Untitled Document

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 16/12/06
Team	Opponents		League	Scr	Scorers
2^nd XI	v Cardiff II	A	Friendly	1-3	Webster
3^rd XI	v Cardiff III	A	Friendly	can
Wanderers	v Cardiff IV	A	Friendly	3-6	Walkey Holmes A Jarvis
Wizards	v Cardiff V	A	Friendly	0-2
Match comments
2^nd XI: A second team traveled to Cardiff to take on what was left of Cardiff's two senior teams, but lost 3-1 with Tony Webster scoring a consolation goal.
3^rd XI: Cardiff cancelled the game on Friday.
Wanderers: The Wanderers introduced Tom Gilbert and Adam Holmes to a higher standard of hockey in a side drawing a number of players from the Wizards. Cardiff struck first, but a thumping Nathan Walkey shot squared things up. Tim Hancock looked sharp in the middle of the park for Westbury, whilst the visiting forwards looked capable of pressuring the home defence and scoring goals. Tom Gilbert had a nasty bang that forced him off. Cardiff then went two goals ahead. Martin Palmer got a thin edge to Andy Griffin's free hit, deflecting it past the goalkeeper, but neither umpire saw it and the goal was not given! Jon Jarvis was unlucky with three scoring opportunities he created. On another day he would have had a hat-trick inside 5 minutes. He look the goalie on, went round him but grubbed his shot over the back line. Another effort hit the post and a third was just wide. Cardiff then went and scored two well taken goals. Good work by Nathan Walkey down the right opened up a scoring chance for Adam Holmes which he took well. At half time with the score 5-2 to Cardiff, Tom Gilbert returned to the midfield. The second half saw Westbury take control of the game. Both sides scored a goal each. Jon Jarvisat last finding the right touch with a reverse stick nudge after going round the goalkeeper. The final result was a 6-3 win for Cardiff.
Wizards: The Wizards found themselves with 15 players after losing players to the thirds and then having them back again alongside their replacements. There were numerous substitutions to enable everybody to get some time on the pitch. This prevented the side from getting any cohesion into their play. With Pete 'Taffy' Murphy in goal for Cardiff and Hugh 'Blodwyn' Woodward also playing in light blue, these two made major contribution's to Cardiff's 2-0 win. Pete Murphy made an impossible double back heal save on the line and Hugh scored their second goal. The Cardiff youngsters looked very skillful and fully stretched the Wizard's defence. At least everyone had the chance to have a run around. Sam Banting excelled in goal and but for him, it might have been a much bigger defeat. Thank you to the squad for doing your best to cope with the substitution plan. We will resume normal business after Christmas.

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 9/12/06
Team	Opponents		League	Scr	Scorers
1^st XI	v Gloucester	H	Premier 1	5-4	Richardson 2 Goodman 2 Frost J
2^nd XI	v Gloucester II	A	North Div 1	2-1	Tucker Hancock
3^rd XI	v Firebrands V	A	Br & NW Som Div 1	2-0	Walkey Webster
Wanderers	v Firebrands IV	H	Br & NW Som Div1	6-2	Butt 3 Millman S 2 Hobson
Wizards	v W Glos IV	A	Br & NW Som Div 2	1-0	Colton
Warriors	v W Glos III	H	Br & NW Som Div 2	0-2
Widgets	v Frys	A	Br & NW Som Div 3	2-8	Money 2
Match comments
1^st XI: Phil Meakin writes: A bright start saw us two goals up within 15 minutes. A powerful corner flick from James Goodman and a close range, waist high volley from Neil Richardson. This was unaccustomed territory, we are used to being a goal down early on and we went to sleep a little. 2 dipping, squeezed short corner strikes saw Gloucs pull level. But within 20 seconds of the restart we were 3-2 up. James Goodman sliding full length at the near post to nudge the ball under their keeper after a great cross from Roper. With Gloucs giving our forwards lots of space to work we started the second half well and always looked dangerous on the break. Richardson could have had 4 goals but somehow the keeper got something on the ball to take one effort past the post and Jonny Parish, still on safari, inexplicably kicked the ball over the goal line. Neil did smash one home to take us to 4-2. Gloucs continued to press and again brought the scores level . A trademark feather touch from James Frost after another fine cross from Roper put us back in front and some excellent defensive work from Deakin, Nick and Ali Price kept our noses in front. The skipper even made in onto the pitch for the last few minutes after Jonny Parish's trainers, exhausted after his warm weather training camp, gave up the ghost. After the game Gloucs tried to claim that we were their bogey team. This was true when we stole a win from the first game of the season but this was a game we fully deserved to win. Another excellent team performance and some fine finishing giving us our first home win and lifting us off the bottom of the table.
2^nd XI: Duncan Armsby says: It was a lovely day to be a 2nd team spectator... a smooth ride up in Tucker's limo, a gentle team talk, a well structured warm-up and a well-tempered gentleman's game of field hockey... well, 3 out of 4 isn't bad. For some reason, Glos City don't seem to like Westbury. From the first whistle it was clear that this was going to be a battle rather than a showpiece game. Several of their team looked as if hockey was the furthest thing from their mind, driving through players (even Tim Hancock) without so much as a thought about winning the ball. Our boys stayed calm and gradually began to control possession. A sweet short corner move saw Tim hancock send a bullet into the bottom corner and the lead was ours. Ton Colquhoun went 1-on-1 with the keeper, skinned him then fell over (new shoes required) and Neil Moon shot inches wide. What could have been 3-0 at half time became 1-1 in a heartbeat as some slack marking gave Clint Bryer a heart attack and Glos pulled level just before half time. The second half continued to see some shocking tackles fly in by Glos, but still Westbury kept calm and let their hockey do the talking. Ben Tucker gallivanted into the 'D' unmarked and after combing his hair, making a cup of tea, ringing his broker and canoodling with Caprice he finally unleashed a ferocious drive into the Glos City goal. 2-1!! Not much happened after that. Oh, except the 12 man brawl (8 of theirs, 4 of us) after Ben Tucker received a head butt to the sternum (a red card followed for the Glos player, the umpire correctly protecting Tucker's chiseled good looks from any undue harm) and a short yellow for ben. We bravely defended for an extra 7 minutess of added time and valiantly held on for a corking win. Great to see the lads overjoyed at the end of a great battle and we're sitting happily in 5th over the Christmas period. Nice one!
3^rd XI: Andy Griffin's report: A good spirited game was played against Firebrands D’s who took valuable points off Robs last weekend. An even first half which saw chance for both teams with the 3rds having the better chances. The second half saw Westbury take control and have the greater share of possession and create more chances. A team performance with goals from Walkey and Webster meaning that the 3rds are top of the league for Christmas.
Wanderers: Steve Millman's report: The Wanderers showed the strides made in the strength of the club by winning comfortably against Firebrands C. In the first league game of the season we had been outplayed by this Firebrands side before relying on guts & determination to nearly pull off a shock comeback before going down 6-2. This time, despite going behind, Westbury played lots of good hockey. Brands of course, always looked dangerous with flashes of skill & pace from a couple of youngsters, plus the pile diving style of old friend Jerry Board. We had yet another debut at centre midfield from Chris Butt and he amply fulfilled his description as an 'attacking midfielder' by bagging a hat-trick. Just as impressive though was his picking of simple passes and movement going forward, which kept Westbury moving forward throughout the game . Westbury leveled through a short corner strike. Then came the key part of the game as Butt scored twice in quick succession just before half time. Westbury survived a wobble in the second half (Tom Taylor completed a hat-trick of his own - successive 16's straight to the oppo!) but by the end of the game were able to score more for a comfortable final margin. So we are 3rd at the league break and with Robinsons in our sights. The important thing though is the number of good younger(!) players coming through. We need to make sure that the path is a clear one for players with the right ability and attitude.
Wizards: The Wizards put in a gritty performance to eventually overcome a determined W Glos side, who chased and harried everything. Both defences played well with the Wizards back line of Mark Colton, Tim Palmer, Andy Cameron and Paul Croker in outstanding form. They restricted the previously unbeaten home side to 3 shooting chances, and it needed Pete Murphy at his agile best to keep out the first and third attempt and to throw himself at full stretch to rob the home forward of the ball and deny him a shooting chance. Mark Colton was well placed to turn a home short corner shot off the line for a corner. In midfield Mark Crofts worked tirelessly.Chris Cocks and Steve Puetz were pressed into less familiar midfield roles and rose to the task. Up front Pete Farrell was playing his target role well and was very unlucky that his best chance went creaming over the crossbar. On the left wing it was difficult to see where Hugh Woodward ended and Chewbacca started, he snapped at every possession W Glos had and stole quite a few of them. His pace attacking the home defence was stunning (especially for a wookie). The game was nearing the last ten minutes and Westbury had applied the greater amount of pressure. A short corner was earned. Steve 'Thunderbolt' Puetz struck, the ball rebounded to Mark Colton who flicked over the keeper into the far corner. There was still time for W Glos to earn two short corners and a couple of free hits but the Wizards defence dealt admirably with them. In the dying moments it needed a timely interception from Tim Palmer to deny a late chance. There was much praise for us from the home side in 'The Duck' afterwards and we acknowledged that W Glos had given us one of our toughest tests yet. The good thing is we came out of it with all three points, so that we are well set at the top of the table over the Christmas holiday. Well done Wizards, that's 9 wins 1 draw and just 1 defeat in the league.
Warriors: Illness and unavailability robbed the Warriors of several of their selected side and they fell to their 8th league defeat. George Banting reported that Mike Harvey had so little of the ball that he was in danger of suffering hypothermia. Mike revealed that the visiting full backs wanted some action and were trying to press forward in search of the ball. The statistics of the match were that W Glos had 20 short corners and a penalty stroke from which they were unable to score, with Sam Banting saving the stroke. However, they did score twice from open play.
Widgets: The Widgets were up against league leaders Frys and ended up losing 8-2. Dave Money scored both the goals. Availability meant that The Widgets only had 9 confirmed players on Friday and no recognised keeper. Frys are a young fit side and it will be interesting to see how they get on next year if they progress to a higher standard.

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 2/12/06
Team	Opponents		League	Scr	Scorers
1^st XI	v Cheltenham	H	Premier 1	3-3	Mason Poulsom Goodman
2^nd XI	v N Bristol	A	North Div 1	2-0	Tucker Small
3^rd XI	v Bristol Univ IV	A	Br & NW Som Div 1	7-1	Webster 4 Walkey 2 Cutts
Wanderers	v N Somerset	H	Br & NW Som Div1	5-3	Hobson 2 Jarvis Scott Puetz
Wizards	v Westbury Warriors	A	Br & NW Som Div 2	9-1	Palmer M 3 Butt 3 Christopher Colton Holmes A
Warriors	v Westbury Wizards	H	Br & NW Som Div 2	1-9	Harvey
Widgets	v N Somerset II	A	Br & NW Som Div 3	4-3	Ogilvie 2 Chase Fox J
Match comments
1^st XI: Phil Meakin reports: Paul Masn and I had a chat after the game because we can't work out why Cheltenham seem to dislike us so much. Every game we've played against them has been hard fought, competitive and generally played in good spirit and this was no exception. Maybe we'll find out one day? It was a really good game of hockey to watch, lots of chances created, well umpired and it finished 3 a-piece.Cheltenham caught us napping with only about 30 secs gone. A slick passing move finished well to put them one up. Within 5 minutes we had equalised, but in my sleep deprived state I have no recollection of who or how we scored. A couple of Goodman drag flicks were well saved by their keeper and chances were still being created by both sides.With Cheltenham's threat from short corners well known to us after a 70th minute top corner drag flick in the final game of last season, we did well to not concede any until towards the end of the first half. Fortunately they were off target, unfortunately we conceded a scrappy goal to go in 2-1 down. Both sides continued to play good hockey with our short passing game working well and we were creating some clear chances. These were wasted until Mason popped up unmarked in the D to scoop the ball over the keeper and into the onion bag. We held out well whilst Phil Haslett had a 5 minute rest (slightly harsh) and Cheltenham also held out whilst one of their side was green carded then yellowed for verbals.With about 12 minutes left Cheltenham went 3-2 up after a powerful flick from a short. I told you they were dangerous. But at the moment the first XI is a very determined outfit and with some excellent defensive play and hard work throughout we hit back again. Chris Poulsom popping up on the far post to tuck in a great cross with about 7 to go. From then on neither side settled for a draw and we had a couple of nervous shorts to defend before the final whistle. An excellent team performance and our first point at home this season.
2^nd XI: The second team won 2-0 at N Bristol. This puts them in 5th place in their division.
3^rd XI: This was a much improved performance from the thirds against the energetic students. Two early goals gave the thirds the start they wanted. The first came when Nathan Walkey picked up the ball around the penalty spot and fired home. This was after a spell of well engineered attacks that came close to scoring. Chris Cutts banged in a very similar goal a few minutes later. Tony Webster hit a third on his return to action after his enforced period of spectating. The University pressed for goals of their own, but were unable to break down the third's defence. The second half started with a quick goal from Nathan. The students never gave up and several times Ron Wheeler made smart saves to keep them out. The threes put together some excellent hockey in the second period. There was an outstanding team goal when 6 or 7 passes up the pitch ended with Nathan pulling the ball across and Tony Webster finishing it off. Tony then banged in a short corner to get his hat-trick. The students then found themselves with several very good scoring chances, but a combination of good saves from Ron and some determined tackling kept them out. They then managed to get a consolation goal. Tony followed up with the final touch from another well worked 'team goal' to make his personal tally 4. Charlie Knight caught the eye with some fine passing, and the team as a whole played much better than the previous week. They now sit 5 points clear at the top of the table, and deserve to be there.
Wanderers: The Wanderers looked to Rich Hobson for their inspiration with his pace down the right. He looked in devastating form against N Somerset, the visiting defence struggled to keep up with him. Yet it was his reactions in the D that enabled to to score the Wanderers two goals. In between N Somerset equalised. This was a very even game and the visitors retained their confidence in getting something out of the game with some good attacking play of their own. However, it was the Wanderers who held firm and turned round 2-1 ahead. Rich Hobson was the architect of the third goal, his skill down the right led to a stinging cross that Jon Jarvis met at the near post, a goal that brought gasps of admiration from the large crowd, for is quality and execution. N Somerset kept plugging away and pulled back a goal. The Wanderers then pressed forward and Doug Scott got his first goal at Wanderers level in his first game for this side. There was a moment of injudicious activity from a player on each side which might easily have ended in cards, but after words from the umpire the game continued 11-a-side! N Somerset once again narrowed their deficit to one. The Wanderers earned a short corner, the ball came back the 'pusher out' Steve Puetz and goal number five completed the scoring for the day. The Wanderers now sit in 4th place in the table.
Wizards & Warriors: The battle of Westbury turned out to be a very competitive and hard fought match. The Wizards 4 man midfield dominated the early minutes. Adam Holmes banged in a cross that Alan Christopher glanced in at the near post. There followed a spell of Warriors's pressure that included several short corners. Pete Murphy had to be sharp to ensure that the Warriors didn't snatch a goal. The Warrior's defence then worked like demons to keep out a series of Wizard's attacks. Pat Tampkins, Andy Cooper and Jon Bower kept cool under pressure and made sure that the Wizards didn't score. Jon Bower twice cleared short corners off the line at the near post! The running of Hugh Woodward and Chris Butt didn't allow the Warriors any time to draw breath. With the first half coming to a close there were three quick goals. Martin Palmer's low short corner flick eluded everyone. Minutes later he picked up a rebound and although he miss-hit it, the ball bounced over sticks and in the corner. Soon after Chris Butt got his first goal for the club slotting the ball in from close range. In the second half the Warriors came out full of energy and running. Tom Gilbert showed some good touches and James Pope, playing his first game for the Warriors, showed some neat touches moving the ball forward. Hugh Woodward said afterwards that he was shattered trying to mark Jamie Cranfield, Jamie never stops running and moved the ball around well. Some teams when they fall behind give up and don't compete, none of that for the Warriors. They took the game to the Wizards and Pete Murphy had to throw himself around and make himself big to prevent the home Westbury side from scoring. There followed a sizeable spell of Wizards pressure. Sam Banting was a giant in goal, making some outstanding saves. His positioning and footwork was excellent. However, the Wizards 'scoring machine' could not be denied for ever. Martin Palmer completed his hat-trick turning in an Alan Christopher cross. Chris Butt thumped in two goals to get his hat-trick, adding the icing on the cake to his all round, excellent performance. The Warriors still wouldn't lay down and die. Tom Gilbert was thwarted by a double save from Pete Murphy, then Mike Harvey jinked his way around the D to slot in a well deserved consolation goal. Mark Colton added number 8 for the Wizards and with the last touch of the game from the final short corner, Adam Holmes swept the ball in to make it 9-1. The score rewarded the powerful running and creativity of the Wizards, but it was a little unfair on the Warriors who battled all the way from 0 to 70 minutes and doesn't show how much they competed in the game. The Wizards had to work very hard for this win! The Warriors can say they played their part in a very good match. The Wizards are now 4 points clear after Somerset Gryphons lost.
Widgets: The Widgets achieved their highest ever points total with a win against N Somerset who are a side near the top of the table. An excellent 4-3 win was achieved with 2 goals from Duncan Ogilvie and one each from Joel Chase and Jon Fox. This win means they move up one place in their division into 6th place.