THE U18 SIDES PLAY AT INDOORHOCKEY.CO.UK:

 

Boys and Girls U18s celebrate their joint success!

 

Saturday 2nd January saw Old Loughtonians U18 boys play their part in the IndoorHockey16 tournament at the wonderful Copperbox arena at the Olympic park Stratford.  Captained by Tom Darcy-Smith the team won 4 of their 6 matches to win the silver medal in a hard fought competition, having to play a full two and half hours of indoor hockey!  Special mention must go to keeper Phoebe Menear who stepped in at the last minute and was a revelation in goal!  Squad List: Tom Darcy-Smith Capt, Phoebe Menear GK, Will Hopkins, Owen McLaughlin, Edward Padfield, Dan McMahon, Jamie Colton, Stephen Harrison, Ansh Ood and Ciaran Caplan.  Head Coach: Jan Lilley

 

The U18 girls got off to a great start in their first match at the Copperbox on Saturday evening with a comfortable 6-0 win against Hertford. Next up were Canterbury, the match started in bizarre fashion, without warning the umpires blew the start of the match with coaches and subs still on the pitch and an immediate short corner being awarded against OL for having too many players on the pitch! Canterbury took their chance and with the girls still not settled they added a second to lead 2-0 within the first few minutes. The girls fought their way back into the game 2-2 at halftime. Canterbury again took the lead early in the second half and again OL pulled it back to 3-3 but going forward looking for the win they allowed Canterbury to score 2 quick goals to finish the game off and a late consolation for OL left the final score at 4-5.

 

Their next match was against a strong looking Wycombe side who had qualified for Nationals as South Region Champions. From the start it was clear they were a very slick well drilled side. OL were under a great pressure but from a Wycombe corner captain Tash broke away to score and give the girls the lead.  Wycombe soon levelled and added a second to make it 2-1. The girls raised their game in the second half and it was a much more even affair but no further goals were added and it finished 2-1 to Wycombe. Their last pool game was against Upminster and although the girls dominated the game the Upminster GK was on fire saving nearly everything thrown at her, still the girls kept cool and fought through to win 3-1. 

 

Their last match was a 3/4th playoff against Hertford who had grown as a team during their matches and although the OL girls came out 5-0 winners it was a much tighter game than the first.  Overall although they came a disappointing 3rd it was very worthwhile evening!

 

U10 AND U12 GIRLS ENJOY INDOOR:

The U10 girls finished second in the tournament without conceding a single goal and the U12 girls finished fourth in their pool.  All in all however both teams put in a great effort and should all be proud of themselves.  It was a great experience and a fantastic day out in an amazing venue – well done to all those involved: players, coaches, managers and of course the supporting parents!

 

U10s on parade!

 

Squad U10s: Maisie Crowley, Agnes Briscoe, Anya Pitt, Phoebe Lockstone, Daisy Anstey, Emma Kelsey, Eva Buenaventura, Hilary Howson, Harriet Heyburn, Cressida Jamieson.

 

Squad U12s:  Maisie Crowley, Georgia Dawes, Maddie Simmons, Molly Rees, Sunny, Kitty Branch, Annabel, Amy Taylor, Tilly Kent, Clementine Jamieson.

 

Most of the U12s pictured below!

 

CLUB TEAMS STOP TO PAY THEIR RESPECTS:

Adult teams playing at the weekend both home and away held a minute’s silence at the beginning of their matches in memory of Tom Wilson and were very appreciative of all the support shown by their opposing teams:

 

Mens 2s at Reading

 

 

 

Ladies 2s at Holcombe

 

 

 

DISAPPOINTING WEEKEND INDOORS FOR 1S:

Luck was certainly not with the Mens 1s at the weekend when they took part in the National Indoor Div 1 championships in Bristol.  The team’s goalkeeper Chris Leek picked up an injury in the warm up for the first match and was unable to play on!  As the team had travelled without a replacement GK they were up against it from the start having to resort to playing a kicking back for a lot of the time.  With another injury to Rob Bloss which will see him out of action for quite a while their four losses in the games over the weekend against the higher ranked teams see them sitting in bottom place in the league going into the next round of matches this weekend.  Hopefully they can rally enough against the lower placed sides left to play and manage to string some results together to get them out of the danger zone – good luck guys!

 

LADIES 1S JUST MISS OUT!:

It was a cold and wet Saturday at Luxborough Lane for the ladies 1st XI game against Dereham. Nevertheless with a new coach and a chance for a fresh start after a long Christmas break they started well with lots of shots on goal and many a short corner won which resulted in much of the first half being played in Dereham’s half of the pitch. However after an undeserved yellow card to Loughts the Ladies finished the first half with 10 players and a frustrating  0-0 score line. 

 

Loughts were confident going into the second half that by continuing in the manner of the first half and by converting some of their chances the game would be a victory for them. Unfortunately however Dereham managed to scramble a goal from a short corner with 20 mins to go. Despite the fact the Ladies went on to have numerous chances to equalise and were to carry on dominating the game it was to no avail and the game ended up in an incredibly frustrating 1-0 loss!

 

LEAGUE RESULTS:

In other adult league matches the Mens 2s at Reading lost a close encounter 4-3; 3s went down heavily at London Wayfarers 13-3; Academy 2 lost at Havering 4-1 and the Loppers were awarded a 5-0 walkover against Maldon as the game was cancelled.  The Ladies 2s were defeated at Holcombe 2-0; 3s beat Chelmsford 2-1 at home; 4s lost at Colchester 2-0 and 5s won 5-1 away at Old Southendians.