Season 2009 - 2010

News of all the early season
  Trials,
  Fitness Training,
  Training sessions,
  Fixtures for September,
  Subscription Rates,
  Match Levies,
  Junior Hockey,
  Social Events planned do far and
  Your committee members for the season
  can be found on the hockey home page.

WANTED

New playing members of all abilities welcome including goalkeepers.
Umpires are also needed.

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Half Season update.

Welcome to a short summary of the first half of the 2008/09 season.

Jenna, left and Jonathan, with their Jack Petchy awards.

Jack Petchy Achievement Awards
The first two winners of this prestigious award are Jenna Saunders (Nov) and Jonathan Pitcher (Dec). They were presented with their awards at Southbury L.C. by Kelly-Ann Foley. In addition to their framed certificates they each received a cheque for £300 to be spent for the benefit of the club. Congratulations to both of them.

Men’s 1st XI ~ East Men’s League Division 3SW

The story so far.....
Having missed out on promotion by the narrowest of margins the previous year, I think the expectations are pretty high for the forthcoming season and, so they should be. Having to select the 1st 1Xl squad has seemed to be the toughest yet, what with previous members coming out of the wood work for maybe one final flourish at the highest level(not mentioning any names) and a few returning from their travels and many tales to tell what with that, the season hasn't started too badly.
With Simon Milsome taking responsibility of being captain again, Graham Sparrey as my trusty little sidekick and the ever present coach, Duane Robinson, you could once again sense a smell of success (fingers crossed).
Our first fixture was away at newly promoted and local rivals Cheshunt. Picture it, a warm sunny day, not too far to drive and push back at midday (heaven). Anyway to cut a long story short we won 4-1, not pretty but that was how we wanted to start off the season with a convincing win. Up next was Stevenage 1s at home. One thing that I wanted to do and get across to the team was, and is, to turn Southbury corner into a fortress; not to lose our home games and make the teams in our league aware of that. 
Last year we didn't do too badly, only losing one fixture, so this season wasn't going to be any different. We beat Stevenage 2-0, travelled up the A10 to Broxbourne and turned them over 3-1(sweet). A check of the league table after three fixtures saw us 2nd, chasing Royston as per usual. Our next two fixtures took us away to Berkhamsted and home to Bedford, two teams who were relegated last season so maybe a tougher challenge and it proved to be. We came back down to earth with a bang, Berks beat us 3-1 and a tough draw at home to Bedford also saw us slip down a few spots in the league... but not for long. After a few harsh words from captain and coach the team responded in fashion with a hard fought win against an organised Royston troop.
After this we went on to win our next four fixtures which put us top of the league and set up a tasty home clash (home record intact) against a promotion chasing Hertford at home. There was something strange about this game and I couldn't think for the life of me what it could be, we were winning, we hadn't lost at home and for some reason we all looked a bit deflated. To be honest, we were not playing the hockey I or Duane wanted to see, it wasn't pretty but we were getting results, some teams would be happy with that and cap 'n' coach weren't and this proved to be.
We were beaten 4-3. It was close but on the day, the better team won and unfortunately we lost our unbeaten home run.
11 games played:
Won 8, Drawn 1, Lost 2, Goals for 35, Goals against 17 and we’re sitting 2nd in the league.
Not many complaints but plenty of room for improvement.
Simon Milsome
1st Xl Captain

Ladies 1st XI ~ Middlesex Women’s League Premier Division
Sorry there is no report for the Ladies Ones.
Played 9:
Won 2, Drawn 3, Lost 4, Goals for 8, Goals against 10, with 9 points and 7th in the league.

Men’s 2nd XI ~ East Men’s League Division 5SW

Having finished last season thinking that we had done enough to avoid relegation, we were all shocked to find out that in fact we were to go down because of the evening up of the leagues. so on to the start of the season and we have it all to do, a lot of pressure is on the team new in to the division from the one above as every team is after your blood, wanting to see what kind of level you’re at, and they didn’t disappoint, our first league game lead to a 7-0 hammering from saint Albans exiles, not the best start for me as captain in my rookie year, to my defence we did have a few changes from the team last year, Jeff and Jimbo are now ones regulars and Gary has work commitments, they were three key players I was hoping to keep hold of, at least for the first half of the season, but no excuses for lack of tools I’ll just nick all Mo’s players (or so I thought). Harpenden next  a well drilled team who finished 4^th in this league last year and it showed we lacked confidence from our game the week before and duly lost this one 2-0, (will that first win ever come?) Bishop’s Stortford next, like us not won a game all season but it would appear they were in worst form then us, so was to come our first win of the campaign, 6-0 up at half time we looked a total different team, game ended 8-1 and were off the mark, no stopping us now, till next week of course we came back down to earth by narrowly losing to Blueharts 4-3. All the players had learnt a great deal from the first few games and each of them were coming into form, the likes of little Mo, Johnno and a renewed lease of life from previous captain Chris Hayter having the weight of captaincy lifted of his shoulders were coming on strong and helped us to our next two wins, 6-2 Berkhamsted and 4-2 West Herts. To get through a few results they are as follows, 6-2 lost St Albans, 4-2 win Bedford town, 2-2 draw Welwyn Garden City, 3-1 lost Potters Bar and to end the half season a 6-2 win Vauxhall. Currently sitting 5^th in the league with still a long way to go let’s hope we can continue improving each week and make a charge for the line at the end! Well done all keep it up. Cheers.
Played 11:
Won 5, Drawn 1, Lost 5, Goals for 36, Goals against 31, and we are 5th in the league.
Mike Dutnall
2nd XI Captain 

Ladies 2nd XI ~ Middlesex Women’s League Division 2

Opening the season with a run of games against the strongest teams in the league didn’t see many results go our way for the first few weeks. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the typical excuses for poor results (and yes we did use a few), but I can honestly say that our playing ability and team effort could not be faulted. I would even go as far as to say we started the season stronger as a team than we have for a long while, but unfortunately, the score lines failed to reflect the team’s input into the matches.
More importantly, team moral stayed high throughout, and our hard work eventually paid off with us winning four out of our five remaining games. In hindsight, the difficult start may have given us a healthy kick up the rear, as we’re now playing much stronger as a team.
So, with the second half of the season now upon us, we look forward to all the return games. Hopefully this time around the results will go in our favour, as I think I can safely say that we’ve finally found the back of the net.
Well done girls, and here’s to a few more wins.
Played 9:
Won 4, Drawn 0, Lost 5, Goals for 15, Goals against 18, with 12 points and 6th in the league.
Lindsey Brackey,
Joint 2nd XI Captain

Men’s 3rd XI ~ East Men’s League Division 7SW

The initial idea of the Three’s formation, was a season-long plan, incorporating five senior players and seven youth players.
After a disastrous friendly match at the start of the season, some of the problems were sorted out for the start of the league programme. With no win from the first three games, the season turned following the game against the WH&E 4^th XI (the Vets). Since that match, we have lost only one game.
I’m pleased with the response shown everybody, especially Craig, Ryan, Damien, David, Glen, Henry and Ajay, all of whom have shown great improvement in their passing and general skills, making the 3rd XI a ‘team’. They have been ably supported by Grant, Chris, Simon and Phil; thanks guys.
Everybody is looking forward to the second half of the season with the expectation of promotion very much in our minds.
11 games played:
Won 7, Drawn 1, Lost 3, Goals for 30, Goals against 17, with 22 points and 4th in the league.
Maurice Umney,
3rd XI Captain 

Men’s 4th XI ~ East Men’s League Division 7SW

The Vets have had a perfect start to the league season played 10 lost 10.   
There is no shame in these results; in fact some of the performances have been very encouraging.  We knew we would be in for a difficult time this season and were well prepared.  I have to commend the effort the players have put in and whilst we have had the normal Vets problems e.g. injury and availability (otherwise known as under the thumb or Blackpool) we have always managed to put out a team.  We even managed to score in 3 league games, which was more than we expected.  It would have been 4 if I had not missed a sitter against the Umney.
The Vets did manage to secure a win in a friendly against Chelmsford Evergreens in December and it was also a first for the skipper, he managed to score too.
Barring miracles, next season we will be back where we belong and life will be sweeter.
Played 11:
Won 0, Drawn 0, Lost 11, Goals for 4, Goals against 44, and we are 12th in the league.
Colin Angel
4th XI (Vets) Captain 

Ladies 3^rd XI ~ Middlesex Women’s League Division 3

At first, the start of this season looked rather bleak for our ladies 3^rd XI. With existing players moving up the teams and others taking time out, numbers began to dwindle making it hard to fill a side. However, there was light at the end of the tunnel, and with perseverance, multiple telephone calls and an influx of new and returning players we managed to get a promising squad together.
Unfortunately, being in essence a relatively new team, it takes time to gel, and although we have not had the results we would like, the team are enjoying playing together. There is no doubt in our improvement as a team, and with the commitment of players to both games and training, I’m sure things will begin to look up.
Played 9:
Won 0, Drawn 1, Lost 8, Goals for 2, Goals against 53, with -4 points and 10th in the league.
Thanks for the update Lindsey.

Men’s 5th XI ~ East Men’s League Division 8SW

Sorry there is no report for the Stags.
Played 9:
Won 5, Drawn 0, Lost 4, Goals for 15, Goals against 21, with 15 points and 5th in the league. 

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Saturday 20 December
Jean Allman
It is with much sadness that we announce that Jean Allman, a long standing supporter of the Hockey Section, passed peacefully away on Thursday evening.

Jean's legendary shepherds pies will be missed following the Sunday hockey matches!






[Page updated 6 September 2009]