EIGHT FOR GAV! IS THIS A RECORD?

Last week I just had to start with the Ladies’ 4ths and this week there is no doubt that it is the turn of Gavin Cole to be in the spotlight following his remarkable personal haul of eight goals on Saturday at Weybread for the Men’s 3rds in their 14-1 defeat of Sudbury 2nds who to their credit never gave up trying to play some good hockey. Are eight league goals in an outdoor league match by one player a club record? After wasting three good chances the team really got going with Gavin posting a quick hat trick. Six up at half time the goals continued to flow with Gavin seemingly scoring with every shot be had. Andy Johnson added a well-deserved hat trick although I cruelly suggested they were all own goals before I remembered I don’t recognise such things! Thomas Ridley weighed in with a couple and it was good to see skipper Matt Brand get on the score sheet.  This coming Saturday the team is away to UEA (1.00).

Meanwhile on the other pitch the Ladies’ 3rds, who are away to Norwich City 3rds this Saturday (12.15), were also making hay beating Lowestoft Railway 11-0 to maintain their good start to the season. The game was notable for five goals by Kara Kilbourn with her sister Catherine finding the net twice as did Rachel Herod. The other goals were added by Emily McCluskey and Fiona Mackenzie.

BINGO EVENING – THIS COMING SATURDAY (12 OCTOBER) – 7.30PM TICKETS £10 WITH PRIZES, DRINK AND NIBBLES PLEASE COME IF ONLY TO ADMIRE THE ORGANISATIONAL SKILLS OF THE MEN’S 1STS! YOU WILL BE VERY WELCOME

Next up were the Men’s 2nds determined to put behind them their 4-0 defeat at Letchworth the previous week and Robbie Kinsella soon had them ahead against Cambridge University 2nds with his first goal of the season. Blake Elliott added a second before the students were gifted a goal but the two –goal advantage was restored with Jimmy Wheeler’s ‘Barnes Wallis’ shot on the cusp of half time. MOTM and D(onkey) OTD (for not breaking into a sweat all game!) Blake completed his hat trick in the second half to give his team a well-deserved victory albeit by a slightly flattering 5-1 margin. The students had a shirt share arrangement during the game but they more than made up for it by looking smartly attired in the clubhouse and setting a good example to other teams.

Earlier in the day at Weybread the Ladies’ 5ths left their comeback against Diss too late going down 3-2 (MOTM Lauren Rowe and skipper Jose Tibbenham) before in the last match of the day the Men’s 6ths played really well in their first league match of the season to come from behind to beat Pelicans Masters 4-2 (Ben Spence 2, Paul Shelley – thankfully back in action and enjoying the game – and Andy Caston) with skipper James Smith sporting a shirt giving him a look of the 1930s!

Club chairman, Murray Graham, has asked me to pass on his appreciation of all the hard work put in by club officials including team captains and vice-captains. Without the help of all these willing volunteers the club would not, quite simply, as Murray says, be able to field 16 Saturday teams and all the other teams  we put out during the season.

Away from home there were good wins for the Ladies’ 1sts (1-0 over Horsham with Angie Wheelhouse scoring for the second successive week) and for the Men’s 1sts who beat Cambridge University 2-1 with goals by the in-form Pete Bale and skipper Mark Wheelhouse to maintain their league leadership. On Sunday Sam Moore told me (with due modesty) that as the best striker in the team he had made both the goals!  The Men’s 7thsgot their league campaign off to a fine start beating Holt Harlequins 2nds 3-2 (Roger Kent, Stuart Peters, Eric Davy) while the Girls Development drew 3-3 (Eve Barnes, Alice Woollatt 2) at Yarmouth. During the game the ball hit player manager Sandra Elliner in the face unfortunately breaking her nose.  Meanwhile the Ladies’ 4ths were drawing 2-2 with Norwich City 3rds and the Ladies’ 7ths were losing 3-2 against Hornets despite second half goals by skipper Shirley McAllen and Lisa Kent who it is good to know is playing again.

The clubhouse will be extremely busy on Saturday as we have no less than 10 games at Weybread and the matches include the Ladies’ 1sts playing Chelmsford (12.30), theMen’s 1sts taking on City of Peterborough (2.15) and the Ladies’ 2nds (after their 4-0 defeat away to Bromley & Beckenham) seeking their first points of the season when they entertain Chelmsford 2nds (1.45).

Please see the Home Page of the website for the full list of this weekend’s fixtures which include on Sunday at Weybread the Magpies’ Minis featuring our U10 and U12 Girls’ teams (9.30) and U10 and U12 Boys’ teams (1.30).  Good luck as ever to all our teams this weekend.

Last Sunday there were mixed fortunes for our U18 teams with the Girls beating Ipswich 4-1 in a game which never reached the heights and the Boys losing 5-4 in a top class game against a strong Sudbury team. The Girls’ game was marred by a nasty head injury sustained after three minutes by one of the Ipswich girls. This necessitated the game being switched to the sand-based while the ambulance was awaited. Kirstin Cumming and Dr Steve Jones are to be thanked for the way they dealt with this emergency.

The Magpies’ Girls took some time to break down the 10-player Ipswich defence but after Emily Brown scored the vital first goal the result was never seriously in doubt despite Ipswich scoring after Jemima Jacobs had put the home team 2-0 ahead. Further goals were scored for Magpies by Alice Gill and Holly Baker.  The Boys’ game was a thriller from the start with Sudbury going two up in the first three minutes. Magpies gradually settled down to play some fine hockey and fifteen minutes into the second half goals by James Bensley (2) and Sam Lyne had brought them level at 3-3 and a win for Magpies was a real possibility. But two further goals by Sudbury left Magpies with too much to do in the closing minutes despite a confident penalty stroke conversion by Sam. While several Magpies caught the eye the team’s outstanding player was skipper Mitchell Tompkins who gave a top class performance in the middle of the defence.

 

OTHER NEWS AND COMMENT

a) The clubhouse now has Wi-Fi installed thanks to the efforts of Jose Tibbenham and sponsorship by the Indian Restaurant ‘A Taste of Raj’ in Harleston. Please ask at the bar for the password.

b) HMHC players out on loan – update! On Sunday Gareth Furlong scored twice for Sheffield Hallam in the Now: Pensions Premier Division against Loughborough Students and brother Rhodri did the same for Cambridge City against Oxted in Conference East with Ben Wright also on target for City. Meanwhile Tom Graham was in action for Durham University who top Conference North with a 100% record after four games.

c) Deputy President Philippa Taylor is still working on the provision of hot teas for the teams that require them. But it is proving difficult!!

d) The nine-day Waveney Valley Food & Drink Festival concludes this weekend with a two-day event in the historic grounds of Bungay Castle (Saturday/Sunday 10am – 4pm). Entry is free. Please see www.visitwaveneyvalley.co.uk for more information.

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With kind regards
Mike Denham
[email protected]
8/10/13