SEASON 2008 / 9
SEASON 2007 / 8
********************************* DIVISION 4 CHAMPIONS ********************************
Mens 2's (5) v Old Southendians 2's (0) on 08 - Mar - 08
Only a few points away from promotion and becoming champions of div 4, Haverings 2nd team were not up to their full strength after injuries and players moving up to the 1st team. However, Havering were not totally without talent. A defensive change saw centre back blondie move up to midfield and replaced by the more than capable Andy Rowe. With Old Southendians also a weakened team, this fixture was not to be much of a match.
Within 5 mins of push back, Havering led 1-0 from a well taken short corner strike from captain Blondie. I would also like to add that his celebration was one of the most gayest things ive seen in a while!!!!!!
The general play from Havering was not much to be desired, but I guess that it wasnt a bad performance from re-vamped side. With the majority of talent and experience on Haverings side, Old Southendians did not give up and put on a great game in which both teams enjoyed. Before long, the goals began to flow and Havering gave themselves a comfortable lead.
The short corner goals continued with Andy Rowe getting on the score sheet with a firm strike, Greg Maudsley 2, and Billy Purcell making 5-0 with minutes on the clock.
After a surprise result of Romford beating Maldon on the same day, Havering were given the news of being League champions. This lightened the mood after a dissappointing game and soon enough the intoxication of alcohol began. With the league won, it should be interesting to see how Havering perform against the 3s next week. After talking to memebers of the 3s they say they would rather (woteva the score) that it would be an honst score. I hope that the 2s will go out and play to gain more points and that we give the 3s a game they will never forget! We are champions of div 4, so lets start playing as champions!!!! Come on 2s, season aint over yet!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave Ribchester, Paul Nerurkar, Ryan Clark, Geoff Johnson, Steve Ashlin, Richard Cast, Jack Barlow, Dan Tanner, Alex Defroand, Billy Purcell, Jonathan Wiggam, Brad Moreland, Tim Cranston, Andy Rowe, Greg Maudsley, Christian Veccero, Anthony Veccero, Barry Marler, James Barnes, Dan Rees, Adam Lumbers.
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Mens 2's (1) v Harlow 2's (0) on 23 - Feb - 08
Faced with another tough fixture, Havering were seen to rise to the challenge. Having gained momentum over previous weeks, Havering started the game well. Some good work from the midfield was seen as the home team defended from the front. Defensively, Havering's back line was not as secure as usual allowing slight breakthroughs for Harlow. These attacks were seen to with team play and no goal was allowed through. Some great Goalkeeping was demonstrated by Ryan Clarke to deprive Harlow of an opening score.
Harlow in return managed to hold off Havering until half time, leaving the score at 0-0. With Havering showing an impressive game, Captain Blondie found words to spur the team further.
With the second half still proving resemblance of the deadlocked first half, Havering found it hard to finish the chances given to gain the lead. Until.......5 minutes from the end, Havering were given an attacking short corner. Neruker stepped up to the challenge and produced a good feed to the top of the 'D' where Ribchester prepared for the shot. The oppositions keeper deflected the shot back to Moreland who took another shot. The ball struck the post mid way up with some force but fell sweetly to Mawdsley who kept his composure and was able to place the ball nicely between near post and keeper to put Havering ahead.
Hall conceded another card to put himself in sight of a match ban. With big games coming up this is not the best news for Havering with important games on the horizon.
With little time left, Havering held on to the ball to prevent Harlow from gaining any chance to counter attack. This was good use of game knowledge from the 2nd team, finally showing experience and wisdom.
The game ended with a 1-0 win to Havering. This leaves Havering 4 points clear at the top of the league, facing 2nd place Maldon in next weeks clash.
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Mens 2's (2) v Witham 2's (0) on 16 - Feb - 08
Within the 1st half, Havering were seen to show some promising hockey. The ball was being moved into the oppositions ‘D’ many a time with some good work from the partnership of Nuxes and Dan Tanner down the right. The curse of the 2nd team prevailed still, as many opportunities were seen but not seized but as with previous weeks this is sometimes hard to achieve with a heavily congested opposition "D"
With Witham causing no major threat to Havering’s back line, the game was very much dominated in their half, allowing Captain Blondie to move up the field to aid the ever penetrating Havering attacks. Witham also demonstrated some occasional good defensive work all be it throw anything at the man with the ball, but this shot themselves in the foot as Havering piled on the pressure, Witham were resulting in having 11 players defending in their own 25 for most of the game, not giving themselves much of an outlet to counter attack. However, as the game wore on Havering were again being sucked in and continued piling themselves into the ‘D’ not allowing much room for anything to come of it.
The 1st half drew to a close at 0-0 and words were spoken at the break with regards to positional sense, play better hockey by keeping it simple. These wise words were heard and in the second half Havering were seen to play some better hockey. Players were not bunching so much and were beginning to pass the ball round players more.
Havering's attacking short corners are becoming more and more dangerous. Brad Morelands ideas have meant Havering are taking more control of them and producing some good goals. In this situation, Havering kept it simple and set up for a shot from Cranston. Neruker pushed out a strong ball, making it easier for Brad Moreland to stop for Cranston, who took the shot well at the top of the "D" as the ball flew in at pace clipping the keepers pad on the way in. 1-0 to the men in black.
The 2nd half also showed yet another goal from the ever improving youngster Markus Hall. Again this goal was produced from an attacking short corner. This time, Hall stood ready to take a shot at goal. His original effort at goal proved unsuccessful as his attempted drag flick did not appear to resemble anything of the sort, the keeper very politely kicked straight back to him, this time Hall got under the ball and cannoned it into the roof of the net 2- 0. Another great goal to add to his growing portfolio this season.
With the game heating up towards the end of the game, a red card was shown to a Havering player and two yellow cards for Witham. Havering finished the match with a 2-0 win.
Showing some good hockey at times, Havering still did not produce its true potential again this week. Your correspondent is hopeful that with the important and tough games on our door step, that Havering will up its game further.
Stay Classy Havering!!!!!
Jack
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Mens 2's (5) v East London 2's (2) on 09 - Feb - 08
With an uncertain start, the defensive line for Havering was challenged almost instantly, however the early push from East London was kept at bay. With East London giving pressure so early in the game, Havering were forced to hold their attacking play and keep East London in check.
A chance for goal was taken well by East London at a short corner and they led the game 1-0. Havering answered this declaration of war with their own offensive short corner routine. The ball pushed by Paul ( I run like Bambi ) Neruker to Brad Moreland, who stopped efficiently for Steve Ashlin to slip to Dan Tanner waiting on the right side of the D. Tanner expertly passed straight back to Ashlin on the penalty spot who lazily put the ball past the oppositions goalkeeper.
Havering managed to pull back from this moral boosting goal and started to gain more of the game over East London. However, Their opposition still managed to push forwards and was giving a lucky break from a long corner. The ball was driven directly into to the box and was expertly deflected over the head of our goal keeper Ryan (gimp) Clark. This was no fault of his own, but the fault of the unexpected defender who has played consistently well this season (so he says) after changing positions (thank goodness!). The defensive error was performed by none other than Jack (simply the best (in his dreams) ) Barlow. I have it on good authority that Jack has learnt from his mistake and that he will prevent it from happening again for the remainder of the season. (another dream he-he) But on a positive note, he is still a good player!!!!!!!! (Jack, please can we move on!)
Tim Cranston was the next goal scorer. After some good team hockey Ashlin received the ball and drove from the right towards the opposition goal. Having the opportunity to take a shot, Ashlin fed the ball left across the D to Cranston who put the ball solidly in the back of the net. This led us to half time with a score of 2-2.
The 2nd Half saw the arrival of a yellow card, not so rare for Havering over recent weeks, however, if this yellow card was truly deserved is still unsure. With only 10 men, Havering began to move the ball quicker and easier, showing glimpses of the potential within the side we should see every week. East London found it difficult to respond to Havering as the 10 man side maintained majority of possession.
Markus Hall showed a variety of shots to gain yet another well deserved hat-trick under his belt this season. Drag- flick, strike and reverse shot all beat the opposition keeper. This helped us on to win the game 5-2.
Overall, Havering put in a more convincing performance than previous weeks. Yours truly hopes that the level of potential shown within the side this week was only a taster and that we are going to see nothing but improvement from now on. Wins are needed for promotion so that?s what we should crave every week and during every game. This is your sexy and rock-hard (in his dreams yet again!) correspondent signing off. Jack (still the best (yawn, bring bazza and our cat back!)) Barlow HEHE!!!!!!
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Mens 2's (5) v Ilford & Redbridge 2's (0) on 08 - Dec - 07
Havering's second string faced bottom of the table Ilford & Redbridge at home on Saturday. The men in black normally slip up somehow or another against teams in the bottom part of the league and it was hoped that lessons had been learnt from the previous weeks encounter against Upminster where spoiling tactics worked against them, another tough match expected. All the pre-match talk was about keeping the game simple, releasing the ball early and working hard to support up and down the pitch. Also on the short corner routine which far too often looks lackluster.
Minus captain Blondie, who was out shopping finding Mrs.Blondie something for the top of their christmas tree and Marcus Hall called up by the first team, the men in black had another re-shuffle of the side and also welcomed back Billy Purcell, Brad Moreland and Andy Rowe.
The first half was fairly balanced, maybe Havering still slightly tentative with an expected all out assault on the Ilford and Redbridge "D". However as the game continued Havering were building on the pressure with Ashlin, Tanner and Nerurkar all missing out narrowly. The deadlock was finally broken when Ashlin was deliberately obstructed from a shooting chance on goal and a PF was awarded. This week Ashlin dispatched with aplomb. half time 1 - 0 to the men in black.
The second half was all Havering. Hard work from Ashlin and Tanner up front, Moreland, Purcell, Wigham, DeFonde in the middle and the normal solid back line winning through with good work from Rowe and Christian Vacaro.
As well as good open play the short corner routine was also looking slicker and now only time before Havering would add to their tally. Ashin then scored his second from a short corner followed up five minutes later with a third from Nerurkar.
Now the men in black normally take their foot off the throttle but even with players subbing on and off the pitch for a break the whole game was being played in the Ilford & Redbridge half. Havering's fourth goal was a real crowd pleaser. Morelands clever run was found by Wigham whos through ball dissected most of Ilford & Redbridge half of the pitch and found Moreland inside the "D" who then completed his run by finishing in style. Ashlin then wrapped things up by completing his hatrick.
A very good all round team performance which limited Ilford and Redbridge to just one short corner and Havering keeper not being called into action, which is as well as Bill had gone Christmas shopping. Final score 5-0 the the men and black and top of the table at the Christmas break.
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Mens 2's (3) v Harlow 1's (3) on 03 - Nov - 07
Your correspondent would no way in hell have said this in the immediate aftermath of the game, but after a couple of hours to cool down he finds it in himself to do so. Well done Harlow, you got exactly what you played for. One is not saying that Harlow played for a draw, but they played the umpires to perfection. Havering's possession and overall play was thwarted time and time again by some shocking behaviour by the Harlow back four which included, but was not limited to, hacking from behind, stepping into the back of the man and swinging sticks wildly in any contested ball.
The umpire may well look to the short corner count in the first half to back up how he punished Harlow for their indiscretions, but when the same player makes four or five horrendous tackles, from the same position, even against the same player, he must walk. As it was, each of Harlow's back four managed to stay on for the majority of the match and is was only when the right back made a tackle after arguing with the umpire half way through the second half that one of their players finally spent some time on the side of the pitch. If he hadn't made it appear that he was disgruntled, then it probably would have been just another free hit. If Harlow play like this week in and week out, without someone telling them to cut it out and backing that up with action, then they will pick up points against most teams who just will not be able to get their own game going.
As far as Havering are concerned, I don't have much to add that I didn't already say last week, apart from Greg finally took his good decision count to an acceptable percentage. Ashlin fired home a short corner at a time when Havering were playing some solid, steady hockey, but this was cancelled out by a Harlow equaliser when they shifted the ball quickly while Havering turned their backs. A physical side like Harlow cannot be allowed to simply whack the ball to their forward line where they had more pace than the guys that were marking them.
Ashlin then picked up a quick fire brace to bag his hat-trick, the first from a short corner and the second after a dashing run by Wigham, swept home into the roof of the net. The game should have been beyond Harlow, but come the change of ends everything went wrong for Havering. The foul count continued from Harlow, but this time they were not being backed up by short corners and were at times not punished at all. With Havering pushing up expecting the hit, and unforgivably committing too many men forward, Harlow countered and scored not one, but two goals on the break.
So where did we go wrong? In order to answer that, we must find out why we started to lose the midfield battle. We did lose cohesion mainly due to far too many substitutions in this area of the field and when we eventually started to react in a positive way it was only for the last ten minutes and unfortunately the two short corners we had in the last 5 failed to get us the result that we all wanted. However we did not allow the game to become a loss despite this being against tough opposition who were as determined as we were to secure a good result.
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Mens 2's (2) v Witham 2's (0) on 27 - Oct - 07
Your correspondent will get his apologies in first.
One; he is sorry for lending the team cat to captain Ribchester. The alien environment and the offer of tender loving care obviously didn't impress him much, so much so that he not only tried to claw el capitan's eye out, but also gave him a dose of the pussy pneumonia. He is back at chez correspondent now, scratching a notch into his cat nip pole, grinning like the proverbial Cheshire while recalling another foe vanquished.
Two; after weeks of moaning regarding the very clement weather, we finally had a Saturday that can only be classed as Autumnal, so for all those ladies out there that didn't have a game and were hoping to sun themselves in lakeside, I hope my continual request for a grey sky on a Saturday didn't ruin your half term break.
Three and last but not least; is for the following nine paragraphs of which only two can be loosely described as a match report.
As Havering slowly crawl their way into a lofty position within Division 4 SE, it is very easy to come away from games against other potential promotion contenders, especially after a hard fought victory, and congratulate players, thank them for their efforts and use the tired old cliches of well done and well played. It is of course not literally dangerous to do this, no-one is going to find themselves in a life threatening situation if someone gives them a pat on the back (unless they are eating one of Farny's cheese rolls at the time), but it can give a false sense of a job well done.
Last week's demolition job of East London only served to inflate the team's confidence, whereas cool cold hearted analysis of the seventy minutes would have seen too much dribbling, people playing out of position and wasteful decisions in front of goal. Transfer that "form" from last week's match into this week's seventy minutes, against a Witham team who are superior to the Eastenders, and all of a sudden Havering don't look to be sitting as pretty as they should.
Again we appear to be confusing effort with good play. Johnson gave a speech prior to the start. I am going to paraphrase, but it was along the lines of "let's continue to play as well as we have done in previous weeks, but if we don't, then that is when everyone needs to put the effort in". I cannot fault Jonners, what he said is correct. If things aren't coming off, then you have to bust a gut to get back, make things difficult for the opposition, win the ball so the team can start to build decent attacking chances again.
This is where Havering are falling down and thus they are in danger of getting into a rut of a certain style of play which if it isn't picked apart by any teams in this division, it will be next year, which could result in us coming straight back to where we are right now. To put it quite simply, we don't pass the ball enough and when we do, we usually take the wrong option. Dribbling out of defence? Playing endless triangles in the top corners? Shooting from acute angles? Compressing play while we are attacking? No, no, no and NO!
Havering started well enough, scoring a short corner in the first five minutes when Ashlin smacked to the bottom right hand corner, but your correspondent is sure that even he was a tad surprised that the ball made it all the way across the line. Ashlin then went on to fire wide, when a simple slap seemed to be the best option, and both he and Mawdsley should have set each other up for simple tap ins but preferred to try to score the spectacular. Tanner was then unlucky not to be given an advantage when he was through on goal, a short corner blown when he looked odds on to open his account. The taking of any of these chances would have made the the afternoon's ride a lot more comfortable. As it was, we hustled and bustled with a great work ethic, but continued to show a lack of intelligence on the ball.
It took almost twenty five minutes of the second half to finally close the game out. Young DeFroand must wonder what he has to do to get protection from umpires in this league, and when Witham's right back decided that hacking the player from behind five or six times wasn't worthy of a short corner, he overstepped the mark in his comments to the umpire and walked for his troubles. Ten minutes in the corner for their captain and worse was to follow from the resultant short corner.
Although the second goal was only a microcosm of the entirety, it showed what happens when we use intelligent play. The short corner was slipped right to Mawdsley and instead of trying to find the back-board from the extreme right of the area, he slipped to the penalty spot where Ashlin fired home for his brace. No matter how many times you read it here, time and time again, we fail to do this on the pitch far too often and this is why we come away from games saying "we should have been in double figures". Whenever a comment is made to players about their decision making, the player usually says "yeah you're right" and then goes on to do exactly the same thing, not learning from their errors.
We don't have the benefit of a technical coach to sit down with us for hours on end, but all those years of training are geared towards players making the correct decisions and having the strength and fitness to be in control of ones facets when one is in pressure situations. You can be as fit as a fiddle, have oodles of ability on the ball, but if you consistently make terrible decisions you are more of a hindrance than a help, because all that happens is you dribble around five players before you get tackled by a sixth, or the team works hard to get you in a great position only to see the ball hit the side netting when a man is screaming at the far post for the slipped ball. It is those decisions which can turn you into a great team player for the ones or twos or a big fish in a little pond for one of the lower elevens. If you are a second teamer reading this, ahem, report, then have a good long think about which stage of hockey you have reached and where you want to go from here.
The sad thing is that even though one or two players had good games, no-one can walk away from this victory against the men in yellow and say they played superbly well, and I include myself in that, because I could easily point to several mistakes from every player barring Rowe in goal. Rowe in fact only had two saves to make, which shows just how dominant Havering were, which only serves to highlight just how profligate Havering are going forward and to raise your correspondent's blood pressure. The only players who came closest to a good performance were Johnson, Morland and DeFroand. I will let them argue who takes man of the match as I really cannot be bothered. In what seems to be a strange quirk of fate, we are once again against the league leaders next week, this time Harlow have sneaked into the top position on goal difference. Can we at least try to play good basic hockey, because if we do, we will take teams apart.
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Mens 2's (7) v East London (1) on 20 - Oct - 07
You have to feel sorry for both the goalkeepers on this Saturday. Poor old Ryan Clarke was suffering badly with a case of food poisoning and could barely stand up for the game, in fact he only lasted ten minutes before coming off, and as for the home custodian, you only have to look in his debit column to feel sorry for him. Havering's play was at times patchy, but so dominant that they could once again have gone on to score double figures had they played to their full capabilities.
I know you are probably tired of reading this, but no matter what mother nature throws at us during the week when we toil in our offices and factories, she seems to think that it will be fun for us to run around in a seventy degree heat on Saturday. For an, ahem, experienced team like the Havering's second string, the heat means that we cannot play to our full tempo. We wait for cooler times so we can show the division our true potential.
To the game. East London had four players who were truly comfortable on the ball, but the other six outfield players were merely make-weights, no doubt missing the days of invincibility they showed at home in divisions 5 and 6. Two of those were up front, so had to survive on scraps. When they did get the ball, they had Neruker, Johnson, Ribchester and Barlowe to contend with. Their South African in the middle was strong on the ball, but had no outlet to add momentum to his forward drives, while their man at the back was as strong as an ox, built like a brick ship yard, but didn't have the pace to add anything to the game.
So it was left to Morland to control the game, and control it he did. Marler held deep, allowing Morland to stike forward with DeFroand to the left and Wigham to the right. With Ashlin holding the high line and drifting out to the right channel, and Mawdsley dropping deep to receive and turning out to the left channel, their was just too much movement for our hosts to follow. It came to pass therefore that the accumalting pressure resulted in two short corners, the second of which was fired home by Ashlin.
Clarke then felt too ill to continue and as we waited for Rowe to arrive and put on the pads, Vaccero came on at right half while Wigham slipped back as a high sweeper. This didn't effect Havering's dominance, as London were already having trouble getting the ball out their half and their forward players now had Wigham to contend with, as well as the existing back four.
More pressure ensued as Havering's eleven outfield players found spaces in between London's ten, with Mawdsley doubling Havering's advantage at the twenty minute mark. Rowe waddled onto the pitch at this point, resplendent in Clarke's somewhat odourous kit, allowing the outfield players to resume their original shape and to pile into London's D. London then seemed to target young Defroand, often with egregious tackling, but he hit them back hard by winning another another short corner, this time allowing Marler to get his name on the score sheet, to give Havering an unassailable lead at half time.
A change of ends, but no change in the pattern of play. Marler and Ashlin both bagged their braces, from short corner and open play respectively, to put the game beyond doubt. East London then tried to salvage something from the game but this just meant that Havering countered with men over, usually Marler, who completed his afternoon's work with two more well taken goals to take his personally tally to four and to join Ashlin as top scorer on seven apiece.
A disappointing end as far as Havering's defence is concerned, as we conceded late on, but your correspondent was happy enough with the result. Witham now top the league on ten points and, surprise, surprise, they are next on Havering's list of opponents. We look forward to more of the same from the men in black next week.
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Mens 2's (3) v Saffron Waldon (1) on 13 - Oct - 07
A fine afternoon's work from the second string against the early pace setters in Division 4 South East. Your correspondent wouldn't go as far as to say we played the perfect game, we were far too slow in getting the ball to Ashlin, and apart from the third goal we again failed in our decision making when we were in the penalty area.
Solid work from DeFroand and Barlow on the left side compressed the play to such an extent that Walden spent most of the game trying to find an avenue to goal on their own left side. With Barnes not only attacking well on the right wing, but tracking back to such good effect, Walden were either using some form of psychology that was either too deep to effect the beer wearied brains of Havering's defence or had run out of ideas once they had exhausted plan A.
Captain Ribchester and Johnson were once again assured in the middle of the back, while Neruker weighed in with one or two well timed last last ditch tackles. Morland and Hall worked tirelessly again, while Mawdsley continues to delight and baffle in equal measure. He carries the ball at such pace from the half way line to good attacking positions that you feel he could be the catalyst for a cricket score, before squandering possession with his choice in front of goal. Ashlin, after a short night's sleep due to work commitments, was rattier than usual, but even with a good night's sleep it would be odds on that Mawdsley would have received the same berating for not squaring the ball when the goal was gaping at the far post.
Marler was introduced and almost immediately he started to find his old sparring buddy with the first time ball, and when the somewhat unorthodox pace of Marler's reverse stick shot was parried all of twelve inches by the unfortunate Walden custodian, Ashlin was quickest to the ball to lift into the roof of the nett. The goal did not alter the way the game was being played, and on what was yet another unseasonally warm day, all those on pitch did well to keep their bodies and minds playing at a tempo to contain the visitors until the half time whistle blew.
The five minutes rest was well received and Havering continued to dominate as once again Walden threw their kitchen sink on their left side, allowing the home team to stay strong. This tactic was exposed most readily when Neruker tackled well in the Havering half, found Moreland whos superb ball released to the right channel. A combination of Barnes and Ashlin saw the ball worked into the D well, and although the chance seemed to have gone, Morland picked the ball up again and calmly fired home inside the keeper's near post.
For the away team, this almost broke their resolve, and no-one tracked back when Marler visited the back post. Ashlin picked the ball up in the right channel, drifted outside the first player and attacked the near post. Seeing both the keeper coming towards him and Marler's run timed to perfection, he slipped left where it was all too easy for Marler to make sure he maintained his run of scoring in each league game. At this point Ashlin took time out to remind the team that this was indeed the easiest way to score goals.
With less than ten minutes to play, Walden finally decided to attack on their right. They did manage to pull a goal back from a short corner, but this was not the start of a comeback, merely a blip in Havering's afternoon. With England winning as expected against Estonia, and the egg chasers bagging a berth in the final, it was a most agreeable Saturday.
Next week sees Havering visit East London, who have taken over from Walden at the top of the league. As an Englishman, your correspondent hopes to be able to report on a Saturday of sport which is equal, if not better than the Saturday covered in this week's missive.
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Mens 2's (7) v Romford 1's (2) on 06 - Oct - 07
Your correspondent is obviously delighted by the scoreline, but it really doesn't tell the whole story of the game. Yes, Havering thoroughly deserved the five goal spread, but the scoreline doesn't reflect either Havering's overall dominance or Romford's spirited ten man fightback.
Mawdsley's pace was tremendously troublesome for the Romford backline, who were undoubtedly missing Andy Moncur's settling presence (even though he had a fair shift between the sticks), and time and time again Greg combined well with Ashlin to create chances in the D. The problem, or perhaps major disappointment, was that the chances were never converted to anything more substantial, neither goal nor short corner.
Greg seemed to run out of ideas as soon as he was confronted by the Romford custodian and Ashlin's sure touch appeared to have deserted him as he tried to batter his way to goal. There was no attempt to slip the ball in a two on one in order to score until a break though came after fifteen minutes when stand in left back Jack Barlow produced a superb run out of a pack of players into space receiving a pin point pass. He was greeted at the top of the D by the Romford keeper but had presence of mind and slipped right to Steve Ashlin who fired first time. The ball was stopped by a Romford players foot. Ashlin converted the penalty flick comfortably.
Soon after the first goal a Havering short corner slip fell to Johnathan Wiggam at the top of the D who spotted Paul Nerurker free who slotted home the second as Havering in their red strip stretched their lead over the home team. Romford then lost Mansfield, who was struggling emotionally due to personal reasons, as he was ejected from the game for first questioning the umpire's integrity and then following that up with an even more personal observation. The yellow card would see him through to the end of the game, so he decided to watch from the comfort of his car. The dismissal galvanised Romford and the expected deluge of goals from Havering never arrived. It could hardly be called an inexperienced team, so to see such waste from so many good chances was frustrating and if your correspondent had hair to pull out he would have done.
Matters got worse for Havering before they got better. Powerful front running from Scott Oakwell created a couple of half chances for Romford, culminating in two short corners. Romford pulled one back from the first which was sweetly struck by Oakwell past the outstretched foot of the Havering keeper and with the post man slightly out of position. Romfords equaliser came from their second short corner and although the strike bobbled over and around keeper and post man it ended up in exactly the same place as the first to bring the teams level. They could well have gone on from there to take the lead, but an interception from Marler left Havering two on one with the keeper and this time Morland showed how things should be done when he drew the keeper towards him before he released Ashlin to score his second of the match into an empty net. As is usual in these cases, the goal deflated Romford, as if it were a mockery of the effort they had put in to get a foothold in the match and quickfire goals from Marler and then Ashlin to complete his hat-trick, meant that it was now five two with twenty minutes to play.
The extraordinary thing was that Havering still continued to try and beat the goalkeeper from all angles, with Mawdsley particularly wasteful and at one point they nearly managed to squander a four on one with the goalkeeper. As it was, a misfired slap from Ashlin found its way to the South African, only just passing the unlucky Moncur's stick, where Greg finally managed to get his name on the score sheet.
Ashlin wrapped things up to take his personal tally to four and to bring the final result to seven two to Havering.
Ribchester and Johnson once again gave an assured display in defence and Barnes provided most of the width when asked. One can't help wondering what the score would have been if perhaps Morland had been working along side Ashlin for the afternoon. The day called for unselfish play - even when the game was beyond Romford - but at times we lacked the maturity to finish off our opponents.
With the game done and dusted, and as one mentioned in the previous week's missive, the only thing left to do was to take to Gallow's corner to enjoy an afternoon with the Hangmen in their den of iniquity. A thoroughly enjoyable several hours ensued, coupled with a fine win by England over the new country in the egg chasing. Next week we host the early pace setters, Saffron Walden, who have netted five times in each of the opening games.
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Mens 2's (1) v Colchester 2's (2) on - 29 Sept - 07
Your correspondent is despondent, to the point where he has forgotten most of the match facts apart from the all important score, which was a reversal by the odd goal. What he does remember was too much effort at times being expended by a midfield, which was undoubtedly talented, but seemed to ignore the fact that it would be better to play a half court press and save their energy for the forward forays as and when they came.
It was also obvious that the collective were failing each other when it came to picking up their men. This team has been guilty in the past of failing to pass a man on, stepping up to spare men and calling for their colleagues to move into better positions. It was once again in painful evidence yesterday and as such our midfield was becoming overloaded. This problem was highlighted more so when the centre back pairing of Johnson and Ribchester found themselves having to cope with one or even two men too many coming through the middle.
At this point I have to reiterate that the starting midfield of Tanner, Barlowe, Morland and Hall cannot be faulted for their work-rates, because they were almost Herculean in their efforts, but in a post match interview Tanner expressed concern that he felt almost lost at times. It is easy to understand why - in order to be close to his midfield colleagues he sometimes found himself thirty or forty yards from the touchline he was supposed to be operating on. I am all for total hockey, but no-one had moved in to cover his expeditions, it was just that he could see that if play broke down, the middle of the park was wide open and thus did the best he could to provide cover.
It was mentioned before the game that all Colchester sides train to play the ball around the back and with the midfield out of position, Barnes and Mawdsley were running their cojones off to try and shut play down. Again, admirable work rate but if you are using your energy to close players down, you do so in the hope that the outlet is also being shut down. It wasn't.
The result of the afore-mentioned was a one nil deficit at half time and then shortly after the restart, two nil. It was only when chasing the game that Havering finally started to correct the mistakes. Late in the first half, James Barnes had moved to the right of the midfield and this did show signs of improving the Havering performance, but it came more to the fore in the second thirty five.
The biggest problem of all though was a lack of fire power for the entire seventy minutes. With both Ashlin and Rees drafted into the first team, the second string were left without a natural goalscorer, especially a straight strike from the short corner. The short corner count was close to ten to one in the home team's favour, yet only a late deflection by Marler registered from all the chances created, Neruker provising the intial strike for Marler to touch home to set up nervy last ten minutes. Too little too late.
I am going to give the man of the match for the home team to young Defroand. He continues to show so much promise, the simplicity of his play is difficult for oppositions to cope with, and although he was a tad unsure of himself at left back he still showed enough to answer why he is so highly rated. If the umpire in the second half had protected him more from the persistent fouling from Colchester's right sided players, the result of the game could well have been different.
Away to local rivals Romford next week in what is sure to be a great day out. Let's hope that Havering's hockey can match the occasion.
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Mens 2's (3) v Crostyx 2's (1) on 22 - Sept - 07
Another scorching late summer‚s day for Havering‚s second string to endure as they attempted to play their way past Crostyx‚ reserves in the last of the pre-season friendlies. With the sapping heat taking energy from player‚s limbs it was highly important for us to make the ball do the work. We showed glimpses of how it should be done, especially when the ever classy Richard Cast made his way forward from sweeper, but generally the play was turgid and lacked imagination.
The scoreline itself was only a reflection of the gap in divisions between the two teams on display. Had it not been for the persistent finishing of Ashlin and the growing maturity and sureness of touch in young Daniel Rees‚ shooting then there would have been little to smile about.
So where, your correspondent asks, do we make the improvements that will give us consistency throughout the season that will push us towards promotion. For a start, we need to give the players on the pitch some consistency for the seventy minutes, which means smarter use of substitutions. Resting players is a sure strategy, especially on hot days like this one, but players tend to end up coming back on in a different position to where they started, leaving them needing a few minutes to get back up to game pace. It also means that players cannot build up an understanding with the team mates that are in their immediate vicinity.
One of the things that Captain Ribchester mentioned to your correspondent in the post match interview, just before both interviewer and interviewee proceeded to get mildly inebriated, was how impressed he was with the way Cast, Marler and Ashlin always seemed to know where to put the ball when they were passing among themselves. This undoubtedly comes from those particular players having spent the best side of two hundred games in the same team, vastly more if you exclude Marler from the equation. It was not something that your correspondent picked up on during the game, mainly because by profession he is not a hockey journalist, but it was interesting to hear a third party‚s thoughts on the subject. Therefore we need to nurture talents like Defroand by not only playing him in the same position, left half in several people‚s view, but to also let him get to know his left back and central midfield for longer periods.
James Barnes has so much pace that we need to put him on the right where he can burn away defenders on his strong side to create more opportunities for the front two. We can probably do away with the diamond formation and switch to a flat middle four because on the rare occasions when we did switch play from one full back to the other, via the central midfield, there was never a central midfielder close enough to the opposite full back to pick the ball up again. With two midfielders in the centre of the park to take care of these duties it should mean that when one channel is blocked, the other could be opened with the minimum of effort and by default we can hit Barnes higher up the pitch and he can do more damage.
Last, but not least, comes the condition of not just our pitch, but all those sand based pitches that are dotted around division four south east and how they effect the short corner routine. Far too often over the past season or two, we have seen the dragged ball held up on a sticky pitch. We cannot afford to waste Ashlin‚s unerring accuracy from the set play, so Neruker needs to add the slapped ball to his locker or we need to look to see if we have another option available.
To the game then (at last I hear you cry). It may surprise you to learn after the previous 639 words that Ryan only touched the ball once during the game, immediately prior to the goal being conceded. The ball was already in the air when Ryan took a desperate kick at the ball, but this just dollied it up nicely for a Crostyx stick to volley home from short range. The poor lad was unlucky as he had no time in which to make a decision and as Havering were already two up at the time there was no real harm done. Those two Havering goals came courtesy of Ashlin, who muscled and bullied his way into a position where, at full stretch, he squeezed the ball home with the very last millimetre of his stick, and Rees who lifted a rebound calmly high and right of the diving custodian. Two one at the change of ends and much liquid taken on board to see us through the second thirty five.
In the second half, the play became more dire and so did the umpiring, the away umpire feeling the need to talk to Barnes after he questioned her for incorrectly giving a foot for what was actually a finely intercepted ball. He was understandably miffed at this, but then lost his temper when she moaned about how long it took him to retrieve the ball from off the byline in a previous incident, even though it was a Crostyx ball. She was a fine figure of a woman, but I doubt even she could have retrieved the ball any quicker than Barnes, and since when was getting the ball for the opposition anything other than being a good sport? Strange, so strange in fact that Barnes could no longer hide his disbelief sufficiently and walked off the pitch before the umpire could get to her pocket and take out the yellow card which was eventually shown.
The numerical advantage mattered not one jot as Havering always seemed to have a spare man at the back anyway. Rees eventually popped up to fire home for his brace and to put the game beyond doubt.
Colchester at home next week for the boys in black. Your correspondent told the cat that the league proper starts next week, so he is in the garden piling up the sand bags, storing canned foods and long life milk, and writing home to his mummy to tell her how much he misses her. Who knows, if we do learn lessons as a team he may never use that can opener, but somehow your correspondent feels that he will be tasting corned beef at least once before the season is out.
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Mens 2's (4) v Wisbech 2's (1) on 16 - Sept - 07 / CUP MATCH
Wisbech looked to play some very attractive hockey, but the defensive showing from Havering's second half the previous afternoon continued on this traditional day of rest. Once again the sun was shining, making it hard work for all, but Havering's midfield were rampant. Markus Hall showed great maturity in a position he was unfamiliar with and James Barnes' pace was incredibly troubling for the Wisbech back line, but it was Daniel Rees' hold up play that was a welcome feature in this game.
I mentioned last season that young Rees has added deft of touch to his striking armoury, but he still tended towards naivety when it came to his general play. A full season playing with Ashlin, who was missing this weekend, should hopefully iron out those wrinkles but he made an excellent showing in working the line and dropping deep where necessary to bring the midfield into play. At last Havering's reserves were showing that they could move forwards as a unit, largely because of the effort Rees was making.
It didn't take long after this initial showing for Havering to take the lead and it was inevitably Rees who took the plaudits in this man of the match performance (young Alex Defroand came close). A quick ball from the 25 line by Adam Lumbers was deflected past the keeper at pace. No chance. Only three minutes later, and in an almost identical move, Lumbers fired in from the same position, this time for Barnes to add the gentlest of deflections. Two - nil, but the best was yet to come. Picking the ball up outside the 25, Rees, who had found himself alone with space to run into, did so. The keeper recognised the threat and sprinted to the edge of his D to narrow the angle, but he was a shade too late. Rees lifted the ball high over his head and it nestled against the back-board. Sublime finishing from the young man and he celebrated accordingly.
Wisbech did manage to pull one back before half time, but come the thirty five they must have been wondering how they were losing three nil to a bunch of ragamuffins who spent the warm up shelling the ball at the goalkeeper.
A change of ends and a subtle change in tactics. Wisbech, while obviously frustrated, began to leave the stick in and to come in to the tackle from all the wrong places. After one bad tackle too many, Johnson turned on his aggressor in retaliation. Although no hands were raised the umpire deemed it worthy of a yellow, but still didn't seem bothered about the fact that it was the young Wisbech forward's umpteenth foul. He must have felt that a correction needed to be made, because he gave him a green card a moment later for an incident where he hadn't actually deserved one - and innocuous challenge on Neruker. Shabby umpiring, although thankfully he only kept Johnson on the side for five minutes.
After a spell of fractious play, Havering finally settled the match when Marler swept in a free hit for Rees to deflect in for his hat-trick. Marler then came close with the miss of the match, the ball trickling past the upright after Defroand was strong in the D. He retained possession perfectly, riding many a "tackle", before squaring to Marler who wasted all the fine work that the youngster had put in. Luckily the chance was not important in the big scheme of things and Havering booked their place in the next round, four -one winners.
Captain Ribchester was obviously happy with the weekend's work, despite the reversal up the A127 and we look forward to our final friendly against Crostyx where we can hopefully fine tune as necessary for the long campaign ahead. Your correspondent is off to the garden to see where that pesky cat is. It is getting dark and his sardines are left un-nibbled.
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Mens 2's (1) v Southend 2's (8) on 15 - Sept - 07
As Blondie seems to have promised you all the report for the weekend, thought I would include you all in........
Those of you with a good memory may recall your correspondent's musings from the start of last season where on the 9th September the second string played hosts to a very mediocre Welwyn Garden city team. Those of you who have killed far too many brain cells in a summer full of barbecues (o.k., not enough sun for that perhaps) or too much over indulgence in the vino tinto while watching the rain pitter patter on you patio doors, will be able to access said musings from the wonderful website that you are already surfing.
This was an equal waste of time and possibly (far be it for this pot to call the kettle black, but in the case of a certain Mr Rowe) that could well be waist addled by time. After a finely worked short corner in the first five minutes where Marler slipped back to the feed and Neruker calmly netted from three yards out, Havering were never in the game. The divisional differential meant that Havering were chasing Southend's shadows as each player in yellow and blue, all over the park, was just a little better than his corresponding player. Sum those small parts together and you have a team that was just far too superior.
The Southend giver, having given to the givee and gone, left their tracker a pace too far from the trackee, giving the trackee room to overlap on the overlap and creating space that a bewildered central pairing of Johnson and Ribchester could never hope to fill. One imagines they are probably still bewildered if they trying to untangle the previous sentence.
Enough of the prose. One six down at the change of ends, a few of which were assisted by some baffling advantage play by the home umpire, and a shell shocked Havering team looked like they would be happy to call it a day and escape from the sun that was scorching all and sundry. Ryan Clarke was a busy chap in this period and we were lucky he managed to keep the score down to single figures.
The second half was more positive and although we conceded two goals late on to lose eight one, we showed for thirty minutes that we could actually play some decent stuff, which moves me on nicely from this debacle of a friendly to the cup game played at home against Wisbech on Sunday.
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Mens 2's (4) v Southgate Adelaide 2's (0) on 08 - Sept - 07
After a long summer of stroking his pussy, your correspondent is delighted, nay ecstatic, to be able to return to his lap-top and to put it to the purpose that it should be used for. So, away with the dubious web-sites that are usually viewed after 'er indoors has gone to bed and say hello keyboard to the first of your correspondents missives from the far reaching corners of what can only be described as division four east....................
An under-strength Havering second string made light work of what your correspondent can only assume was also an under strength Southgate Adelaide side. The sun threatened to burn down on the teams as they went through their pre game exercises, Havering looking professional by warming up and stretching, Adelaide mooching around the D hitting balls at their stand in keeper, and although a thin cover of cloud appeared to abate the glare of the sun, the heat and closeness of the day remained to make sure every player was put through their paces.
Adelaide had just four players of note, which would never be enough to contain the likes of Ashlin when in rampant mood. His constant running at the heart of defence opened the way for the men in black's first short corner and he duly dispatched from the top of the box into the bottom right hand corner. It is a fair bet that very few keepers would have made the save and therefore the Adelaide stand in was still rooted to the spot when ball had made its way back past him after crashing in to the back-board.
It wasn't long before Ashlin bagged his brace, using his body well to shield the ball from the veteran defender before slotting calmly past the home custodian. Chances came and went and of course, as always with our beloved seconds, the opposition managed to create a chance of thier own. Andy Rowe, known as El Elbow to his friends and enemies alike, found himself on the wrong side of the Adelaide attacker and nudged him a little too sprightly for the umpires liking. Wilson senior pointed to the spot and it looked as though the home team could go on to get a foothold in the match. Ryan had other ideas though and dived superbly to his left to firmly palm the ball to safety.
Ashlin took a breather from the heat but Havering's attack continued apace. Marler moved forward and earned three corners in quick succession, although each of Heitt's strong flicks were saved well, before Marler found an Adelaide foot on the line after beating the keeper. Captain Ribchester ceded the flick to Rowe, possibly for a laugh, but he tucked the ball away neatly and for the third time in the first half the keeper was pipped at his left hand post.
A change of ends did not bring a change of fortune for Adelaide. Ashlin returned, Barlowe and DeFrond were making progress on the right and left channels respectively, Johnson Senior continued to marshall the defence so well that Ryan was a spectator for the entire thirty five minutes and Anthony made some swift interchanges behind the front two. Chunder Baggins came into the game more and more, collecting a goal for all his effort after a neat passage of triangle play starting with Neruker on the right and flowing through Ribchester, Barlowe and Ashlin before Chunder slotted home. He was also inexplicably denied a penalty when the keeper brought him down after being rounded, but at four nil down and with this only being a friendly, it may well be that Wilson had one eye on the time and decided that we shouldn't waste valuable minutes on a penalty when there was an important football match, and indeed game of rugby, on television later in the day.
Overall it was a competent display, and one that most of the team will be happy with. Your correspondent saw one or two things that need to be ironed out, but we have two weeks to fine tune and tweak where needed. With two games next weekend, we can all expect a good workout to help us on our way to competition fitness and touch.
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