WILLOWS PAUSE FOR BREATH

The Willows' unbeaten run came to an end on Saturday, with the first loss of the season recorded as 3-1 away to London Royals.  Our opponents were worthy winners, although on a man-for-man basis there was nothing really between the two groups of players, as evidenced by the very equal second half.  It was the start where the damage was done, with the Royals alert, fast and confident from the first whistle and the Willows' reeling and crumbling as a result.  It was all about self-belief in the first 20 minutes and, as the panic set in, we lost our positional discipline, particularly our width, and started ball-chasing.  Effective calm midfield passing was largely absent, with some resorting to "hit and hope" and other players keeping the ball too long as they tried to run through multiple opponents.

But the way we came back in the second half of the match showed quality and resilience and, if anything, we were the better team with more pressure in the Royals' half.   The return match at home could turn out to be pivotal in terms of league results and I feel strangely confident about it.

As one of our absent Willows, Rob "Sunlounger Warrior" Simmons, remarked, it would have been rude to win all our matches and make the division look easy.  Now our eventual triumph will look hard-fought and well-earned.

Not knowing the ins and outs of all the rules is something to be forgiven at our standard, with most of our adult participants being new recruits to the sport through the Back to Hockey programme.  However, it takes something special to assume there must be a rule you have never heard of.   This was Mark "It's a fair cop" Strelley-Jones's reaction when seeing a green card exiting the umpire's pocket and with commendably deferential alacrity he was more than halfway round the outside of the pitch on his way to the dugout before insistent ever-louder whistling alerted him finally to return and discover the card had actually been intended for his opposing player.  The first Willow ever to send himself off!

Man of the Match was shared between goal-scorer Oscar King and defender Alex "They Shall Not Pass" Shaer who, in truth, always has an excellent game.  

Next week we have another tough game, against East London, a team that beat us in a friendly in the summer.  However, their summer team was well reinforced with higher players and their actual league results have not been as impressive (losing to a team we beat easily).  Time to get back to our winning ways!

GK Training

Unfortunately due to a late additional school commitment Zara cannot take training this Wednesday. It will be next week instead.

Results 28th October

Men                                                                                                        Ladies

1s v Southgate                                2 - 3                                        1s v Cambridge City           0 - 1

2s v London Wayfarers 3                1 - 0                                        2s v Holcombe 1A               1 - 1

3s v Indian Gym 3                           2 - 3                                        3s v Wapping 5                    0 - 2

Supervets V St Albans                    3 - 6                                        4s v Chelmsford 4               1 - 7

Academy v East London 6              2 - 1                                        5s v Southend 3                  4 - 0

Loppers v Witham 4                        0 - 1

Willows  v London Royals 1            1 - 3

Sunday Fixtures 12th November

Pitch 1

10:00 U16 Boys A v Crostyx – Mercian League

14:00 Mens 1st XI v Brighton – EH Cup

Pitch 2

11:00 U18 Boys v Amersham & Chalfont – Mercian League

13:00 U14 Boys v Saffron Walden – Mercian League

15:00 U14 Girls v Southgate – Home Counties League

Warm Thanks

Ivan would like to thank everyone who supported the bonfire party on Saturday especially the younger club members -Nathan and younger Nathan’s gangs for helping out on the night.  This was Ivan’s first venture into the world of organising a club social and I think you will agree he bought something different to the proceedings!

Keep checking the club website and hockey headlines for details of the next social extravaganza!

CPR Training

The Club are arranging a CPR Training session for Saturday 2nd December here at the club.  Further details to follow.

Coming up…….

Christmas Jumpers and Quiz Night – Friday 8th December

 

Items for HH to office by Monday 10 am please