Each week we will be posting the match reports from any fixtures that happened over the weekend. It would be great to get as many match reports as possible from the Adults & Junior sections as well as photos/videos if you are feeling brave!
If you have a match report to share, send it through to social@haslemerehockey.com or message Will/Buddha.
After a tricky start to the season, the Ladies 3s have finally got their first point, with a 2-2 draw against US Portsmouth. Haslemere held a lot of possession in the first half, and both teams conceded a goal, with Sarah Page, a new addition to the team, scoring. Portsmouth pulled it back in the second half, and Haslemere responded with a goal that was disallowed due to an unfortunate whistle timing, but pulled another goal out of the bag, allowing them to equalise, by a cracking reverse goal from Iona Richardson, an up and coming youngster. The new members of the team slotted in perfectly and overall the team held composure and formation well, with everyone coming off the pitch smiling.
This was the first match ever or first match after returning to hockey for over half our players. Everyone played with fantastic energy and enthusiasm and wonderfully supported and guided on pitch by our more experienced players. A great fun match against an athletic Chichester university team. Both sides played with fantastic spirit. A well deserved 11-2 win.
So we managed to beg, steal and borrow a team for our visit to ( always takes longer than you think Wokingham ) to play a South Berks team still smarting from losing to the Masters . An early season feature is our strength in defence and we were bolstered by the youthful Ben in goal who exuded the sort of confidence we haven’t seen since, well actually we`ve never seen at this level . Ben also bought his lovely wife Claudia who was promptly chatted up by just about the whole team – as always the Vets lead on important matters such as diversity and inclusion . Talking of inclusion we were ably supported by Mark and Stuart from Johnny`s squad and my youngest brother Dan now living in Haslemere who had not played hockey for over 35 years .
Early exchanges suggested this would be an even game but we held a slight edge – with a good goal stopped by some over- zealous umpiring before Larkham produced a scorcher from about 6 inches out . Peter Lawrence dovetailing with the Admiral Mike ably supported by Stuart and the youthful Shedden we continued to look very secure at the back and so at 1/0 up at half time there was an air of confidence that we could see this one out and chalk up a notable win .
South Berks then played their trump card bringing on Speedy Gonzalez who had caused the Masters problems the week before – genuinely quick for this level they started to put us under real pressure – we lost our out ball with both wingers suffering – Ian with a dickie calf and Dan (bless him) running on empty – But the hallmark of all great teams and sometimes this one is despite South Berks making that pressure pay and amazingly scoring past the amazing Ben, we picked ourselves off the canvass to dominate the final 10 minutes – Pip and Mark found another gear in midfield and we applied the pressure on the opposition D – with 3 minutes to go it looked on – a sweeping move down the left and a great cross found young Dan with an open goal – of course we’ve all been there, the stuff of dreams – as a Welshman, its your debut at flyhalf for Wales v England when you drop the winning goal in the dying seconds – or its Manchester United or whatever – for Dan it seems that his mind was already focusing on his hot date with Jackie the estate agent from Reigate who he was meeting later, as the ball slipped to the right of the goal and out of play – He could have scored, maybe he did – who knows !
Great spirit again from this squad we are down a few players to injury but a loss ( Oxford ) two draws and a win sets us up nicely for the season and next week’s game against ourselves ………
It was a hot Autumn day when a decent Haslemere side travelled down the A3 to play one of the more physical sides in the league, a team more known for their effort, physicality and moaning than their skill. The game started brightly, with some good passing, carving open the Portsmouth defence like a hot knife through butter, unfortunately with very little end product. We managed one botched short corner and little else despite plenty of possession. The highlight of the first half was Jeremy going for the world record for lifted eliminations with 30. USP scored a goal, but none of us can remember it, so let’s assume it was lucky.
Half time came and time for to Alex inspire us, saying something about hockey, effort and something else. So much so that we started the second half by scoring a goal. A long (clearance) ball from Alex found Buddha in the D, and after beating the keeper twice, he eventually scored, at the expense of his dodgy calf. Then we played some more unproductive hockey and they scored a goal, followed by more hockey and another goal. In the final minutes, Willows won a short, Alex smashed the ball harder than a dominant rhino during mating season and we ended up losing 3-2.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. The 3s, with their captain abandoning them, were up against it, playing Fareham 3s or 4s, there’s no way of knowing. Encouraged by the influx of young, exciting boys… the team started positively, despite the aforementioned loss of their captain Jules… who left them for the glory of the 2s. Debutants, Seb, Sebby, Alex (not a debutant but still young) & Rich Turpin all made valuable contributions against an experienced side. The team played an expansive style of hockey but were unlucky when the opponents capitalised on defensive mistakes by some of the more experienced players, who aren’t named but it’s Stopher. The team responded well to the flux of the game, and scored well by Judge Bill and Old Man (veteran) Duncan. However, the pick of the goals, was the third strike by Rich Turpin, which was a fantastic team move involving MOM Noah and Bill. The hope crowd was very impressed, more so than their own captain who had lost interest in search of personal glory, winning MOM for the 2s. Haslemere created many chances but were unlucky not to win. Given that both teams scored the same amount of goals, the umpires unfairly decided a draw was the best outcome.
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