Match Reports - February 2, 2013
The 1st XI came away from a hard away trip to Havant with a 3-1 win to maintain their ten-point lead in Surrey/Hants 1 but the Ladies lost to second-place OKs 1-2 to leave them five points off the pace in Surrey 2. The 2nd XI thumped bottom-placed NPL Badgers 5-1, the 3rd XI drew 2-2 with Sunbury and Walton while the Barnstormers drew 3-3 at Basingstoke but the Hamstrings went down 1-2 to Indian Gymkhana
Havant 1-3 1st XI
Havant 1-3 1st XI
Let me start by pointing out that OCs continued their fine form by picking up three points down at a chilly and windswept south coast. Both sides had squads down to the bare bones but there was always the thought that OCs had a bit more strength than Havant and this proved to be the case. Somewhat bizarrely the game also produced two yellow and half a dozen green cards despite being probably the best-natured game that the OCs have played in this season.
In the first half the OCs produced glimpses of some very fine hockey. Some of the passing, first touches and movement off the ball were of the highest quality and proved too much for Havant. The first goal came from a transfer across the back before Chris Gray penetrated the left flank and a couple of slick passes later the ball was in the back of the Havant net. With the OC tails up the second followed soon after and it appeared that it could turn into a rout.
However, OCs were not fully capitalising on the good positions they were getting into and several trips into the opposition’s 25 were wasted by a lack of care and poor first touches. Havant then managed to capitalise on a lapse in OC concentration as one of their players ghosted in to the top of the D unmarked and slotted into the bottom corner. Sensing a bit of a momentum shift they pushed forward and only a last-gasp line clearance prevented them from getting an equaliser.
This provided a needed wake-up call and OCs began to get a stranglehold back on the match. This eventually resulted in the third goal going in which effectively killed off the game. The goals came from the Chrises Valentine and Wiseman and George Cover, who was returning to his old stomping ground for the first time.
As Havant were unable to penetrate the OC defence along the ground they resorted to some Guernica tactics. Aerial bombs rained down on the OC defence and most were dealt with easily although a frankly comedic clash between CB and Justin lead to a rare Havant attack which the covering defenders managed to thwart. Another aerial had more drastic consequences after Justin made a crucial trap to prevent the ball reaching the Havant front man. However, the umpire deemed the ball to have been played above shoulder height and produced a yellow card.
Rather than pass my own judgment on the decision, with a National League game on after our game, many of the Guildford 1st XI players were watching and their captain had this to say about the yellow; “It looked a very harsh decision. The lad’s just watched it all the way coming over his shoulder and made an unbelievable pick on the reverse as it dropped to about elbow height. For him to then be binned seems like an odd way to reward a piece of genius such as that”. Insult was added to injustice when the umpire informed skipper Dan after 5 minutes that he had not started the clock on the sin bin as Justin was standing in the wrong place and was actually required to be in the bottom left hand corner approximately 33.76 inches away from the corner flag at a bearing of 276 degrees.
Thankfully the OC defence remained relatively untroubled during the prolonged sin bin and in truth the game rather fizzled out as both sides seemed fairly content with the scoreline. Havant then found themselves down to 10 men after the sin binning of their nine-and-a-half stone striker for a body-check, which they felt pretty hard done by. Notable mention should be made of Chris Gray who missed a golden opportunity with the goal at his mercy, to close the gap on Jay Harman in the leading scorer stakes. Jay was sadly unavailable this week due to a lads trip to go and see Strictly Come Dancing – The Live Show. However he did have this to say on hearing the result: “I’m glad the boys were able to get the job done without me. Watching Strictly has given me some inspiration to take into the warm up routines so I’m really looking forward to showing the boys at training on Wednesday.”
Next week sees the top of the table clash with Barnes at Thames Ditton in what promises to be a cracking game. Do come down if you can make it to show your support – 14.30 start. Come on the OCs! JLT
Old Kingstonians 2-1 Ladies XI
In the first half the OCs produced glimpses of some very fine hockey. Some of the passing, first touches and movement off the ball were of the highest quality and proved too much for Havant. The first goal came from a transfer across the back before Chris Gray penetrated the left flank and a couple of slick passes later the ball was in the back of the Havant net. With the OC tails up the second followed soon after and it appeared that it could turn into a rout.
However, OCs were not fully capitalising on the good positions they were getting into and several trips into the opposition’s 25 were wasted by a lack of care and poor first touches. Havant then managed to capitalise on a lapse in OC concentration as one of their players ghosted in to the top of the D unmarked and slotted into the bottom corner. Sensing a bit of a momentum shift they pushed forward and only a last-gasp line clearance prevented them from getting an equaliser.
This provided a needed wake-up call and OCs began to get a stranglehold back on the match. This eventually resulted in the third goal going in which effectively killed off the game. The goals came from the Chrises Valentine and Wiseman and George Cover, who was returning to his old stomping ground for the first time.
As Havant were unable to penetrate the OC defence along the ground they resorted to some Guernica tactics. Aerial bombs rained down on the OC defence and most were dealt with easily although a frankly comedic clash between CB and Justin lead to a rare Havant attack which the covering defenders managed to thwart. Another aerial had more drastic consequences after Justin made a crucial trap to prevent the ball reaching the Havant front man. However, the umpire deemed the ball to have been played above shoulder height and produced a yellow card.
Rather than pass my own judgment on the decision, with a National League game on after our game, many of the Guildford 1st XI players were watching and their captain had this to say about the yellow; “It looked a very harsh decision. The lad’s just watched it all the way coming over his shoulder and made an unbelievable pick on the reverse as it dropped to about elbow height. For him to then be binned seems like an odd way to reward a piece of genius such as that”. Insult was added to injustice when the umpire informed skipper Dan after 5 minutes that he had not started the clock on the sin bin as Justin was standing in the wrong place and was actually required to be in the bottom left hand corner approximately 33.76 inches away from the corner flag at a bearing of 276 degrees.
Thankfully the OC defence remained relatively untroubled during the prolonged sin bin and in truth the game rather fizzled out as both sides seemed fairly content with the scoreline. Havant then found themselves down to 10 men after the sin binning of their nine-and-a-half stone striker for a body-check, which they felt pretty hard done by. Notable mention should be made of Chris Gray who missed a golden opportunity with the goal at his mercy, to close the gap on Jay Harman in the leading scorer stakes. Jay was sadly unavailable this week due to a lads trip to go and see Strictly Come Dancing – The Live Show. However he did have this to say on hearing the result: “I’m glad the boys were able to get the job done without me. Watching Strictly has given me some inspiration to take into the warm up routines so I’m really looking forward to showing the boys at training on Wednesday.”
Next week sees the top of the table clash with Barnes at Thames Ditton in what promises to be a cracking game. Do come down if you can make it to show your support – 14.30 start. Come on the OCs! JLT
Old Kingstonians 2-1 Ladies XI
We travelled to second-placed Old Kingstonians, one point behind them and two off the leaders, for a game which was a must win for both sides. Sadly we chose the occasion to play our worst half of the season, going into the break two down, and although we grabbed one back midway through a more even second half we could have no complaints about the result.
2nd XI 5-1 NPL Badgers
2nd XI 5-1 NPL Badgers
No report as the team contains nobody with a computer.
3rd XI 2-2 Sunbury & Weybridge Hawks
3rd XI 2-2 Sunbury & Weybridge Hawks
Bents promises something ...
Basingstoke 3-3 Barnstormers
Hamstrings 1-2 Indian Gymkhana
Basingstoke 3-3 Barnstormers
Cracker.
Hamstrings 1-2 Indian Gymkhana
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