Match reports - February 28, 2009

A good day all round with wins for all but the 3rd XI, with the highlight being the Ladies’ 3-1 victory over Teddington, our first win in more than four months. The 1st XI eased past Cheam 5-0, the 2nd XI beat Walton & Weybridge 2-1 and the 4th XI edged out Teddington 1-0. The 3rd XI’s miserable campaign continued with a 0-5 loss at NPL

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Cheam 0-5 1st XI
We set out to obtain three points with a healthy win, win short corners and keep a clean sheet all of which were achieved. Cheam had surprised us all last week with a 0-0 draw against our nemesis, Bank of England so were not to be taken lightly.

With a settled side, save the unfortunate Nick Lewis who has a long time on the side lines following his brush with a plate glass door, we took the game to Cheam with Jonny Hunter impressive - again - in the deeper of the central-midfield roles and the instigator of most of our early openings. The pitch was a little skiddy and although we scored after about 10 minutes when one of Cookiey's famous reverse stick shots somehow looped over the keeper and ran over the line. The goal at that stage was a deserved return for constant pressure. For the remainder of the half we spent most of the time in the Cheam half without creating any clear chances but instead flailed at bouncil balls with any goal bound efforts handled capably by the keeper. Our 6 short corners came to nought but there was one of the Alexander exocets that the Cheam defence knew little about even though they kept it out. Cheam did look competent on the break so a 1-0 half time scoreline was never going to be enough.

Ten minutes into the second half we notched our second following more pressure play, forcing a short that Nick Woods tucked away after a somewhat unorthodox routine. We had learnt from our first half performance and were spreading the ball wide and up the lines. The third came soon after as another short was converted by Knapp followed by one of the moves of the season and one that has been 14 years coming ! Cheam's only short of the match ( they were unlucky not to be awarded at least two others ) was capably dealt with by our solid defence, played out left, picked up by Knapp, swept up the line, a sumptuous dummy by Wobble to Gavin who laid it on a plate for Rory to slot home. 10 seconds from one end to the other.

Our final goal was from our final short and a wicked flick from Jonny Hunter capping another good performance save the harsh yellow for his first and only foul in the three games he has played for us.

This was a good second half performance on the back of a scratchy first period and one that adds to our goal difference that could be crucial at the end of the season.

Unfortunately no Hunter or Valentine next week but James Wood returns and there will be a recall for Ed Breton having served his time. David Knapp


2nd XI 2-1 Walton & Weybridge Hawks
Given the records of the two sides, this was never likely to be a goal-fest and so it proved, but at least we did enough to banish memories of last week’s loss at Wanderers. Walton may be bottom but they are far from pushovers and they gave us a tough workout. We played far more controlled hockey, Heard, Stephens, Khurshid, Breton and Grimes combining well in some slick moves but chances were not plentiful. Despite dominating the first half we went behind three minutes from the break when a short corner squeezed under the keeper from what was Walton’s first real shot of the game. We started the second half with more purpose, Breton causing problems and stretching the Walton defence, although winning short corners was hardly advantageous, so poor was our routine. We drew level when a neat ball from Breton was well converted by Preston Rutt, and seven minutes from time he scored the winner from close range after some sloppy defending. Our best hockey followed as we stretched Walton’s defence as they pressed for the equaliser, and Breton contrived to fire wide from five yards to tarnish an otherwise good performance.

NPL 5-0 3rd XI
Report to follow.

4th XI 1-0 Teddington
Teddington might be bottom but they gave us an entertaining and enjoyable match. On another day we could have won by a hatful of goals, on this one we could have even been held to a draw. With more subs than the Russian navy, the comings and goings, especially in the second half, undermined our continuity and for the last quarter of the game we were on the backfoot. The one goal came from Steve Harmer who rifled in a strike from ten yards eight minutes into the second half, and Harmer soon after cleared Teddington’s best chance with a overhead tennis smash from a goalbound shot.

Ladies 3-1 Richmond
With new aerodynamic shirts the ladies were feeling confident of a win on saturday. Looking exceedingly smart we took to the pitch to play Richmond, the only team we hadn't played yet this season.

We started well and were in control of the match from the start,passing the ball around and distributing well from the backs of Ros, Rosie, Tux and Rewa. Within 10 minutes however we saw our first casualty of the match as Caz on the right Wing tweaked her medial knee ligament, an injury she has been battling with since November. Reinforcements were at hand in the form of May who had made her usual late appearance having gotten lost on the way to the pitch.........(we were playing at home....) May subbed on for Caz and within minutes was using her pace to aggrevate the Richmond defence and along with Dora putting pressure on the Richmond GK who we suspected was a stand in and not their regular keeps. We had plenty of shots on target and the GK did a great job of keeping them out but before long we broke the deadlock and from some quick passing Dora managed to put the ball away. We were 1-0 up and the first time we had taken the lead in a match since I can remember this season!!!! Still only 1 goal up and still a long way to go we new it was far from over and kept pressing hard. Richmond defended well and caught us several times on the break. At one point Ros being last in line to take a loose player on a break was passed by the player leaving a one on one with Steph in goal, but somehow Ros managed to get back and get a crucial touch on the ball to clear it and prevent a likely equaliser. Before long we thought we had another injury as Dora received an elbow in the face from her opposing player, but managed to regroup and play on. We conceeded a couple of shorts but so did they.We we were the first to capitalise on this as a shot from Nina as right slip was deflected by the keeps into a circle of OC players all waiting like vultures to finsh off. After several more deflections it was eventually Viks that managed to secure our 2nd goal to take us 2-0 up. It looked like we would go into half time in the driving seat until a short blown right on the half time whistle was converted by Richmond to keep them well in touch in the game and we went into half time 2-1 up.

We were not going to let this win get away from us and took to the field in the second half, the midfield of Manny, Viks, Nina, Jax and Liz as usual were working their socks off with Liza and Mez subbing up front and in the defence to provide fresh legs to run around a Richmond side with no subs.Steph I recall made a crucial save 15 minuites in but apart from that was not really challenged. Eventually a match securing goal came for us in the form of a super strike from Manny taking us 3-1 up which Richmond were never going to come back from. A couple more shorts each end but no more goals. The match finished 3-1 a very long time coming, much deserved win for the OC ladies! The new shirts did their job and hopefully if we keep up our hard work our luck will finally have changed. Although we are still bottom we are by no means down and out and a winning streak that we are more than capable of could see us to safety. Come on the ladies!!!!! Thanks to Martin and the Richmond Umps who did a great job. Thanks to the pregnant possy on the side and Snoops and the boys for their support! Jackie Waite