Untitled Document

1^st 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 neil Richardson 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 Rich Deakin said "there was a lot of wood in some of our tackles". Despite yellow cards for Richard Beesley (for apparently asking a question at the wrong volume) and Duncan Armsby for amputating Richard Banwell at both knees we hung on to win 5-2. Goals from Richardson, Tony Webster 2, Dave Harris and James 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

1^st XI

v Torbay

Premier 2

5-3

Goodman 2 Webster 2 Richardson

2^nd XI

v W Glos II

North Div 2

2-0

Moon Harris

3^rd XI

v Firebrands IV

Br & NW Som Div 1

4-1

Small 2 Jarvis Baker

Wanderers

v Firebrands V

Br & NW Som Div2

3-0

Farrell Taylor A Jones

Wizards

v Bristol UWE IV

Br & NW Som Div 3

2-1

Banting G Evans

Warriors

v O Bristolians IV

Br & NW Som Div 3

1-3

Parker

Widgets

v N Bristol IV

Br & NW Som Div 4

2-2

Palmer M Sheppard

Match comments

1^st XI: The trip to Torbay resulted in the first team's eighth successive win, (seven straight league wins). Phil Meakin 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, Richardson. 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

2^nd 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. Dave Harris consistently caused their defence problems setting up the first for Neil Moon to finish sweetly and then scored the 2nd by deflecting in a shot from James Pearce-Smith. Wets 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

3^rd XI: Alan Sparks 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. Jon Jarvis 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 Ian Small 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. Steve Millman 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. Pete Farrell 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 Steve Millman 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
1^st XI	v Swindon	H	Premier 2	4-2	Frost J Goodman Mason Harris
2^nd XI	v Chepstow	A	North Div 2	5-0	Colquhoun 3 Pearce-Smith Moon
3^rd 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
1^st 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 Gary Roper on the near post. Gary laid it back to Dave Harris who drilled it home to make the game safe. City of Bath lost to Whitchurch which piys estbury to the top of the table.
2^nd XI: Tom Colquhoun scored a hat-trick in Chepstow with James Pearce-Smith and Neil Moon getting the other two as the seconds continued their push for promotion. Duncan Armsby was in the first team so we don't have his usual analysis, instead we have news from Richard Beesley: 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 Watts had one of his special days and Moon cleared well of the line twice. Great tea followed by a classic wind up for Armsby!!! 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.
3^rd XI: Ian Small 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 Jon Jarvis. The final ball from Jon was perfection. Jon 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 Andy Pound 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. Ian Small 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 was always 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 Warriors 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 didn't 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 (for those that remember England's abject failures from penalty shoot-outs) 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
1^st XI	v Firebrands II	A	Premier 2	7-3	Frost J 4 Harris Goodman Webster
2^nd XI	v Swansea Bay II	H	North Div 2	2-2	Moon Catchpole
3^rd 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
1^st XI: Phil Meakin 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 Webster for retaliation.
2^nd XI: From 2-0 down, the twos staged an superb come back to earn a point with goals from Neil Moon and Gary Catchpole.
3^rd XI: A comfortable win for the thirds with Jon Jarvis, Ian Small 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. Steve Millman too scored three, he retired with a pulled muscle for ten minutes and his fellow veteran replacement Martin Palmer struck in James Holliday'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. Pete Farrell scored two, Geoff Rickard and Mark Crofts got one each.
Warriors: The Warriors came back with a point from their match with W Glos. Sam 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 the defence 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^st XI

v Isca II

Premier 2

2-1

Richardson Colquhoun

2^nd XI

v Robinsons II

friendly

1-6

Pearce-Smith

3^rd XI

v W Wilts

friendly

4-3

Cutts Carter Nichols G Baker

Wanderers

v S Glos

friendly

5-2

Taylor A Haynes Jones Hollidy J Millman S

Wizards

v W Wilts

friendly

1-0

Rickard

Warriors

v W Wilts

friendly

2-5

Enderby Small

Widgets

v Swindon

friendly

6-1

Palmer M 3 Callis B Fox Parker

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Sunday 8/1/06

Veterans

v O Bristolians

friendly

3-2

Colton Thomas Ludley

Match comments

1^st XI: Meaks writes: Another superb team performance secured a 2-1 away win in a rearranged league game. Notable performances came from Chris Poulsom as stand-in centre half, James Goodman's seemingly tireless tracking back and Tom Colquhoun's cracking finish to a sweeping 6 man move for the second goal. Tom would like to point out that he also made some tackles during the game. Goals from Richardson and Colquhoun.

Prem 2	Pl	W	D	L	For	Agn	Diff	Pts
Cheltenham	14	8	3	3	61	38	23	27
City of Bath	11	8	1	2	47	21	26	25
Westbury	12	8	1	3	34	25	9	25
Torbay	11	7	1	3	38	30	8	22
Bath Buccs A	13	6	3	4	30	32	-2	21

2^nd XI: Duncan Armsby said: A hastily arranged match against a strong Robinson's '2nd team' proved to be a thoroughly enjoyable encounter. An impressive first half saw us arrive at half-time level at 1-1 after a strike from James Pearce-Smith at another one of our wonderful 'set-piece' short corners. We were outstanding for the 1st half, having the better of the play for large periods of the half and matching a team 3 leagues above us. Utilising the 'squad of 16' rule to its fullest, an even stronger '2nd team' emerged against us for the 2nd half and as Westbury began to tire towards the end, Robs upped their game and struck 4 goals in the last 10 mins. I think it ended 5 or 6-1, but overall we can be very pleased to give a strong Prem 2 side a very good game. Thanks to Steve Carter & Steve Millman for umpiring at short notice, you did a grand job gents.

3^rd XI: Alan Sparks speaks: The thirds travelled to West Wilts to face a team 3rd in the League above ours. The side was changed from recent weeks due to a variety of (mainly wimpish) excuses from senior players. Alan Christopher, Patrick Tampkins, John Ludley and Steve Carter all stepped in to help, and Dave Watkins overcame a bizarre rabbit related injury to play. The first 10 minutes the West Wilts team looked like they could overwhelm us. Steve Carter organised the defence and allowed Westbury to compete more evenly for most of the half. Pat in his first 3rd team game was very impressive for a player who threw up just before pushback.Unfortunately a few weak passes in the attcaking area allowed some quick West Wilts breakaways and they scored 3 goals in the 5 minutes before half-time.A small tactical rearrangement at half time allowed Westbury to defend better and launch high quality attacks of their own, using the pace of Cutts & Limbo. Gareth Nicholls showed great control to stop and sweep in a ball bouncing across the area from a defender's stick. Then a well worked long corner allowed Alan Sparks to feed Simon Baker on the top of the D for a weel struck shot. With about 10 minutes to go Steve Carter struck a short corner for the equaliser.West Wilts tried to get back into the game but lacked the imagination to use their skills effectively. An attempt to release their dangerous winger was intercepted by Alan Sparks. Two swift passes later Gareth pulled the ball back to Cutts in the middle of the D and he finished clinically to ensure a 4-3 comeback victory. Much better than a game at Tesco for a side who didn't play as well as the Widgets!

Wanderers: The Wanderers won 5-2 in a friendly against S Glos at Badminton School. Steve Millman reports that he, James Holliday, James Haynes & Alex Taylor scored the goals.

Prem 2	Pl	W	D	L	For	Agn	Diff	Pts
City of Bath	11	8	1	2	47	21	26	25
Cheltenham	13	7	3	3	56	37	19	24
Torbay	11	7	1	3	38	30	8	22
Bath Buccs A	12	6	3	3	29	30	-1	21
Westbury	10	6	1	3	30	23	7	19

Div 2 N	Pl	W	D	L	For	Agn	Diff	Pts
Bath Univ	11	10	1	0	59	15	44	31
Westbury A	12	9	1	2	35	18	17	28

Bristol & Som 1	Pl	W	D	L	For	Agn	Diff	Pts
Som Gryphon A	10	9	0	1	34	18	16	27
Robinsons C	10	7	1	2	31	19	12	22
Westbury B	10	6	2	2	41	20	21	20

Bristol & Som 2	Pl	W	D	L	For	Agn	Diff	Pts
Westbury C	10	9	0	1	48	11	37	27
Bristol Univ C	10	8	0	2	43	12	31	24

Bristol & Som 3	Pl	W	D	L	For	Agn	Diff	Pts
Firebrands E	10	10	0	0	44	8	36	30
Westbury D	9	7	0	2	28	9	19	21
Westbury E	9	6	0	3	27	19	8	18

Wizards: Duncan Ogilvies's text said that Geoff Rickard's goal was a "Great solo effort" and this goal turned out to be the difference between the two sides.

Bristol & Som 3	Pl	W	D	L	For	Agn	Diff	Pts
Firebrands E	10	10	0	0	44	8	36	30
Westbury D	10	7	0	3	29	12	17	21
Westbury E	10	7	0	3	30	20	10	21

Warriors: The Warriors also made the trip to W Wilts and fell to a 5-2 defeat. Will Enderby scored his second goal of the season and Limbo (who must have been doubling up) got the other.

Widgets: The Widgets who on Friday were short of players actually turned out 12 men. Thanks should go to Ben Jones for a great game in goal when he expected to have a second run out on the pitch. The Widgets had most of the attack in the first half, but some poor shooting plus a number of passes that did not penetrate the D denied them the opportunity to establish a lead. Swindon scored to take the lead from a penalty stroke. They could have got a second. Tim Palmer shut down one shooting chance and Roger Montegue cleared off the line. A short corner was earned as the half expired. Austin Sheppard's shot took a deflection from the runner out and with great athleticism, Brian Callis reacted first to glance the ball into the net for a crucial equaliser. Ben Jones said at half time that our play was as good as the Wanderers earlier that morning. In the second half Westbury took complete control of the game with what Brian Callis described as the best hockey he's ever seen the team play. Martin Palmer was in great form in front of goal scoring at hat-trick in under 15 minutes. The first came from Paul Pritchard's cross that looped in a high arc across the D, he picked it up on the run and hammered home. The second from a short corner (having hit the post from a first half corner), this was flicked at the right post, deflected by the runner and went in at the left post. John Fox unselfishly set up the third after great work by Sam Parker. John scored a bizarre goal when a left wing cross flew across the goal, hit the umpire and bounced back for John the push home! Sam Parker, who had the best game I've ever seen him play, working tirelessly in midfield and scored number six. This was a great team performance with every one playing well. The defence looked very solid and the passing and movement forward in the second half was of a high quality, against a team that were no push overs. Credit too to the umpires who were excellent, they didn't miss a trick and were very fair.

Veterans: George reports: We won 3-2. Scorers were Colton (definitely), Thomas and Farrel (I think...Pete will confirm). An enjoyable game, played in a good spirit on a cold Sunday morning. We started well and went ahead from an excellent strike at a short corner from Mark Colton. We continued to move the ball around well, using the width of the pitch and making good use of strong running up front and solid support from midfield and defence. Steve Millman arrived, a little worse for wear after the previous night, to allow rotation in the forward line. Some lovely interplay between Mike Harvey and Pete Thomas in the D led to the second goal and we turned round 2-0 up, with Stuart Horn having made a couple of excellent saves in our goal. We scored again fairly early on in the second half, this time following some nice passing and running on and off the ball down the right hand side. We continued to have the majority of the play, even though OB's always looked capable of scoring, and were somewhat guilty of playing the ball too much down the right and not making use of space and free men on the left. OB's got a goal back with about 15 mins to go and a second shortly afterwards. Somewhere along the line they were also awarded a penalty flick for Austin Sheppard allegedly stopping the ball with his feet on the line, Stuart came to the rescue and made an excellent save. The game finished with a lovely series of crisp, short passes from us as we went into their D and were only denied a deserved fourth goal by the shot going straight at the keeper. A few pints with the oppositionfollowed in the Miners' Rest.

Westbury & United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 4/1/06

Team

Opponents

League

Scr

Scorers

1^st XI

v Westbury II

friendly

4-2

Colquhoun 2 Poulsom Goodman

2^nd XI

v Westbury

friendly

2-4

Banting A Watts

Match comments

Club match: The first team took on the second team on Wednesday night in order to give both sides a serious game. Richard Beesley told me that in the first ten minutes it was difficult to tell which side was which in a very competitive match. The first team took the lead through Chris Poulsom before Adam Banting drove in an equaliser. Both sides had good attacking spells without being able to score. Tom Colquhoun came off the bench and Tony Webster set him up for a go ahead goal. A lot of pressure was put on the seconds defence, but it was a testing storm that they weathered well. The twos worked the ball up the other end and Terry Watts turned to flick in an equaliser. The firsts then found an extra gear and managed to break down the second team defence with goals from James Goodman and Tom Colquhoun to wrap up a win. This was a good game to watch and both sides played with spirit, although one or two passes towards the end showed the effects of that extra Christmas Pudding. Hopefully this game has blown away the cobwebs as both teams head for league matches in the coming weeks. The firsts play Isca on Saturday and both teams are in action the following week. (NB these goals do not go on the goal chart)

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