| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Sunday 29/1/06 |
| Team |
Opponents |
|
League |
Scr |
Scorers |
|
1st
XI |
v Tulse Hill |
H |
HA Trophy |
5-2 |
Webster 2 Richardson Harris Frost
J |
| Match
comments |
| 1st
XI: Success came on Sunday in the HA Trophy by 5-2 putting
Westbury into the last 16! Meaks writes: A whirlwind start
by the visitors left us a little shell shocked and a goal
down. Seeing as we'd been 2 goals behind on the Saturday
in 5 minutes and then won the game we weren't too worried.
We began to get worried after their first few short corners
flew narrowly wide at rapid pace. And they sent a stroke
into the allotments. We needn't
have worried as Nellor hammered a short corner home and
the oldest man on the pitch discovered some pace inside
the D to put us 3-1 up at half time. Fortunately their
short corner radar wasn't working despite all the practise
we were giving them. As Deaks said "there was a lot
of wood in some of our tackles". Despite yellow cards
for Bees (for apparently asking a question at the wrong
volume) and Slider for amputating Banners at both knees
we hung on to win 5-2. Goals from Nellor, Webster 2, Bomber
and Frost. Thanks to all who turned up to support and
we'll see you for the next round on 26th Feb at the Fortress. |
| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 28/1/06 |
| Team |
Opponents |
|
League |
Scr |
Scorers |
|
1st
XI |
v Torbay |
A |
Premier 2 |
5-3 |
Goodman 2 Webster 2 Richardson |
|
2nd
XI |
v W Glos II |
H |
North Div 2 |
2-0 |
Moon Harris |
|
3rd
XI |
v Firebrands IV |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 1 |
4-1 |
Small 2 Jarvis Baker |
| Wanderers |
v Firebrands V |
H |
Br & NW Som Div2 |
3-0 |
Farrell Taylor A Jones |
| Wizards |
v Bristol UWE IV |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
2-1 |
Banting G Evans |
| Warriors |
v O Bristolians IV |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
1-3 |
Parker |
| Widgets |
v N Bristol IV |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 4 |
2-2 |
Palmer M Sheppard |
| Match
comments |
1st
XI: The trip to Torbay resulted in the first team's eighth
successive win, (seven straight league wins). Meaks writes:
A dreadful start saw us 2 goals down in 5 minutes. Then
JP's 50 year old spine let him down and we started to
play much better. Paul Mason took over at centre half
and our (his) possession percentage soared.
2-2 at half time and Webster popped up
with a goal with 30 seconds of the 2nd half gone, the
double fist celebration came out of the bag and was still
going on when Torbay were restarting the game at half
way.We were wobbling at 4-3 up until Webster again settled
the game and celebrated in the same manner . Another gutsy,
gritty performance and still top of the table. Goals from
Goody 2, Webster 2, Nellor. This win puts the ones top
of the table.
| Prem 2 |
Pl |
W |
D |
L |
For |
Agn |
Diff |
Pts |
| Westbury |
14 |
10 |
1 |
3 |
45 |
30 |
15 |
31 |
| Cheltenham |
15 |
9 |
3 |
3 |
68 |
39 |
29 |
30 |
| City of Bath |
13 |
9 |
1 |
3 |
54 |
29 |
25 |
28 |
| Torbay |
13 |
8 |
2 |
3 |
46 |
34 |
12 |
26 |
|
2nd
XI: Another tough battle against the
old enemy - West Glos, and a nice 2-0 win sends us top
of the table! An awesome first 20mins
saw us go 2 goals up through some nice direct, fast, attacking
hockey. Bomber consistently caused their defence problems
setting up the first for Moonie to finish sweetly and
then scored the 2nd by deflecting in a shot from JPS.Glos
came at us in the 2nd half but the boys held firm and
dug deep. The skipper had an off day and the sweeper entertained
us all with the comedy pass of the season . A job well
done! Bath University contrived to lose to Bath Buccs
C but still have two games in hand.
| Div 2 N |
Pl |
W |
D |
L |
For |
Agn |
Diff |
Pts |
| Westbury A |
15 |
11 |
2 |
2 |
44 |
20 |
24 |
35 |
| Bath Univ |
13 |
11 |
1 |
1 |
66 |
21 |
45 |
34 |
| Bath Buccs |
15 |
10 |
1 |
4 |
45 |
26 |
19 |
31 |
|
| 3rd
XI: Sparky speaks: The thirds started
against a very different Firebrands team from the one
earlier in the season. Gone were
the young skilful kids who had caused us problems last
time. In their place were old stalwarts in the traditional
Firebrands style (this is not meant as a compliment!).
The only constant was the threat of Jerry Board who was
excellently marshalled by Nick Coates. Westbury were able
to put together some good moves going forward, with a
good mix of running with the ball, running off the ball
and passing.JJ converted an early short corner then overstretched
and was unavailable after 15 minutes. This did not disrupt
our style and we continued with some delightful hockey.
Simon Baker finished one great move with a strike from
mid D, then Limbo wriggled along the byline to score.
3-0 up at halftime and the Firebrands youngsters started
to turn up from their earlier school games. This made
the game more equal but Westbury were able to control
the ball for long stretches of the game. We were not quite
as incisive but still were able to fashion a number of
half-chances and short corners. Limbo was able to score
one from open play but others were wasted. The defence
coped well with Firebrands attacks and it was unfortunate
a goal was conceded with about 5 minutes to go. A good
win - but will Firebrands be able to take points off the
other top sides in next few weeks? |
Wanderers:
The Wanderers faced an entirely different team in the
shape of the Embers, who in their last league game against
Westbury were playing as Firebrands E against the Warriors.
It turns out that they have lost players higher up and
merged two sides, so all their teams have moved up one!
The Wanderers continued their surge to the championship
with a 3-0 victory. Tufty told me that Firebrands were
more intent on defending and preventing Westbury from
scoring, rather than trying to take the game to the Westbury
D. That's now 6 straight wins for the Wanderers. Fazzer
stepped up from the Wizards to get a goal, Alex Taylor
and Ben Jones added to their large tallies. The Wanderers
need just two wins to secure the title, but they will
be without Tufty for that period while he recovers from
his pulled ham string!
| Bristol & Som 2 |
Pl |
W |
D |
L |
For |
Agn |
Diff |
Pts |
| Westbury C |
13 |
12 |
0 |
1 |
66 |
12 |
54 |
36 |
| Bristol Univ C |
13 |
9 |
0 |
4 |
48 |
20 |
28 |
27 |
| Firebrands D |
13 |
9 |
0 |
4 |
33 |
28 |
5 |
27 |
|
Wizards:
The Wizards continue their push for the top with a 2-1
win at Bristol. George Banting scored his third of the
season and Nick Evans arrived at the pitch and in the
D to get the second. Will Halliday reported that the game
was a "battling come from behind victory". Firebrands
E lost their first game of the season as it is their F
team playing in a higher division. It is very possible
for them to lose a few more matches and the Wizards could
sneak to the top before the end of the season.
| Bristol & Som 3 |
Pl |
W |
D |
L |
For |
Agn |
Diff |
Pts |
| Firebrands E |
13 |
12 |
0 |
1 |
59 |
12 |
47 |
36 |
| Westbury D |
13 |
10 |
0 |
3 |
37 |
14 |
23 |
30 |
| W Glos D |
12 |
7 |
1 |
4 |
36 |
24 |
12 |
22 |
| Westbury E |
12 |
7 |
1 |
4 |
34 |
29 |
5 |
22 |
|
| Warriors: It
all started perfectly for the Warriors in their match
against O Bristolians. Sam Parker jinked his way into
the D and slipped the ball past the keeper to take a 1-0
lead. O Bs then began to press across the midfield and
looked dangerous going forward. They picked up an equaliser
and then a Will Enderby shin pad on the line gave them
a flick which was dubiously converted (is a slap a hit
or a flick?) In the second half the Warriors were far
more effective in midfield and pressed consistently for
an equaliser. Will Enderby was his usual dominant self
despite a damaged thumb (he will lose his nail and spoil
his manicure)! Sam Parker was instrumental in a number
of strong attacks down the right wing, he won the man-of-the-match
award. Harry Newington is beginning to use his skill to
get to the bye line. However, the chances created in the
middle were not turned into goals. The visiting keeper
made himself big and got his pads and body to everything.
A series of short corners (around 9 or 10) were not converted
(I think Pete said "Our corners were crap.")
O Bs had one break away and scored. With a minute left,
a foot on the line gave Westbury a stroke, but like all
the previous chances it was not converted. The Warriors
have now only won one of their last seven games after
a solid start. A 3rd place finish for them is becoming
a contest with W Glos, scoring goals in the up coming
games is now a priority to finish above our local rivals. |
| Widgets: The
Widgets were somewhat aimless in their passing and hitting
in the first half and a strong N Bristol side opened up
a 2-0 lead in a quarter of an hour and looked to have
established a platform for a comfortable win. Ed Lowe
worked tirelessly to get the midfield, but lacked the
support from his inexperienced fellow midfield players.
The game was turned when Will Holmes put in a defence
splitting cross that encouraged a demon finish from Martin
Palmer to help Westbury reach the half only one goal down.
In the second half there was some great work by Brian
Callis and Martin Rees to keep out the N Bristol forwards.
Stuart Horn got all his angles right and blocked every
shot at goal (and there were quite a few). Not many chances
came the Widget's way, but they stuck at it trying to
get the equaliser. A short corner was earned and the whistle
blown for time. Up stepped the 'special teams players'
(an NFL term) Callis injected, Palmer stopped and Shep
slammed-dunked (an NBA term) the ball home to the delight
of the home team and the disgust of the visitors. With
all Firebrands F's scores purged from the records, the
Widgets now have two teams below them in the table, it's
great not to be the bottom club. Wins in remaining games
against S Glos and O Bs can keep them below us. |
| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 21/1/06 |
| Team |
Opponents |
|
League |
Scr |
Scorers |
|
1st
XI |
v Swindon |
H |
Premier 2 |
4-2 |
Frost J Goodman Mason Harris |
|
2nd
XI |
v Chepstow |
A |
North Div 2 |
5-0 |
Colquhoun 3 Pearce-Smith Moon |
|
3rd
XI |
v N Bristol II |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 1 |
8-0 |
Small 5 Nichols G 3 |
| Wanderers |
v N Bristol III |
A |
Br & NW Som Div2 |
6-1 |
Taylor A 4 Coates Taylor T |
| Wizards |
v O Bristolians IV |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
2-1 |
Colton Ogilvie |
| Warriors |
v N Somerset II |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
2-7 |
Harvey Hughes |
| Widgets |
v Frys |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 4 |
2-7 |
Pritchard Lowe |
| Match
comments |
| 1st
XI: Two goals for the firsts, in the opening minutes put
them in the driving seat at home to Swindon. Swindon clawed
it back to 3-2. Late in the game Tony Webster struck a
hit in from the right to Shadwell on the near post. Gary
laid it back to Bomber who drilled it home to make the
game safe. City of Bath lost to Whitchurch which piys
estbury to the top of the table. |
| 2nd
XI: TC scored a hat-trick in Chepstow
with JPS and Moonie getting the other two as the seconds
continued their push for promotion. Slider was in the
first team so we don't have his usual analysis, instead
we have news from Bees: A small trip to Chepstow, Algers
home!! Deepest Wales!! Won 5 - 0.
TC 3, JPS, Moon. Good 3 points. Should have been 12 goals
but the final pass and the charge of the light brigade
let us down. Extremley solid at the back. Terry had one
of his special days and Moon cleared well of the line
twice.Great tea followed by a classic
wind up for Slider!!!Keep it going
lads! Well done to the 1sts (top
of the table), 3rds need that 2nd spot, Wanderers...what
can I say!!, and the Wizards... keep up the good work. |
| 3rd
XI: Limbo was awesome in the first half
against N Bristol. Now remember when this game was played
at the end of last season it was lost 1-0, and that result
knocked the thirds into third place and denied them promotion.
Ian's goals were very well taken as he quickly scored
4. The best was where he swapped passes with JJ. The final
ball from JJ was perfection. JJ in fact went on to get
five assists. However the goal of the half was skillfully
taken by Gareth Nichols, whose slap shot hit the roof
of the net after he had rounded the keeper. In the second
half Paxo was called more into action and made some very
good saves to keep a clean sheet. Former Westbury player
Lyndsay Cumberbatch (who scored the only goal last year)
was shut out by the home defence. Simon Baker must have
made 15 runs from right back to right wing during the
course of the game, his running was superb. Limbo added
his fifth goal in the second half, but it was Gareth Nichols
who stole the show late in the game with a borrowed stick.
His mother broke his when she borrowed it for her morning
game! All three of his goals nearly burst the roof of
the net! There were strong performances all over the pitch
as the thirds played some very neat hockey. |
| Wanderers:
Alex Taylor brought his personal tally to 10 goals in
5 successive games as the Wanderers scored 6 goals against
N Bristol. Nick Coates and Tom Taylor added one each.
It is rumored that Bristol University C have had a walk
over given against them because the University did not
field a B team for a fixture. This will open up a 6 point
gap for the Wanderers. Add to that the students lost to
Firebrands who now sit in second place. |
Wizards:
The Wizards' game against OBs was more like a cup tie
than a league game. The first half was pretty competitive,
with OBs turning round 1-0 up. We had failed to score
from the couple of short corners that we had been awarded
and were aggrieved not to have been awarded a flick. Mark
Crofts had also managed to tweak a hamstring and Chris
Cocks had injured an achilles..so with just the 11 players
we made a few positional changes and decided to go into
the second half with a bit more conviction than we had
shown in the first. We played some excellent hockey, moving
the ball around crisply, moving off the ball well, and
with Geoff Rickard making some penetrating runs from left
midfield into the heart of the OBs defence. Their keeper
made some excellent saves (as Pete Murphy did in our goal,
especially some excellent one on ones with their quick
young
striker), but we eventually got the goal we deserved?a
fine strike from Mark Colton that was deflected in by
one of their players. We kept the pressure on and were
awarded a flick. Mark Crofts hobbled up from left back
to take it, but it was saved by the keeper. We continued
to keep the pressure on. Somewhere along the line Alan
Christopher hit the post and other efforts came close?..but
there wasalways a danger that OBs would score. About 10
mins from the end they did have the ball in the net and
ran back to the half way line thinking that they had gone
2-1 ahead, but the umpires conferred and the goal was
not given. We came back at them and a quickly taken free
hit was crossed to Simon at the top of the D by Pete Farrell
who drilled it in just wide of the left hand post where
Duncan Ogilvie battled off two defenders and the goal
keeper to get just enough of a touch on the ball to ensure
that it crossed the goal line. The last three minutes
were pretty tense, but we held on to secure a very welcome
three points. This was an excellent team performance showing
grit and determination as well as some good hockey. |
| Warriors: N
Somerset started with 9 men, added a tenth when they had
just taken the lead and looked deadly in front of goal.
It was only some fine saves from Sam Banting that kept
the score down. The warriors had equal possession in the
opening half but were guilty of not turning their attacks
into chances. Passes were poorly executed and the visitors
were not put under any significant pressure. The best
pass of the day came from Brian Nichols, who set Will
Halliday free down the right. Will looked the pick of
the Warriors despite a bad knee. His cross enabled Mike
Harvey to equalise. Then followed a spell of disappointing
play. Pete Thomas told me that they experimented with
some positional changes for the game. It didn't come off,
and along with some poor marking of the quick breaking
visiting forwards, N Somerset were able to go 7-1 up.
Rob Hughes scored a consolation goal near then end. Perhaps
watching the way the thirds played might help the Warriors
midfield appreciate how to use the square ball effectively. |
| Widgets: Paul
Pritchard shook the home team by giving the Widgets the
lead at Frys. Frys played a physical game, and the umpires
were unable to interpret hands in the back or nudges to
push our players off the ball, they weren't experienced
enough to apply the advantage rule. Roger Montegue made
one spectacular goal line clearance to keep a lofted drive
out. However, if was two defensive errors that gifted
Frys their 2-1 half time lead. We were never an attacking
force, but we played with great determination. Westbury
actually equalised when Ed Lowe struck a shot. Two shots
two goals for the Widgets, their goal keeper had a stinker!
Frys managed to establish a 4-2 lead as the Widgets overworked
defence became tired. Stuart Horn was in the thick of
the action making some good stops, and Martin Rees had
a strong game at right midfield. Frys scored 3 late goals
which took some of the gloss of of an encouraging Widget's
performance against the second placed team. Wheras the
Widgets came off very discouraged in their 7-2 defeat,
the Widgets can take some pride in the way they upset
the play of their opponents and gave them a bit of a fright
for 50 minutes. |
| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Sunday 15/1/06 |
| Team |
Opponents |
|
League |
Scr |
Scorers |
|
Veterans |
v Banbury Veterans |
A |
HA Plate |
2-2 |
Colton Banting G |
| Match
comments |
| Veterans:
The vets match at Banbury started very brightly with some
good possession and early pressure on the home defence.
The first short corner was struck by Mark Colton. The
ball came back to him off the pads and he powered a first
time shot into the roof of the net for a stunning goal.
Minutes later Pete Thomas scored only to see the umpire
signaling for a Westbury hit on the edge of the D. Banbury
had some good attacks of their own. Their main threat
coming from their right wing, who we later learned took
part in triathlons and recently cycled (peddled) to Aberystwyth
(and back)! Banbury's pressure was rewarded when they
equalised with a shot from the edge of the D. Mark Colton
then came to the rescue with one clearance off the line.
However, a second Westbury short corner brought a second
goal. The ball was worked right to George Banting who
thundered in his shot (it nearly did me some damage rebounding
off the backboard where it was hit so hard!) Either side
of half time Westbury could have scored a third but did
make the right contact or the accurate pass to score.
Banbury then began to take complete control of the game.
They won the ball in midfield by not giving us any time
or space to build our own game. They applied constant
pressure, even hitting the cross bar with one shot. Mark
Colton again cleared off the line, Stuart Horn was in
the thick of things using his pads and feet well. Jez
Longden in his first game this season cleared twice off
the line from shorts. The defence worked very hard to
keep the home forwards out but one very skillful run down
the left saw them score a well taken equaliser inside
the last ten minutes. The home team looked the more likely
side to snatch the winning goal, but the Westbury defence
held out to the end. The opposition afterwards complemented
us on how well we defended! Thankfully there was no extra
time, so it was straight to penalty stokes. Westbury went
first but a powerful flick hit the post, however Banbury
put their first one over the cross bar. Jez Longden and
Martin Palmer took their strokes well as did their two
counter-parts. 2-2 after 3 strokes each. The next Westbury
flick caught more turf than ball and was saved. Stuart
Horn then kept things even with a save of his own. Still
2-2! The 5th Westbury stoke also suffered from the wrong
contact and lacked power and direction, enabling the keeper
to save. Banbury clinched it 3-2 with their last stroke
with Hoddle, Waddle and Batty not scoring for us!!!The
home side were a very sociable crowd and their hospitality
was first class. We wish them luck in the next round.
Team: Horn, Longden, Cocks, Colton, Counsell, Sparks,
Banting G, Crofts, Farrell, Harvey, Thomas, Palmer. |
| |
| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 14/1/06 |
| Team |
Opponents |
|
League |
Scr |
Scorers |
|
1st
XI |
v Firebrands II |
A |
Premier 2 |
7-3 |
Frost J 4 Harris Goodman Webster |
|
2nd
XI |
v Swansea Bay II |
H |
North Div 2 |
2-2 |
Moon Catchpole |
|
3rd
XI |
v S Glos |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 1 |
3-1 |
Jarvis Small Coates |
| Wanderers |
v Robinsons V |
H |
Br & NW Som Div2 |
9-0 |
Taylor A 3 Millman S 3 Carter Palmer
M Jones |
| Wizards |
v Somerset Gryphons IV |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
4-0 |
Farrell 2 Rickard Crofts |
| Warriors |
v W Glos V |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
2-2 |
Harvey Halliday |
| Widgets |
v S Glos III |
H |
friendly |
1-3 |
Palmer M |
| Match
comments |
| 1st
XI: Meaks writes: Firebrands are always a tricky side
to play against as they aren't really a team as such,
more 11 guys who turn up on a Saturday and wear a Firebrands
shirt to play. This means they don't really have the shape,
game plan or the will to play flowing hockey.
Class eventually told with a 7-3 win, goals
from Frost (4) one of these was further away than the
p-spot!, Goodman, Webster and Harris.Oh,
and a yellow for Tony for retaliation. |
| 2nd
XI: From 2-0 down, the twos staged an
superb come back to earn a point with goals from Moonie
and Gary Catchpole. |
| 3rd
XI: A comfortable win for the thirds
with JJ, Limbo and Nick Coates getting the vital goals. |
| Wanderers:
At half time Steve Carter lam-basted the team for their
lack of drive despite being 7-0 up! There were one or
two bitty bits of play and a few passes were held back
when an early ball might have done the trick. There were
however some very good strikes at goal. Alex Taylor completed
one very effective move by sweeping the ball in at the
back stick! Alex went on the score a hat-trick. Tufty
too scored three, he retired with a pulled muscle for
ten minutes and his fellow veteran replacement struck
in Jimmer's pass. Steve Carter cracked in a short and
Ben Jones scored with a great strike from the top of the
D. Another good result and more goals to extend the goal
difference column. |
| Wizards:
The Wizards took all three points with a good win against
Somerset Gryphons. Fazzer scored two, Geoff Rickard and
Mark Crofts got one each. |
| Warriors: The
Warriors came back with a point from their match with
W Glos. Parker's point: Last Weeekend the Warriors played
a disappointing first half and should have done better.
The second half proved this as the Warriors bravely fought
back a 2-0 deficit at half time.Will Halliday and Mike
Harvey were on target. |
| Widgets: A
disappointing performance from the Widgets. There were
many changes to the side that played so well last week.
There was too much panic in trying to hit the ball which
meant they gave the ball away cheaply. S Glos took a 2-0
lead before Martin Palmer pulled one back. The Widgets
never looked capable of creating the clear cut chances
in the D and were lucky not to have a couple of yellow
cards for rash challenges! Former Wizard Pat Humphrey
scored twice for S Glos! |
| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 7/1/06 |
| Team |
Opponents |
|
League |
Scr |
Scorers |
|
1 | | | |