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THE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER OF CLIFTONVILLE HOCKEY CLUB

 RESULTS, SATURDAY 27^th JANUARY 2001

THIS WEEK, SATURDAY 3^rd FEBRUARY 2001

FORTHCOMING MATCHES, SATURDAY 10^TH FEBRUARY 2001

CLUB HOUSE DUTY = THE 5^th XI

DATES FOR THE DIARY

Club Supper – Saturday 24^th February
Club Dinner Dance – 31^st March 2001

Bonus Ball Winner; Gary Ingoldsby

Club Lottery Numbers: 13 17 22 27 36 41

Match Reports

Ladies vs. Crackenford, lost 1-0

This is our 3rd encounter with Crackenford. First was a league match and we drew 0-0, second was a friendly and we won 3-0, third, last Saturday was again league and we lost 1-0.

Not much to say except we had 75% of the game on the attack, had, once again, loads of short corners and scored nothing. They had 2 quick breaks; both resulted in nothing due to an excellent game in goal from Julie Charnley. They scored with one well built attack, had a fine strike at goal which Julie dived and saved and then they got a very lucky rebound which they put away and our defence could have done nothing to stop it.

We were extremely disappointed and I think we sit in the lower part of our league now. It's hard to keep track of where we are as the ladies leagues are appalling at sending out league tables and the web site is non existent. Can someone remind me what we pay our affiliation fees for???

Thanks for Lorna for dropping and umpiring and for Sharon's assistance.

Caroline played a blinder on her return for the first time this season. Glad to see you haven't lost it.

We need to win a few to be comfy and stay in Div 2. All we need is to do something with short corners and get on target a bit more.

But apart from all this we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves, especially the banter, now Cobby has returned.

Trace (forever doomed to be a single bird) Parsons

1^st XI vs. Sutton Valence, won 4-2

A much needed win in a real “six pointer” somewhat relieved the relegation fears of the 1^st XI on Saturday at St Lawrence.

In a game that again passed in a blur for the skipper, Ville took an early lead through Matt Westby, only to squander it through poor defending and back tracking when allowing a defender to score from close range. The lead was soon regained when Don Elmore bludgeoned his way through the Sutton Valence defence like a Neasden Blimp, and sent an unstoppable shot past the keeper from the top of the D. Two goals from Matt Young extended the lead to 4-1. However, understandably considering the precarious league position, Ville were unable to relax for the remaining twenty minutes of the game, proceeding to panic on the ball, and make several rash challenges inside the twenty five, all of which resulted in short corners. After defending ten of these, and conceding another goal, the final whistle went, which was followed by an evening of curry, women, wine, song and lots and lots of lager!

PS I lied about the women part.

PPS There was lots of lager though!

PPS And curry!

Floppy Jaffa

2^nd XI vs. Sutton Valance, drew 1-1

As it is not permitted to mention biased and cheating umpiring in the newsletter there will be no match report this week. No mention of Neasdon, Paul Cobb, his goal scoring return, or anything else.

See any of the second team for further details.

An Angry Sea Cucumber

3^rd XI vs. Herne Bay, lost 2-1

The thirds threw away a match that was ours for the taking against league rivals Herne Bay.  Playing with the wind in near-gale conditions at Jackey Bakers, we dominated the first half, scoring after 15 minutes through winger Kriss TupPER speeding into the right hand side of the area and meeting an inch-perfect pass from left-wing Danny Lewington.  Our dominance was underlined by the fact that Herne Bay were only able to leave their half once during the whole of the first period, keeper Dave Morgan making a diving (yes, you did read that correctly) save. We seemed to sense that one goal would not be enough but our young side became a bit frantic in front of goal and chances were wasted.

The second half saw Herne Bay rearrange their line-up and take control from the outset.  Our shape was lost and it was almost the exact opposite of the first half as Herne Bay attacked almost continuously.  Nevertheless our defence held firm until 15 minutes or so from time when a clear foot foul from a Herne Bay forward caused the defence to stop, assuming that the umpire had seen it.  Unfortunately, he had not and the player scored as wee stood and watched in disbelief.  We must learn to play to the whistle.  The complaints from Captain Morgan must have been heard as far away as Neasden.

Things went from bad to worse with just 3 minutes left on the clock as Herne Bay grabbed a winner.  A ball was crossed in from the right and the Herne Bay winger aimed for the right corner.  Captain Morgan dived right and his ROB MACER moved the same way.  Unfortunately, the shot was totally mis-hit and agonizingly ended up crawling into the left-hand corner.

This result leaves Ville 4 points behind Herne Bay though they have 3 games in hand.  Not a bad game in a strange sort of way, but far too many people had a poor second half.  ADAM STRICKETT gets the man of the match award for his determination and hard-attempted-tackling right until the end.

Spanky

Court and Social

Urgent warning…goes out to ALL members of the second XI going to the team dinner on Saturday night. Do not, under any circumstance, allow JON LAMBERT (a.k.a. the Sea Cucumber) to order DUCK in any quantity. Do so at your peril.