THIS SATURDAY! – All you naughty School boys and school girls its COWHC School D.I.S.C.O. time.

24th March 2012 at the clubhouse 7.30pm – 1.30am.  £5 on the door.

Dress Code: All things school. (School Uniform, Teacher gear, Priest outfits, PE kit, Cheerleaders etc)

Old cheesy school music and dancing. Themed games and areas.  Come on down for a rad, ace and awesome evening!

And let us know you’re coming on he facebook event – https://www.facebook.com/events/227945917300591/

The first half began at a canter, with Croydon working hard to pass the ball around the pitch in true “ping, ping, ping” style. Given our respective positions in the league, Joe Public may well wonder why the teams appeared so closely matched and why Croydon definitely had the better of the first half. But this is the story of our season, along with the flurry of Croydon chances that resolutely refused to go into the back of the goal. Fiona Loxton, captain Becky Forshaw and Alex Hutchinson combined well in the centre of the pitch, releasing Andrea Vicari down the right wing, who consistently made good ground. Liz Uglow bamboozled the defence with some cunning running, while Pammy Anderson ran tirelessly and selflessly on to every ball that we posted up the pitch. The first half closed at 0-0, with each Barnes attack neutralised by the sterling Croydon defence. Chloe Eccleston and Netty Butt picked off super individual tackles and, with Lisa P confidently directing the marking, Kirsty Burke, Pavan Chatwal and Lena Lawal refused to give way to the speedy attacks mounted by the opposition.

Barnes may well have been on the receiving end of a Sir Alex Ferguson type “hairdryer” talking to at half time and came out with renewed pace and vigour early in the second half. Croydon did really well to absorb the pressure, including standing firm at a number of defensive short corners, and it took a fleeting moment of brilliance to break the deadlock. A super one-touch goal followed; there really was nothing we could do about it. The rest of the match saw more chances for each team; Croydon’s tired legs began to show but we battled on, with Player of the Match Lena Lawal thwarting many a surge down Barnes’s left flank. Battling our way up the pitch to the bitter end, we were unlucky to be inexplicably robbed of Pammy’s threatening attack in the final passage of the match. The match closed with a 1-0 defeat for us, which sealed Barnes’s promotion for next season.

Fighting our way past the Boaties on the way to the clubhouse built up our appetite for teas: the sausages were lovely and the conversation turned to the merits of scrabble, oystercards and terrifying waterslides. Well played everyone, especially Lena, Andrea, Lisa and Pav for throwing themselves in so wholeheartedly. And for saying how nice we all are. Thanks also to Finny for umpiring.

It’s been a bruising season: only one match to go and there’s no one we’d rather unleash a season’s worth of frustrating results on than top of the league Surbiton. So, here’s what we’re taking to them: “If you voluntarily quit in the face of adversity, you’ll wonder about it for the rest of your life” and “The bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you refuse to take the turn”. Bring it on!

The Duchess met team GB captains Kate Walsh, Barry Middleton and the squads. She visited in her capacity as an ambassador for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, and specifically requested to meet the hockey team as she enjoyed hockey at school.

Put through her paces at shooting she refused to give up til she hit the target, was perhaps a bit rusty having not picked up a stick since school!

Kate Walsh apparently said: ‘She told me that she missed playing as part of a team’ and that ‘It takes a bit of getting used to after such a long time away from the game.’

Do you miss it, want to be part of a team and help your fitness/well being? Come join us…

Like the Duchess of Cambridge showed, it’s never too late!

We’re getting involved in England Hockey’s ‘Back to Hockey’ campaign.  Back to Hockey provides a gentle introduction or re-introduction to hockey.  It’s open to women/girls of all ages whether you’ve played before or not.

We’re currently finalising our details but let us know if you’re interested – andyhooper@gmail.com

Click here to find out more about England Hockey’s ‘Back to hockey’ campaign.

Or if you just want to find out more about joining us, click here.

The last 3 matches had seen a much improved display for the team and hopes were high before the start as we had beaten Hamble in the last two meetings.  Hamble are well known on the circuit for being fairly physical and giving ‘banter’ to the opposition, so we really needed to be at the top of our game.

The two hour drive via the M3 seemed to affect us in the first half as the display for the first 35 minutes was extremely disappointing.  Players seemed to be a good few seconds behind Hamble in decision making, couldn’t maintain possession and generally looked disinterested.  Not unsurprisingly, we conceded 4 goals and were on the back foot.  If our keeper Henthorne hadn’t been as agile and alert as he was, things could have been much worse.

It was a relief when the half time whistle blew, as we trugged off the general tone was that we needed to change formation and pull our fingers out.  A couple of small changes to the set up and switching of players positions was made.

It was good to see that we were suddenly playing a bit of hockey as we started the second half much stronger than Hamble.  Trevor Clarke pulled the first back through a well worked short corner routine.

You wouldn’t have known COWHC were on the ascendancy if you’d listened to one of their players who was only focused on trying to wind up several COWHC players, but we’re pleased to say he was without success.  And unfortunately this player forgot about the hockey to the extent his man scored two unmarked goals, proving to everyone the importance of concentrating on your own game!

Shortly after we scored the third our chances were improved further by a second yellow card for Hamble for swearing at the umpire.  Their captain was already off the pitch having been yellow carded for not controlling his players.  This was slightly harsh on the captain as he was one of the few players for Hamble who actually just concetrated on the hockey.

It was 4-3 and they were down to 9.  Could we succeed where arsenal couldn’t?

Sadly not.  A couple of unfortunate misses up front and then Alex Hawke came over all “Chopper Munday”, ignoring the gentle advice from team mates not to make a rash tackle he scythed their best player down.  11 against 9 became 10 against 9.

They then had an individual moment of class as a reverse hit lobbed into the top corner of the goal away from the outstretched arm of Henthorne.  5-3.

This was how the game ended as we didn’t quite have enough time or energy remaining to square the match.  A 3-1 win in the second half did show though that when we switch on and play the right style of hockey, we can compete at this level.

On the whole we were given a welcome reception in their clubhouse although one of their players did take it upon himself to gloat that we are likely to be relegated as we were leaving.  A sour note to end on, but safe to say we won’t miss playing Hamble next year!

Always niggly affairs this one actually started pretty tamely, the first half going by almost without incident as each team slowly found their way into the game and tried to apply pressure. 

COWHC took the lead via Trev Clarke with a very well worked short corner shortly after the restart. And that was the point the game really came to life, everything started to get a bit boisterous and there was much testiculating from the players!

Mids kept their cool at a broken down short corner, with a player seemingly ghosting to the back post to gratefully accept a tap in to equalise.

With 5 or so minutes to go Trinity-Mids took the lead from a well taken short corner.

However the COWHC never say die attitude came to the fore once again as we pushed forward looking for oppotunities. And that came when Rob Fullerton-Batten through some great individual skill found himself on his favoured reverse at the top left of the D, and with a quick swing the ball disappeared into the far bottom corner to make it 2-2!

And that was it, that was the last hit of the game! The umpires deemed not even enough time for a restart!

A real kick in the proverbials for Mids but greatly satisfying for COWHC, a game on another day we could have won for sure.

We had TH&D on the back foot by dominating play from the start. We controlled the  centre ground & our backs were pushing up high. We drove the ball much more this match, less panic passing (a trap that frustrates me personally yet I fall into so readily). A notably strong trio, in terms of inter-player passing, was seen up the right between Jen at Right Back, Hannah Duncan at Right mid and Alex Hutchinson (Croydon’s player of the match) in a central position. As Jen rightly pointed out at half time, passing to each other needs trust. Trust it will be received, and trust that you will make the right pass. And like Pirate said at full time, you need to practice these things so much they become instinctive.

A foot may have played a part in the first goal, but a goal it was to them. They managed another, and I don’t think they’d mind me saying they weren’t goals of the year. However, Sharon (last weeks’ player of the match, but didn’t get the obligatory mention in the text) made some saves of the year, to keep their scoreline no higher. All the defence were really strong, Santy and Chloe were complimenting each other’s styles to form a defensive duo, and Netty made a heartstopping stop right in our D. We had chances, Hannah Hamilton was receiving forward balls onto her reverse stick into the D, and positioning well. Bex Young was holding play up after receiving to allow other forwards to get in good positions, Pammy and Becky were laying off well weighted passes into space, and Fiona was showing how to drive the ball a huge distance before making chances in the D. It’s been a while since we got so much action in the D. But it took Alex to show us, that we can still score. And Alex to show us, that if we don’t show one momentary glimpse of giving up, then good things will happen. And Hannah Duncan to make me think that she has a future in the soprano section of any choir, with her high pitched shrieks of delight. Loving the passion Hannah.

We lost 2-1, and again, we showed a lot of the stronger play on the pitch but we now need to win two games and draw one, to stay up. People with clear and well defined aims are proven to achieve more than those with vague ones.

Sorry to Becky F and Fiona who did a lot of covering for me at one point, when I had somehow misinterpreted what position I was playing. I did wonder why they seemed to be marking more than one player, “who should be helping them?” I wondered with indignance… turns out that should be me…

TH&D (from where I was playing another sporting team- my defender even defended the legitimacy of my move against her own player- love it) were probably amused at how, despite losing, we seemed to be having such a good time at teas, screams of delight about engagement rings, and such. Nobody plays sport to lose (I hope not anyway) but you’re missing something if you don’t have a laugh with your team mates. Come on Croydon & Old Whits!

For long periods of the game the 4s were able to blunt the 3s attacking options by tight marking and fierce tackling. Prompted by Pirate the 4s passed the ball around much better than in a lot of games and with the speed of Stefan, Rahmon and James G. they caused the 3s defence quite a lot of problems.

The best chances of the first half probably fell to the 3s with Qaz coming close but in the second half it was the 4s who had more pressure on the 3s goal. It was only Mike Dawson in the 3s goal and several goal line stops by defenders that prevented the 4s from taking the lead. Good shots came in from James G. and from Jon from short corners.

Unfortunately it was soon after several shots were saved by the 3s that they went down the other end and the lively Kieran Lewis scored. This was about 10 minutes from the end and they added a second by Qaz just before the end after the 4s were pressing hard for an equalizer.

The 4s did not deserve to lose but this game showed that by good passing they can threaten any team and this needs to be replicated against other teams that they play.

The game started badly for the 4s when in the 2nd minute of the match Epsom slotted the ball in from a good shot from the edge of the circle. The 4s settled down and begin to frustrate the Epsom forwards and with a swift break Qaz brought the scores level well before halftime.

For the 4s the game was lost in the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half when Epsom had a purple patch and could do no wrong . In this period they scored 4 good goals as our midfield became overrun. After this the team fought hard to keep out any further goals but also had chances of their own to reduce the deficit. Despite defeat it was a good performance from the 4s who never up. Alex Hannah was made POM for the way he broke up many attacks by his determined tackling.

As usual with these long away trips, of which we’ve had too many this season, other commitments meant that availability was not strong!  But with a make-shift side we headed to Portsmouth on a beautiful February day with sun shining and temps up at 20 degrees, as ever, positive we can still play good hockey.

So going 2-0 down within the first 15 minutes wasn’t really what we planned but as ever the team showed great fight to gain a little bit of the initiative and started to get the ball into the final third more regularly.  One of these resulted in a short corner which Steve ‘Kirsty’ Eulenkamp slotted home to bring us back to 2-1.  The scoreline we took to half time.

Worst start possible after half time conceding 5 mins after the restart to, some would say, a flukey touch by their forward who just hung his stick and the ball managed to take a nice deflection past our committed keeper.

The previous week we’d come back from 3-1 down, could we do it again?  Hell yes!  We seem to play best when our backs are against the wall and today wasn’t any different, everybody rose their game to the required level and we began to fight our way back into the game.

First we won a penalty flick for someone stopping a shot on the line, which Steve slotted with ease, sending the keeper the wrong way!  The with 5 to go we won a second penalty flick!  The keeper threw himself to his right, guessing correctly and took the ball flush on the helmet, knocking the ball wide, a hero’s save! … But wait, the umpire has recalled it, early movement from the keeper!  Steve made no errors second time, slotted with ease for his maiden hatrick for the club!

But the drama didn’t end there, we somehow still managed to get a yellow given to the wrong player for not being 5 yds even though the person making the challenge was and conceded a short corner…. deep sigh of relief from the tired defence when that was cleared!

Massive thanks to those that made the trip and to Henners again for stepping in again as keeper!  Another spirited result and the COWs Mens 1st Xi keep marching on!

The formation was changed and players were moved to new positions. We stood in our positions in warm up, and talked about situations that may occur. Pammy noted that the GB women’s cyclists made a world record on Friday night, by trying something for the first time, and if it is good enough for them, who were we to argue.

We started well, Woking have some strong midfielders, but we muted them sufficiently without a deliberate and too sapping man-marking plan. Though Pammy (Croydon’s Joint player of the match) was definitely doing a lot of tireless blocking in centre mid. We tried a new short routine about half way through the first half. Pammy fed to Hannah Duncan, who struck a GB worthy short. Well done Hannah. I think you could tell how much it meant to us by our response.

We had to fight for every ball, and it was hard to find each other, when Woking were fit and all over every attack. But we keep trying, some passes weren’t accurate and some receiving wasn’t quick enough. There was no time for several touches to get control, it had to be hold and create space, or quick one to ones. Easy to say, harder to do, but that’s what training is for.

The whistle blew for the half just as we had conceded a short, we survived, but got another, and another and another and unfortunately on the last one they scored to level at half time.

We had to rally from this before half time talk, and we did. We changed formation, to be more aggressive and attacking.
The first five minutes of the second half were horrible. They scored pretty much from their passback, and then again on a break.

We gathered ourselves, and prevented any more. Other joint Croydon’s Player of the match Santy, joined the defence in making clever moves to block out defenders or channel them away from the goal. Something we should be positive about. We didn’t get a lot of our one touch passing, and their centre play was more dominant in this second half.

We had 14 women so we had legs, but there are (and I hold my hand up for this), fitness issues against teams like this who have had their Ready Brek, and have put their Duracell batteries in. But skills wise and game acumen, we’re all there. I spoke to one of their players (a coach herself) afterwards, without prompting she offered feedback, which was very sporting of her, and gave an interesting, honest and constructive view but she said we can still avoid relegation, we have the skill to do it.

Come on then CROWS/COWS/CROYDON like we always do, we have to keep giving it everything.