. Knapp had the chance to restore the lead just before the break but somehow contrived to put the ball over the bar with the goal at his mercy.
At half time we seemed to have nailed the problem and although Ed B received a yellow that had been coming we regained the lead with Ed C cracking home a short. Another goal was key and would have put the game beyond OKs but as they showed in September they were going to fight all the way. Disappointingly we failed to convert two or three good chances at 3-2 and then conceded an unnecessary corner leading to Ed B's second yellow and a shot which bobbled home to level things up. We still had time to score from two more chances but it was not to be.
Territorially and chances wise we deserved to win but attitude wise we did not and OKs won this side of the battle hands down and fully deserved their point.
Quite simply we have to be cleverer. At the end of both halves we had the ball in the circle with a minute to go and instead of rolling it on a foot tried to create a chance. Our corner routine looks dangerous so we need to win corners in such situations. However having squeaked past OKs in game one with a last-minute strike the chances of doing so again were minimal.
A fair result with a bag full of work to do in the next 10 games if we are to win the league. Well played Nick and James Wood on their debuts with some plus points coming from the game. David Knapp
OKs v 2nd XI
Report to follow.
Purley Walcountians 2-4 3rd XI
New year, new start probably the Saturday that the whole 3rd XI has been desperate to arrive finally we have our first win of the season. Turning up to Purley at 4pm on a cold dark Saturday afternoon was not what anyone would have chosen but as you can see it was all worth it because of the result.
The match started off fantastically when only a few minutes after a great cross from the right Preston slotted an absolute corker in to take us 1-0 up. The whole team was buoyed by this and some the best hockey this season was to follow. Andy and Tom were making some great runs up each wing and Ross and Armo were controlling the midfield. Although the next 10 minutes was a bit end to end, eventually a short corner was won from another good attacking move. Using a route one tactic with the straight strike this was too good for the Purley Keeper and we went 2-0 up. The first half continued in pretty much the same vane with defence holding strong. We welcomed Jock back after a long absence and it was a really strong performance from him at right back with a number of good runs from defence and solid hit outs it did make a difference (Please do not tell Jock that we praised him). The rest of the defence was also holding strong with Ewan having a strong tackling performance at Left Back (before Rich admirably covered for him – when he wore himself out) Tim also seemed to relish his man marking role whilst Andy stood solid as a rock at sweeper. Despite all of this strong play unfortunately it was not enough to prevent Purley pulling one back with a scrappy goal. This unlike other times was not enough to force the heads down. Preston was again in the right place at the right time and managed to stick his second away to give us a half-time lead of 3-1.
After possibly our best half of the season there was not much other than encouragement required at the break. The second half got going and continued in the same way as the first we continued to make some good chances and were unfortunate not to go further ahead. Just as everyone had started to look at their watches to see how much longer we would need to hold out for our first win, Purley got their second this could have meant a dodgy nail biting last 10 minutes. Our heads momentarily dropped and Purley seemed to have got the idea of a draw into theirs. Thankfully for us though Ross had different ideas and was not in the mood for any nail chewing. After a great run and looking at a one on one with the keeper it looked like he had pushed the ball far too wide. Nevertheless with the deftest of touches he managed to cut the ball back and into the goal. Even though Ross was not even aware of it we were 4-2 up. This is the way it was to stay and as I have previously mentioned we finally had our first win of the season. All I need to say to finish this is, Please can we ensure that we don’t have to wait so long for the next one. Thank you to all who turned out for what was probably not the most inviting match in history. Nigel Hawes
4th XI 2-3 Walton & Weybridge
A breezy game to start the second half of the season, with plenty of good play from both sides, no end of goalmouth action and a late and cruel twist. Walton put together some slick passing moves without converting them into clear-cut chances, while we tended to rely on the indefatigable Louis Strover ( a word that he has never been called in his entire life before today) who created problems for the Walton defence throughout. We took the lead on 25 minutes, and conceded 45 second later from a poorly-defended short corner. We restored the advantage with what one of the Walton defenders described as “complete ***ing powder puff defending” ten minutes into the second half and looked good for that lead until we shipped an oh-so-soft equaliser ten minutes from time. Both sides continued to attack, but we gave away a short corner a minute from time, failed to take one of the three chances we had to clear the ball and paid a heavy price as one of several unmarked forwards rifled the ball home. A good performance even if the outcome wasn’t. Also, full marks for astute reading of the game to Steve Harmer. Standing next to the umpire when two minutes were signalled and shouted before the interval, he turned to one of our subs and told him to “warm up … you’re on in two minutes”.
Cheam 1-0 Ladies
Our first match back after Christmas, we were raring to go and had a strong side. Rewa had kindly stepped into goal for us and Ros was back out of retirement (her recent engagement to Baz clearly giving her a new lease of life!), sweeping for us again! We had scraped a draw against Cheam in our first match of the season and were determined to go one better second time around.
We started well with good distribution from the back through the midfield and pretty much dominated the first half, pressurising the Cheam defence well and giving them very few chances. We had several shots fly past the goal, free hits just out side the area and a short corner cracking first strike saved by the Cheam keeper. Cheam had a couple of near misses but it was safe to say we were the dominant side and by half time we clearly had Cheam rattled – it feels good when you see your opposing team bickering at each other!
Our work rate had been good in the first half and our defence pretty tight and we knew more of the same hard work and eventually a goal would come. Unfortunately it was the story of out season so far in the second half. Cheam had restructured slightly at half time and this appeared to have made quite a difference. For the first 15 minutes they had us on the back foot and we never quite regained our momentum of the first half. Cheam were moving the ball around much better and putting our defence under far more pressure. They won their first short corner of the match which we defended well and cleared but minutes later all our hard work so far was undone as we saw Cheam scramble a weak ball over our back line to take them into the lead.
Keeping our heads up we knew we were more than capable of getting ourselves back in the game. From this point on we began to take control again bar giving away another short which we cleared before Cheam could get a shot in. We managed to get the ball back into Cheam’s half and once again began putting the Cheam defence under pressure. Unfortunately despite our efforts we just couldn’t seem to get the ball in the back of the goal. Although we started the second half of the season with a loss, probably a harsh result, we did put in one of our strongest performance of the season so far, which bodes well if we can maintain this standard and hopefully score a few more goals in matches to come. Thanks to Helen and her bump for umpiring for us! Jackie Waite
Veterans 1-1 St Albans
Report to follow.
Labels: 1st XI, 2008-09, 3rd XI, 4th XI, Ed Breton, Ladies XI
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