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1^st XI: Fresh from a scrappy but nonetheless vital win away to Marlborough, Westbury next had Swansea Bay to contend with. Similar in starts to the season, Swansea are notoriously hard battlers and solid for 70 minutes. 13 men, welcoming in for their first games this season, Max Longden and Chris Poulsom, sat pensively pre-match listening to the inspiring team talks handed forth by Messrs Thomas and Krebs.The game started, as is the custom in these situations. Immediately both teams sought to probe, Westbury seeking to probe tentatively forward and Swansea seeking to probe a half court press and wait to see what Westbury had to offer. Gradually Swansea came out their shell and played some fairly effective counter attacking hockey, robust in the challenge and clinical with the pass. Westbury containing with a very effective back pairing of Terry and Paddy, who played the ball round the back, ably assisted by Nellor and Smerald, with great patience, aplomb and most tellingly, effectiveness. A few short corners were found by Swansea, the first a decent drag flick dealt with competently by the Westbury Keeper, and the others slightly more elaborate affairs allowing Terry and Smerald to mop up well in their evolving defensive routines. Shortly however, Westbury found themselves on the ascendancy as their control of the game became dominant. About 15 minutes to go, and Gareth Nicols scored his 4th in 2 games with a well taken ball past the keeper and slotted home to the relief of all but the Welsh. Half time.The second half when Westbury are 1 goal up is always an entertaining affair and it is not giving too much away to say that this was perhaps one of the most eventful second halfs of hockey seen this season. Swansea, typical in their nature, decided it was everyone else's fault but their own, and the hegemony of Westbury seemed unlikely to wane. However Nellor giving away a short corner for coming in from a daft angle in the tackle, managed to sufficiently misbehave to earn a fully justified Yellow card. To add insult to injury, Swansea managed to convert their second phase ball after the keeper stopped the first flick, and the score was level at 1 apiece.
Seasoned Westbury watchers will sense the forboding that was creeping over the increasingly vocal crowd. However surprise was only theirs as Westbury decided now was a good time to take the game by the scruff of the neck and Barnesy saw fit to convert excellently, a second phase ball from a short corner and to massive applause, Westbury were 2-1 up.
Time should be taken at this juncture to mention why we were 2-1 up. Our forwards were running out of their skins, keeping a high man up there. The inclusion of Max Longden into the 1st team forward line up was well justified by a solid and sometimes flair touched performance. The midfield were holding their lines and battling hard. Chris Poulsom, after a short wake up period acclimbatising to the higher level performed well along side the evergreen Owen Kemp and Hugh Barnes, who were metronomically assisted by Tim who just doesn't really get much wrong. There were a few more scares in the Westbury goalmouth as Swansea started to moan their way back into the game, with some good possession and genuine skills allowing themselves some space in the Westbury 23. Dealt with however ably by the defence, Terry having the game of his season so far was superb, assisted by Paddy who's runaway man of the match performance did not allow anyone to have any time on the ball. As the game started to open up, it was Westbury who took advantage and Chris Cutts managed to grab his first of the game, followed soon by his second as Westbury killed the game off 4-1. Sadly Mr Nicols in a rather rash move hit the ball down the pitch a long time after the whistle went, and Mr Bendry umpiring had no choice other than to award the yellow card for his efforts. Then shortly afterwards Westbury were down to 9 men as a clumsy move from Rich Hill clipped the heels of an attacker bringing him down as he probed forward with the ball, according to Mr Bendry, Rich knew what he was doing, and even the most biased of onlookers would struggle to argue with that, another Yellow was issued. Despite this, Westbury never looked to lose their grip on the game and they can be duly proud of their victory. Had we not played the simple stuff so well, this writer does not believe we would have won the game at all. The hard work put in at training, and a genuine desire to win was evident today, and as a captain, I will give praise where praise is due and say that this was the performance of the season so far.Cup game against Crawley tomorrow and away to table topping Gloucester City next saturday. There are no easy games.Thanks to the umpires who were excellent, and to the large crowd who took their telling from myself as they sought to antagonise the umpires even further as Yellow cards were flowing towards Westbury. It is a lot easier to win a game with 30 people on the side lines supporting and encouraging. It is also a lot more fun!Things are looking up folks!

2^nd XI : The seconds lost away to Gloucester by 5 gaols to 2.

3^rd XI : Despite goals from Nathan Walkey, James Holliday and James Pearce-Smith, the thirds lost 7-3 at Team Bath Buccs.

Wanderers: O Bristolians orened the game against the Wanderers and looked a force to be reconded with. They battled for the ball and began as the more dominant side. Steve Puetz was called into action to sweep up behind his keeper to clear the ball off the line.The Wanderers began to look sharp on the break and perhaps slightly against the run of play, Joe Thomas wormed his way into the D. At first he was stopped by a clear back stick tackle, but the ball ran loose and Joe found an invitingly empty goal to push the ball into. This gave the Wanderers a boost and a second goal came from a rash stick tackle from behind. The goalkeeper saved the first shot but John Ludley pounced to flick the ball high into the net. By half time John Ludley and Tom Taylor were running the midfield and Westbury were moving into a higher gear. The second half saw them take the game into safe territory as Joe Thomas pounced twice to complete his hat-trick and Tom Taylor thumped in one of his trade mark goals. O Bs pressed to the end and earned a goal from a short corner to make the final score 5-1.

Wizards: We played top of the table Bristol & West who demonstrated why they are in that position. With a Wizards team less experienced than recent weeks and a preponderance of attacking players we weren't able to compete with a heavily packed B&W midfield. With 3, 4 or 5 players coming through a narrow area there were always free players that B&W found with short crisp passes. This was coupled with finishing that Tom Taylor would be proud of. At times we struggled to execute our skills when put under the extra pressure of a leading side for the division, turning onto tackles and unable to find quality passes. Occassionally however we were able to move through midfield via Alan Sparks and Pete Rose, and feed our fowards who were pacy enough to cause some problems. We scored 2 goals through Pope & Brown.A 7-2 loss was the final result.

Warriors: The Warriors had the perfect start at home to Firebrands. From the start Paul Clark was put away down the left wing, his reverse stick cross eluded defenders and came to Simon Hewit who deftly flicked into the goal with no more than 20 seconds on the clock. Firebrands then took the game by the scruff of the neck and by half time they had amassed a deserved 4-1 lead. Their first goal came from a skillful run when the Westbury defence threw at least 3 tackles in, all to no avail, with the forward reaching the D and scoring. Westbury had two forwards playing in midfield and in Tom Ash they had a player playing his first game with the side. In defence Kieran Hollings was playing his first game for the club. The half time team talk urged the side to battle on, use the ball and get early goals to make a game of it. They did the first two with great effect. Firebrands were pinned in their own half. Luke Oldfield surged through from midfield to draw an outstanding save from the visiting keeper. Next Simon Hewitt sliped the ball to Duncan Ogilvie who couldn't find the target. Two more chances came and went. At last a break through came. Luke Oldfield's shot came back off the pads to Martin Palmer. His first shot hit the pads again, but he volleyed the rebound into the roof of the net. This was followed soon after by another goal. Mike Harvey put Tom Ash away down the right. Tom delived a delicious cross which Duncan Ogilvie tucked in under the keeper. Game on at 4-3. Luke Oldfield was unluckey with a shot that hit a defensive foot and hit the cross bar. Somon Hewitt slipped the ball to Paul Clark, but Paul didn't connect with the ball. If he had he would have scored! Then came a Firebrands break and to their relief they scored thier fifth goal. There was more Warriors pressure, but no further goals. The team can be proud of their second half effort. On another day this game could have been three home points, but Firebrands edge in the first half was the difference.

Widgets: The Widgets claimed all three points with goals from Nick Slater (his first for the club), Tony Webster and the returning James Goodman with a 3-1 win.

1^st XI: Once again proving the British obsession with playing sport in the winter is utterly mad, Westbury waded through to Marlborough, a depleted (12 in number, no coach) side desperate to prove to their critics that they had what it takes. Making his long awaited first team debut Charlie Knight slotted in at right wing back with Phil Cockram in midfield, were the only players brought into the team from last week. Showing that despite rather poor results recently, the captain had faith in his players ability to turn it round. A somewhat muted build up to the game was proven in the warm up to be borne of concentration more than nerves as the pre-match shooting box was superbly excecuted with focus and high standards.The game started well, the first five minutes going definately to Westbury as they took the game to Marlborough, chasing down the ball and applying a bit of a press in areas. The game turned somewhat as Marlborough proved they were no slouches themselves as both teams traded short corners and chances, however only Westbury troubled the keeper. Culminating in a penalty stroke, unseen to this writer, but no arguments were offered by either team. Gareth Nichols stepping up to convert confidently. A few more chances later, Mr Nichols grabbed his second of the game with a well taken conversion after some close goal mouth play by Westbury .Half time came and went and the game restarted with Westbury to the fore. Confidence, albeit careful confidence, seemed to be penetrating the gloomy veneer. So much so that Cuttsy, having expertly rounded the keeper was launched to the floor by a rather clumsy barge, culminating in our second flick. The compassion of the umpire was sufficient to acknowledge the lack of intent and the Marlborough player was allowed to remain on the pitch. This time however Mr Nichols deemed it prudent to rattle the ball of the post and the score remained at 2-0. This was the scent of luck that Marlborough needed, they began to believe that someone was looking after them and started to play a bit. They won a short corner and after 2 or 3 phases of play, managed to beat the goalie and pull the game back to 2-1. Nervous times indeed. Westbury being Westbury decided to try to win the game with every touch, and in doing so, succeded only in making life harder for themselves as Marlborough searched for the elusive equaliser. Some sterling work at the back all game from Mssrs Haynes, Smerald, Watts and most notably Knight kept the score at 2-1 as our midfield, dominant throughout the game sought to regain control. Some excellent work from Nellor and Phil Cockram, with moments of frankly unacceptable skill from Mr Kemp saw Westbury overturn their difficult period and start to control the game again. All game the forwards, in particular Gareth had been making good runs early and getting into large areas of space. This returned and Gareth managed to get his hat-trick with 1 minute to go settling many nerves and finally shattering Marlborough who had fought hard and well throughout the game.Thanks must go to the umpires for a fairly umpired game, Marlborough for the best match teas this author has ever had (Steak pie no less!!!) and the weather for not being TOO dismal throughout.More importantly, the author would like to express his pleasure at seeing the 1sts get what they are due from a game. It was not perfect, we need to stop giving the ball away and trying to force it. But we have shown we have something in us that we can develop. Training on wednesday must be attended by all, played at full speed with total commitment, only then can we truly develop and grow as a team.Well done guys, we were up against it, but delivered.

2^nd XI : Reston Smith reports: So far this season it feels like the second team have been the nearly men of the club. We set out on Saturday to try to rectify this but unfortunately it was nearly once again. Over the past few weeks we have at times played some very good hockey. We have passed the ball well, used the width of the pitch and retained possession. However, we have not been able to convert this into goals and therefore points.We arrived at the Dingle on Saturday in positive mind after a good game (despite the loss) the week before against Cheltenham who are unbeaten this season.We started the game reasonably well and for the first 10 minutes played some good hockey. Using the deep pivot well, passing the ball with confidence and each man taking responsibility for giving his team mates options whilst they were on the ball. Despite this positive start we became frustrated at our lack of success it and began to try to force things, particularly in the final third of the pitch.As soon as our game changed we conceded a goal and went in at half time 1-0 down.The second half started positively and after a period of pressure on the Bridgend D a short corner was conceded. Wednesday nights short corner practice paid off and Chris Butt placed a well executed flick in the back of the net. Game on.We went on to concede two further goals - one from a short corner and the next from open play. During this period of the game we had once more gone off the boil and were not playing the hockey we were capable of. If it had not been for the heroics of Pete Murphy in goal we could well have been several more goals behind. One triple save from a short corner stands out in particular.Suddenly Westbury sprang back to life, it was just a little too late. Westbury took control of the game and began to turn the screw on the Bridgend defence. The pressure told and Bridgend conceded a free hit at the top of the D which was taken quickly. After some good work by Psycho at the by-line a ball was delivered at pace for Moonie to finish at the far post.Unfortunately it was too little too late. If we had had 5 minutes of added time I think we could have taken a point if not three.I was proud at the end of the attitude that we showed and the commitment of the team. I hope we can carry it over to next week where we face Gloucester away.

3^rd XI : Nathan 'The Goal Machine' Walkey at last got off the mark for the season. He was almost lying on the ground as he swept in the ball at the back post after some great approach down the right. However it was not enough and Wootton Bassett wrapped up all three points by getting three cruscial goals. The Westbury keeper was in superb form, and kept out the majority of Wootton Bassett shots. Richard Beesley notes: Good points: The young lads (Dineley, Ed Minchin and Maydew), Bens Lipfriend's umpiring, return of Jonny Parish and the legend Steve Millman! Steve despite a vintage performance had a stroke saved. Afterwards the goalkeeper said that he rememebred Steve putting a penalty to that spot last season, so he guess right where to go to make the save. Reflecting that comment later that evening, Steve realised that he hasn't taken a penalty stroke since playing at City of Oxford quite some time ago. Ttherefore, unless there is a doppleganger of Steve, or he and the keeper move backwards and forwards to a parallel dimension, the Wootton keeper made his guess based on a totally invalid memory. Regardless he still guess right and pulled off a vey good save!

Wanderers: There was a first for the Wanderers. A short corner was awarded as the whistle went for half time. Everyone camped around the D, in went the shot and out came the ball off the pads in a random selection. It fell to Martin Rees, who has never scored for Westbury. He banged in the rebound, to get that that first goal. Who knows he may be able to say he has scored from the one chance that has come his way, as he usually plies his Saturday trade cruising his own D, not the oppositions! Somewhere in the proceedings S Glos scored one of their owns, and the wanderers came away a little disappointed at only having a share of the spoils. James Holliday reports: It was an end to end game in the first half and they put away a short corner from a well planned manoeuvre and unfortunately I couldn't get a stick on it. In the final attack of the half, we got a short corner as the half time whistle blew. JJ in goal shouted to everyone to get around the D. Luckily he did, because Martin Rees got his first goal for the club and we went in 1-1 at half time. The second half didn't cause any change to the result, we did a lot of running and talked a good game, but could get the simple right at times. We were missing the crisp sharp passing from the week before.The one thing that I must say and this was down to the whole team. We had Westbury spirit pumping through our veins and didn't give up until the umpire blew his whistle!! Thanks for the hard work and determination guys.

Wizards: Mark Crofts reports: Played on a blustery Autumn day with the pitch nicely wetted. After the 10-0 win last week Steve Millman challenged us to get 12 this! Well not quite, but accordiing to George Banting this opposition were a tad more mobile.We played ok 1st half and maintained our shape mostly well with S Glos playing 'frantic' hockey. We had a number of chances, with Will Holmes driving through Midfield well. Will scored a good goal lifting the ball high into the net. S Glos scored from a hit outside the D that hit Tim D's 'plates of meat' and diverted past Paxo who had no chance. A couple of short corners came a went with Steve Puetz stopping and dribbling one into the D and slipping it to Crofts who swept it in. A good move down the left and a pass from Chris Tomlinson, Mark Crofts had a wobble, and placed the ball just inside the Left hand post. A few more attacks from both teams and we turned around 3 -1. Team talk around - keeping our shape, short passes, use the pivot etc. S Glos's team talk must have been based on an attack or die strategy, so they did - all 10 in our half at times, but with good work from Alan Sparks in midfield and the rest of midfield and the whole defence kept them at bay, with Andy Pound only needing to make one good save. When we managed to prise the ball away from them we tore them apart, with another goal from Will and an excellent goal from a long pass from Steve Puetz, which Liam Glorney dispatched well. We had a shedful of other chances and should have added more goals - need to finish better next week . 5-1 without playing that well, in a 'frantic' game.Thanks to Mr Reston & Mr Cocks for umpiring. Lots of teas afterwards, 'some' people had 2 teas, but it would have been a waste not to have done ; rumoured Krebs had Steak Pie at Malborough and 2 teas back home - leading the way! A few went back to The Vic for more sustainace afterwards in the form of beer, wine, coffee and cheesecake. Bristol & West C's next week in a 1st v 3rd game - all to play for!

Warriors: The Warriors defence put up a battling performance at O Bristolians and were within seconds of earning a draw. Both teams traded first half goals. Sam Parker latched onto the ball on the top of the D. His shot ballooned over the keeper under the crossbar for the equaliser. The second half saw dogged defending by the Warriors. The half had started well with lots of Westbury pressure, unfortunately the half time talk of putting the decisive final ball was not heeded and a lot of good approach work was wasted with aimless or wild passes to no one. O Bristolians showed they are a smart, side and took control of the last quarter. Just as the end was nigh, Justin Chave, whilst wobbling the ball was penalised for an offence and a quick O Bs free hit saw the ball banged from the home 25 up to th D for the winner. There was hardly time for the a reply. The Warriors wer bitterly disappointed by the way they lost so late in the game, but O Bs could have won it earlier, but for an amazing goal line clearance from Mark Colton when a goal looked certain, add to that an O Bs shot that hit the right hand post, rolled along (not over) the goal line, hit the left hand post and came out. The Warriors need to use the ball better in the last third of the pitch to reward their defence for all their fine work.

Widgets: Robinsons took all three points with a 4-0 win againts the Widgets. Like the Warriors, the Widgets couldn't find the authority in attack to create many good chances or take the few that they created. Dave Holliday reports: After three excellent performances in recent weeks regrettably this was one to forget!! Robbies, with strength, pace, determination and skill in midfield simply tore into us and often were too much for us to handle.Thanks to Churchillian defending and our goalie making several outstanding saves we were able to keep the score down to a reasonable level.A great pity that the progress our juniors have been making so far took such a backward step this Saturday. Overall the oppo were not any stronger than anything we have faced this season, but the youngsters simply did not have the support they deserve from the older players in the team.If we are looking at the long term future of the club and we intend to take youth development seriously we MUST have better senior players with pace and skill willing to bring out the best in our juniors. Our lads looked very sad and demoralised after the Rob's game, we will need to pick them up quickly for our next game.

1^st XI: The first team visited the land of Jethro and Denzil Penberthy and lost 3-0 in deepest Truro.

2^nd XI : Another single goal defeat at Cheltenham leaves the seconds rooted to the foot of the table.

3^rd XI : The thirds were unable to earn any points from their trip to O Bristolians.

Wanderers: The Wanderers were in impressive form at home to Bristol University. The opening goal was down to Dave Dineley's determination. His jab tackle cleanly won the ball on the 25, he beat a second defender with a touch under his stick. This put him in the D where he unleashed an unstoppable drive that the goalie didn't even see. The first half was pretty even with both sides able to keep possession and create openings. The University perhaps took a touch too many and allowed the home defence an extra second or two to get in their tackles, which they did with regular success. At the other end Steve Millman showed how to stay cool in the D when everyone else was falling over. The ball came to Steve a metre or two in from the edge of the D with the goal keeper pressing him to close down the shot. Meanwhile, Tom Alger was making a run towards the penalty spot. he and a defender became entangled and fell to the deck like a sack of potatoes. Steve, in the meantime had pulled the ball back and deftly flicked over keeper, Tom and defender to make it 2-0. The University were never out of the game and when they did elect to shoot they found Jon Jarvis an immovable barrier. There were at least five shots that were odds on to be a goal that he kept out. It also needed Martin Rees to clear off the line to keep the Westbury goal intact. The second half was basically Bristol University running the show, they kept the ball and moved it around well, but when it came to getting a goal back they found that the Westbury defence at the top of their form, nothing got past them! Mssrs Holliday, Rees, Cameron and Jacklin were outstanding in front of Jon Jarvis. The result was sealed when the students had a short corner. James Holiday had the ball and hit a long pass to Pete Farrell on the right wing. Pete (to his own surprise) out paced his young marker, sucking the sweeper across to close him down. From level with the D and out on the right, Pete hit a stinging cross to Steve Millman who had raced up to the left hand side of the D unmarked. Steve, stopped the ball, stepped to his right and hit a blistering shot into the roof of the net. His yell of delight could probably heard at the Millman home a mile or two a way, but why not, it was a cracking team goal of the highest quality. This was a cleverly fashion win based on solid defending and expert finishing. A word of praise for Alex Maydew who has made enormous progress. His skill on the ball is good and he prepared to chase back and work hard.

Wizards: The Wizards found scoring goals an almost insurmountable mountain to overcome. This year they have scored 17 goal in 2 games with an empathic 10-0 win at Somerset Gryphons. Tom Taylor scored 4 goals, Graeme Brown 3, Tony Webster 2 and Matt Taylor one. A strong Wizards team traveled to Clevedon School to play Somerset Gryphons B on Saturday afternoon. The Gryphons team was mainly composed of players that we have come across before over the years....plenty of experience there. The Wizards intention was to carry on from where we left off last week (7-2 away win vs North Somerset A) with crisp early passes and good use of the pivot. We did just that, soon taking control of midfield and with the forward line making a series of incisive runs. Gryphons played with just two up front, but we still had complete control of midfield. Our pressure told and we were three goals up after about 20 mins (including one shot roofed into the top corner by Tonka after a typical 'Tonka wobble' into the D). There was then a period of Gryphons pressure, leading to a short corner for them. This was dealt with and we ended the half scoring two more goals in the last 5 minutes to turn round 5-0 up. The half time chat focused on us doing more of the same in the second half....ensuring that we kept our shape and moved the ball early. Gryphons had a spell of pressure early in the half, but we dealt with this and, once again, took control of the game. There was a short spell when we stopped moving the ball around crisply, but we regained our composure and ended up scoring another 5 goals, the last coming immediately prior to the final whistle. Final score 10-0.This was an excellent team performance. More of the same next week please.Team (scorers)Hicks, Lochtman, Rose, Banting G, Denner, Tomlinson, Sparks, Taylor T (4), Webster (2), Brown (3), Taylor M (1), Ash

Warriors v Widgets: If the intra club match The Warriors v The Widgets was a game of Monopoly then it was clear from the way that the two teams played that Jon Jarvis (on the side lines as non playing manager) had chosen to be the sports car and Ernie Wise, keeping to his military background had elected to use the battleship as his playing piece. The Widgets, like their counter, were sharp, quick and determined, the Warriors were cumbersome, slow to use the ball and needed a big turning circle! When the Warriors were effective it was because they moved the ball quickly and accurately. This did happen once when James Pope burst through from midfield and pushed the ball into the D. Martin Palmer's shot hit Joe Petch's pads and rebounded to Sam Parker, who picked his spot and calmly tucked it away. With a lavish squad of 15 you would have thought the Warriors capable of looking like putting hotels on Park Lane and Mayfair. Instead they looked more like a couple of grotty houses on Old Kent Road, with little likely hood of earning much from them. At times it looked as if the Widgets were picking up all the chance cards that gave them the impetus to press forward, e.g. Advance to Mayfair, bank error in your favour, win first prize in a beauty contest. The Warriors seemed to be unable to produce the same cards and pulled out a go to jail card just as the first half was drawing to a close, Ned Holmes pounced on a ball slipped left to him, to sweep it into the goal for an equaliser. The Widgets shook double sixes, and added another hotel to their property when Paul Clark picked up a rebound and thumped the ball home to give the Widgets a well deserved 2-1 lead. James Pope was doing his best to get the Warriors moving forward, but whilst he was in Regent Street (the green properties) his team mates were still in Pentonville! With the clock showing around 5 minutes left and the warriors having a good call for a penalty stroke when Toby Whitehead was pulled down after a good run, captain Ernie Wise used the 'get out of jail card'. With the final round of substitutions seeing Justin Chave linking well with Simon Hewitt down the right, the Warriors then started to play some fast decisive hockey. James Pope was on the end of a ball from Justin Chave to reverse stick an equaliser at the left hand post. Just 3 minutes later James wormed his way through the Widget's defence after some good approach work from his team to cut back and send his shot into the roof of the net. There was still time for a last gasp Widget's equaliser, but when it looked odds on for a goal the Warriors defence managed to get a block on a shot and scramble the ball away to safety. So the Monopoly board finished up with the Widgets going bankrupt on the final moves of the game and the Warriors getting out of the enormous debt they incurred to take all three points. A moral victory for the Widgets. There were good performances by Joe Petch in goal, Dave Parry in defence and Pete Ratcliffe and Ned Holmes in attack. Next week the Warriors need to try a different board game against O Bristolians!

1^st XI: The first staged a late recovery from 5-0 down, but couldn't quite square their match at Robinsons and ended up losing 5-4. Chris Cutts, Owen Kemp, Neil Richardson and Andy Smerald got the late goals. Andy Krebs reports; Pre-match emphasis was on starting the game well and setting out our stall in the opening encounters of the match. This was done well. The first 10 minutes of the game, Westbury held the game and the possession, creating a few openings and showing that they were by far the team with the most potential in this game. Well, Robinsons first goal came against the run of play but in a manner which showed their ability to take a half chance when given it. Their second goal came through Westbury's seeming refusal to carry out the simple hockey techniques required to compete at even the most basic level. Walking from the centre of defence, with the ball, not moving it on and not even looking for the pivot, which, whilst it could have been better placed, was still a safe and sure option. Getting mugged by 2 agape attackers who thought Christmas had come early and succeeded in filling their stockings with a second goal. Half time. Promises, suggestions and clarity of thought were in abundance and a positive Westbury team ran out in the second half to restart their campaign in positive spirits. 10 minutes later it was 4-0. See above for the general gist of what went wrong. Coupled with some naive and at times incompetent last ditch goalkeeping, currently no one on the pitch in Westbury colours was performing to the standards required. 5-0 came and went and a cricket score loomed. No point in pointing fingers at the culprits, we were all to blame. Robbies couldn't believe their luck, and as their disbelief took hold, we snuck a goal back after Robbies decided to take a hissy at the umpire and leave Owen Kemp at the top of the D with about 20 minutes to pick his spot, which he did with aplomb. A second quickly followed as we tried to salvage some sort of respectability, and a third soon after. Robbies decided panic was better than salvation. Resulting quickly in Westbury's 4th goal and dumbfounded looks from the Robbies bench. A short corner narrowly avoided leveling the scores with a minute to go, and a very relieved Robinsons team left the pitch 5-4 winners. Not wanting to air our dirty linen in public, i will suffice in saying that if players think they know better than to work with the tactics and drills set out during training and provided to them by the coach and captain of the team, thus playing more for themselves than for the team, they may have to consider why they are no longer playing in the first team. That goes from the Goalkeeper forwards. We were recalcitrant and at times arrogant to the point of stupidity, followed by moments of clarity and at times superb hockey. It is a mix that is going to see Westbury relegated into Prem 3 if they do not get their act together very very soon.

2^nd XI : A late goal decided the second teams home encounter with Weston-Super-Mare. Weston bossed the first 20 minutes and looked the only side likely to win the game. The tide turned and Westbury closed their opponents down. In the second half Weston were restricted to a couple of break aways. The seconds couldn't run possession into goals, and it is difficult to recall many chances, the visiting goal keeper was called into decisive action. As with these sort of games, a team under pressure can get the one piece of luck they are looking for, and Weston snapped up a half chance to win the game 1-0.

3^rd XI : The thirds worked their way into a 2-0 lead against W Wilts. Joe Tomas was making this his first full game after a long lay off with injury, and was unlucky not to get a couple of goals in the first quarter of the game. His best run into the D saw his shot go just wide of the post. However, he quickly made up for that miss, with a little poke under the keeper that eluded a massed defence and gave Westbury an early lead. James Pearce-Smith made it two with a thumping shot after a spell of good attacking. This was an end to end game and both sides looked capable of scoring. Had Westbury got the vital third goal the win would have been made safe. Sam Banting was kept in action as W Wilts searched for a goal that would get them back into the game. Westbury were looking solid, with Nick Stamp having a strong game in the heart of the defence. It was good to see Ben Tucker back in Westbury colours, I understand this is a prelude to a return to Bristol in the near future. W Wilts continued to press and they got the rewards for their efforts with two late goals to travel back to Wiltshire with a share of the points.

Wanderers: The Wanderers also earned a point in a 2-2 draw from their trip to Clevedon to take on Somerset Gryphons. Alex Maydew scored his first goal for the club and Dave Harris scored on one of his rare outings for the side.

Wizards: The Wizards rattled in seven goals against N Somerset. In the past this has been a bit of a banana skin for past Wizards sides to slip up on, but there was no slip up this week as the won by a wide margin. Alan Sparks writes; The Wizards managed to stop, pass and tackle to come away from North Somerset with a well deserved 7-2 win. Composure and sensible passing around the back and through midfield allowed the wizards to maintain control for large stretches of the game. This allowed us to release the pace of the forwards with Harry in particular proving an irritant (a mild description) to the North Somerset defence all game. First half pressure resulted in a number of short corners. Stopper Tom Taylor disrupted the routine a few times by taking the ball and shot himself, leading to two goals. In between a slip left had ricocheted of a defenders foot for Harry to finish. A comfortable half time lead of 3-0.A substitution by North Somerset and some positional changes by them disrupted the Wizards shape early in the second half and some rhythm was lost. However an excellent move up the left flank led to some pinball in the NS D allowing Harry to knock in another. NS got some reward from there period of competiveness scoring twice. However as the game went on the Wizards regained control and started to create more opportunities. Tom Taylor had a further short corner strike disallowed but a quick attempt at a 16 went straight to him; he strode to the top of the D and struck a good third for a hat-trick. A short corner was slipped left and Alan Sparks played the ball in off the foot of the defender on the line bamboozled by the lack of pace. Another sweeping move saw Tim Denner play the ball wide to Alan Sparks on the edge of the D. He went down to the by-line and pulled the ball across towards the far post. An intervening defender managed to kick the ball in for the seventh. Overall an excellent team performance.

Warriors: The Warriors worked hard to overcome the stubborn resistance of Robinsons to record a first league win of the season. Jamie Cranfield engineered the first goal his precision pass into the D was walloped home by Martin Palmer. Later in the half, Duncan Ogilvie pounced on a ball at the left hand post after the keeper had saved a shot, but his reverse stick shot was somehow kept out by an almost unbelievable save. The score was stuck at 1-0 at half time. Paul Clark was unlucky not to get the timing right on a shot which could have been goal number two. Sam Parker was also unlucky with his shot which was well saved. The second half plan was to keep the action going, disappointingly for the first 10 minutes, everyone was static, with no runs into space. Robinsons had more of the ball, but lacked the composure in the D to convert the chances that came their way. Midway through the second half Jamie Cranfield, who was a giant in midfield hammered a short corner a tad the wrong side of the post. The next corner was thumped on target, forcing the keeper to save. The ball flew out to Pete Thomas who hit it on the half volley back past the Robs defenders to make it 2-0. The game was made safe by a great run and finish from sam Parker, who cut across the D from left to right and unleashed a mighty shot high into the net. A well deserved 3-0 win for the battling Warriors.

Widgets: Brian Callis writes: A 2-1 win against Bristol & West F secured the first league win for the Widgets. The team played some extremely good hockey with the midfield linking well with the forwards to put sustained pressure against the opposition within their D to give us quite a few short corners. Unfortunately our short corner routine needs some more work otherwise the score line would have been larger. However it was from a short corner that our first goal came neatly put away by Will Holmes with a reverse stick strike into the left hand corner of the goal. The later part of the first half saw Bristol & West put on some sustained pressure which was absorbed by the back four with good defensive skills. Credit must be given to David Parry playing at Right Back, who incidentally brought the average of the defence down from 60 to about 20, playing with the confidence and maturity of a senior player. The second half brought more pressure on the defence and some tiredness which led to them winning a couple of short corners which led to them equalising from a well hit strike. This goal left the side a little demoralised but with all credit they shrugged off the tiredness and began to again put the pressure on to their defence. This led to some sustained pressure within their D which eventually to a strike on goal hitting a defenders foot preventing a goal from being scored. A Penalty Flick was justly awarded and Will Holmes stepped up to the spot. It was not the most beautiful Flick I have seen but it did go into the goal to give us the lead we richly deserved.Well played to all the team for their effort and we look forward to our next game with eager anticipation!Roll on next weeks match v warriors 5pm on the sand if anyone fancies watching!!!

Veterans: Steve Millman reports: The veterans traveled to City of Bath for their annual foray into the HA vets cup. New captain Tony Webster had the benefit over previous captains in that he was available himself! He guided the squad in an intensive pre match warm up and made clear his victorious expectations. Westbury started strongly and soon went ahead when Paul Clark sniffed off the keeper following our first short corner. There followed a spell of pressure that saw Millman and Webster waste chances that they might have expected to score. At this point in the game the ball was moved from side to side with great skill, and with Tom Taylor rampaging forward from right back more goals had to follow. Webster missed another chance but then put us two up after tackling(!!!!!!) the last defender and then making no mistake.The last few minutes of the half saw Bath wake up and test Mike Harvey in the Westbury goal for the first time. Mike made a couple of good saves, but seemed certain to concede when defecting the ball to a Bath forward with the goal at his mercy. Somehow he managed to hit the post and Westbury went to the break still with the two goal lead.The second half was to be a very different proposition. Bath pushed us back time and time again....and then it p...tipped it down right into the Westbury faces. It was time for guts and determination and Westbury showed it in abundance. The defence was strong and Mike dealt with anything that came through on target. Oh, and they hit the post two more times! Westbury were restricted to long range attacks but due to fantastic running effort from Webster, Farrell and Clark in particular always thought they could finish the game off. It duly happened when Webster again robbed a defender on top of the D and rifled the ball past the keeper.As time ran down the only question was whether Mike would keep his sheets clean! He did with still more good saves and was very deservedly MOM. However there were many good performances throughout the team with Dave Holliday and Brian Nichols in particular showing that class is permanent. Thanks to Bath for their part in a cracking game and the sociability afterwards, although of course we won that one as well with the skipper, Fazza, Tufty & Dave enjoying the Gem on offer at the tennis club.Here's hoping for a home game in the next round

Badgers: Chris Poulsom reports: The Badgers gained their first win of the campaign against Somerset Gryphons with a 1-0 victory. The side looked very different in their play today with some really excellent team work and quick passing leading to several chances throughout the game creating much excitement for those spectating who rightly applauded both teams at the end of the game.With only one substitute in the first half and two in the second half, life was made a little easier for the organisers compared to last week's squad of 17!The goal came from Mulla sweeping the ball in to the corner from Farmer's pull back from the bye line which was a result of an excellent move down the right.Prry, Longden Herman, Minchin G and Lipfriend were solid at the back leading to GK Petch only touching the ball once. Maydew, Pardington and Yuill skilful in the middle and Jepson, Mulla and Pardington were creative and pacey up front. Linfoot, our smallest team member this week made some excellent tackles. Everyone played really well and were clearly on a high after the game. We were unlucky not to score more with some chances going just wide but the experience and Sunday coaching is clearly starting to pay off. 4 points from a possible 9 so far, well done guys! Smerald having helped out with junior coaching before the game agreed to play the first half to guide the team (he appeared a little shocked at the ability of the opposition kids) and umpire the second half, a great example to other club members. Thanks to the spectators, for Lipfriend umpiring the first half and Jez helping to run the substitutes.

1^st XI: To everyone present's pleasure, the sun and heat of the past few weeks had been replaced with a more familiar gale forced wind and driving rain making the resident Bristolians feel somewhat at home.
Bath's "3rd" team were at home, or as helpfully pointed out AFTER the match, a good wean of their higher players given that their EHL League team don't have a game this week.
Westbury set out to get into Bath from the first touch, and instead of this, promptly gave the ball away and were kept under the cosh for the first 10-15 minutes of the game, dribbling too long, holding the ball too long and playing passes through the front stick of opponents. (Anyone feeling a bit of deja vu?)
Gradually we came into the game, the defensive set up holding strong, only letting the ball through to the keeper on a small number of occasions, giving away one short corner, narrowly missed by a good drag flick, and slowly the Westbury hegemony was developed.
Once on top, Westbury are not a team to sit back and ponder the finer details of life and this was in evidence as a few short corners were obtained, all to no ultimate avail.
The game was 0-0 at half time and fair for the result. Second half, was pretty much identical to the first, move of the game being dictated by the Westbury midfield as opposed the defence showing how the balance of power, such that it was, was shifting to the home team. Sufficiently so that 5 minutes from the end, the Westbury keeper toed a cross round his defender to the stick of the Bath captain who, returning from a well deserved Yellow card for a cynical tackle in the middle of the pitch, slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the goal.
As is often the case, it was not until after cocking up and conceding a seemingly insurmountable lead, did Westbury wake up and take a look at themselves.
Promptly a surge was initiated, and players started actually doing what they had been trained to do, as opposed to what the felt the should do because they know better. A goal was clawed back by the stick of Neil Richardson, justly in all accounts, but certainly rather timely also. Westbury could smell blood and went for the jugular. Two more chances were narrowly missed with the Bath keeper having to look smart on a couple of occasions to keep a point for his team, one particularly good save from a bath defender with his body on the goal line gave Westbury their 200th short corner of the day, again to no avail Perhaps at training, we shall have to practice short corners as opposed to spending 30 minutes discussing the finer points of the effect of a players shoe lace tying style on their foot positioning at the back post, with the occasional practice thrown in for good measure. The game ended 1-1, in may eyes probably a just result, but all the more agonising given that the last 5 minutes Westbury showed they could put the game well beyond doubt had they played like that for 70 minutes.
To win a league, more will be required.

2^nd XI : The seconds lost their game at Stroud by 4 goals to 1.

3^rd XI : The 3rd team had the best chance o f the first half falling to Nathan Walkey, who was unable to convert either of them. The first saw him unable to get round the keeper, the second when the keeper made a great close range save. UWE were a sharp side, but Westbury countered with a lot of good hockey of their own. UWE scored just before the break and then added three more in the second half.

Wanderers: Despite having to wait 3 hours for a delayed start due to Firebrands going by the web site time, the Wanderers turned out to be the only winners on the day. Steve Millman got his first goal of the season and added a second. Pete Farrell, Tony Webster and Luke Oldfield on his Wanderers debut were also on target.

Wizards: Mark Crofts reports: 16 man Frys turned up at a windy CD expecting Turkish Delight but ended up with a share of the Bounty from a highly competitive draw with a 13 man Westbury D squad. The game started around 1/2 hour late again, this seems to happen every week now at CD: nightmare if you have things planned for later. A much changed Wizards side used the same magic combination of 4-4-2 that nearly bought success last week. This week we rotated the forwards as normal plus left & right midfield which worked okay. The 1st half saw us perform quite strongly if somewhat disjointedly, not surprising with the change of personnel. Poulsom and Taylor working well in centre midfield to hold a strong Frys side. The 1st half was quite even with Frys getting the breakthrough from a quickly taken self hit with the ball eventually deflected into the goal after being put into the D. We had chances from Crofts, Chave, Denner (bursting through from defence!) and Poulsom via short corners. Turned round 1-0 down at half time. Frys sustained themselves with high cocoa content snacks whilst the Wizards feasted on half time sustenance from a Crofts/Poulsom/Taylor team talk; playing well but needed to win more 50/50's, cut out the diagonals, play round them, keep wide etc.2nd half - played much better, pace was quicker from us and we started playing more as a team putting some good moves together moving forward with the defence working well .Frys defence combined to create some new sandwich dessert combination with Graeme Brown as the filling, GB rejected his role as said filling ending up with a custard coloured card from 'Fried Mars Bar' umpire Krebs :whistle: - 10 mins in the reject pile for GB.So 1 up front for a while, which took our candor away for a bit; Frys scored another from a short and seemed to start to settle for a 2-0 win. Back to 11 on the pitch and we upped our game, with chances from Crofts, Chave and Oldfield plus 2 shorts, all to no avail.5 mins to go and the crowd started to drift away to miss the traffic. A good pass down the right to Justin Chave, JC beats 2 players squares the ball for a shot on goal, goalie parries and Luke Oldfield slots the ball away in from the ensuing goal mouth scramble - 1-2; game on! Frys clearly rattled and we were on top, another good move through the middle, short corner - a shot, ball up in the air off the goalies chest and GB puts the ball in; no goal - whistle had been blown from highly yellow 'e numbered' coloured (jacket that is) umpire Cocksy and flick given. Poulsom steps up and puts the flick low left of the GK. 2-2 - time for a 3rd?Frys now more rattled then a Crunchie bar in a blender and we were pushing for the win, both sides had a couple more attacks, going for it, but a draw was the fair result. Well played one and all................'always keep going, never over till the fat lady sings, don't have too much cocoa at half time'. A good eventual overall team performance against opposition who will be up there pressing for the promotion they just missed out on last year; if we continue to play like this, so may we! Thanks to umpires Cocksy & Krebs for an excellently umpired game. Nice to see most of us in the bar afters, the late-late starts do not help with after match bonding - CD staff clearly want us out, due to time lag, as demonstrated by vacuuming under our feet as we drank!

Warriors: The Warriors took a first half lead at Bristol & West and really should have capitalised on that early success. The goals was struck from a short corner by Jamie Cranfield. Bristol & West equalised not long afterwards and then came a procession of chances that weren't converted. Westbury had the better of the first half but lacked the killer instinct in the D. Joe pEtch mad two strong saves from short corners. The goal that beat him was a quality reverse stick strike that would have beaten any keeper. The annoying part of that goal is that it came from a Westbury attack! Joe was a virtual spectator in the second half as the home side were pinned in their own half for long periods. The Warriors just lacked the quality ball that would have earned all three points. Toby Whitehead had the best chance, but from close range he played an air shot. If he had made contact he would most certainly have scored. At least it is a point to move the Warriors off the bottom of the table. There were aspects of the play that were encouraging, but goals win matches and chances need to be converted.

Jon Jarvis reports: Widgets: Arriving at Bristol UWE with a team made up of 6 senior players and 8 junior players, 3 of which were playing their debut match for a senior side, the Widgets proceeded to play in a 4-4-2 formation. After a stern pre-match chat outlining that this team beat our warriors 9-0 the previous week, we started by scoring the first goal within the first 5 minutes, by Andy Griffin who was playing in a more forward role. First time for everything!!!!!! Unfortunately our keeper, the captain, made a couple of errors, letting in 2 goals to allow the UWE to go 2-1 up at half time, more practice for the keeper is obviously needed. We kept our formation for the second half saying the next goal scored will be very important, but to our disappointment the next 2 goals went to the oppo, scored at short corners, both of which could have been prevented. Even though this happened all our young players kept their heads up and started to command the game, playing some great hockey helped by the experience of Brian Callis, Brian Nichols, Andy Griffin, Dave Holiday and George Banting. We did manage to pull a goal back by Tom Greenslade, on his debut, and went close a number of times. Upon the final whistle, even though we lost the game 4-2 the senior players clapped the juniors off the pitch whilst the oppo looked a bit despondent even though winning the game. Great potential is starting to be shown by all the juniors, the defenders, George Minchin, David Parry, who at 13 and small is not put off playing against bigger guys, Tim Laurence, the midfielders Chris Weale, Tom Greenslade, both were playing their debuts and played great once they got use to the senior game and our 3 attackers, Pete Ratcliffe, who had his best game, Ned Holmes, who combined great with Andy Griffin and our 3rd debutante, Zeyn Mulla who runs as fast as Usain Bolt and is probably the quickest player in our club. Thanks go to all the senior players who turned up to play, some of which have not played in such a low team before but all said at the end of the game, that it was the most enjoyable game that they have played in this year. With showing this amount of promise it won't be long before we win our first game of the season.Well played everyone, even the keeper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!