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3^rd XI: The champions stamped their class on Division 1 with a 6 goal haul against second placed Robinsons. Andy Griffin writes: A top of the table clash but an early (within the first 30 seconds) goal from Hugh Woodward which was followed up with Tony Webster shortly after with a Short Corner that saw the 3rds 2-0 nil up. We then had to soak up 15/20 minutes of pressure with Ron Wheeler pulling off some excellent saves. A third goal from in the half from Hugh following some good play by Gareth Nicholls saw us go in at half time 3 nil up which to be honest flattered us as we hadn’t played anywhere near our best. The second half was a much better performance and we had more control and were not under anywhere near the same amount of pressure. Tony and Hugh both secured hat-tricks with Robs scoring a consolation goal in the last 2 minutes. A competitive match and another good team performance from the 3rds.

	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Westbury & UB B	19	18	0	1	90	12	78	54
Robinsons C	19	11	4	4	52	38	14	37
Westbury & UB C	19	11	3	5	69	53	16	36
Firebrands C	19	10	2	7	56	56	0	32

Wanderers: The Wanderers played against a much improved S Glos team and earned a 2-2 draw to stay in 3rd spot. Doug Scott scored along with Duncan Ogilvie. Duncan revealed the the goal scoring sub committee ruled that Dave Harris provided the power and Duncan the touch, with Dave hitting Duncan's stick and the ball being cannoned into the goal. Steve Millman has been checking the league rules and found that the top two sides are to be promoted from this division, so there is still a lot to play for as the season draws to a close for the wanderers.

Wizards: The Wizards were not at their best at Robinsons. Pete Murphy was regularly in action and said afterwards he couldn't remember having to save so many one on ones! Despite this it was the Wizards who took the lead. Graeme Brown set Alan Christopher down the right, Alan drew the keeper and squared in to Martin Palmer to end his goal drought. Robinsons equalised not long afterwards. The Wizards have been a powerful second half team, but despite the stirling efforts of John Ludley, the side could not carve out many chances and it was the home team who scored the go-ahead goal. The Wizards threw caution to the wind to search for an equaliser, but it was Robs who snatched two late goals to win the game.

	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Westbury & UB D	17	13	1	3	65	26	39	40
West Glos C	17	11	3	3	50	25	25	36
West Glos B	17	11	2	4	46	20	24	35
Som Gryphons B	17	9	2	6	54	35	19	29
Old Bristolians B	17	7	7	3	40	32	8	28

Warriors: The Warriors turned in a first class display to leap-frog over Firebrands in a tense bottom of the table game. There were strong performances from the whole team with James Pope, Jamie Cranfield and Jurgen particularly catching the eye. Martin Eland was called into action and made some telling saves. Despite the pressure and a number of shots at goal, the visiting goalkeeper was having a good game and the Wizards could not get the goal their play deserved. Midway through the second half the break through came. Joel Chase hammered his short corner and Tom Counsell who had injected the ball, deftly deflected it into the net. Tom has probably never scored a more important goal than this.

	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
O Bristolians C	18	5	4	7	35	38	-3	19
Westbury & UB E	18	4	2	12	23	59	-36	14
Firebrands E	18	4	0	14	27	63	-36	12
Yate B	17	1	1	15	30	79	-49	4

Widgets: The Widgets gave the league leaders a good run for their money, in fact it was Dave Money who scored the equaliser after Imperial had scored in the first minute. The Widgets keeper made a series of good saves throughout the game, but Imperial were just a shade too strong and amassed 6 goals. Harry Newington scored a second half consolation with a topped shot that bounced two or three times over everyone's sticks. Although it was a 6-2 defeat the Widgets can say they gave a very good account of themselves, and Brian Callis will need to visit the dentist after a stick in the mouth.

	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Imperial	19	17	1	1	103	20	83	52
Frys	18	16	1	1	77	9	68	49
N Bristol C	19	13	2	4	63	35	28	41
N Somerset A	19	13	1	5	70	21	49	40
Westbury & UBF	19	8	2	9	52	68	-16	26
Bristol UWE	18	8	1	9	44	40	4	25

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 17/2/07

Team

Opponents

League

Scr

Scorers

1^st XI

v Taunton

Premier 1

4-1

Goodman 2 Frost J Mason

2^nd XI

v Lansdown

North Div 1

1-4

Armsby

3^rd XI

v N Bristol II

Br & NW Som Div 1

3-0

Webster Lewis Walkey

Wanderers

v Firebrands V

Br & NW Som Div1

3-2

Farrell 2 Puetz

Wizards

v Somerset Gryphons III

Br & NW Som Div 2

4-2

Colton Harris Harvey Christopher

Warriors

v W Glos IV

Br & NW Som Div 2

1-4

Thomas

Widgets

v S Glos II

Br & NW Som Div 3

1-1

Fox J

Match comments: Well done to the third team who secured the first trophy this season. Their record shows they are in a class above the rest of their division.

1^st XI: A second win on the bounce for the first XI. Phil Meakin writes: I feel compelled to write a match report as this was our best performance of the season so far and we deservedly ran out 4-1 winners against a side who were 5th in the league. With their sand based pitch suiting our fast passing game we started the game really well, zipping the ball down both sides and by moving up as a team we were able to hold onto posession better than in previous games. Mason scored the first, for once choosing not to pass in the D and reverse sticking in to the goal, it was almost a powerful strike. James Goodman put us two up with a feather touch after an excellent passing move down the right. Taunton looked to get the ball quickly to their forwards but our team defence was working well and they turned the ball over regularly. Neil King made a super save high to his right from a powerful drag flick to see us to half time 2 up. The game really opened up in the second half as Taunton threw an extra man forward. Rich Deakin called for but missed an aerial and Taunton were through on goal. Rich made it back just in time to chop the forwards stick in half, but with the home crowd baying for a stroke the umpire only awarded a corner. A slip move was swept up by the skipper and we were on the attack again. James Goodman powered in his second from a short, the defender on the line taking rapid evasive action and we were 3 up. Taunton spotted Rich Deakins' high ball problems and popped up a few more. By the fourth one he had it all under control. We started to put ourselves under pressure by giving the ball away cheaply and Taunton pulled a scrappy goal back. But with time running out and our forwards in acres of space, James Frost lifted the ball into the onion bag from short range for a fourth goal. We're now up to eighth place in the table with 3 games to go.

2^nd XI: The seconds were beaten by Lansdown by 4-1.

3^rd XI: CHAMPIONS: The thirds claimed their well deserved title with a 3-0 win a t N Bristol. Andy Griff'in writes: For the 3rds this was probably our furthest away game. For those not going direct, we had an away car leaving from Coombe Dingle with the Management team of Griffin and Beesley in the front and the kids (Nicholls/Cutts/Lewis) in the back. By the Filton roundabout we had established that for once Nicholls and Cutts hadn’t been out on the beer on Friday night! North Bristol were well organised team and the first 15 mins minutes were pretty equal. Slowly we took more possession and control of the first half creating a number of chances with their keeper pulling off some excellent saves. In the last 10 minutes of the first half Tony Webster scored from a short corner and Yohan Lewis got a second following some good play down the right. The second half saw us dominate and had the greater share of possession. Nathan Walkey scored a third, North Bristol keeper pulled off more good saves and their were some interesting umpiring decisions. It was then back as a team for tea (well late lunch) and a pint of Doombar at the White Hart (Hambrook). Best tea of the season on our away travels this season. The team this season has played superb hockey with great commitment. Each result has been based on a team performance team, it has been a pleasure to Captain the side.

	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Westbury & UB B	18	17	0	1	84	11	73	51
Robinsons C	18	11	4	3	51	32	19	37
Westbury & UB C	18	11	2	5	67	51	16	35
Firebrands C	18	10	2	6	55	48	7	32
Firebrands D	18	8	4	6	47	44	3	28

Wanderers: The Wanderers had a 'ding dong' game against Firebrands. John Ludley struck a stunning goal at the same moment a short corner was awarded and so his strike did not count. Andy Pound was in sharp form to keep out Firebrands, whose long ball game looked very effective, calling on Andy to pull off a number of good saves. However, Firebrands did find the net to take the lead. Both teams created chances and Si Andrews was prominent driving down the right and Doug Scott sweeping up the left from midfield. On the stroke of half time, a short corner shot fell invitingly to Steve Puetz who flicked it home to equalise. The second half saw some superb Westbury play, and very early on Fazza caught hold of a good cross, his goal bound shot hitting a defender's stick and deflected it into the roof of the net. After a long spell of pressure Doug Scott and Alex Taylor worked the ball down the left, swapping passes, Doug's shot hit the post and Pete Farrell pounced to picked up the rebound, shimmied to the right and expertly flicked it in. Firebrands then stepped up their game and created several chances. One powerful shot went in at the far post to make it 3-2 and Andy Pound made an outstanding save with his gloves to keep the lead. The visiting keeper also made an outstanding reflex save to deny Alex Taylor a goal. This was a competitive and skillful game with both sides giving and taking no quarter, but it ended with the Wanderers staying in third place ahead of both Firebrands teams.

Wizards: The Wizards had a dream start when Mark Colton thumped in the first short corner. Somerset Gryphons who were in third place then had the better of the first half. They scored twice to lead at half time by 2-1. The Wizards had a succession of shorts near half time but a combination of determined defending and subtle use of the upper body repelled all the home attempts at goal. The second period saw Westbury become the more dominant team as the visitors began to tire. Alan Christopher set up the equaliser, picking the ball up on the right, he squared it to Dom Harris who knocked it in from close range. There followed some outstanding attacking play from the Wizards midfield of Harris, Croftsy and Cocksy, supported by Colton and Lee. Tim Palmer and George Banting shut out the visiting forwards, but when they were able to get through Pete Murphy was on fire especially throwing himself full length to stop several goal attempts. Westbury must have had 4 or 5 shots cleared off the time A surging run by Chris Cocks saw a stinging cross which Mike Harvey connected with his touch making it fly in past the keeper. To add the icing on the cake, Martin Palmer's pass found Alan Christopher, who found the corner of the goal with a well placed shot.

	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Westbury & UB D	16	13	1	2	64	22	42	40
West Glos C	16	10	3	3	44	23	21	33
West Glos B	16	10	2	4	42	19	23	32
Som Gryphons B	16	9	2	5	53	33	20	29
Old Bristolians B	16	7	6	3	38	30	8	27

Warriors: The Warriors put up a battling display against W Glos and went down by 4 goals to 1. Pete Thomas scored the goal.

Widgets: Jon Fox was on target for the Widgets as they gained a point from their early morning match at S Glos. S Glos equalised as the Widgets tired, but the point keeps them in a very respectable 5th place in division 3.

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 10/2/07

Team

Opponents

League

Scr

Scorers

1^st XI

v Yeovil

Premier 1

5-1

Goodman Deakin Hancock Roper Mason

2^nd XI

v Cwmbran

North Div 1

pst

3^rd XI

v Firebrands IV

Br & NW Som Div 1

8-2

Nichols G 3 Webster 2 Holliday J 2 Walkey

Wanderers

v Bristol Univ IV

Br & NW Som Div1

0-7

Wizards

v W Glos III

Br & NW Som Div 2

0-1

Warriors

v Yate III

Br & NW Som Div 2

4-5

Pope Evans I Travis Gilbert

Widgets

v Bristolians V

Br & NW Som Div 3

5-2

Ogilvie 2 Sheppard 2 Fox J

Match comments

1^st XI: The first team were in good form at home to bottom club Yeovil. Their possession play gave Yeovil little scope to take part in the game. The Yeovil keeper made a string of excellent saves to prevent more goals going in, and several shots were ballooned over the bar, one went so far it landed in the allotments! Tim Hancock showed his tenacity in midfield with a solid display. There were some sweeping moves and Rich Deakin and Tim Hancock both scored after outstanding build up play. Gary Roper's goal too came from a surging run forward, with 7 or 8 passes ending up with a quality cross and finish. The defence looked very composed and the only Yeovil goal came from a short corner.

2^nd XI: Snow in South Wales caused the postponement of the two's trip over the bridge.

3^rd XI: The thirds had another big win, although Andy Griffin was surprised that their opponents were such a young side as Firebrands were the team in 4th place in the table and didn't have the personel he expected to see. Gareth Nichols notched a hat-trick. Jimmer scored his first goals of the season and Nathan Walkey added one more to keep in touch with the top of the leader board. The thirds stay 13 points clear at the top. Robinsons were held to a draw and therefore dropped two points, so three more points at N Bristol next week will secure the championship.

	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Westbury & UB B	17	16	0	1	81	11	70	47
Robinsons C	17	10	4	3	46	31	15	34
Westbury & UB C	17	10	2	5	64	49	15	32
Firebrands C	17	10	1	6	52	45	7	31
Firebrands D	17	8	4	5	45	42	3	28

Wanderers: The Wanderers were not at full strength and were blown away by the students. 5-0 down at half time the Wanderers regrouped and offered more of a threat in the second half without being able to turn in one of their several short corners. Bristol University added two more goals to win 7-0. The Wanderers remain in 3rd place thanks to the thirds beating 4th placed Firebrands.

Wizards: The Wizards had an uncomfortable game at W Glos. The home side were embarrassed by the poor quality of the whistling and apologised afterwards, but were canny enough to take advantage of their physical strength. Graeme Brown was perhaps the recipient of the worst offences, being wrestled to the ground 3 or 4 times. The Wizards played an honest if not particularly good game. Westbury could easily have taken a goal, when early in the game, a through pass was deflected into the net by a defender with no attacker anywhere near. The umpire signaled a goal, but the Wizards refused to accept it and insisted it was a long corner. In hind sight with the lack of protection given to us, and a visually impaired umpire (W Glos' view of their umpire, not ours), perhaps we should have kept quiet, but that is not the Wizard's way. The best chances to win the game came in the last ten minutes of the first half from a series of short corners. The home side looked the better team on the day, but the Westbury defence stayed strong, and Pete Murphy was at his very best to keep them at bay. The killer blow came with ten minutes to go from a short corner. It takes a lot for someone as mild mannered as Mike Harvey to 'give some afters' but he gave as good as he got on one occasion late in the game. The loss of Dave Watkins from the midfield to the Wanderers an hour before the game, and the absence of Alan Christopher who could not leave work because his chef was stuck in snow in Wales meant that the 11 who turned out worked hard but lacked the extra edge those two could have provided.

	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Westbury & UB D	15	12	1	2	60	20	40	37
West Glos C	15	9	3	3	40	22	18	30
Som Gryphons B	15	9	2	4	51	29	22	29
West Glos B	15	9	2	4	37	18	19	29
Old Bristolians B	15	7	5	3	37	29	8	26

Warriors: The Warriors lost by the odd goal in nine at home to bottom club Yate. This was a must win game and despite scoring 3 goals the points eluded them. Tom Gilbert and Ian Evans scored their first goals for the club, James Pope got his first goal for the Warriors and Martin Travis made a scroring return after a couple of months of not playing.

Widgets: The Widgets won yet again. Duncan Ogilvie scored twice as did Ausin Sheppard, both his goals coming from open play. Jon Fox was the other scorer having hit a shot that was then turned in by a visiting defender! That's 4 wins out of the last 5 games, which shows the excellent form the Widgets are in.

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 3/2/07

Team

Opponents

League

Scr

Scorers

1^st XI

v Swansea Bay

Premier 1

2-2

Richardson Goodman

2^nd XI

v UWI Cardiff

North Div 1

3-3

Colquhoun Moon Butt

3^rd XI

v N Somerset

Br & NW Som Div 1

5-1

Webster 2 Woodward 2 Walkey

Wanderers

v Yate II

Br & NW Som Div1

5-2

Farrell Andrews Scott Taylor T Millman S

Wizards

v Yate III

Br & NW Som Div 2

4-1

Harris Dom Christopher Crofts Brown

Warriors

v O Bristolians IV

Br & NW Som Div 2

1-1

Harris Dave

Widgets

v N Bristol IV

Br & NW Som Div 3

3-3

Money 2 Sheppard

Match comments

1^st XI: The seconds earned another valuable point at home to Swansea Bay. With Yeovil being docked 3 points, there is a bit of a gap between the two teams.

2^nd XI: The seconds shared six goals at the UWIC to maintain their position in the top half of the table. Tom Colquhoun finished up in hospital with a hole in his cheek and Nick Greaves is out for the rest of the season after breaking his collar bone. The twos played with 8 men on the pitch at one stage late in the game!

3^rd XI: The thirds had another resounding win against N Somerset. Tony Webster was on target twice, Nathan Walkey added to his tally and Hugh Woodward scored his first two goals at 3rd team level. I suspect that he must have touched these inside the D unlike his 'virtual' goal last week for the Wanderers against the thirds!

	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Westbury & UB B	16	15	0	0	73	9	64	45
Robinsons C	16	10	3	3	44	29	16	33
Westbury & UB C	16	10	2	4	64	42	22	32
Firebrands C	16	10	1	5	50	37	13	31
Firebrands D	16	7	4	5	43	42	2	25

Wanderers: The Wanderers lost their first fixture to Yate, but came out well on top in the return game at Coombe Dingle, despite drawing quite a few players from the Wizards. Former Wizards Mssrs Farrell, Andrews and Scott were all on the score sheet. Tom Taylor weighed in with another goal and Steve Millmankept up his recent scoring run. This moves the Wanderers into third place and shows the strength of the club.

Wizards: The Wizards were not at their best in the first half at Yate, and it took Pete Murphy's fine goalkeeping skills to keep out the home forwards. He made three excellent saves near the start and another three just before the break. Alex Payne, Mike Harvey and Alan Christopher linked up well down the right hand side but the Wizards couldn't quite create the opening. When it came the scorer (Dom Harris) thought a team mate had deflected his reverse stick shot from the edge of the D. It was a home defender and the goal was Dom's. Alan Christopher hit the post as the half came to a close. Yate are the bottom side, but they play with spirit and enthusiasm and earned an equaliser, the first goal the Wizards have let in in 4 games! The Wizards showed their true qualities and Mark Crofts then took the game by the scruff of the neck. Inside a minute from the Yate goal, he went on a long run, his reverse stick shot hit the post and rebounded to the perfectly placed Alan Christopher, who tucked it in. Not long later Croftsy struck a thundering short corner through the keeper. He had several more shorts just off target and several runs saw shots flash just wide. Mark's next run and shot were bang on target. As the ball was goal bound the 'Prince of Thieves' (Graeme Brown) stuck out his stick to get the final touch. "You bugger" shouted Mark as they celebrated the goal. There was still time for Dom Harris to have several surging runs of his own before the final whistle went for a hard fought win.

	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Westbury & UB D	14	12	1	1	60	19	41	37
West Glos C	15	9	3	3	40	22	18	30
Som Gryphons B	14	9	1	4	47	25	22	28
West Glos B	14	8	2	4	36	18	18	26
Old Bristolians B	14	7	4	3	33	25	8	25
N Bristol B	12	6	4	5	34	30	4	22

Warriors: The Warriors had five of their team in the Wizards, but pulled off a draw against O Bristolians, a team that had beaten them earlier in the season. There was a rare outing for Dave Harris and he marked it with a goal.

Widgets: The Widgets also forced a draw in their match with N Bristol, a good result bearing in mind that they were well beaten by the same side in the first meeting. Dave Money was again amongst the goals, scoring twice and Shep got his second of the season. A good result when you consider a lot of people were unavailable.

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