Match Reports - November 24, 2012

A mixed weekend where availability issues hit us hard and made the captains' roles incredibly tedious. The 1st XI eased past Fareham 5-1 to remain seven points clear in Hants/Surrey 1 and set up a top-of-the-table clash next week with tenants London Academicals. A weak 2nd XI slipped off the top after a 2-3 loss at Wanderers although the Ladies beat London Academicals 5-2 to remain third in Surrey 2. A woefully weak ten-man 3rd XI lost 0-5 to Reigate Priory, the Barnstromers went down 0-4 at Maidenhead and the Hamstrings won 2-1 at Wimbledon 




1st XI 5-1 Fareham

Report to follow.


Ladies XI 5-2 London Academicals

A cold, drizzly Saturday afternoon meant that conditions for our match against London Academicals were less than favourable. Although our opposition were currently bottom of the league, we couldn’t let our game slip and so with some great one-twos and sharp passing we dominated the first 20 minutes. Philly and Fletch put us 2-0 up within 12 minutes and the first time the Academicals got into our half was on the restart after the first goal on nine minutes. Our heads dropped slightly towards the end of the first half but defensively we stayed strong and broke for half time 2-0 up.

During the second half we were at times a bit too relaxed which resulted in two goals for Academicals but they were always two goals adriftand each time they sniffed the chance of getting back into the match we scored through Jax, Fletch and Georgie.  A great effort by everyone this week, with Man of the Match going to Georgie.  Well done once again ladies!  Lucy Bevin

Wanderers IV 3-2 2nd XI

Top of the table clash this week against Wanderers IVs and we were massively struggling with availability throughout the whole club. On Thursday we were on nine men and having to supply an umpire as well. Things were not looking good. A few last minute favours and the opposition helping us out by supplying both umpires meant that we had a team.

Not sure when there is a top of the table clash we don’t get supplied two umpires, is just beyond me. But also the fact that the pitch was in terrible condition makes me question why such an important match in the season was located where it was and seemed to be forgotten by the Surrey umpires!!??

With a good warm up and talking through the game before hand we were ready to go. Only thing was one of our players decided not to turn up and left us fighting an uphill battle from the start.  Wanderers started well whilst the OC’s understandably took a while adjusting to life with 10 men and the new system that was imposed on us. Wanderers took an early 2 goal lead but then either they turned off or the OC’s stepped up! It was soon clear that the OC’s were playing good hockey again and working our socks off!! With half time approaching we were dominating play with Bomber making great runs down the left wing, one such run lead to a great ball across the face of the goal and Nick Lewis banged it into the backboard. This is exactly what we needed after putting so much effort in before the break.

After half time we started the 2nd half as we finished the 1st, making great runs down the wings and the defence pushing up to help support the attack meant that we were vulnerable to the breakaway which is exactly what happen. 3 – 1 Wanderers.

Another strong attack leads to our first short corner of the game. We knew it had to go in to give us a chance of getting anything from this game. The push came out and missed it’s mark, the ball came out of the D and it was then sent straight back to the near post and Tom Merry put in his shot which the keeper got down low to, the ball was loose and in true never say die OC spirit the follow up came in and the ball was pick up and put in the back of the net to make for a tight finish. Wave after wave of attacks the OC’s were spreading the ball around nicely and making the opposition work hard, I had a good opportunity but hit it into the near post which then went out for a 16! Belief was high and still we pressed having a few more opportunities but we just run out of time.

A really great spirited effort no one gave up and we all worked extremely hard for one another. Alan and Ports having solid games in the centre of defence. Great support work by Tom Merry combining really well with Bomber who himself and JP must have covered some miles between them. Gilo and CB supporting myself up front brilliantly and Nick Lewis putting some great balls in for the forwards to try and get on the end of. Paul Watson in goal made a great save towards the end to keep us within a goal and keeping the hope alive. Really proud of all 10 men and if we can take that spirit forward I have no doubt that we will soon be back on top of the table and getting the promotion we are looking for. Lewi

3rd XI 0-5 Reigate Priory
Deeply frustrating match and a miserable week for Chris Bents whose endless efforts on the phone produced nine players, boosted to XI briefly by kind support from the rugby club (until the OCRFC coach spotted one of his own and withdrew him from the fray).  The irony being that most of the unavailability was cause by hockey players preferring to watch England lose at Twickenham. To the credit of the regulars, we gave league leaders Reigate a tough game, keeping them to 2-0 at half time and only losing it as tiredness hit home late on as we shipped two late goals.  One moment of amusement came when a ball was shipped to the Reigate left wing who fired home their fourth goal; the OCs looked to see why the (borrowed from the OCRFC) left back had not picked him up … only to see the aforementioned player standing by the touchline yelling at his rugby team-mates to stop warming up on the muddy 1st XV pitch.

Maidenhead 0-4 Barnstormers

Report to follow.


Wimbledon 1-2 Hamstrings

Report less likely than a Scotland win at Murrayfield.

Match Reports - November 17, 2012

The 1st XI maintained their seven-point lead at the top of Hampshire/Surrey 1 despite a 0-0 draw at home to Epsom but the 2nd XI are now only one point clear in Surrey 2 after going down 0-3 to London Edwardians. The Ladies moved back to third in Surrey 2 with an excellent 4-2 win at second-placed Tulse Hill, the 3rd XI lost 1-2 at Wanderers while the Barnstormers thrashed Tring 5-0 

The key moment as Epsom's penalty-flick on the stroke of half-time is saved

1st XI 0-0 Epsom

Click here for match photos
This week’s match report was entrusted to the live-wire traffic hazard Cookie.  It duly arrived but gave every impression that he was not so much off the pace as watching an altogether different game, possibly a different sport altogether.  The only hope was the filed report was an attempted parody, but Charterhouse is not renowned for teaching such skills so the jury is out on that one.

The game others played in and watched was a gritty battle with all but one of the few chances going to Epsom – indeed we only called on their keeper to make one  real save midway through the second half.  For our part we relied on doughty defence and a series of good stops from Dan Osborne; the key one came in the last minute of the first half when Nick Wood cynically/intelligently, depending on which bench you were sitting on, prevented a certain goal and Dan saved the resulting flick.

Most of the second half was played in the middle third of the pitch where we picked up cards for some innocuous tackles, briefly threatening to make a placid game boil over.  That we failed to win a short corner after the break was a fair reflection on our failure to really exert enough pressure or make the most of our possession. However, the first clean sheet of the season for OCs was indicative of the fact the chances for Epsom (barring the stroke), were restricted to a short corners and balls across the D for deflections. 

At the final whistle a share of the spoils was probably a fair result even though Epsom had the lions share of possession. The drop of two points was made all the better when immediately after, Bournemouth, who could have cut our lead to five points, lost to tenants London Academicals to leave us seven points clear.  

It seems only fair to give the final word to one of Charterhouse’s finest alumnae.  “After the whole game camped in their own 25 Epsom were relieved to hear the final whistle blown. A beer after a victory always tastes sweet however, a beer after dominating a game with so many high points and positives tastes almost as sweet, and it was a sweet beer drunk in the bar by the OC team after the game this week.”

Perhaps Cookie had been at the “sweet beer” a little too much?

Tulse Hill & Dulwich 2-4 Ladies

Report to follow

London Edwardians 3-0 2nd XI

The 2’s had a tough game away against London Edwardians who have also had a good start to the season.

It seems London Eds had heard about the OC 2s ambitions this year so they turned up with 14 (or was it 15...one of the players wasn't in their team selection on Friday) and a quick glance showed that some of those playing had national league experience...although he did start on the bench. Still it's the standard of hockey and level of players we strive to play against and we had enough experienced heads in our squad too. But it turned out to be just one of those days where the little bobbles and luck didn't go our way. But let's take nothing away from a very good Eds team, it was a very enjoyable game and they showed they will be there or there abouts at the end of the season. 

With some new faces in the team and a few players missing , it took us a far too long to find our feet which ultimately lost us the game. Within the first 10 minutes we had conceded two goals from loose play and one such attack that lead to a 4 on 1 which London Edwardians made the most of.

A few tweaks were made and a new OC’s team was very visible. We started playing our normal hockey and held the lion’s share of the possession. We had 3 or 4 short corners and a few missed opportunities that went begging before half time. It also needs to be mentioned that the London Edwardians keeper also made 2 or 3 simply fantastic saves that in any other game would have all gone in.

After half time we continued as we left the first half with a lot of the ball and creating short corners as well as again a few opportunities, alas the frustration was being to come out and it was soon clear that we were pressing harder and harder to make the break through but to no avail. It was clear that this was not to be our day. After sustaining the pressure the opposition did what they clearly have practiced and are very good at doing and took the ball from their 16 to the half way line in 2 passes with 1 or 2 defenders back the result was inevitable and they slotted in their third goal.

What is clear from this game is that we had most of the ball and didn’t take our chances. Having had around 7 short corners, the obvious question is how did we not score any? Answer – we don’t practice them and deciding on what to do 3 seconds before we do it and hoping the end result will be the desired one just simply will not work.

Not many came for beers after the game, fair enough I was told about 3 or 4 of them (CONGRATULATIONS to Cato for having his second boy only on the Monday – great commitment in playing on Saturday and managing to persuade the wife to let you out. NOT SURE HOW YOU DID THAT!!) also people wanted to rush off and watch the rugby. The few that did go for a beer came to the conclusion that we really need to think about what we are trying to get out of this season. What was discussed and what I will be proposing moving forward will follow in an email with this week’s team sheet.

Overall a good game some good performances but a distinct lack of direction in what we were trying to achieve moving forward and ultimately how we were trying to achieve it. 2^nd defeat of the season and now we are only 1 point ahead of next week’s opposition wanderers 4’s who are 2^nd in the league. This is an absolute must win game for us! Lewi

Wanderers 2-1 3rd XI

Report to follow


Barnstormers 5-0 Tring

After last weeks superb victory away to East Grinstead the Barnstormers were looking to consolidate their league position with a win at home against Tring.

We started well but with Tring packing their midfield we found it difficult to get our passing game going. However, we eventually turned our possession into goals and our first came off a short corner variation. Sheriff cunningly dragging his strike wide of the first wave, keeper and goal for Knappy to sweep it in. We continued to control the match and frustrated Tring at every opportunity. After half an hour we went 2-0 up, courtesy of an own goal – the second in as many weeks. With us controlling the game, Tring became increasingly vocal which resulted in a yellow card on the stroke of half time for swearing…very irresponsible and with no substitutes it would cost them in the 2nd half.

After a few sensible words at halftime we upped the tempo and threw the ball around, switching it around the back at will. This created numerous chances and short corner opportunities but with their keeper in good form saw us unable to increase the score. 2-0 is a very dangerous score line and with Tring trying to catch us on the break it was up to Mick to pull off a superb save to keep them out. Injuries then started to take their toll on us and we had to shuffle the team around a bit. Virge directing things from the sideline (not sure if he was injured, just having a rest or had realised a card was imminent after a string of poor tackles) made an inspired tactical change that saw Bud move up from left back to centre forward. The rest was history and Bud promptly slotted two goals to ease the nerves, the second coming after a flowing length of the field move up the right. Poen completed the rout with a goal from a tight angle to make it 5-0.

Five goals and a clean sheet - all in all a very satisfying way to spend a Saturday.

Match Reports - November 10, 2012

The 1st XI extended their lead at the top of Hants/Surrey 1 to seven points with a 4-2 win at bottom side Yately, while the 2nd XI remained four points clear in Surrey 2 with a 4-2 win at Cheam. The 3rd XI followed their victory last weekend with another – 5-2 over Barnes – to ease into the top half of Surrey 2. The Ladies, however, slipped to a second consecutive defeat to move off the pace in Surrey 2. The Barnstormers won 6-3 at East Grinstead but the Hamstrings lost 0-1 at home to Chelmsford. 


Yatley 2-4 1st XI

Character Credits:
Jay Harman – Spiderman
Mighty Mouse – Chris Gray
Mowgli – Daniel Osbourne
Super Boy – Charlie Thompson
Mr Incredible – Stu Ripley
Iron Man – Chris Valentine
Superman – Frank Ellis
Batman – Nick Ripley

To be sung to the tune of "Cartoon Heroes"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_LPJllaogU 

We are unbeaten in the league
Illusions of a fantasy
All shots and plays that speak and say
We mean to win each game we play

We played last week against Yately
Doing things coach wants to see
Goal by Goal, back to defence

Our foes are so unreasonable
They try to make it difficult
Tackling hard and standing in the way
What they want is what we wish to do

It's all a game of sticks and skills
Doin' unbelievable things
Goal by Goal, back to defence
Man for Man, right to the end

We are the Cranleigh Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna fight for victory
We went to three home venues - doh-doh-doh
And walked out onto a water based astro

Here comes Spiderman, deflection wonder man
Poaching the OCs first goal
Here comes Mighty Mouse, Pete Sampras look-a-like
Scoring the OCs next goal

We started to play a four-three-three
And to track back right from the start
It's true, but we conceded then
With Mowgli hanging from goal posts

And all the things of craziness
Super Boy got a ball in face
Mr Incredible, Ball to the Head
Man for Man, bodies on line

We are the Cranleigh Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna fight for victory
We went to three home venues - doh-doh-doh
And walked out onto a water based astro

Here comes Iron man, Flash car lover man
Tipping in OCs third goal
Here comes Superman, drag flick from never-land
Scoring the OCs fourth goal

Second half is so mysterious
Don’t take it all too serious
Batman was unavailable
What we do is not what we should

We are the Cranleigh Heroes - oh-oh-oh
We are the ones who're gonna fight for victory
We went to three home venues - doh-doh-doh
And walked out onto a water based astro

There's still more to come
And all our fans will be
Welcomed at the
O
Cs
Party
Coach


2nd XI 4-2 Cheam

Report possibly to follow


London Edwardians 1-0 Ladies

We had a good game against London Edwardians. Unfortunately the result didn’t reflect that at 0-1.  We held most of the possession, with most of the play in our attacking half. We managed to win more than five short corners. After a constructive half time talk we came out hungry, the second half of the game was our best. We worked well as team, with some great one to ones. We used the width of the pitch and had some shots on goal. London Edwardians goal keeper reportedly felt the pressure. A big shout out, to our (sometimes overly vocal) supporters.... the Merrys!

3rd XI 5-2 Barnes

The only good thing to report about Saturday was the 5-2 win over Barnes Beavers and the fact that we scored six times. It was a score line that rather flattered us only because by the time Barnes had figured out that they couldn't influence the umpiring themselves in the game they were 4-1 down...although they hadn't actually scored their goal themselves.

The scoring was opened by CB after a short corner was awarded. With his woeful pushout followed by Jock's even more woeful shot going wide the ball was slapped in and the nerves settled. A second short corner followed after some good work down the left and despite the continued protestations from the Barnes defence including the gem of telling a qualified umpire to "calm down yourself before you tell us to calm down" and "get a grip" before subjecting him to another tirade of poor verbal reasoning about a decision which he probably got right if we had the hindsight of slow-mo replays. Anyway another woeful push out, another woeful shot but at least on target this time and CB picked the ball off the keeper and flicked it past the the defender into the net...some more protestations not sure about what but the goal correctly awarded.

A third followed and then a fourth except that was scored in the wrong goal by us but it was well taken nonetheless. Then just before half time some more sterling defending by the back 4 led to a quick break up field and Jock found himself getting further in the D on his reverse stick and then scored. He claims he saw the keeper leave a gap between the post and his foot but I think the ball slipped off the end of his stick as he tried to square the ball to Bentsy who was standing unmarked with an open goal on the p-flick spot.

An inspired half time talk by Bentsy led to a pretty dire second half. They scored one, we were under the cosh a bit but the defence held out admirably. As the game stretched OC's scored another and then game fizzled out.

During the last few weeks I've been party to a few emails about, rather sadly, the ungentlemanly conduct and language that some players have seen fit to use against umpires  - the people who give up their time on a Saturday to facilitate other people's enjoyment. It was something I hoped I wouldn't experience following the last couple of weeks emails but it seems that the message needs to be filtered to a wider audience. Despite the win it was hard to enjoy the game.

East Grinstead 3-6 Barnstormers

We went, we saw, we triumphed. (to paraphrase history). The mighty EG were felled by the lethal Barnstormers strike force in a great game on Saturday afternoon that saw revenge for a 13-0 drubbing last year.

Bitter and dejected by our performance last week against Basingstoke we vowed to turn the ship around. We dispensed with a squad of 15 and manned up to the fact that we would all play 70 minutes. Justin felt a little aggrieved by this so sauntered up 5 minutes late. We warmed up (much to Louis’s surprise) although he was in for a bigger shock later! Mick smoked half a packet watching us.

End of first half and we were 3-0 up. Happy days. A Cleghorn strike, an own goal off a Virge misplaced pass and a Strover special. Team working together well. Lots of calling. Captain Rosco upbeat at half-time.

Their second half onslaught started on the whistle. It made no difference. Break to the other end, ball to Sheriff, reverse stick- bang 4-0. Then they struck (can’t remember how). Si Duncan then decided the pace was too much and got himself yellow carded for a rest. We hunkered down – did we miss him? Cruthers covers every blade of astro. Bud gets physical. Pun chases everything. We stand our ground. Virge then sniffed one off the end of Louis’s stick from the regulation 3ft. They came back to 5-2 (again the detail escapes the writer). Rosco’s voice begins to go up a few octaves – he’s worried. Cavalry charge continues and score goes to 5-3. Three minutes to go and Newton decides to stop passing to his opposite number and fires one into the back of the net. 6-3.

We then warmed down. Louis needed briefing on what this was. First time ever apparently.

Cheers and beer all round. Great team effort. Simon Marshall

Hamstrings 0-1 Chelmsford

Report  not going to happen

Match Reports - November 3, 2012

The 1st XI opened a six-point lead at the top of Hampshire/Surrey 1with a 5-4 win over second place Bournemouth while the 2nd XI stay top despite their first loss of the season at Surbiton. The 3rd XI won for the first time in a month, 3-1 at Surrey Spartans while the Ladies, who have a league week off, won a friendly against Aces in the morning before going down 3-6 to the Cranleigh School 1st XI in the afternoon. The Barnstormers went down 0-2 to Basingstoke 

1st XI 5-4 Bournemouth

Following last week’s top of the table clash the OC juggernaut’s reward was a mouth-watering tie against their latest title pretenders, Bournemouth, who were the only other unbeaten side remaining in the league. Bournemouth were rumoured to be a well-drilled side with a large squad and pace to burn up front. After a week of staggering football scorelines in the Rumbelows (name may have changed) League Cup so it was no surprise to see a packed stand anticipating a similar thriller. They were not to be disappointed.

The early moments saw both teams seeking to gain the ascendency and it was OCs who struck first with through a Sampras Gray far post finish. This seemed to settle the OCs but some somewhat slack defensive play allowed one of the Bournemouth front men to skip through a few tackles before slipping it to a team mate to level the scores.

There followed a slightly niggly period of the game with the home side seemingly more intent on coaching one another rather than concentrating on the basics. However, there were glimpses of the hockey that OCs were trying to play with the front line all finding some space deep in the opposition’s 25. This was rewarded with several short corners and it was from one of these that a trademark Nick Ripley thunderbolt gave the OCs the lead again.

2-1 at half time and a chance for the OCs to settle and refocus. This appeared to do the trick as a little way into the second half OCs stretched their lead through a well worked corner with Jay Harman deflecting the ball home. With this additional breathing space however the OCs saw fit to take their foot off the pedal with almost disastrous consequences. Throwing caution to the wind Bournemouth began to gain the ascendency and among some fairly hefty challenges Rippers was singled out by the umpire for a spell on the sideline.

Cheap turnovers in the defence and midfield were beginning to hurt the OCs and Bournemouth were looking dangerous on the break utilising their pace well. One such break led to some smart interchange between their front men leaving their forward one on one with the OC captain in between the sticks. Fortunately, the Bournemouth player had not been reading previous match reports, for if he had he would have surely put the ball through Dan’s legs. Thankfully however he shot to the side and Mowgli was able to swing from his posts to make an excellent save low to his left.

However the respite was short lived and Bournemouth hit back with three quick goals. Rumours abound that one or two of these may have been own goals but the dubious goals panel convened on Saturday night has decided to award them to their forwards (much to the author’s relief).

Despite these setbacks the OCs were not about to roll over. A blistering break from Harman, who had looked lively all day, left several defenders trailing in his wake and this eventually resulted in a stroke being awarded after the umpires adjudged that Frank’s shot was not going 3 feet over the crossbar. After his rest in the sin bin a revitalised(ish) Rippers calmly slotted home from the spot to set up a frantic finale.

Coach Gary with as close to a smile as
he is likely to get

Urged on by the raucous home crowd the OCs surged forward one last time and were rewarded with a short corner just as the final whistle blew. Time stood still. Coach called the slip back to the injector. Injector (Stu) admitted to not knowing what the score was. 4-4 he was informed. This for the win. Injection. Stop. Push back towards injector…slightly behind him… crouches, swivels, sweeps the ball past the despairing dive from the ‘keeper. Gooooaaal. Pandemonium. Goal scorer mobbed. Grown men in tears. Bournemouth dejected. OCs elated. Perfect execution under pressure from the Ripley pair.

Six wins from six is a great start to the season and the team can be particularly proud of the fight shown at the death to come through. However, plenty still to work on in the coming weeks up until Christmas but that is for midweek, not Saturday night. Thanks to all those who came to support and helped get us over the line.

DOD – Woody, for a most uncharacteristic and anonymous display leading some of the home support to start their very own game of ‘Where’s Woody’ in the second half. He missed a good game out there.

MOM  - Stu Ripley, decisive goal backed up by a solid all round display.

Smile Watch – Unbelievably after only 6 games, Coach Gary has broken and was seen after the game with a cane and coke in hand and a grin from ear to ear. Readers will be relieved to hear that this reverted back to a grimace after mere second or so though.

Surbiton 4a 2-1 2nd XI

We have been advised by our lawyers that all we are allowed to say is that we remain top despite our first defeat of the season. We have promised not to flag that the key word when referring to a water-based astroturf is water. As in generally it needs watering. Before matches. Despite the bacteria which react to the water by leaping on to all passing socks and eating them away by the end of the match.


Cranleigh School 6-3 Ladies 
Click here for match photos

After a win in a friendly in the morning, a youthful and entirely OC side took the the field after lunch against a School side who have swept most things before them in recent seasons.  For the first 20 minutes a rout seemed on the cards as the School ripped through an OC defence who took time to find their bearings. But from 0-4 down the tide turned, and two quick goals rattled the youngsters and thereafter the game was far more even.  The dismissal of the school goalkeeper for a professional foul left the umpire's daughter, in the 4th form, horrified as he had insisted that he "not do anything to embarrass me" but the second half was far more even and an enjoyable contest.

Surrey Spartans 1-3 3rd XI

Report seems to have been rendered void as a result of the side actually winning a match for the first time in a month

Barnstormers 0-2 Basingstoke

Report unlikely