| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 29/10/05 |
| Team |
Opponents |
|
League |
Scr |
Scorers |
|
1st
XI |
v Robinsons II |
A |
Premier 2 |
1-3 |
Roper |
|
2nd
XI |
v UW Swansea |
H |
North Div 2 |
2-1 |
Webster Moon |
|
3rd
XI |
v Somerset Gryphons II |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 1 |
2-3 |
Cutts Small |
| Wanderers |
v W Glos III |
H |
Br & NW Som Div2 |
3-0 |
Jones Holliday J Nichols G |
| Wizards |
v Firebrands VI |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
2-4 |
Banting G Ogilvie |
| Warriors |
v S Glos II |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
4-0 |
Nichols B Brown Thomas Colton |
| Widgets |
v Firebrands VII |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 4 |
0-2 |
|
| Match
comments |
| 1st
XI: The first team suffered a disappointing loss as Robinsons
recorded their first win of the season. |
| 2nd
XI: The 2nd XI kept up their drive for promotion
winning by the odd goal in 3 against the students from Swansea
to keep in touch with the two Bath sides at the top of the table.
Slider's story: Our best team performance of the year, saw us
control large portions of the game against a strong Swansea
Uni side. Tony scored a fine opener and only some student goalkeeping
heroics prevented us from getting a couple more goals in the
1st half. A breakaway goal frustratingly brought Swansea level
but in true Westbury fashion, the tireless MoonDog scored a
corker of a goal to bring us a deserved victory. A
top performance from all concerned with Clintus Shoutalotatus
Maximus pulling off a couple of fine saves, Ger never once missing
a tackle and TC causing all sorts of problems to the Swansea
defense.Great work gents. We're pulling
clear of 4th spot and remain only a point behind the 2 Bath
sides. |
| 3rd
XI: The thirds lost for the second week in
a row by the odd goal and have slipped away from the leaders.
Simon Baker writes: The scorers for the thirds were Cutts and
Limbo from a flick. Wasn't a pretty game and that was reflected
by a moment near the end of the game where Sparky produced an
excellent tackle, Difficult decision for the umpire, who called
it as a good tackle. The opposition forward didn't think so
and ended up throwing his stick and pushing Sparky over which
only resulted in a yellow (i would have thought that would be
a red card offence). As far as the game
goes we were unfortunate to lose 3-2 as we continued relentless
pressure but there was not enough patience in the build up.
The goals we scored were deserved and the goals they got, I
don,t think the two defenders guilty would like to talk about
the two goals again. |
| Wanderers:
The 23rd successive win makes it 5 out of 5 for the Wanderers.
Tufty's talk: A very solid performance by the Wanderers in beating
West Glos 3rds 3-0. Captain Wornell had his best game of the
season and together with James Holliday and John Ludley (who
ran himself into the ground) tied up the midfield (with Millman
in there as well, pretending he knew what he was doing!).
This left Gareth Nichols, Nick Evans and Ben
Jones to share the duties up front, and they all came through
with flying colours. Ben was really strong on the ball while
Gareth and Nick made the runs to get available better than at
any time this season. The two goals in the first half were not
classics, Bens' topped shot looping gently over the prostrate
goalkeeper, then James Holliday tapped in at the far post following
John Ludley's shot(?). The third goal at the start of the 2nd
half was worthy of winning the game, finished off by Gareth
after good work from Nick. Not to forget the defence who did
not allow a single short corner against in keeping a deserved
clean sheet. |
| Wizards:
The Wizards found the net twice against Firebrands, but let
in 4 to lose their top of the table encounter. |
| Warriors: The
Warriors jumped to 4th in the table with a comprehensive victory
against S Glos. Pete Thomas e-mailed me this report: An excellent
team performance against S Glos A, with everyone passing the
ball around well and working hard to support the player with
the ball. Apart from a patch in the second half, the midfield
dominated the centre, allowing the forwards to stretch the defence.
First half goals from Brian Nichols (Mark Colton swears his
shot was going in, but Brian made sure from two inches out!!)
and Graham Brown, placed the Warriors 2-0 up. S Glos struck
back just after half time to make it 2-1. Relentless pressure
and several short corners later Pete Thomas further increased
the lead with 15 minutes to go & Mark Colton put the issue
beyond doubt with a fourth in the last 10. Good work from Sam
Parker & Rob Hughes created many chances down the right.
The Warriors’ defence turned in the solid performance
that became a trademark of last year, to elevate the team to
fourth in the league.: |
| Widgets: Another
close result for the Widgets, but where will the goals come
from to secure a victory? Next week the opposition is S Glos,
a team they beat last year which gives them a chance to end
a run of 8 league defeats in a row. |
| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 22/10/05 |
| Team |
Opponents |
|
League |
Scr |
Scorers |
|
1st
XI |
v W Glos |
A |
Premier 2 |
3-3 |
Frost J Harris Roper |
|
2nd
XI |
v N Wilts |
H |
North Div 2 |
1-0 |
Armsby |
|
3rd
XI |
v Firebrands IV |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 1 |
4-5 |
Jarvis Evans Gibbs Small |
| Wanderers |
v Firebrands V |
A |
Br & NW Som Div2 |
4-1 |
Wornell Jones Millman S Carter |
| Wizards |
v Bristol UWE IV |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
0-1 |
|
| Warriors |
v O Bristolians IV |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
4-1 |
Thomas 2 Brown Harvey |
| Widgets |
v Imperial |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 4 |
1-7 |
Newington |
| Match
comments |
| 1st
XI: The local derby with W Glos at Badminton school ended all
square at 3-3. Meaks writes: At 3-1 up with 8 minutes to play
West Gloucs could probably claim that their tactic of 70 minutes,
yes 70 minutes, of half pitch, play-on-the-break hockey was
the right one. Maybe it was just out of respect for our pace
going forwards? What they hadn't
counted on was the Westbury team spirit, no arguing amongst
each other, no (major) arguing with the umpires and a persistent
streak to never give up.It finished 3-3
with Bomber, Frosty and Roper getting the goals.Hopefully
the other local derbies won't involve such negative tactics
and be a bit more enjoyable to play in. |
| 2nd
XI: Slider's story\; Another battle and another
win for the boys in red and green. A poor 1st half display was
thankfully followed by a much improved 2nd half performance,
with everyone raising their game superbly and battling hard
for the win. The skipper pinched the winner by deflecting a
Moonie short corner strike. After some good pressure from us,
we probably deserved a second with Gary being cruelly denied
a sublime assist as TC disallowed TC's late goal. This
has kept us in 3rd, only a point behind the 2 Bath teams and
some daylight between us and the chasing pack.
Good work gents. |
| 3rd
XI: The thirds were rather sluggish against
a young but skillful Firebrands side. Despite an early goal
from JJ, the visitors built up a commanding 3-1 lead by half
time. This became 4-1 early in the second period, a number of
players looked off the pace of the game. Westbury then began
to find some fire and control in their play, urged on by a 'Storming'
Frank Gibbs. First Nick Evans snapped up a rebound, then Frank
himself flicked home to make it 4-3. Firebrands broke away to
score a fifth goal, but the 3rds were still not dead. Limbo
cleverly deflected the ball in for 5-4. The last few minutes
saw more attacks but the equaliser would not come. The visitors
skill level was very impressive and in Jeremy Board they have
the hardest hitter in local hockey, his two first half strikes
were quicker than Flintoff and Harmison put together! |
| Wanderers:
The Wanderers made it 22 straight league wins away at Firebrands.
The home team should have scored first before Worny put Westbury
ahead. Gareth Nichols then hit the post a minute later and Ben
Jones thumped in the follow up. The Wanderers were well on top
and opened the second half with a typical Tufty strike. The
home team resorted to leaving a few sticks in when they lost
the ball, whilst some of the moves Westbury made were of a high
quality, just lacking in the final ball to turn several sweeping
moves into a goal. When it did come, it was Steve Carter who
was involved in the last two major incidents. He scored from
Tufty's short corner slip, but then injudiciously bundled a
youngster to the ground, earning a yellow card. Strangely the
home defender who ran 20 metres to forearm him twice in the
chest was not punished at all. In between Firebrands scored
a well taken consolation goal. This was a good all round team
performance. Gareth Nichol's skill caught the eye and Ben Jones
looked very strong on the ball down the right. |
| Wizards:
The Wizards were up against a young, fit student side. There
were two survivors from the old Bristol 4th team and the rest
were UWE youngsters. In a closely contested game, Bristol scored
the only goal of the game to confirm their place at the top
of the table. |
| Warriors: The
Warriors looked stronger in midfield thanks to Dom Harris, who
was making a rare start for the club. Graeme Brown's deft deflection
gave the Warriors the lead, but O Bs wiped it out immediately
from a penalty stroke. The first half was very even with Westbury
looking much sharper down the left hand side. In the second
half two Pete Thomas goals and a 'screamer' from Mike Harvey
sealed the points to bring the team up to 2 wins and 2 defeats. |
| Widgets: The
Widgets were first to find the net. Martin Palmer struck the
ball across the face of goal, if hit a defender's foot and deflected
into the net. The umpire, to the amazement of the home team
signaled a short corner. It was downhill all the way after this
set back, and Imperial scored at regular intervals. It was good
to see Dave Holiday back, and he put in his usual solid game,
this being his 40th season with the club. The marking by the
home defence became more fragile as the game wore on. It was
3-0 to Imperial at the half. John Fox was unlucky to hit the
post at 5-0 down. Martin Palmer skillfully created a goal for
Harry Newington to make it 6-1. So far the Widgets have faced
the three leading sides out of the four games played and have
a 1 goal for and 30 against! |
| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 15/10/05 |
| Team |
Opponents |
|
League |
Scr |
Scorers |
|
1st
XI |
v Torbay |
H |
Premier 2 |
3-2 |
Frost J Roper Goodman |
|
2nd
XI |
v W Glos II |
A |
North Div 2 |
2-1 |
Moon 2 |
|
3rd
XI |
v N Bristol II |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 1 |
3-2 |
Small 2 Cutts |
| Wanderers |
v N Bristol III |
H |
Br & NW Som Div2 |
5-1 |
Carter Wornell Millman S Ludley
Holliday J |
| Wizards |
v O Bristolians IV |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
2-1 |
Christopher Farrell |
| Warriors |
v N Somerset II |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
1-10 |
Palmer M |
| Widgets |
v N Bristol IV |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 4 |
0-2 |
|
| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 16/10/05 |
|
2nd
XI |
v Bath University |
A |
North Div 2 |
0-2 |
|
| Match
comments |
| The
top five teams maintained their winning runs and remain at or
near the top of their divisions. The Warriors struggled against
strong opposition and the Widgets fell to another defeat. |
| 1st
XI: The first team did not quite match the 8 goals they stuck
in twice last season against Torbay, but with a 3-2 win it is
still another 3 points. This shows the team have established
a winning pattern in prem 2 with three successive wins. Frosty,
Shadwell and Goody were on target. |
| 2nd
XI:
Moonie struck twice to win yet another local derby with W Glos.
As a club we are 3 wins out of 3 against W Glos. This result
looks much closer, but like the 1st XI it is 3 more points safely
in the bag. Slider's story: The weekend began on Saturday with
a 2-1 win against West Glos. The warm-up went well, the umpire
was 30 mins late, one of our ginger midfielders (I think it
was Terry, but it's always hard to tell) got told off for pissing
in the corner of the pitch, Moonie practised on his own for
15mins with a school bench he found somewhere... and then the
game began. An awesome first 20mins saw us score precisely nought
out of 10 chances and saw TC blown up everytime he touched the
ball. Following this, we strangely eased off a bit and made
hard work of the rest of the match. 2 cracking goals from 'The
Moondog' saw us home, despite W Glos getting a cheap goal back
at the death... no blame attached for it, but ask Clint and
Ger for more details. Sunday saw more
late arrivals, this time from some of us and all of Bath Uni.
Even though we were playing a bunch of students, it was us who
seemed to be the team with the hangover and we found it tough
going against a very good side. There were few chances in the
match but a deflection and a smart finish saw the students win
2-0. Oh, and Adam and Griff earnt themselves 'well-deserved'
/ 'undeserved' (delete as appropriate) yellows!
A great effort from everyone this weekend, just a shame we couldn't
raise our game yesterday. Back to winning ways this weekend.
|
| 3rd
XI: The 3rd XI in the last game of last season
lost 1-0 to N Bristol, denying them the runners up spot. This
week they managed to find the goals that alluded them last year.
At 3-2 it was another close result and it keeps the threes top
of the table. |
| Wanderers:
Tufty told me that this was not a very impressive Wanderers
performance. They were 1-0 down at the half, and N Bristol were
pinging the ball all over the place with the sun behind them,
especially from 16s. In the second half the roles were reversed
and Westbury snapped up most of the visitor's passes and hits.
Along the way goals steadily popped in and on paper it looks
a good result. This makes it 21 league wins on the trot! |
| Wizards:
The Wizards also won by the odd goal after going 1-0 down at
home to O Bs. They recovered with goals from Alan Christopher
and Pete Farrell to win 2-1. After last season's disappointing
results, the team have come out and made a mark on the restructured
league as the sit near the top of the table. |
| Warriors: Last
season the defence was superb, their solid defending hid the
weaknesses in the passing game up front. Against much stronger
opposition those weaknesses were cruelly exposed. Most of the
goals conceded came from poorly executed passes in the N Somerset
half. However, their second goal came when the umpire signaled
a hit to Westbury but waited to see if the advantage came, a
home player then came away with the ball, the umpire put down
his hand and they scored an almost unopposed goal with everyone
expecting a free hit. In the opening 20 minutes the Warriors
actually had more attacks than N Somerset, but failed to turn
any of them into chances in the D. By half time the home team
were 5-0 up. Graeme Brown created an opening for Martin Palmer
to score a consolation goal in the second half but N Somerset
found the net 5 more times. Mark Colton was named man-of-the-match. |
| Widgets: The
Widgets put up a much better performance at N Bristol, they
were reduced to ten men before the start through unforeseen
circumstances and battled hard to make an impact. A 2-0 defeat
ensued, but there was more organisation in the way they played. |
| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 8/10/05 |
| Team |
Opponents |
|
League |
Scr |
Scorers |
|
1st
XI |
v Swindon |
A |
Premier 2 |
2-1 |
Parish Richardson |
|
2nd
XI |
v Chepstow |
H |
North Div 2 |
8-3 |
Moon 3 Colquhoun 2 Webster 2 Watts |
|
3rd
XI |
v S Glos |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 1 |
10-0 |
Jarvis 3 Cutts 2 Banting A 2 Sparks
Coats Catchpole |
| Wanderers |
v Robinsons V |
A |
Br & NW Som Div2 |
6-0 |
Slater 2 Carter Ludley Nichols G
Wornell |
| Wizards |
v Somerset Gryphons IV |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
6-0 |
Rickard 2 Christopher Taylor M Crofts
Cocks |
| Warriors |
v W Glos V |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
4-1 |
Parker Thomas Palmer M Millman S |
| Widgets |
v Frys |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 4 |
0-8 |
|
| Veterans |
v Isca Veterans |
A |
HA Vets Trophy |
0-8 |
|
| Match
comments |
|
ON SUNDAY: VETERANS: Mark Colton writes: The
result was ISCA 8 Westbury 0. This should not hide the fact
that the veterans gave their all for the club. In fact we
had the best of the early exchanges, but Isca then built well
and used space effectively.Pete Thomas did hit the post in
the second half, and we did deserve a goal, but it was not
to be. Despite the result we all enjoyed a challenging game
and I am sure we all have our own memories. Especially Mike
Harvey who showed some superb skills with only inches to work
in on the touch line. A point that was made by the oppostion
as Mike went past.Thanks to George for organising the team,
especially as today was his birthday. This was my first tatse
of Vets hockey for the club and look forward to many more
games.
BANTING'S BANTER The Vets put up a spirited
and battling performance against ISCA Vets in Exeter on Sunday.
We started well and, at the end of a good passing move, had
the ball in their D before they had been in our half. However,
an early break from ISCA with some swift passing and excellent
running off the ball led to a pin-point accurate shot from
the top of the D that flew home at ground level just inside
the post. We continued to work hard during the first half
but were up against a team that was very effective at doing
the basics well and at great pace. ISCA’s movement off
the ball was excellent and their passing was early, crisp
and accurate. Despite this we played some decent hockey ourselves
at times and won a few short corners. ISCA also won some shorts,
but neither team converted any. Bringing Alan Christopher
back into a deeper role helped a bit during the last ten minutes
of the first half, but we still turned round 5-0 down. We
made a slight change at half-time, moving Mark Colton back
to central defender (from right wing), moving George Banting
up (from central defender) to join Alan Sparks in central
midfield and leaving Pete Thomas and Alan Christopher as the
two forwards. ISCA really came at us at the start of the second
half, they had obviously been fired up by a half time team
talk, and soon scored another goal, but from then on we contained
them pretty well, had several attacks ourselves, won more
short corners; but were unable to score. One attack from open
play led to Pete Thomas cracking the ball against a post,
but it rebounded to an ISCA player rather than one of ours.
Mike Harvey showed his usual silky skills down the left, as
did Mark Crofts on the right, and the irrepressible Chris
Cocks continued to make overlapping runs from right back all
through the game. We held ISCA to one goal in the second half
until about 3 minutes from the end when a couple of mistakes
led to us conceding two late goals. Stuart Horn played a blinder
in goal and the whole team played out of their skins in the
second half, giving everything for the cause. We understand
(courtesy of one of the umpires) that the ISCA team contained
‘at least four ex GB players’ two of whom were
wearing their England Vets shorts!! The Westbury Vets team
could not have played much better, we had a good day out,
were well fed by ISCA in their clubhouse afterwards, and just
wish that we could have scored one goal in reply (and held
ISCA to only one goal in the second half). We are looking
forward to the Plate competition and wish ISCA every success
(they don’t need luck) in future rounds.
Team: Horn, Fey, Cocks, Banting, Hudd, Crofts,
Sparks, Harvey, Colton, Christopher, Thomas, Nichols. |
| ON
SATURDAY: An impressive day for the club today with 6 wins for
the established sides. As the league season begins to unfold
already the twos, threes, Wanderers and Wizards are setting
the pace at the top of their divisions, with the firsts not
far behind. The Warriors can start moving up the table after
their first win. The Widgets are in desperate need of experience,
especially up front as they fell to a second heavy defeat. |
| 1st
XI: Another 3 points were secured by the first team at Swindon.
JP and Nellie were on target as the firsts start building some
momentum with two successive wins. |
| 2nd
XI: The scorecard said 9 but officially it
was 8 plus a phantom goal by Village. According to Phil it was
a good goal unaccountably disallowed by Bish. Moonie completed
a hat-trick with TC, Baby (2 each) and Terry Watts completing
the bone-fida goals! It also appears that a Chepstow foot played
a big part in one of their goals, however, the second team steam
rollered through the opposition defence. The twos can look forward
to a challenge for promotion with the rearranged match with
Bath University a key indicator for how successful they can
be. |
| 3rd
XI: The thirds ran up a cricket score against
S Glos. JJ scored 3, Adam Banting continued his scoring run
with 2, Chris Cutts added 2 himself, Gary Catchpole added one
and there was a strike from defender Nick Coats to complete
the scoring. Limbo had a duck to his name! The thirds are in
the top two positions along with Firebrands and their playing
strength suggests another run for promotion after last year's
near miss. |
| Wanderers:
Another comprehensive win for the Wanderers to keep them top
of the table. Simon Slater added two more in his first season
at Westbury. Gareth Nichols got his first of the season, John
Ludley, Steve Carter and Worny completed the scoring. That makes
it 20 successive league wins. It looks as if Bristol University
and Firebrands will be the main rivals at the top of the table. |
| Wizards:
A second win for the Wizards. Geoff Rickard was on target twice
(his first goals of the season), Alan Christopher, Matt Taylor,
Mark Crofts and Chris Cocks added the others. The Wizards too
have opened with two straight wins and look to be amongst the
leaders. Their challenge will come from Firebrands and hopefully
the Warriors. |
| Warriors: A
good first win for the Warriors in the league. Sam Parker guided
in Mike Harvey's shot from a short corner. Pete Thomas grabbed
a second after W Glos had equalised, Pete could easily have
scored 3 or 4 but admitted afterwards that his first touch is
letting him down. W Glos only came with 10 men. On a day when
Westbury put 77 players onto the pitch, W Glos could only field
54! The game was made safe by Martin Palmer's second half strike
after a long spell of home pressure, the goal coming after some
good work by Sam Parker and Tufty. W Glos were reduced to 9
men after a defender caught a stick in the mouth and left for
dental treatment. (Mouth guards ought to be mandatory!) Tufty
then burst the net with his powerful shot to wrap it all up
from a defence splitting pass from Martin Palmer. Brian Nichols
was named man-of-the-match and there were good performances
from Will Enderby, Mark Colton and Rob Hughes. A much better
performance against a team who at times didn't look as if they
were a man short. |
| Widgets: The
Widgets were unable to hold the ball up front again and fell
to an 8-0 defeat against Frys. Clive Stadden made a return after
rescinding his retirement of 4 years and cleared one shot off
the line. Nick Hudd showed some neat touches at centre half,
but the team could not get any control and had few attacking
options. The 2 goals scored by Frys in the first half came about
45 seconds apart, as did their 3rd and 4th goals in the second
half. Stuart Horn got close to saving a penalty stroke late
in the game, but Frys finished well on top. Jay Lutwych, who
looked sharp on the right wing a few weeks back was pressed
into service at left midfield and put in a solid performance.
The Widgets might have been better served with him up front. |
| Westbury
& United Banks HC: Results for Saturday 1/10/05 |
| Team |
Opponents |
|
League |
Scr |
Scorers |
|
1st
XI |
v Firebrands II |
H |
Premier 2 |
5-2 |
Frost J Watters Parish Goodman Poulsom |
|
2nd
XI |
v Swansea Bay II |
A |
North Div 2 |
2-0 |
Webster Haslett |
|
3rd
XI |
v O Bristolians II |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 1 |
4-1 |
Banting A 2 Catchpole Jarvis |
| Wanderers |
v W Glos IV |
H |
Br & NW Som Div2 |
6-0 |
Carter 2 Millman S Watkins Slater
Wornell |
| Wizards |
v Weston III |
H |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
2-1 |
Christopher Evans |
| Warriors |
v Firebrands VI |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 3 |
0-1 |
|
| Widgets |
v Robinsons VI |
A |
Br & NW Som Div 4 |
1-7 |
Pritchard |
| Match
comments |
1st
XI: The first team gained their first points of their Premier
2 campaign with a decisive 5-2 win against Firebrands second
team. The goals were shared by Frosty, Wally, JP, Goodie and
Pyscho, obviously anyone without a nickname didn't get any chances!
A good win against the team that finished 4th last season.
Meaks wrote on the forum...The first points of the campaign.
A nervy start and a goal down followed by a strong comeback
with some good attacking play from the home side. The game opened
up towards the end and we could have had a few more goals. Bomber
and Shads deserve mention for their defensive work and also
Deaks who made a pretty good push for selection at left wing/center
forward for next week. Scorers:
Watters, Poulsom, Parrish, Goodman, Frost. Unfortunately no
birthday goal for Mason, just turned 24 last Thursday. |
| 2nd
XI: Last year's 2nd XI trip to Swansea Bay
ended in a heavy defeat, this year the drive back must have
been a lot 'sweeter', with a 2-0 win safely secured thanks to
strikes from Tony Webster and Village. |
| 3rd
XI: The thirds must already be contenders
when you look at the names on the score sheet, Adam Banting,
Gary Catchpole and JJ all have second team credentials. Having
forwards of their quality makes it a very strong 3rd XI...watch
this space. Simon Baker writes: The thirds got their campaign
off to a solid start with a decent 4-1 win over OB's. For the
first 20-25 minutes there was only one side in the game with
the midfield and forwards linking up nicely to create many chances.
Two penalty flicks in quick succession scored by Adam Banting
were well deserved and a brilliant counter attacking move with
Gary Catchpole showing some pace out of nowhere! played the
ball to JJ who finished nicely. The defence was solid if i do
say so myself but a sloppy goal was conceded before half time
with a misunderstanding which allowed OB's an undeserved goal.
Second half was much more solid with a lot of ball possession
and a well earned goal by Gary was much appreciated to put the
game out of OB's reach. Goals could have come thick and fast
but their keep had a good game and the forwards were unlucky
with a many shots finishing agonisingly wide. However this was
a good looking third team playing a lot of attractive hockey
which bodes well for the season. |
| Wanderers:
After a couple of glitches in their friendlies, the Wanderers
took up their customary position at the top of the table. To
make it even better the 6-0 win was against local rivals W Glos.
Simon Slater in his first season at Westbury added his name
to the score sheet. Dave Watkins got in on the act too, whilst
the other scorers Carter, Tufty and Worny have a very familiar
ring about them That makes it 19 straight league wins! |
| Wizards:
The Wizards second half performance was very bitty, with players
running with the ball, losing it, getting it back and running
again. There were few moves involving good passes. Indeed there
were some anxious moments when sloppy passes led to Weston almost
scoring. Martin Eland made one great blocking save, whilst Tim
Denner looked well in control when others beside him were struggling
to be effective in moving the ball forward. Matt Taylor had
one great run forward and Geoff Rickard looked lively. However,
it was veteran Alan Christopher who was the match winner. He
scored the first and created the second with some clever play
on the top of the D, enabling Nick Evans to guide in the winner.
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| Warriors: The
Warriors were well up for this game against the old Embers team
made up of some very experienced former first teamers. Jamie
Cranfield, Will Halliday and Jurgen played some neat, controlled
hockey. Westbury had the greater proportion of the first half
with Firebrands resorting to aimless hits that went off the
back line. Their one decisive attack led to a well struck goal.
The Warriors created a couple of half chances but suffered from
last season's lack of penetration, a point made by Brian Nichols
at half time. Unfortunately Firebrands had the lion's share
of the second half and Westbury were unable to get to the home
D more than twice. Stuart Horn pulled off two fine saves. |
| Widgets: The
Widgets lacked experience and fell to a heavy defeat against
a Robinsons side that was slightly flattered by the score line.
The Widgets defence played quite well but the inability of the
side to hold the ball for long up front, meant that it was relentless
pressure for the Westbury defence. Westbury were denied two
penalty strokes when a foot on the line and a stick tackle from
behind only earned short corners. |
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