Little cheer as league starts

The league season spluttered into life on Saturday but there was little to celebrate as all three teams in action went down to defeats. The Ladies, in their first match back in Surrey Division Two went down 1-2 to newly-promoted Surbiton III, the 3rd XI, also playing a league down, lost 1-3 at Walton & Weybridge, while the 4th XI crashed to a 0-4 loss at home to Surbiton. To complete the fun, the 1st XI surrendered a one-goal lead with 15 minutes remaining to lose 1-2 to Epsom in their last friendly before their league starts next weekend.
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Walton & Weybridge 3-1 3rd XI
Turning up with a strong experienced side there was hope that the OC 3rd XI would start the season in a different vein to how they finished the last. The first 20 minutes looked like that this may be possible as the ball was knocked about well with the moves starting from the back four of Ross, Tim, Stuey and Armo and being played around with a degree of finesse. It was this type of finesse which led to our goal when the ball was played up the right before being hit across the goal for Dougie to fire in from close range. This left us 1-0 up and really we should have pushed on from here. Just before half time the Hawks began to threaten a bit more by breaking from midfield and overpowering us a bit. This eventually led to them obtaining a short corner and even after saving the initial strike the second shot was fired in. The ball allegedly hit a foot which was accepted (even though it had hit the stick first) and one of the umpires gave a short corner, however the Hawks umpire stood at the halfway line claiming that it was goalward bound and awarded a flick. The timing of this flick was poor and our players who were stood in a similar position were not of quite the same opinion as the umpire. With a well placed flick the Hawks drew level and we went into halftime at 1-1.

The second half started much the same as the first with Dunx and Chris Bents putting in some hard yards in midfield and Tissy and Dougie also making some great runs. A note for ourselves is that we probably need to utilise the skills of both our wide men more in future. In addition it was nice to have Preston and Andy up front for us but again we did not seem to utilise their skills enough. As the half drew on we seemed to lose our composure more and more not helped by our captain from the back. This led to almost continuous pressure from the Hawks and despite some saves from Nige we eventually ended up shipping a further couple of goals with the end score being a 3-1 loss. The 3rd team need to forget about the if, buts and maybes and all around need to improve the fitness levels and be led from the back with a sense of composure. We will be able to achieve far better results this season but will definitely need to work at it. Also thanks to Cookie for umpiring at such short notice, much appreciated.

Ladies XI 1-2 Surbiton
The start of the new season, we were all raring to go and kick the season off with a win under the new captaincy of Sarah Mann.

Playing Surbiton 3s, we started off strongly and had some good passages of play and attacks on the Surbiton goal. Distribution was good and we were doing our best to make the ball do the work and frustrate the opposition. The defence were keeping any Surbiton attacks at bay with some clinical tackling and they were quickly sending the ball back to the mids and forwards to start another attack. We had good and sustained pressure on Surbiton but the opening goal was not forthcoming and we went in half time 0-0.

A rousing team talk and we looked to turn our pressure of the first half in to the opening 3 points of the season. Unfortunately, Surbiton had the same idea and were fortunate to get a short corner early in the second half which they duly converted. Heads did not go down and we stepped up the pressure to get the equaliser,we had good attacks on their goal but could not get the last touch and when Surbiton had another short corner, they doubled their lead. With 15 minutes to go, fitness levels were still good and we stepped up the attacks, a surging run by Sarah Mann saw her take the ball in to the D and open the OCLHC account with crisp finish. A tense final 10 minutes saw Surbiton cling on and us do everything we could to get the equaliser but the final whistle came too soon for us and Surbiton were the victors.

Although we didn’t get the three points we were hoping for, it was a very positive start to the season. We welcome some new players to the squad and also welcome back players too, all of which adds tremendous depth and strength to the team. We will build on Saturdays performance and look forward to our opening three points of the season in our next league game. Vikki Mottram