Excellent Saturday, Sunday not so good
Last weekend was one of contrasts with the Ladies’ 1sts headlining a string of outstanding results for the club on Saturday with their vital bottom-of-the-table win over Dereham and the Men’s 1sts going down to a heavy defeat away to Bromley & Beckenham on Sunday.
The very welcome return to the club of Emma Lee-Smith was an enormous boost to the Ladies in their must-win game with Dereham and coming on from the bench Emma (who it is hoped will be free to play a few more times this season) soon showed her customary class and drive. However, with the game still goalless at half time, despite almost continuous Magpies’ pressure, the loyal home crowd was getting increasingly tense. But with two fine goals by Lucy Fields, her first national league strikes, with Emma closely involved in the build-up to both, the mood soon changed leading to a good 4-1 win with further goals by Emily Wilford and Jess Howland and a move of two places up the league.
Another notable performance on Saturday was the recovery of the Men’s 2nds from 4-2 down to a 5-4 win over Peterborough 2nds who were let down by their ill-discipline which twice saw them reduced to nine players leading to a red card in the closing minutes. A little later the Men’s 6ths snatched a last second equaliser to draw 4-4 with IES 3rds with the goal coming (his second of the game) from skipper Kevin Ridley who to the merriment of his fans on the touchline was wearing what looked like tights! The vital pass to Kevin was delivered in “Arnold Muhren-type fashion” according to the modest and self-effacing Simon Bardwell recalling his Portman Road visits of yesteryear. Simon can also make an excellent curry but he tells me he will not risk the judgement of Indian Gymkhana when they pay a visit to play the Vets on Sunday 5 December!
Nine of our teams won on Saturday and three drew with just one losing and then only in the closing stages. Three players scored hat tricks with Gavin Cole leading the way in the Men’s 3rds splendid 4-3 win over high flying Norwich Dragons, Duncan Cogdell did likewise while scoring his first goals for the club in the Men’s 4ths very welcome 4-1 win over Sudbury 2nds and William Hunt weighed in with three for the Boys Development in their 4-0 win over Norwich Dragons/Watton with Kieran Peters also on the score sheet. Meantime the Ladies’ 5ths recorded their fifth successive win while there were also wins for the Ladies’ 3rds, 4ths and 6ths and good draws for the Men’s 5ths and the Girls’ Development.
The blow of the Men’s 1sts losing heavily on Sunday after a good first half was softened somewhat by EHB Cup wins for the U16 Boys and U18 Girls (including a hat trick by Emily Wilford who also scored four times for her school team on Saturday!) while the U14 Girls drew with Pelicans in their East League match before an easy win over a generally younger and smaller Norwich City side. The U16 Girls eventually lost 4-1 to a strong Ipswich side after an encouraging opening spell.
The Men’s 1sts will be looking to put last Sunday’s result behind them when they entertain Sevenoaks this Saturday (2.15) in a match which is now even more important while the Ladies’ 1sts travel, by coincidence, to Sevenoaks on Sunday (2.00) looking to build on the eight points they have gained in their last five matches. Meantime the Ladies’ 2nds are away to Saffron Walden (12.00) hoping to get back to winning ways while the Men’s 2nds, who have moved up their league with three successive wins, are away to Wisbech (2.30) who are just ahead of them. Good luck as always to all our teams in action this weekend – please see the Home Page of the website for the full programme – including the U10/U12 Boys in the HMHC Minis at Weybread on Sunday (9.30).
News and comments in brief
· The Youth Committee’s annual tombola is being held this Saturday so please come along to try your luck. A chance to win some Christmas presents?!
· The Netherlands have seen off England’s bid to stage the 2014 FIH Men’s and Women’s World Cups which will be held in The Hague between 2-15 June.
· The FIH has also announced that their Players of the Year for 2010 are Australia’s Jamie Dwyer ( he also won in 2004, 2007 and 2009) and Luciana Aymar of Argentina who has now won the award seven times!
· The ferrets are returning by popular demand! Please note your diary for the Live Ferret Racing and Bangers & Mash Night to be held in the clubhouse at 7.30pm on Saturday 4 December.
· If you are between 18 and 25 on 1 January 2011 and would like to be considered for the role of a ‘ball person’ (not my term!) at the London Olympics please go to www.englandhockey.co.uk for more details.
Mike Denham 01603 506925
[email protected] 16/11/10
