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Match comments 5 wins today as the club got back on track after some disappointing results in the early part of the season.

1^st XI: The first team earned their first points of the season with a 4-3 victory against Cardiff University. Joe Thomas scored a hat trick and Nellor got his first of the season. This win means the first team move off the bottom of the table, leapfrogging over their opponents.

2^nd XI: The second team just couldn't understand how the points eluded them, with the chances something like 20-3 in Westbury's favour, Robs took all their chances and Westbury converted only two! Slider scored and their was a first Westbury goal for Andy Smearld.

3^rd XI: The third team found the net first at home to Firebrands with JPS striking in a short corner. Firebrands responded immediately taking a 2-1 lead and by half time they were 3-2 ahead. The second half saw the Wanderers firing on all cylinders as the side clicked. They leveled and then went ahead, the go-ahead goal being a well taken individual effort by Nathan Walkey, his second of the game. Psycho then drag flicked a short corner to make it 5-3. Not long after a penalty stroke gave Nathan his hat-trick opportunity, which he expertly converted. You would have thought that the scoring was complete, but the rampant thirds added two more, another drag flick short from Psycho followed by a brilliant reverse stick sweep ny Will Holmes, his second of the game. Apparently (I didn't see it) his first goal was a stunning flick from a narrow angle. This was a job well done and all credit to the team to turn round a deficit with such a commanding second half display.

Wanderers: The Wanderers lost a close game by 3-2 against Robinsons. They had a goal disallowed and were unable to find the equaliser. Geoff Rickard and Tim Dawson were on target.

Wizards: The Wizards home match with Robinsons was like Mohammed Ali and George Foreman's 'Rumble in the Jungle' with two heavyweight boxers slugging it out. Each using their bodies close in, as they slugged it out. Neither side could get control in a scrappy game which looked as if the one decisive moment of the game would deliver the knock out blow. Jez Longden was unlucky to see his short come back off the post and Robs were denied by Ed West's save. Brian Nichols came out of his corner at the end of the first round to give some instructions on what to do at the next short corner. He toweled down the side, put in their mouth guards, checked their gloves and sent them back into the ring for the second round. I'm not sure if it was Ali, Foreman or Jez that listened to his instructions, but on the next corner Jez slipped the ball right to Cocksy, who squared it back to Jez, who flicked it over the keeper from around the penalty spot for the only goal of the game. The match did open up after this and there was more space for both sides to move the ball around. Danny Lochtman and Jonathan Elms showed their qualities that have moved them up the club after one game each. Finally it was Westbury who reached the bell having delivered the knock out blow with a well executed short jab..I mean corner.

Warriors: The Warriors were the dominant side in the first half with Dom Harris and Mike Harvey in complete control of the midfield. There was a lot of excellent passing moves, although the final ball was sometimes a bit wayward. Westbury camped in the S Glos half and no one would have noticed if JJ went off to get a cup of tea! When the final pass was put right by Dom Harris, Pete Thomas thumped in goal number one. The score was doubled a few minutes later when Andy Griffin walloped a short corner straight through the keepers legs. Tom Fishley had a big hand in goal number three, releasing the ball to right wing James Bladon who was inside the D. James (he says he was shooting) attempted to play a square pass back for Tom to shoot, but he edged in at the near post! This was the best first half performance from the Warriors for some considerable time, with a short passing game keeping the home side on the back foot. Westbury were unlucky not to get two penalty strokes near the end of the half, one for a deliberate foot and one for Griff's short that was stopped on the line by a foot. In the second half S Glos pressed forwards and the Warriors couldn't get going as an attacking force. However with man-of-the-match AJ and his fellow defenders in top form, JJ was rarely troubled. His one real piece of action saw he get man and ball and he was chuffed to bits to secure a 'clean sheet'. Westbury resorted to holding the ball too long and looking for a long ball that never quite came off. The best second half move ended with Tom Fishley being sent clear. He raced for the D, drew the keeper out and placed his shot accurately for number four and his first goal in senior winter hockey. The final score was 4-0 and a first win to add to two draws.

Widgets: Playing Yate away in a friendly the Widgets came back with a well deserved 2-1 win. Harry Newington put the Widgets ahead with a goal that he blasted from a narrow angle into the roof of the net. Yate equalised. A long hopeful ball was hit forward and the home goalkeeper was allowing it to roll over the back line. How many times do forwards chase the lost cause in the hope that it will hit the post and come back to you. Duncan Ogilvie did, and guess what it hit the post and come back for Duncan to sweep past the stranded keeper. This turned out to be the winner.

1^st XI: The firsts fell to another Prem 1 defeat by 3-0 to Isca.

2^nd XI: Our away trip to Cheltenham began brightly, with a cracking game of warm-up touch tennis ball rugby and following this unique warm-up we played a fantastic first half of hockey. 2-0 up at half time with goals from Struan and a gentle push-shot from Gary which fooled everyone in the 'D' and nestled against the back-board. Sadly, we didn't start the second half anything like how we should of and soon we were on the back foot against a strong Cheltenham side. Ger got a yellow and Cheltenham got an equaliser whilst having 12 players on the pitch! Two more yellows follwed near the end. The match ended as 10-a-side and a fairly even 2-2 draw.We must learn to play for a full 70 minutess and many of us (me included) must heed the gently spoken words of Nick 'gentle giant' Coates given to us after the match.

3^rd XI: The third team had a first visit to Wootton Bassett and made a good show of working their way back to 2-2 at one stage in the game. However the home side ran out winners by 5-3. Nathan Walkey, who has been playing with injury over the last couple of weeks, managed to bag a hat-trick, not bad with his stick in one hand and his Zimmerframe in the other.

Wanderers: Jimmer might send me a report, but this match needs an early response as it was our only win of the day! Matt Taylor struck with the game hardly 30 seconds old. The Wanderers blitzed the Bristol & West defence and the visitors took quite some time to break out of their own half. The Wanderers lost Psycho to a cut above the eye that needed stitches at Southmead Minor Injuries Unit (Looked like 4 or 5), he actually wanted to play on, but wisely looked at the damage in the mirror and realised the right course of action. The Wanderers took control of the game when a short corner went horribly wrong. Fazza kept his head and slipped the ball to Sparky who shot at goal the rebound came to James Pope who swept it in on his reverse stick. His goal celebration made him look like an Ibiza DJ dancing behind the decks! (Shall we call him DJ John Paul - well John Paul was the Pope for a long time!) In the second half Bristol and West came much more into the contest and pressed Westbury back, as the home midfield began to tire. Bristol & West pulled one goal back and then found an equaliser. Paxo was in regular action and on the second goal had made at least three saves but couldn't keep out the fourth shot. The Wanderers lost their shape and were penned back for long periods. They did work their way up for a couple of short corners, but found they couldn't get their timing right. Several goalmouth melees ensued, but the visiting keeper was in fine form to keep everything out. However, another short, again went badly wrong. The player backing up banged it into the crowd in the D, and with the keeper on the ground, the ball ran kindly Max Longden, who had his back to goal, controlled the ball, turned and rolled it into the unguarded goal, much to the delight of his mum and the small gaggle of spectators. This turned out to be the winning goal, despite more Bristol & West pressure that saw the home defence and Paxo stand firm. The first half play was excellent and Max Longden showed his skills and deservedly got the winning goal.

Wizards: Croftsy reports: 1st half - took us around 20 mins to get to know each other and to start to play some hockey. N Somerset are a strong side and the defence coped well with their surging attacks with a couple of skillful & speedy forwards to attend to. Midfield just about coped, but found it difficult to link up with the forwards meaningfully. N Somerset scored from a short corner, which seemed to to hit the post at the back of the goal above the backboard, but was given. We had a couple of decent chances, with one being put away by Will Glynn after a good move from the back through midfield and a good pass to Will from Graeme Brown. The Wizards finished stronger and half time was untimely for us.We started poorly in the 2nd half, ignoring our own advice to pass short & quickly, plus use the pivot. We paid for this with N Somerset getting another shot and scoring. Doug Scott worked well in midfield as did George & Jez 'new stick' Longden, in defence. 1st time Jez has not played with a wooden leg.............. sorry stick! All went well with new composite stick apart from malfunction of it refusing to pass left. All the forwards worked tirelessly, especially in the 2nd half chasing the defence around. Graeme picking up an unusual green card for having the audacity to tackle from the side. N Somerset pressed us hard and with us not getting teh rub of the green, eventually theygot another short. This was saved by Ed, who made some fine stops, the umpire eventually being persuaded by his colleague near the other half's 25, that the ball had crossed the line!! We worked hard to try to pull another goal back and had a couple of half chances, but to no avail against a strong home side. We physically gave all we had, but were not clever enough to carve out a result. Lessons - pass quicker, use the pivot, shoot at goal. Next week we will try to put this into practice. Had sarnies back at the Black Horse. Discovered Cocksy has a fridge in his new car to put the beers in for the veterans match away to Plymouth!

Warriors: The Warriors came back from behind twice to earn a point against a young Yate side. Yate showed the value of blooding their youngsters over the last couple of year, they played with skill and tenacity with just two older heads to keep them together. All credit to the warriors for battling back, with Dom Harris playing well in the middle, with two inexperienced youngsters beside him. Turning round 1-0 down Dom struck a well taken equaliser early in the second half. The Warriors gifted Yate a second goal, when a spell of passing round the back finished with a badly judged pass to a Yate forward, giving them the opportunity to break quickly into the D and score. The Warriors stepped up their game and James Bladon got through a lot of work on the right. Chances were few, but from a second short corner, Martin Palmer flicked the ball powerfully to score (it went through the keeper's legs.) The home defence came under a lot of late pressure and held out to keep the final score 2-2. There was an excellent debut from Danny ? from Belgium at sweeper.

Widgets: The Widgets took part in an entertaining game at home to a very experienced O Bristolians team. O Bs worked their way to a 5-1 half time lead. There was a small contest of Duncan Ogilvie v Steve Edge (his former Wizards keeper and now an OBs player) Duncan won this contest when he picked up a short corner rebound and bundled the ball home, it trickled over the line just far enough to be a goal! There were three debutantes in the side who showed good individual skills and will quickly move up the club. In the second half the Widgets could have laid down and died and lost 10/15-1, but that's not the Westbury way. The defence stepped up their game and OBs could only add two more. Forget the score of 7-1, the Widgets were playing what looks to be one of the leading teams in this division and they still competed throughout the game.

1^st XI: The first team found themselves chasing the game to get back the early goal scored by Bristol University. They stuck at their task, but were unable to carve out many opportunities against a young, fit student side. As the game was drawing to a close the university scored twice more.

2^nd XI: Slider reports: Following the loss of 2 players in 24 hours, the skipper was called up from the 3's by the vice to join the vice for their first 2's game after injury had cruelly robbed the 2nds of their talismanic leaders (ahem!). Sadly, as a team the 2's were not at our best for large portions of the game and we lost 4-3 to a fairly poor but determined Lydney side. Westbury started fantastically with sharp passing and unselfish running allowing us to play 15mins of glorious hockey and take an early lead through Gareth Nicholls, who minutes later could have doubled the lead but shot inches wide. For the next 20mins we were pants!! Legs looked tired, the movement stopped and the passing slowed... as such we let the somewhat physical Lydney team back into the game.Within 10minutes of the second half we were 4-1 down after a couple of lucky short corners went against us, a cheeky body check of Murphy led to a goal and a Murphy explosion, and a suprising Penalty flick in a crowded 'D'. We weren't sure what hit us... We awoke for the last 20mins to score 2 more goals (TC & Psycho's drag flick) but couldn't find the equaliser. The skipper even had a shot on goal after a 60 yard chase from Nicholls & Slider ended with a bullet cross reaching me on the move and my first time shot glanced the outside of the post... bugger - that would've been a nice comeback game.As it was we were left wondering how we can play the game so well at the start and end of the match but so poorly in the middle... maybe it's the kick up the ass we need to play stronger, tougher and more ruthless hockey from now on.

3^rd XI: The third team found City of Bath a tricky side to play against. The visiting forwards were strong and skillful and Sam Banting had to pull off some good saves. Bath opened the scoring, but Nathan Walkey played a one-two off the keeper's pads to get an equaliser. The visitors then surged into a commanding, game-winning 3-1 lead. The thirds were not to be denied and good pressure saw JPS score twice to snatch a point. Tufty acknowledged that City of Bath were a very good side, but although they were very good individually, they didn't link as well as an attacking unit.

Wanderers: Max Longden reported that Firebrands were a very good side and deserved their 4-1 win. The Wanderers scored when James Pope took on their keeper one v one and scored the teams' consolation goal.

Wizards: The Wizards played well throughout the game against Bristol & West. The visitors were a shade lucky with their goal. A shot going wide hit Ed West, rebounded to a Wizards defender who attempted to clear the ball. His side ways clearance hit Ed again and bounced back to an unmarked forward at the back post for a free tap in! The Wizards raised their game and scored a good team goal. Cocksy started it, finding Palmer at inside left, his pass to the right to Graeme Brown saw Graeme attack the right of the D. His square cross found Cocksy, who had continued running, who swept it in. Mark Crofts hit the post from a short and Graeme Brown produced another stunning cross that Ben Lipfriend got his stick to, only to see it glance wide of the post (it would have been a great winner!) This was the Wizards' first point of the season, and well deserved. Greg Slater and Ben Lipfriend played well as they start out on their adult hockey careers.

Warriors: Yate won 3-0 v the Warriors. Forget the score, this was a game where our youngsters started making their mark. George Minchin was solid in his tackles and stopping at full back. Nick Slater and Ed Minchin showed skill and control on the ball in midfield. Peter Ratcliffe impressed, especially with his running and work rate. The Warriors had all the play in the second half, but could not get the goal they deserved.

Widgets: The Widgets lost 5-0 to a robust Somerset Gryphons side at Clevedon.

1^st XI: The first drew a blank in their home match against Gloucester.

2^nd XI: The University proved too strong a side for the seconds who fell to a 4-2 defeat with Gareth Nichols scoring from a slipped short corner and Liam Cureton getting a second..

3^rd XI: Griff reports: The 3rds were back in Bath again on Saturday, playing the same club, different team and different pitch. On a very sandy pitch 2 at Bath Uni the 3rds started well playing the ball around and scoring from a well worked short corner. At half time we were 2 nil up following a good individual goal from Hugh Woodward. However despite a early third goal in the second half we pressed the self destruct button ! We started passing ball after ball to the opposition (who were the students team of Bath Buccs). There was clearly a benefit playing them early season. In the second half they were quick and scored two goals to make the last 12 minutes nail biting. A good three points (especially given the performance) against a team who will cause many other teams problems.

Wanderers: Weston 'A' couldn't raise a side!

Wizards: Frys opened up a 2-0 half time lead against the Wizards. Sparky was prominent in the midfield driving the team forward and Reesy looked sharp at the back. Ed West made some good saves in goal. In the second half the Wizards switched to a four man midfield to offer a stiffer contest in the middle of the park. Frys scored their third goal. A late attack saw Cocksy sweep a clever reverse stick chip over the diving goalie who somehow got his trailing foot in the way to save the shot. The ball went to Graeme Brown who flicked it into the net via the defender on the line's chin. The Wizards played some good hockey with Max Longden holding the ball well. A 3-1 defeat wasn't what the team wanted, because the effort put in was worth a lot more.

Warriors: The Warriors had Harry Newington in top form on the right wing causing all sorts of problems to a strong O Bristolians side. O Bs scored first very early in the match. Shep struck the post with one short corner, but equalised with the next. The Warriors gave winter debuts to Ben Lipfriend, Tom Fishley and a second game to Nick Slater. All three performed well. The starting defence of Brian Nichols, Shep, Steve Alger and Dave Holliday had a combined age of a shade over 240 years! O Bs looked as if they were going to take all three points with a late goal. However a Warriors attack saw Pyscho sweep in an equaliser. There was still time for both sides to win the game, but good saves and wayward shooting left the score tied at 2-2.

Widgets: The Widgets too fielded a number of young players. George Minchin in defence, Alex Yuill, Myles Clark and Adam Geddes who all played well. Joe Connelly made a playing return and was well placed in the second half to score on several occasions, no doubt once he gets back into the swing of things he will find the net. Bristol UWE built up a 3-0 lead before a resurgent Widgets side put them under good pressure in the second half. Dave Money nudged the ball goal ward in one goal mouth melee and saw it trickle over the line. Bristol added a fourth goal. In the final attack the ball came to Andy Cooper who flicked the ball in the net, accidentally drawing blood from the top lip of the defender on the line. The game finished 4-2 to the visitors.