The first team saw action against Stokers and found the home side full of pace causing them no end of problems. Sam Banting made one amazing save with his helmet when a certain goal looked on. Much of the game looked like a 'stick tackling' contest which was won quite convincingly by the home side, although Village's late lunge took the honours for worst tackle. The first could never get into gear despite good individual touches by Sam, Village, Deaks and Tim Dawson. The answer was no doubt that many of the team took part in pre-season training the night before with sluggish legs and tired passes preventing the side from reaching the levels they achieved in beating Bath Buccs and giving Robs a close game in previous weeks. The oddest moment was when a hospital pass gave an unmarked home forward a free shot, but somehow he didn't shoot, the ball ran wide only for a penalty stroke to be give for stick tackle. From the sideline we could see that the ball was high and wide. The Stoker's right back yelled (he was so far away he had to yell) that the ball had gone in and out through a hole mid way up the net. The home umpire had not taken up the correct position on the side line to judge what happened (he was back beyond the 25), so a goal was awarded until the Westbury defence reaffirmed what everyone (except the right back) knew, that the ball had missed the goal. The game ended in a farce as the umpires had said that the game would end at 8.00pm or when they were kicked off. The second half was extended to 40 minutes (the first half had been 30 minutes). The home side were at last under some late pressure and wanted the game finished. Stokers were the better prepared team on the day and deserved their win, but were lucky to get most of the breaks going their way!

Coatesy's corner: The final league game of the season for the 2nds saw us come up against a strong Firebrands side. Westbury started well with some controlled play and soon took the lead through Tony "Goal of the season" Webster or was it Tony "Goal mouth scramble and was there to poke it over the line (just)" Webster - anyway the 2nds went 1-0 up which was the important thing. Brands only real chance came through a short corner which was flicked and cleared off the line by Ger. Sam Banting was having another good display in goal and made a couple of good clearances. The seconds played out the rest of the half well with only trying to force the pass on occasions letting them down.The second half saw a competitive game with Brands counter attacking on numerous occasions, Sam made another couple of double saves in the half keeping Westbury in the lead. Brands finally got an equaliser through a short corner that was slipped to the right and the skipper was too slow to get out to the player (1-1). Westbury continued to pass the ball and control the game and were rewarded with another goal thanks to Tim "not sure what he was doing so high up the pitch - but I'm glad he was" Dawson being on hand at the far post (2-1). Later in the half another Brand's short corner and another flick.This time it was the skipper who cleared it off the line. Westbury (and Tony) then had a goal disallowed (for foot earlier in the build up). But anyway a good win to end the season. Thanks to all those that have played for the 2nds over the summer and to all those who have umpired. Stats: P11 W8 L2 D1 F42 A22. This currently leaves the A's at the top of the table with other teams still having outstanding games to play.

2006 Division 2	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	P
Westbury 'A'	11	8	1	2	42	22	20	25
Warlocks	9	7	0	2	55	9	46	21
Chippenham	9	6	2	1	31	18	13	20
Bath Cobwebs	6	6	1	0	37	16	16	16
Blazers	10	5	1	4	33	25	8	16

Warlocks and Bath Cobwebs still have to play each other. Chippenham have games v Robinsons and Blazers.

Palmer's prattle: The first half went well for the Cs as they stayed composed and well organised in containing the Ds. The Ds did the majority of attacking but Dave Money was kept in check and it was Harry Newington who caused the most damage with his play down the right. Harry has a good eye, pace and a long reach. Now he is putting it all together he is beginning to make his mark. Despite their play, the Ds found themselves 2-0 down. Poker stepped up to strike a short corner which found a defensive foot and went in. A second short was dragged flicked in by Martin Palmer, who nearly scored a third after great work by James Pope down the right. Somehow Kirsty made an outstanding save. The second half saw Sparky, Rob Hughes, Stig and Dom Harris press forward from midfield. George Banting worked tirelessly to stem the tide but the Cs sorely missed John Ludley and Will Enderby who have been key players this summer. Sam Banting made a great save from one short corner and Feymous swept another one off the line, but the Ds constant pressure created a goal from a short when Rob Hughes guided the ball home. Not long later Dave Money touched in another short to equalise. The winner came from a free hit and it was skipper Mike Harvey who slammed the ball to give the Ds a deserved 3-2 win. Last summer Westbury put one team out in division 4 achieving one win and 15 goals. This summer two teams amassed nine wins and 56 goals between them a testament to the strength in depth of the club.

The 'A' Team were awarded a walk-over as Long Ashton Frys have stated that they will be unable to fulfil their unplayed fixtures. They did have a fiercly contested game with Warlocks, whic saw Tony Webster score twice. Warlocks contested vehemently the validity of the second goal, but their umpire let it stand. Soon after Chris Butt worked his magic down the right and his cross to Tony would normally have been despatched with ease, but it caught the top of Tony's stick and the chance was lost. Warlocks then raised their game and scored twice in quick succession to lead 2-1. Westbury seemed to have got a good equaliser, but the umpire found reason to disallow it even though the ball had squirted into the air off of a defender's stick! That was the last chance and Warlocks won 3-2.

2006 Division 2	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	P
Westbury 'A'	10	7	1	2	40	21	19	22
Warlocks	9	7	0	2	55	9	46	21
Bath Cobwebs	6	5	1	0	32	16	16	16
Blazers	8	4	1	3	29	21	8	13
Bristol & UWE	9	3	1	5	24	27	-3	10

The 'D' team were the come back kings after falling behind by 2 goals to nil at half time. N Bristol looked well organised, whilst the Ds did a lot of pressing of their own they couldn't find their way past some determined home defending. Jez Longden and Alan Sparks were looking a strong combination in midfield. Jez is planning a gentle return to lower eleven hockey now that his son Max is playing. Max had a testing time against two quick running N Bristol forwards, but was to have a big say in the final result. Duncan Ogilvie swept in a simple goal after Harry Newington decided to hold the stick with both hands and delivered a pin point cross. Next up it was Shep who struck from a short corner to equalise. Kirsty in goal had to make some good saves and won a one on one with a home forward. The ball from her pads was quickly worked up field and Dave Money scored to put the Ds 3-2 ahead. Then it was Max's turn to shine in his first senior game. He picked up the ball just outside the N Bristol D, passed to his dad, who delivered the ball to the D for Dave Money to get his second of the game and complete a superb come back for the team. Spare a thought for a former Wizard on the home team who exchanged handbags with Dom Harris, for which they both got green cards, then gave a string of abuse to his own captain and was asked to retire to the bench for the remainder of the game!

Si's summary: The Bs went out against North Somerset with last week's good result in mind and started the game in the same way, by dominating the match. Solid work in the midfield produced good early balls forward, and the forwards were unlucky not to score on a number of occasions. The scoring for westbury opened with a short. 1-0 at half time. The second half was more even, with both sides creating chances. With 5 minutes to go the N Somerset scored, but we sneaked a winner off a short right before the final whistle. 2-1.

2006 Division 3	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	P
Westbury 'B'	10	5	2	3	24	15	9	17
Shepton Mallet	7	4	2	1	21	10	11	14
South Glouc	8	4	1	3	19	24	-5	13
Bath Buccs 'B'	7	4	1	2	31	15	16	13
Rascals	7	3	2	2	27	18	9	11

The Bs are currently top of the table having completed their matches, although they can be overhauled by the teams below them. This is an improvement on last season's 5 wins and 5 defeats (4th place finish), so well done to Nathan Walkey in his first season as captain, guiding his team to a very respectable position in the division.

Meanwhile the As are in a very strong position with a key game against Warlocks to come. Although Bath Cobwebs can still gain more points if they play their matches. However, in the summer some teams are very poor at completing all their fixtures and have points deducted. Cobwebs have so far not fulfilled three of their fixtures and have a game against Warlocks in July!

2006 Division 2	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	P
Westbury 'A'	8	6	1	1	33	18	15	19
Warlocks	8	6	0	2	52	7	45	18
Bath Cobwebs	6	5	1	0	32	16	16	16
Blazers	8	4	1	3	29	21	8	13
Bristol & UWE	9	3	1	5	24	27	-3	10

The Cs have had a much improved season after winning only once last summer. Shepton Mallet are the in form team and Warlocks, Pokers, N Bristol and Vinyards can still pass them in the table. A good result in the Westbury derby is needed for the Cs to earn a top 3 or 4 position. The Ds in their first season have done incredibly well and are equally capable of getting a result against the Cs. The Cs have had outstanding defensive qualities this summer, whilst the Ds have found scoring easy, mainly due to the form of Dave Money who has scored in every game he has played.

2006 Division 4	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	P
Shepton Mallet 'A'	6	6	0	0	37	7	30	18
Westbury 'C'	9	5	2	2	23	12	11	17
Pokers	9	5	1	3	22	17	5	16
Warlocks 'A'	6	5	1	0	20	5	15	16
North Bristol 'B'	7	4	0	3	18	16	2	12
Vinyards	8	4	0	4	22	12	10	12
Westbury 'D'	9	3	1	5	28	30	-2	10
Robinsons 'C'	7	3	0	4	15	15	0	9
Bath Banzi's	5	1	1	3	11	24	-13	4
Grapes	7	0	0	7	5	39	-34	0
Long Ashton Frys ‘A’	5	0	0	5	3	27	-24	0

The 1st team entertained unbeaten Bath Buccaneers at Coombe Dingle. The opening was fairly even, and played at a brisk pace with both sides showing determination and skill. Westbury opened the scoring when Nellor received a return pass and knocked home, this came after a series of well put together moves by the firsts. It was Nellor who also got the second. Buccs then went up the other end and scored themselves. Andy Catchpole, a new face at the club, showed his sharp skills on the right hand side of the D in what was literally the next attack and his precision pass found Straun Wilkins who bravely dived at the far post and slid the ball home. In so doing he had a nasty knock on the hip and took a couple of minutes to get up, before limping off. A fourth goal came soon before the break. Pricey's shot hit the post as he celebrated what he thought was his goal and Shads dived in amongst the bodies to slap in the rebound. There was a lot of good movement and control by Westbury which enabled them to establish an good lead at the break. Buccs did manage to press more and Pricey, Deaks, JP and Village had to be at their best and consequently kept the shots to a minimum. Chances came and went at the other end with several good crosses being turned just the wrong side of the post. Nellor had a jinking run from the 25 and as he reached the D he wound up for a thumping shot. Whether he topped it or a defender's stick took some of the pace off, I'm not sure. The ball spun and bounced past everyone including Shads, who said he flinched as it came past him and the keeper and in at the near post. A hat-trick for Nellor! Buccs then took greater control of the game and did manage one goal which nearly took an attacker and Kinger's heads off! Straun was able to return to the fray and looked sharp on the right, while Pyscho was full of composure prompting attacks down the left. This was a good result against a side who were maybe lacking their first team players, but never-the-less a team that are hard to beat.

Palmer's prattle. The 'C' team took the field with a squad of 16 players and this proved to be a decisive factor in making Warlocks drop their first points of the summer. John Ludley was influential in building up a number of first half attacks. It was his pass in the D that enabled Martin Palmer to pounce with a 'topped' ball that bounced past the keeper and into the far corner. There was lot of good running from the constantly changing (and refreshed midfield) but too often the final ball was not quite decisive enough. However, the Westbury defence were playing well and it was 30 minutes before Sam Banting had to make a serious save! One Pete Thomas cross nearly paved the way for a goal, but there were not many scares for the visiting keeper. Warlocks were unbeaten coming into this game and looked a very sharp and skillful side. They put on most of the pressure in the second half. In fact they started the half with a goal after 30 seconds. This could have been their incentive to go on and win the match. The Cs were not going to have any of that. With Feymous and Alex Payne outstanding and Tim Palmer, Poker and Andy Cameron all playing resolute games, the Cs held out for a very creditable draw. The substitutions worked well and all credit goes to the intelligence of the team, who made the changes seem pretty seamless for most of the game. It still took Andy 'Mr Calm' Cameron to ghost across the goal to take the ball off the Warlocks forward at the far post just as he was about to tap in a winner from a yard out. I'm not sure if we've ever had 16 players turn out before so for the record the team was: S Banting, M Fey, T Palmer, A Payne, P Croker, A Cameron, S Parker, M Taylor, J Ludley, S Puetz, J Cranfield, J Bladon, S Andrews, M Palmer, P Thomas, J Pope.

Mike's mutterings: We won 6 - 1, even with Dom making his first appearance in goal. Although they did have Jim Shine 'keeping for them.3 - 0 half-time, 4 just after, nothing for 25 mins then 4 -1, then Dave's 2 in the last 8 mins.Newington, Harvey, Hughes, Sparks, Money 2 (1st off a defender's stick) in that order. 4 or 5 were really good goals involving sweeping moves. Dave should had a hat-trick, but did set up at least three.

The 1st XI recorded their first win, Torpids is never an easy game, so 6-2 sounds a fine result. Gareth Nichols scored his first goal at this level.

Coatesy's corner: The seconds came out 3-0 winners in their latest summer league fixture. Controlling much of the first half with some good passing moves. The final ball let Westbury down on a few occasions and the half time lead was thanks to goals from Struan and Webster. The second half Westbury wanted to build on the passing moves but at times we seemed to lose our shape and make the game hard for ourselves. Ron in goal never looked threatened and Westbury grabbed a late goal with the final touch of the game from Will Jones.

Si's summary: The 3rds went away to Chippenham this week and started the game well, dominating for the first half hour. We were alas unlucky not to convert any of our shorts. Stig provided an excellent anchor in the centre of midfield, and the distribution to the wings worked excellently. Unfortunately Chippenham scored a short just before the break and we ended t