Not a good result for the Ladies first team losing by their biggest margin of the season. They met with Epsom, who are having a good season and currently sit second in the league. The game started badly with a short corner being successfully converted by Epsom in the first minute. Southampton then had perhaps their best spell of the game when they pressured the Epsom defence for a twelve minute spell only missing going level by inches when Jo Edmondson got onto a Julia Fabrizi cross to the far post. Epsom rode their luck and then went two up when an attack down the left saw the Epsom striker switch across the pitch to hit an unstoppable shot from the top right of the D. Despite making some inroads against a defence it was Epsom that held the reins for most of the game, Southampton being unable to play to the levels they have reached in recent weeks. Southampton had several good scoring chances but failed to capitalise, the best coming when Crowley hit the cross bar. Three second- half goals, getting the rub of some decisions, saw Epsom home 5 - 0.
There was a mixed game between players of the seconds, thirds and fourths, which gave the players a chance to evaluate each other. I understand it was a good game enjoyed by all. Lauren Curry showed her field skills by saving several shots with her stick and almost scored.
The Fifths continued their winning ways in a friendly with Petersfield, beating them 2 - 1, with Mary Aicken and Emma Cook getting the Southampton goals.
Kelvin Wyatt showed his entrepreneurial skills by getting into business, taking his chances and twice helping Southampton back onto even terms after Blandford had taken the lead. The three Wyatt goals, the first from open play and the second as part of a short corner routine, and the third was a neat deflection, saw the home side in front. The final Southampton goal came when Gary Watts' reverse stick undercut ballooned the roof of the net. Final score 4 -2.
The second met with promotion heading Woking and stunned their visitors with an early Rob Martin goal but Woking showed why they are top with three match winning goals.
The Threes kept themselves in the hunt for promotion with a 3 - 1 win over Fareham. Richard Jones dinked one over the keeper, Eric Holt got one from a short corner strike and Mark Day one from open play. With Winchester 5s also winning the championship goes to the wire next weekend, when Southampton meet Winchesters 4s, who are third in the league. Coach being arranged for supporters, contact the Skipper.
The Fours went down 1 - 3 to Trojans in a bottom of the table clash.
Southampton 5ths Vs Yateley 4's : 1-0
Following on from last weeks defeat at Blandford, Southampton were
determined to make sure Yateley would not cause an upset. From the beginning
the 5th's looked strong and apart from a couple of breaks from Yateley, which
ended in wild shots, the 1st half was all Southampton's. So much so that
Southampton's Simon Brownlie actually managed to score a goal. Sadly though,
to Yateleys delight and due to ripped side netting, the goal was not given.
The second half was all Southampton's but the scoring talents of Will
Ferguson, Simon Brownlie and Mich Foulds just couldn't find the net. Shot
after shot and play after play the ball just seemed to end up being cleared
by Yateley's solid defence. It took a short corner in the last 30 seconds of
the game for Ali Pake to finally get the winning goal. Needless to say
the 5th's had a lucky escape and gained the 3 points they most certainly
deserved!!
'Til next weeks bout.............
Southsea V Southampton 6's
Southampton needed to win this game to gain promotion, but from the start
were under pressure.
Luke Knight opened the scoring for Southampton. Southampton went further in
to the lead when PJ hit the ball from the top of the 'D' to Mark Cozens, who
ran the ball, putting in a good cross for Luke Knight to score his second.
Southsea battled hard and Southampton's defence were caught sleeping for them
to make it 1-2.
Southsea then gained themselves a 'P' flick, which hit the post with.
The second half produced some outstanding hockey. Southsea pulled another
goal back. Southampton then took over the match.
This led for Steve Boyd to put So'ton back in the lead with a good strike
from the top of the 'D'. A further effort from Julian Powis saw the ball
rebound off the post. Southsea pulled themselves back in to it with another
goal when So'ton's defence was caught out again.
With ten minutes to go So'ton battled hard and saw effort after effort saved
or cleared by Southsea's defence. Mark Cozens, Luke Knight and Julian Powis
being very unlucky.
End result 3-3, which means Southampton just missing out on promotion,
unlucky lads.
The Otters fell by 7 - 2 in the match with Fareham Fives.
Masters game was off.
Vets game off, points awarded to Southampton.
U13 Girls Regional Finals
On Sunday our U13 Girls team played in the South Regional Finals. Out of six
teams we came a very good second, only being beaten by a superb St George's
side, who had one player in particular who was so good one could only
admire her play.
Our team should be very proud of their performance, and take great heart from
the fact that out of the twelve games we played in the two rounds of the
competition we scored 32 goals and conceded only 3, winning 11 matches and
losing only 1.
A few other interesting statistics are
a) We were the only team to go into the lead against St George's
b) We were the only team to score against St George's
c) St George's were the only team to score against us.
The scores were :
Southgate 1-0
St George's 1-3
Kennet 2-0
Milton Keynes 3-0
Wallingford 1-0
Newlands 1-0
I was delighted with the attitude of our girls. They played very determined
hockey, they never ever gave up and they showed great skills in their
tackling, passing and stick work. In short they are a very fine team indeed.
I believe, and these views are shared I know, by Roger, Sue and Peter Slade
that our team have the ability to beat this St George's team, and indeed any
other club or school team of a similar age group, so the future looks very
bright. We will look on this tournament as a significant success, but also
something to learn from, and meanwhile continue to enjoy our hockey.
I would like to congratulate the whole team, who were as follows - Katherine
Woolford, Jo Slade, Ali Dibben, Taffy Bakewell, Beckie Godfrey, Imogen
Eldergill-Storm, Georgie Torlot, Catlyn Adams, Hanna Jenvey and Amy Sheehan.
All of the team, without exception, gave everything they had got, and made
valuable contributions to our performance.
Many thanks to Peter Slade, Sue Crowley and Roger Merry. The girls are very
fortunate to have such a wealth of skill and experience supporting them, and
their advice to me has been invaluable.
Andrew Storm
The Under 12 boys entered two teams in the Hampshire tournament and despite the rain enjoyed themselves. The second team, comprising mostly Under 11s did themselves proud winning one, drawing two and only losing to a Fareham side late in the day.
The Under 18s moved into the semi Final of the Hampshire cup and now meet Trojans. They overcame Basingstoke 8 - 0. Hat tricks coming from Jasdeep Sohal Singh and Chris Stokes and single from Jimmy Millar and Alli Brown. Guest appearances from Simon King and Will Brown, who showed good promise.
The Under 19 girls second team drew 2 - 2 with Basingstoke whilst the under 19 threes lost 3 - 0 to Haslemere.
Hampshire Under 14s won the South championship with a 10 -0 thrashing of Berkshire. Well done to the Southampton boys that played. They were Rob O'Brien, Ollie Knight and James Please.
The Hampshire under 13s also overcame Berkshire, this time by 3 - 1. David Stokes and Will Thomson represented the club.
Roger Merry