Monday Night is Fitness Night – 7.30 @ Old Loughtonians Hockey Club – all members welcome – last few weeks!!

Willows seal the deal

Having achieved a decent win away at Chelmsford at the weekend, the Willows cannot now be caught and we are mathematically certain to be division 10SE champions.   I take my beanie off (that should please Brett) to the dedication, hard work and unbounded spirit of the originally rag-tag crew who have melded so well over the course of this debut season to create a remarkable team.  Well done to everyone who has played, whether once or many times; you are all Willows and you should all be proud of this.   And everyone who has supported, whether driving your sons to matches, or reading our reports and silently urging us on, or following our progress as an absent Willow through injury or other unavailability; you are all an indispensable part of what we have done.

The match itself was a curate’s egg.  Complete and comfortable dominance for the opening quarter, followed by a mid-period in which we started ball-chasing, our shape collapsed and the opposition built their confidence.   Then down briefly to nine men, requiring us to reduce our attacking ambition to shore up our defences, and then finally reasserting proper control for the last part of the game.

In terms of personal highlights, Phil Beauman transitioned smoothly from substitute goalkeeper last match to triumphant scorer this time, his initial celebration a look of complete disbelieving delight at what he had done.   Most people play hockey upright but some demonstrate their commitment with low work and athletic dives, Mark Strelley-Jones managing to take huge swathes of skin off the back of just about every finger on the abrasive “water pitch” surface.   Rob Simmons looked for his signature diving deflected goal, but unfortunately John Wright’s perfectly placed short corner fast-ball was just touched away before it got to the far post.   Charlie Britt fired numerous open-play long balls into the D, knowing that the deflection was always on, and was rewarded near the end when Rob got down again and managed to get an almost impossible touch at a very tight angle.   Rohan Krishnamurthy and Leo Kendrick have played in friendly matches for us before but their league debuts were both excellent, with lots of hard work as requested and some extremely deft touches, looking like they’ll be very handy for next season.

Brett annoyed another set of umpires, enough this time to get his green card upgraded to a yellow for sitting on the substitute’s bench rather than the naughty chair (and expressing his displeasure at having to move somewhat, shall we say, profanely).   We could tell the umpire didn’t like him when Brett asked after nine of his ten minutes how long he had left and was told “about seven more minutes!”   Rob also managed to get a green – sometimes he thinks a dive will solve everything but tackling a player from behind with a wide swing while sliding at full stretch on the floor probably isn’t always to be recommended.   He reckons he would have got away with it if he hadn’t already asked the umpire for clarification on exactly that rule a couple of minutes earlier.

Man of the match was shared between Simon Rose, who excelled again in his new-found role marking the opposition centre-forward, and Rob for a tireless performance, his speed about the pitch remarkable, turbo-boosted and jet-propelled we understand, with a bit of dribbling going on too.   Brett was voted Sergio of the Day and only has himself to blame this week, while the Willow-meter registered a slightly generous 7.08.

Our final league match is at 2:30pm at home on Saturday 3rd March.  It cannot affect our standing so it will be a colourful celebration.  All Willows past, present and future are required to attend, on pain of arboricultural crown thinning and sap removal, and will wear something purple and/or silly.  Champagne popping and a victory lap of the pitch at the end, to be followed by several victory laps of the bar.

OLHC Alumni

Congratulations to three of our former Old Loughts colts, James Albery, James Gall and Harry Martin on their selection to play for England in the Sultan Azlan Shah cup

This week’s fixtures:

Home

Pitch 1                                                                                   Pitch 2                                  

11:15      Supervets v St Albans                                      11:15      No Game

13:00      Ladies 1s v Norwich Dragons 1                       13:00      Mens 3s v Indian Gymkhana           

14:30      Academy v Saffron Walden 6                          14:30      Academy v Saffron Walden 6

16:00      Ladies 4s v Chelmsford 4                                 16:00      No Game             

Away

Loppers v East London                      16:00

Willows v Southgate                           14:30     

Ladies 2s v Folkestone                      14:00     

Ladies 3s v Wapping                          16:00

Ladies 5s v Southend                         13:45

Sunday

Pitch 1                                                                                   Pitch 2

09:00      U14 Boys Dev v Chelmsford                             10:00      U14 Girls v Chelmsford

13:00      U16 Boys v Oxford Hawks                                13:00      U14 Girls v Amersham & Chalfont

14:30      U18 Boys v Teddington                                     14:30      U14 Boys v Old Merchant Taylor

Away

Mens 1s v Brighton & Hove

U12 Girls – Essex Minis – Redbridge

U10 Boys – Essex Minis - Redbrdge

 

Evo Hockey Camps – Special Offer

Evo Hockey are offering 15% discount on bookings made by this Friday 23rd February for their next camp to be held at OLHC on 11-13 April. By using this link  https://www.evo-hockey.com/hockey-camp-bookings/11-13-april-2018-chigwell-essex and entering this code EARLYEVO you can claim your discount.

Club fundraiser

Saturday 3rd March - “The Brain Drain” 

Tickets for “The Brain Drain” are £10 per person and are available from the bar.  This is your opportunity to showcase your knowledge and raise some funds for the Club at the same time.  Tickets can also be bought over the phone if you call the office on 0208 5044010.

Coming up…………………….

OLHC Summer League

This year the club will be running summer leagues for men, ladies and boys youth starting week commencing 14th May.  It will run for a period of 8 weeks so will be finished before the school holidays begin.  If you know of any club/team that would like to enter please ask them to contact the office on 0208 5044010 for further details.  Numbers are restricted so entries will be treated on a first come first served basis.

Fun in the Forest 25th – 27th May

If you would like to enter a team in this annual festival of fun please email funintheforest@hotmail.co.uk for further details.

 

 

 

Items for HH to office by Monday 10 am please