BIG DENT IN PROMOTION HOPES

‘Mike, you’re so negative’ said MOTM Sam Moore when I spoke to him last Saturday after the Men’s 1sts had been beaten 4-1 at home by West Herts to put a big dent in the team’s promotion hopes. I felt Sam was being a little harsh but as someone who on occasions sees his hockey glass half empty I have to take this sort of comment on the chin! But after going behind to a sloppy goal and failing to properly test the visitors’ goalkeeper at two penalty corners and then seeing West Herts convert, as I feared, their first shortie I was not the only supporter feeling a little low. When we conceded a soft goal early in the second half I was well and truly into negative territory! To their credit Magpies then upped their game, with Simon Hipwell and Richard Larkin impressing with their spirited running and calm defence respectively, only to concede a fourth when on all-out attack before the consolation of a penalty corner conversion by skipper Mark Wheelhouse.

All is not lost although with West Herts now one point ahead of us with a game in hand we will almost certainly need to win all our remaining six games, starting against Ramgarhia away this coming Saturday (1.15), to retain any realistic hope of promotion.

The task facing the Ladies’ 1sts as they resume outdoor league action after the long indoor break is not as daunting but being only three points above the relegation play-off spot – despite the respectable haul of 14 points from their first eleven matches – a win away to Wimbledon on Saturday (2.00) who are just behind us in the league would ease the pressure very considerably with a further six games to go. It is to be hoped that the away friendly against Buckingham last Saturday, despite ending in a 3-0 defeat, will prove to have been beneficial.

In the first game at Weybread last Saturday the Men’s 5ths secured a well-deserved point against high flying Felixstowe 2nds when Will Main calmly converted a penalty stroke with the last action of the game to make the final score 1-1. Encouraged by this excellent all-round performance skipper Steve Halliley and his team will be looking for that elusive first win of the season away to Norwich City 5ths on Saturday (3.15). Meanwhile on the other pitch the Ladies’ 7ths were securing their third win of 2014 beating Lowestoft Railway 2nds 4-3. After going two up Magpies were pegged back to 2-2 at half time before they got the better of things after the break winning 4-3 with goals by skipper Shirley McAllen (2), Emma Tolhurst and Lucy Freeman. Next into action on the sand-based were the Men’s 4ths and after three consecutive defeats it was good to see the team back on form beating Norwich City 3rds 3-1 assisted by goals from Harry Haigh, Mitchell Tompkins and Jonathan Payne.

On the water after the Men’s 1sts we saw another West Herts team in action as their first team took on our Ladies’ 2nds who were soon into a two-goal lead before, against the run of play, the visitors’ were back in the game with a disputed goal. After the interval in a five-minute spell Magpies hit the bar, hit a post and shot wide when well placed after which there was a feeling in the crowd that the game had ‘2-2’ written all over it. Fortunately this did not materialise with Magpies securing a vital win to move up to fourth place in the league although with St Albans 2nds also winning the gap between them and the fourth relegation spot remains at seven points. The team are away to Canterbury 2nds on Saturday (2.45).

Both goals for Magpies were scored by ex-South Africa international Susan Wessels making a very welcome debut for the club and playing her first game of hockey for nine years! Susan, who is Deputy Head of Framlingham College, had the thrill of playing for South Africa in the Sydney and Athens Olympics. Remarkably she is the third Olympian in the club joining Kath Johnson and Louise Jukes who have also had that honour and distinction.

The home programme was completed with the Men’s 7ths going down 6-0 to the strong Pelicans Masters and the Ladies’ 3rds beating Norwich City 3rds 6-1 as the temperature was dropping to the discomfit of a few of the players and all of the small but devoted group of fans! Magpies were 1-0 up at half time through Catherine Kilbourn who scored three more after the break with Kara Kilbourn and Rachel Herod also on the score sheet. In a very sporting game City to their amusement scored their consolation goal following several penalty corners at the final whistle and after a scramble involving over half the players on the pitch!

The news from away was mixed with the Men’s 2nds losing to Crostyx 4-3 (Blake Elliot, Robbie Kinsella and Philip Cobbald) and the Ladies’ 4ths going down 4-1 to Norwich Dragons 3rds (Sarah Legg). Meanwhile the Ladies’ 6ths did well to hold Norwich Dragons 4ths to a single goal and the Boys’ Development gave one of their best performances of the season losing 2-1 (Tom Norton) to runaway leaders Norwich City.

On an even more positive note (there is always positivity in this column!) the Ladies’ 5ths recovered from their rare defeat away to Diss the previous week by beating Sprowston 2nds 4-1 with Anna Tighe, Victoria Findlay and skipper Jose Tibbenham (2) finding the net and league leaders the Men’s 6ths beat Ipswich Cranes 2nds 4-2 after being thwarted by a remarkable performance by the home keeper until fourteen minutes from the end. Simon Bardwell then popped up with the equaliser with the other goals coming from Jake Morton and Jack Newbery (2).

On Sunday our seven teams in the Norwich City Minis all played well with the U10 Girls ‘B’ team winning the Silver tournament with the U12 Boys ‘B’ team doing likewise in their event while the U12 Girls ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams came second in their respective tournaments.

Good luck to all our teams this weekend including on Sunday the U16 Boys away to Norwich City (1.00). Please see the website for the full list of this weekend’s fixtures.

Congratulations to:

a) Debbie and David Francis on the birth at 2.20am on Sunday of Ella who arrived weighing 8lb 2oz. No doubt William is looking forward to welcoming home his sister!

b) Reading women and East Grinstead men on winning the Maxinutrition Hockey 5s Championships at Wembley Arena on Sunday. Watching the excellent Sky TV coverage (with commentators Nick Irvine and Simon Mason on top form) I thought the women’s final was a big disappointment with Bowdon Hightown never finding form in their 9-2 defeat at the hands of the star-studded Reading team while the men’s final between East Grinstead and Canterbury was a fascinating tactical battle. In the end after another outstanding all-round display by the seemingly ageless Mark Pearn it was firmly won by EG who triumphed by eight goals to four. Having only watched women’s indoor hockey since the reduction to five players on the pitch I was surprised at the number of times Canterbury and East Grinstead took off their goalkeepers. In the end this did no favours to Canterbury who would surely have done better with their keeper on for at least the majority of the 40 minutes especially bearing in mind the outstanding display by the EG keeper.

Quiz Night

It is a big ‘thank you’ to all the 70+ members and friends who attended last Saturday’s event. From the noise being made I can only assume that most people present – although possibly not everyone – enjoyed the evening! It is also ‘thank you’ to skipper Kristina Smyth and the Ladies’ 3rds for providing the excellent interval nibbles and to Iain Cumming, Vikie Craig and Jackie and Kevin Ridley for their help on the night. Congratulations to the winning team of Chris and Tracy Reeve, Julian and Philippa Taylor and Mary Kirk. Congratulations also to the wooden spoon winners who for some this was a second triumph following on from two years ago. It is nice to know that in life some things never change!

Other comments in brief

a) Sam Rowe attended the first of his five NAGS U17 Academy Camps last weekend at Lilleshall. The other four will be spread over the next fifteen months and these weekends will be supplemented by regular intensive satellite training sessions held in the East with the aim of Sam obtaining a Sporting Apprenticeship.

b) Sainsbury’s Active Kids 2014. If you shop at Sainsbury’s stores, petrol stations or buy online you might care to collect the vouchers in respect of this scheme and kindly donate them to the club via the special box in the clubhouse. The club will then be able to exchange them for sporting equipment to be used at Weybread.

IceniPost.com – sponsors of www.magpies-hockey.co.uk

With kind regards

Mike Denham

[email protected]

4/2/14