Congratulations
Pride of place this weekend goes to the Fifth team who have ensured promotion by beating their nearest competitors, Gosport 2 - 1. However the game had its moments with Gosport taking the lead in the first half. Karina Christiansen then latched on to a Sue Tinson pass and hammered home the equaliser. Christiansen then got on the end of a Natalie Black through ball to hit the winner. Gosport realising a win was necessary to stay in the race pushed everything forward and the Southampton defence was required to work relentlessly to keep ahead of the game.
Keeper Sandy Lewis bringing off two good saves late in the game.
Meanwhile, next-door the ones were busy overcoming Sunbury. The visitors started well with a period of sustained pressure, which had Southampton pegged in their own half for about 10 minutes. Southampton then started to get into their rhythm and earned the first short corner. Southampton went one down when a right wing cross was deflected in at the far post by Harriet of Sunbury. Southampton pressure was rewarded with a series of short corners, from one of which Sue Crowley scored (out, stopped, through the legs, round the back and bang, it was in the net). The second Southampton goal was again scored by Crowley from a short corner. This time the keeper went down early and Crowley flicked the ball, which deflected off the keeper's stick and into the net. Good defensive work looked to have kept Sunbury at bay until they were rewarded with a penalty flick. Linda Dunham showed her reaction speed by making a fine save with her body!!. Th! e game was end to end with both sides creating opportunities but no further goals occurred. This keeps Southampton in fourth place.
The seconds fell foul of Aldershot and Farnham despite playing some good hockey, losing 3 - 0.
The Thirds had to suffer a Havant side riding high at the top of the table. A 0 - 9 defeat. With Trojans winning it looks as though the Thirds will return to division two next season.
SWHC 4's v Havant 3's
I don't really know where to start on this one - this was certainly not a game of two halves. Southampton went into the game very much the underdogs but if this was Crufts they would have come out supreme champions (no jokes about old dogs, etc thank you). Havant are equal top of div 3 needing a win to keep hopes of winning the division alive and went into this game full of confidence and, by their own admission, expecting to win and win comfortably. They had not reckoned with the tenacity, determination and sheer guts of Southampton who needed at least one point to put pressure on the University side to see who staves of possible relegation.
Southampton took the game to Havant from the whistle and shook them up a bit but Havant soon settled and pressured the Southampton defence for most of the half but Southampton were able to build one or two good attacks courtesy of Kath Harley down the left (aided and abetted by Sarah Russell) and down the right with the experienced Annie day and Maria Blake. The defence stuck to their task and with some excellent keeping from Leah Thornwell staved off these attacks not allowing Havant to have any real shots on goal. The first half ended on 0-0 with a very frustrated Havant team and very surprised Southampton team.
The second half saw much of the same Kj, Katie Grange, Karen Holloway and Sabrina Black soaking up all Havant could throw at them and feeding some good balls out of defence a couple of which resulted in good shots on goal from Sarah Russell and Maria Blake. The mid filed of Kath, Maria and Helen Carter continued to support the forward well and with Lyn Price playing her usual committed game Southampton were able to come out of the game with a well deserved draw of 0-0. Needless to say Havant were not well pleased but you would have thought Southampton had won the league!!!. Hopefully this single point will enable to stay safely at 7th (out of 10).
Well done team and a big thanks to Bex for giving up the opportunity to support Mark in the men's 3's v 4's game(and saving me from having to umpire). She had to put up with a lot of unnecessary grief from the Havant Coach and supporters.
Just couple of snippets of "useless" information Havant registered a squad of 15 to Southampton's 11 on the team sheet but in fact only used 12 and the Southampton squad consisted of 4 players over 35 and 7 18 or under - just thought you'd like to know.
Dee Matthews
The Firsts were put under constant early pressure from Trojans and looked to have the measure of the Trojans's forwards before a freak short corner gave Wayne Sheppard the chance to score from a well rehearsed drag flick. Trojans scored a second when the ball was not cleared to the side in front of goal and Trojans slapped it home. Southampton got back into the game when Chris Stokes made it 1 - 2. A fluffed short corner flick was not cleared and Sheppard made no mistake with his second bite of the cherry. Pressing forward Southampton were undone by a late breakaway goal for a final score of 1 - 4. Despite the result Southampton played enough good hockey to be pleased with this performance against runaway league leaders.
The Seconds lost 1 - 3 to Trojans 2s. John Freckleton scoring Southampton's consolation goal.
The Threes and Fours met with each other in the league and true to form the Threes ran out winners. However it was not all one-way traffic with the Fours putting up some stern resistance before falling 4 - 0. Goals coming from Mark Day (2), James Wise and Eric Holt. The threes move to the top of the table but Winchester have a game in hand, but must win to catch Southampton.
Blandford 3's Vs Southampton 5ths 3-7
The score, Im afraid speaks for itself. Southampton started this fight for
2nd place as if we had already won the match and sure enough by the end of
the 1st half, frustration was running high and the 4-0 goal difference
just seemed like miles to come back from.
The 2nd half however saw an injection of new found vigor and within 20
minutes (although conceding 2 more goals) Southampton appeared to be on the
fight back. Blandford relaxing a little, gave the 5th's the opportunity
they needed to get back into the match. 3 goals later, 2 from Rich Harren
and one from Simon Brownlie, saw the score line at 6-3.
Sadly due to the massive lead created in the first half, Southampton just
didn't have enough time, or energy, to complete the come back. Final score
3-7.
Next week sees a clash with Yately and to secure promotion the 5ths must be
victorious.
The 6XI played Hamble 3's on Saturday - a side that they possibly could face next season if they get promotion into div 3.
The first 15 minutes saw Southampton play some attacking hockey with good movement in midfield. Unfortunately, the 6's went into the half time break 1-4 down.
In fact the only highlight of the game, for Southampton was the solo effort by Luke Knight who from the baseline managed to pass the ball out of reach of the diving Hamble keeper.
After the break Hamble looked in a class of their own - scoring another 3 without reply. Mark Cozens had two shots smartly saved and Luke Knight had another cleared off the line following a cross come shot from Stephen Boyd.
Final score 1-7...
The Otters outplayed Gosport seconds but found themselves 2 - 0 down at half time. What ever was said at half time only the team knows but a turn around in fortunes resulted in a 3 - 2 victory for the Southampton youngsters. Steve Nutt getting one
The Masters were trailing Surbiton 2 - 0 but could have scored three times had fortune smiled on them. Good right wing runs saw the ball cross the front of the goal inches from a Southampton stick but luck was not with them as the ball sailed on by. Surbiton however brought the best out of Linda Dunham, deputising in goal. However she was not able to save all the Surbiton efforts.
The Vets could meet with the Masters next season as the moved closer to promotion with a fine 4 - 2 win over Havant's third vets. Leading 1 - 0 at half time through a Pete Terry goal Southampton moved firther ahead when Geoff Danby struck his regular SC goal. Havant Staged a recovery and were back to 2 - 2 before Bill Stokes got onto tye score sheet after a short absence and Ralph Turner finished off a fine team play to make a final score of 4 - 2.
The Under 19 girls represented Hampshire in the South Round and did well to come third by one point to Woking and Eastbourne, who had junior internationals playing for them. A bad start on a windy morning saw them fall to three Woking short corners in their first game. In the second match against Rover Oxford they looked to be in control but again a short corner goal was their downfall. In their third and fourth games they overcame Maidenhead and Eastbourne respectively with Hollie Nutt and Anna Skelton getting fine goals. In their match with Teddington they went one down but a second Nutt goal brought them back on even terms before a free hit was touched just in front of keeper Charlotte Page. Late pressure could have seen two Southampton goals. In their final game they beat Milton Keynes 1 - 0 with a Charlotte Leatham deflection.
Southampton U14 'A' Team v Wimbourne Wayfarers U14
Southampton fielded a side which on average was considerably younger and much smaller than the opposition. It was clear that our girls found this a fairly daunting experience, as evidenced by the first twenty minutes of play during which we went one goal down and struggled to produce sort of structured skillful hockey which we are capable of playing. In the last ten minutes of the first half Southampton found their feet, gained some confidence and started moving the ball wide to the wings. All of a sudden they looked much the better side, and the opposition looked fragile. In the second half Wimborne again crowded the Southampton players out as much as they could, but Southampton took their opportunities ! to move the ball around. Eventually this resulted in a well made goal starting with a very good pass wide from Emma Godfrey, at centre forward, to Sarah Bentley on the right wing, who ran the ball down the pitch to put in a fine cross, from which Georgia Cole scored.Once more Katherine Woolford (G) made a number of important saves. Grace Isoister and Charlotte Moll were very strong in defence, tackling well and making some excellent clearances. Sarah Bentley and Georgia Cole both played very well on the right and left wing respectively! . The midfield of Hannah Parvin, Jenny Raw and Charlotte Evans looks very promising. They were almost two years younger than many of the Wimborne players, but all three are skilful and determined. While they did not find it easy they held the team together well, and their efforts to keep the ball moving around were noted.The girls can be pleased with a 1-1 score. The team were as follows :
Sarah Bentley, Charlotte Moll, Georgia Cole, Grace Isoister, Katherine Woolford, Jenny Raw (C), Charlotte Evans, Hannah Parvin, Stephanie Adams, Kitty Dwyer, Diana Bowtell, Emma Godfrey and Rebecca Moll.
Under 11's national minis tournament
I am very pleased to report that we reached the area final of the above narrowly losing in the final on penalties after drawing with the eventual winners 1 - 1 in the game and leading them during the final for most of the game until they scored a rather fortunate last minute equaliser.
Along the way the team drew with Winchester and beat both Havant and Yateley convincingly in the pool and the mighty City of Portsmouth team in the semi final . They had also lost their only game in the pool stage against the eventual winners Portsmouth and Southsea but put up a tremendous game in the final .
The organisers were very impressed with the standard of play for the final
Many congratulations therefore to the team squad of Ed and Chris Molloy ( for some great defensive work ) Chris Bentley, Ollie Thomson , William Richardson , David Hurden , Gajan Mehedevan ( for a very skilled midfield performance ) Andy Gibbs , Greg Eskenazi and Stuart Anderson . Stuart deserves a special mention for his contribution and was consistently the most threatening and dangerous forward to our opponents during the tournament.
Great result ! Well done guys !
The Under 13 boys had a good day at the Hampshire round of the national minis losing narrowly to City of Portsmouth 2 - 0 in the final. On their way to the final they beat Winchester 2 - 1, Havant 5 - 0 and Gosport 4 - 0 in the pool games before beating Fareham 2 - 0 in the semis.
The Under 14 boy's first team gained some revenge over Hamble, who beat the Southampton second team earlier in the season. Some revenge is possibly a little of an understatement at they ran in 17 goals. Ollie Knight & Rob O'Brien getting four each, Sam Hiscock three, Freddie Torlot and Matt Oldfield two each and Jon Carter wadded in with his first goal for the club after moving from defence to the forward line.
Southampton met with Southampton University in a rearrangement of the league game abandoned when gale force wind moved the goal. On that occasion Southampton were leading 3 - 1. However this match was a reversal of that game with the University winning 2 - 1. Despite the appearance of several cards the game was not played in a bad spirit. Uni went two goals up but Southampton were back into the game when Neil Hanley popped home his chance. Continued pressure might have seen Southampton take lead but constant reduction to playing strength limited their options to break through the Uni defence.
In the second leg of the 3's vs 4's "twice in one weekend" clash, the 3's again ran out winners, this time by the smaller margin of 2 goals to 0. Mark Day and Mike Woods getting on the scoresheet.
Roger Merry