Untitled Document

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 31/1/04
Team	Opponents		League	Scr	Scorers
1^st XI	v Hereford	H	Div 1N	Post	Postponed by Hereford
2^nd XI	v W Glos II	A	Div 3N	1-4	Colquhoun
3^rd XI	v Bristol III	A	Div NE W1	1-0	Pitham
Wanderers	v Clevedon	H	Div NE W 2	Post	Postponed by Coombe Dingle
Wizards	v N Somerset II	A	Div NE W 3	2-1	Woods Brown
Warriors	v Gloucester V	H	Div NE W 4	0-0	Abandoned after 11 minutes

Match comments

Comment:

2^nd XI: The second team were ‘blown away’ on a day of gale force winds against our local rivals.

3^rd XI: The thirds battled the elements (the goals blew over 3 times) to win 1-0. It will be a breeze into the next division next week when 3 points have been secured. Brett Pitham scored his first goal for the club. Simon Baker’s eloquent summary follows: The 3rd team were up against a brutal Bristol side who would not hold back on their stick tackles and wild swings which were not penalised by the umpires. Getting a 1-0 win was a good result in a scrappy match where the wind was so strong the rain was travelling horizontally and the goal eventually blew right over. An opposition player claimed "you were lucky to win". Holding them to make two or three shots on goal and playing against fouling bastards. I think we put in a great performance to win, no luck at all.

Wanderers: The Wanderers never got started a wind-swept water-based pitch, where standing water in one goal mouth showed how much rain there had been. The metal shed that once stood on the tarmac path was torn up and blown across the pitch like the little pig’s house of straw. The groundsman quickly calling an end to proceedings for safety purposes.

Wizards: Jon Bower was full of praise for the Wizard’s performance. A 2-1 victory away at North Somerset in some of the worst conditions was in fact a good result. Losing 1-0 at the break and with Graham having gone off after receiving a stick to the head we didn't look like we would come away with anything until Sam Woods finished off a well worked goal with Graham coming back on to steal the points 2 minutes later. A spririted team performance in bad conditions sums it up really. Anyway with both Clevedon and West Glos surprisingly losing to teams in the bottom three, the Wizards are now top of the Division. 4 points clear of Third place. Duncan felt that… after snatching two goals in as many minutes to win the game, I almost expected a visit from the boys in blue investigating a reported mugging in the Gordano area on Saturday afternoon.

Warriors: The Warriors were looking good in attack on the sand based pitch, but events on the adjacent pitch meant that they too were abandoned after 11 minutes.

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 24/1/04
Team	Opponents		League	Scr	Scorers
1^st XI	v N Bristol	A	Div 1N	6-1	Frost J 4 Harris Poulsom
2^nd XI	v Whitchurch III	H	Div 3N	4-2	Watters Pearce-Smith Frost M Colquhoun
3^rd XI	v W Glos III	A	Div NE W1	3-2	Small Sparks Clifton
Wanderers	v Winchcombe	H	Div NE W 2	5-1	Millman S 3 Batchelor R Taylor M
Wizards	v Lydney II	H	Div NE W 3	4-1	Wornell 2 Britton Lampey
Warriors	v W Glos V	H	Div NE W 4	1-1	Harvey

Match comments

Comment: Another unbeaten week, with 5 wins and a draw.

1^st XI: The first team won easily against N Bristol but lacked the style and commitment of last week’s top of the table match with Robs. Richard Beesley commended James Frost for his ‘red hot’ performance, but was dissatisfied with his own personal game in the second half. It’s a well known fact that you often play as well as the opposition, still the winning margin against N Bristol was much wider than last year when the opposition pulled back to 5-4. This year the defence is much more solid.

2^nd XI: The seconds recorded a good win against Whitchurch. I didn’t see much of the game but I did see a couple of goal celebrations which showed how excited and up for it the seconds were.

3^rd XI: The thirds played W Glos who were one place below them in a top-of-the-table derby match. They can rightly say it was a job well done, winning by the odd goal in five to complete a ‘double’ over our local rivals.

Wanderers: The Wanderers struggled against ten man Winchcombe to press home their advantage turning round with only a one goal lead. As the game wore on the Wanderers looked much sharper going forward. Steve Millman picked up the rebounds off the keeper’s pads and defender's sticks to notch a hat-trick. Matt Taylor’s drive into the D and powerful near-post shot was the best of the goals. Darren Calafato at centre-back made some very decisive tackles, while Chris Cocks, forsaking his sweeper role, pushed into midfield and was instigator of a lot of the moves forward.

Wizards: The Wizards lost to Lydney earlier in the season but made up for it with a strong performance at home. In the first half there was not a lot of space for the teams to work in, with both sides marking very tightly. Lydney pulled back to 2-1 during a period of the game when the Wizards were ‘on the back foot’. The game was made safe by Dave Wornell's’s run from the half-way line, beating 3 or 4 defenders, he out sprinted the last man, and despite a strong challenge at the edge of the D, his cross shot sailed past the goalkeeper for an outstanding individual goal. James Lampey’s touch to a well hit cross was the icing on the cake.

Warriors: The Warriors had a point to prove against W Glos, playing the level of opposition they should have met earlier in the season. However it was W Glos who looked the more dangerous in attack. With a better first touch they might have added more goals to the penalty stroke they had after Richard Gee used his hand on the floor to bat the ball away. The Warriors stuck at their game and produced an equaliser deep in the second half. Dave Holliday was full of praise for Mike Harvey’s goal. A through ball enabled Mike to attack the top of the D, dummy to his right and hit a cross shot across the goalkeeper to share the points.

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 17/1/04
Team	Opponents		League	Scr	Scorers
1^st XI	v Robinsons II	H	Div 1N	4-3	Frost J 3 Tucker
2^nd XI	v Swansea Bay II	A	Div 3N	3-2	Pearce-Smith Armsby Moon
3^rd XI	v Gloucester IV	A	Div NE W1	11-2	Clifton 4 Evans N 2 Catchpole 2 Weston Taylor T Carter
Wanderers	v Bristol Univ IV	H	Div NE W 2	2-4	Millman S Brown
Wizards	v W Glos IV	A	Div NE W 3	2-0	Callis N 2
Warriors	v N Somerset III	A	Div NE W 4	10-1	Palmer M 4 Sheppard 2 Parker Thomas Harris Dom Harvey

Match comments

1^st XI: The first team won a close game with Robinsons by the odd goal in seven. James Frost led from the front with hat-trick.

2^nd XI: The second team won by the odd goal in 5 making the trip to Swansea 3 well earned points

3^rd XI: The thirds ran up a cricket score with Gavin Clifton running 4 goals. Nick Evans and Gary Catchpole chipped in with two apiece and Matt Weston, Tom Taylor and Steve Carter scored the remainder.

Wanderers: The Wanderers found the students a tough nut to crack and let in 4 goals whilst only securing two of their own.

Wizards: Any victory against W Glos is sweet, and in this one the Wizards kept a clean sheet whilst Neil Callis bagged two goals to seal the game and 3 very good points.

Warriors: The Warriors were never out of control of this game against a sporting and brave home side. Martin Palmer snatched 4 goals with Austin Sheppard getting two and one each from Mssrs Thomas, Harris and Harvey.

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 10/1/04
Team	Opponents		League	Scr	Scorers
1^st XI	v Swindon	A	Friendly	3-2	Frost J 2 Colquhoun
2^nd XI	v Robinsons III	H	Friendly	1-2	Goodman
3^rd XI	v Marlborough II	H	Friendly	3-4	Clifton 2 Weston
Wanderers	v Robinsons IV	A	Friendly	4-0	Brown Taylor M Batchelor R Cocks
Wizards	v Robinsosn V	A	Friendly	4-2	Wornell Ogilvie Lampey Coles
Warriors	v N Bristol V	H	Div NE W 4	3-2	Sheppard Counsell Thomas

Match comments

1^st XI: The first team took the scalp of another premier division team beating Swindon away.

2^nd XI: The seconds conceded a goal in the opening minutes of their game against Robinsons, equalised at some stage during the game, only to let it slip with Robs scoring a late winner.

3^rd XI: The thirds worked very hard to contain an impressive Marlborough second team, whose slick control, passing and speed of movement was good to watch. However, at half time the thirds had sneaked a goal when a miss-hit Captain of Vice short corner was nudged in by Gavin ‘goal machine’ Clifton. Gav literally had two touches in the first half! After the break Marlborough powered into a 2-1 lead. The thirds then had their best spell of the game putting in a lot of pressure and shots on goal. Gavin finished a good move with an equaliser. Marlborough picked up their game again and went into a 4-2 lead before a late penalty stroke, which was hotly contested by the visitors, pulled the final score to 4-3. Alan Sparks felt that some of his side were not quite over their Christmas binge, but acknowledged that they gave a strong second team a good run for their money. A word of praise too for Richard Beesley, who despite complaining of the sweaty state of Neil King’s kit, stood between the posts and gave a good account of himself as a goalkeeper. He used his feet well, and was only beaten by some well worked goals.

Wanderers& Wizards: Both the Wanderers and the Wizards came out ahead in their matches with Robinsons scoring 4 time each, with eight players sharing the goals. Robinsons in recent years have become the dominant club in Bristol, so its good to see the Wanderers and Wizard win against their counterparts. If both teams can move up divisions we may see them take on Robs in league matches in the future.

Warriors: The Warriors started their league match against N Bristol at break neck speed scoring after just 44 seconds through Austin Shepppard after good work by Dave Ratcliffe. Later in the first half Tom Counsell picked up a rebound to put us 2-0 up. N Bristol then pulled a goal back before half time. In the second half the Warriors were unable to be as effective as they had been early in the game. N Bristol equalised and Steve Carter in goal had to make some important saves to keep us in the game. N Bristol looked the more likely side to snatch the winner through their physical and intimidating play. With time almost up Pete Thomas delved into his pack of Monopoly cards and pulled out his ‘Get Out of Jail’ card. Austin Sheppard’s short corner follow up strike came to Pete, who’s reverse stick shot looped high over the keeper and into the net for an unlikely winner. Steve Carter was declared man-of-the-match.

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 3/1/04
Team	Opponents		League	Scr	Scorers
1^st XI	Lydney	H	Friendly	5-0	Mason 2 Tucker Colquhoun Webster
2^nd XI	Stroud	A	Friendly	Can
3^rd XI	No fixture
Wanderers	Stroud	H	Friendly	5-1	Armsby 2 Millman S Ogilvie Cocks
Wizards	No fixture
Warriors	No fixture

Match comments

1^st XI: A big win for the 1st XI.

Wanderers: 5 goals too for the Wanderers

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