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THE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER OF CLIFTONVILLE HOCKEY CLUB

RESULTS, SATURDAY 9^th DECEMBER

 THIS WEEK, SATURDAY 16^th DECEMBER

 FORTHCOMING MATCHES, SATURDAY 30^th DECEMBER

CLUB HOUSE DUTY = THE 5^th XI

DATES FOR THE DIARY

Club Supper Saturday 20th January 2001 at The Clubhouse
Club Dinner Dance – 31^st March 2001

 Bonus Ball Winner

Match Reports

Ladies vs. BBHC, won 4-0 

At long last! A convincing win! 

We turned up at J. Bakers at 11:30am - we don't do JB's normally, but as the weather turned out, we got the best deal as JB's had drained all the rain by our 12 o'clock push back! 

Anyway, lovely to have the goals and nets put up by the Council, so we had warm hands and hearts as the game began. 

It was such a privilege to have 11 players this week, even though we had no Heather, one of the stalwarts of the team - never misses a fixture unless she is in hospital under the surgeon's knife! - Hope your are doing well! 

Back to the game... 

By half time we were 3-0 up - need I say no more? 

The ladies played as they should do - pretty damn good. Loads of passing, loads of opportunities to score and loads taken. The defence were somewhat well changed, due to Heather being out of the team, but they did good and with the excellent 'keeping of Claire and improvisation of the changed defence, did bloody well.

But big praise must be given to the attacking force that did what they did all last season and finished! (Men's 1st. I know how it feels when it all goes right at long last...)! At long last we scored a handful of goals, thanks to Lorna, Liz (2) and an absolute corker by Cathy...which deserved a shag and she got one! We were the Ville of last season, dominating and passing. It was again, a pleasure to play.

Trace...(watch the Gallery on the website for photos of the girlies at Georgios for the Xmas Scran-feast...) 

3rd XI vs. Sevenoaks, won 5-3

It was obvious from the start that the game was going to be played at a furious pace as Sevenoaks attacked out 10 men relentlessly throughout the opening 10 minutes, Captain Morgan in goal being called upon (and succeeding! with help from RODDY) on a number of occasions. We were not helped by MARK KEENAGH's late arrival (NOT his fault!). However once up to 11 men we took the lead through a fine passing move. Despite being under pressure we moved the ball out of defence and broke into the Sevenoaks half, centre-half MAX FRIEHOFF applying the finishing touch.

We began to gain in confidence (remembering the 9-1 win at Folkestone no doubt) and left-wing MICHAEL KNELL was able to double the lead mid-way through the half, scoring from EXTREMELY close range following a half-save from the 'keeper. We continued to attack but could not add to our tally before half time. A quick team-talk of 'keep it up, their umpire is biased so watch out in the second half and this is the sort of game that we could end up throwing if we are not careful' and back into action we went…

The second half began in much the same way as the first with Sevenoaks piling on the pressure. Again, we managed to break and MICHAEL KNELL was on target once more to move the away team closer to safety. Good work from ADAM STRICKETT, KRISS TUPPER and GARY INGOLDSBY kept them pegged back for the next 10-15 minutes and left-half GREG HOWARD scored a great goal after a half-chance had fallen to centre-forward MARK 'REVERSE-STICK ADDICTION' KEENAGH. At 4-nil, we relaxed a little and the trouble started… Sevenoaks' superior fitness started to show as their young forwards began bursting through the tired (and frequently headless) Ville team in numbers.

With just over 10 minutes to go, the home side finally managed what we hoped would be no more than a consolation goal, nutmegging DAVE MORGAN at the second attempt. However, two minutes later it was 4-2 as the Ville defence was outnumbered 4 to 2, following an horrific cock-up by "R~#!$$£" in defence [name protected] - the ball going in off the left-hand post. Sevenoaks tails were in the air as they pushed forward in numbers and it was no surprise that, after another horrific moment, this time from "T&*£ " when they scored their third goal in 6 minutes to pull it back to 4-3 with 5 minutes to go. At this point DAVE exploded but his voice gave up before the worst expletives could leave his mouth.

We managed to pull ourselves together for one final effort and ADAM STRICKETT and KRISS TUPPER combined down the right-hand wing to allow MAX FRIEHOFF to score his second and put us safe. A very relieved team staggered off at full-time and although the performance had not been one of their best by any stretch of the imagination, another three points had been gained. At the halfway stage of the season, we lie 6th in the league with 2 games in hand. A top 5 finish is still the objective and then I shall retire as captain, and this time I mean it!

Spanky



HA Vintage Cup Sunday 10th December, Cliftonville "Old Farts" 4 Chelmsford 3

A deluge of ran flooded the St Lawrence pitch causing a delay to the start of the match, hanging around waiting to start for an hour is not good preparation for the over 50's even if they are highly tuned athletes.

Despite this the game was a cracker, Chelmsford were certainly the better side in the first half always having players over in midfield and retaining possession better. Despite this Cliftonville scored first with a well-worked breakaway netted by Mickey Payne. Chelmsford however struck back twice and we trailed 1-2 at half time. We had defended well in the first half but had been unable to put sustained pressure on the opposition.

The second half we managed to tighten up in midfield and Mickey Payne brought us level after a penetrating run from Alan Cox culminating in an inch perfect pass. For ten minutes it was all Cliftonville again it was Mickey Tyler finishing off a move to put Cliftonville 3-2 up. You would think with a collective age of over 550 that we could stay calm, be sensible and keep the ball. You would be wrong, getting cocky and over elaborate we gave the ball away and it was 3-3. This goal seemed to galvanize the 'ville and we started to push up and keep Chelmsford penned in their own half for long periods. Tempers frayed and the game became a bit physical as cup tie fever set in, however with a minute to go Cliftonville were awarded a short corner and John Carr scored from a Trevor Hayman pass. Final score 4-3, well what more could you ask goals, excitement, end to end movement and skill we may be old but we can still entertain.

Team Chris Burton, Martin Yates, Trevor Devon (Jimmy Robinson HT), Trevor Hayman, John Carr, Arthur Davies, Mickey Tyler, Alan Cox, Paul Bailey, Mickey Payne and Ray Setterfield

Umpires Nick Alder and Gavin Bailey

John Carr