Marden Russets Hockey Club
|
17/11/07
Marden Russets 2-3 Folkestone
The rumour that Folkestone Optometrists were offering free eye tests brought forth the
cream of Kent’s umpiring fraternity for this vital clash in Kent Sussex Regional League. The
resulting tests equipped one umpire with blue-tinted spectacles for the match, although it
was the further surgical procedures which included a frontal lobotomy and a mysterious,
marionette-esque twitch in his right arm, which were to prove pivotal in the final result.
The game itself told a familiar story for Russets, as they created, but failed to convert,
numerous chances before Henry Lee scored the opener with a contender for the world’s
slowest drag flick from a short corner. Optometrists, as one would expect, showed great
vision in carving out several openings, which the Marden defence repelled with some
degree of comfort.
The visitors equalised from a short-corner early in the second half, only for Russets to
regain the lead when a short-corner miss-move ricochet, a description which befits such a
shambolic sequence, was hacked in by captain Sam Traill. Chances came and went for
both sides, with Russets profligacy, and the umpire’s creativity preventing any further
addition to the scores.
As the game entered the final five minutes, and with the umpire running out of time to make
a significant impact on the game, a Folkestone free hit outside the circle was upgraded to a
short-corner on the grounds of a particularly indignant look from a Marden defender. The
straight strike was deflected over the prone goalkeeper for the decisive equaliser, and with
the momentum squarely with the visitors, and blue-tinted spectacles very much in the
ascendancy, Russets rearguard was breached by a ferocious reverse-stick shot, the one
piece of quality forward play demonstrated by either team all afternoon.
BBHC 1 – 1 Marden 2s
Marden scrapped for a hard fought, but ultimately deserved point. More changes from the
previous week so Marden struggle to start the game with much cohesion and that allowed
the home team to take the initiative. Despite some pretty interplay and good passing
BBHC created little in the D and their efforts were restricted to short corners. These
however were well-worked and caused problems. When Insley was lobbed after saving the
initial shot Rob Hancox was on the line to stop it and calmly put it on an attackers foot.
Marden had a couple of shorts of their own and looked dangerous on the break through
the pace of Jones. 0 – 0 at the break.
After some home truths at half time Marden started the second half the stronger team, their
passing and movement of the previous weeks returning. They took the lead when Brooks
put Jones through after good interplay with Scopes, Jones calmly slotting home the goal his
constant running deserved. The second half was an even affair with Insley in inspired form
in goal and Marden threatening upfront. It was so nearly 2 – 0 when a Brooks short corner
was cleared off the line. They were made to pay when a miss control in the D from an
attacker found its way into the goal. Marden held out for the draw, their fighting spirit and
constant running deserved. Next is a tricky away trip to Deal.
Marden 3s 4 – 0 Folkestone
Russets had to convert their sterling efforts of recent weeks into solid league points and
did so with a comfortable, if unspectacular win over bottom side Folkestone. In the early
stages Marden did the basic things well, taking a deserved lead after slick interplay
involving Hancox and Wickham with Iles finishing from close range. Wickham then picked
out Bishop at the top of the D to make it 2-0 before Russets rather lost their way perhaps
trying to do that little bit extra when a simple pass would suffice. Kennedy was called into
action to make his only significant save of the game just before the break to prevent the
visitors snatching a morale boosting lifeline.
Things improved in the second period although Marden again failed to capitalise fully on
possession. Short corners were proving fruitless until Wickham was on hand to deflect
Bardsley’s shot home and then Baxter converted a fine cross from Giles to round off the
scoring. Credit is due to the visitors who are a youth development side and who kept going
throughout and played the game in excellent spirit.
Ashford Vets 4 – 1 Marden Vets
Meopham 2 – 4 Marden Ladies 1st XI
Whilst we always expect this fixture to be a hard-fought and physical one, Meopham had a
few unwelcome surprises in store for us this week. A 10.15 pushback was never going to
suit our girls but, credit where it’s due, they were all there with a little warm-up time to
spare.
However, the early start showed in our play and we were slow to get going. We made hard
work of the first half, letting Meopham dictate the game. They were beating us to the ball
and blocking most of our breaks and free hits. A loss of concentration in Meopham’s circle
gave them a penalty corner, and subsequently the first goal. It took a rather less than
dynamic Marden team a good ten minutes to respond. Finally a free hit from Charlotte
Sharp outside the circle found Anne Romilly for a sweep onto the goalie’s pads. Helen
Tipples picked up the rebound, putting it away to bring the scores level. That’s how it
stayed until half time. Although on balance we probably had more than half the possession
in the first half, we were noticeably lacklustre and the play was disjointed.
Whatever was said during the break, it gave us the kick up the backside that we needed. It
was a totally different Marden team who came back onto the pitch. We immediately drove
into the attacking half, our passing was fluid and we were finally looking as though we
wanted to win this match. Meopham seemed to pick up on this too and started tediously
appealing at every opportunity. To be fair to the umpire, he was picking up the majority of
the fouls on the ball, but there was a lot going on off the ball that he would need eyes in
the back of his head to see. Tiresome though it was, the umpire initially penalised Marden
for these alleged fouls. Eventually though he got fed up with it too, warning the Meopham
defenders to zip it.
The trouble really started however, when Julia Moen tucked the ball away on the left post.
Meopham were adamant that the ball had skimmed her foot before going in, Julia, quite
rightly, chucked this particular hot potato straight back to the umpires, letting them decide.
They consulted and awarded the goal. At this point a number of Meopham players, and
one in particular, kicked off. The air was turned blue with their shouts of ‘f****** cheats’ and
the suchlike. Nothing too unusual in that these days, although possibly more prevalent in
mens’ hockey than ‘ladies’.
Just seconds after the restart, the most vocal of the Meopham players smashed into Julia
quite deliberately, nowhere near the ball or the run of play, as some sort of retribution for
her ‘cheating’. Julia, the most mild-mannered of our players, lost her rag and verbally
warned her off. Unfortunately the umpires did not see any of this, but had they done so, it
would surely have been a red card for the Meopham player. Instead, the umpires called a
Time Out, instructing the captains to calm down their teams.
(At this point you might be thinking ‘big deal, it happens all the time in mens’ hockey’ but
actually in women’s hockey it doesn’t. At least not here in the Kent Premier Division and
not this sort of physical stuff. Perhaps we are just a bit naive?).
Rather than intimidating the Marden side, this little fracas had the opposite effect,
galvanising us into playing the best hockey of the game. The midfield and forwards
passed the ball around fluidly, finding each other without too much difficulty. Switching
round in the front line worked brilliantly, confusing the defence and leaving the forwards
with plenty of space. The Marden defence, meanwhile, allowed Meopham nowhere near
their goal. This is how we should have played throughout this match, but better late than
never. We were rewarded very soon when Lucie Romilly slipped the ball left for Charlotte
Sharp to sweep into the box. The goal attempts were coming thick and fast at this point
and Meopham were probably wishing they had just kept quiet. Anne Romilly banged the
final nail in their coffin, scoring at a tight angle from the right of the goal.
In the dying moments of the game Marden let their guard down briefly and Meopham
snatched back one goal. However it was too little too late for this team who should surely
consider themselves lucky to have kept 11 players on the pitch.
Sutton Russets 2 – 0 Brombeck
This week the Russets produced a very convincing performance at home against top of the
table Broms & Becks. From start to finish Russets dominated the game and had the lion’s
share of possession. The team meshed together extremely well this week with accurate
passing and strong tackling throughout the side.
Emily Bush was outstanding in midfield, breaking up Broms’ possession and instigating
countless attacks. This was reflected by the number of short corners awarded to the home
side. During one attack just before half time Sophie Garner found herself with time and
space in the D and beat the keeper with a precise shot to give us a 1-0 lead.
Russets continued to dominate in the second half with Mel Russell-Vick going close on
several occasions. Nicky Andrews and Emma Dickenson were solid in defence repelling
the occasional Broms counterattack. Morgan Neale drove through the midfield with pace
before supplying Margaret Turner, who slammed the ball home to make it 2-0. Just before
the end of the game an Emily Sullivan strike went high into the net. Unfortunately for Emily,
the goal was (correctly) disallowed because it was the first shot from a penalty corner and
was deemed too high.
This was the best team performance of the season by far with all members of the squad
contributing. Hopefully we will build on this display in the weeks to come
Russets U16 Boys 4, Sevenoaks 1
Missing 7 regular starters, Russets dominated their first home fixture of the season, the
score-line flattering the ‘keeperless opposition. Loss of discipline again thwarted attempts
to post a big score, although the massed ranks of the Sevenoaks defence did battle
gamely throughout. The goals were scored by Harry Waters, Tom Carr, Richard Lawton
and Aidan Kingsmill - two in each half. That we were still able to field 14 good players
shows the strength in depth that we now have in this group, and there is a great chance to
improve on the fourth place that we achieved last season. We now sit second in the group,
with 7 points from 3 games and a goal difference of +15.
Next week we face top-of-the-table Canterbury, and improvements are needed if we’re to
get maximum points and overtake them in the race for the all-important top-two finish,
which would again see us into the semi-finals. With Bromley & Beckenham also in the
group, our work is cut out, but we have every chance if we play to our best form. As
everyone is fit and available next Sunday, I am optimistic…
Given the importance of the game, it would be great to see wider club support for the lads
on Sunday – 11.15 start at home, with the bar open afterwards – what more could you ask
for? A chance for team captains to come and check out some of the stars of the future,
perhaps…?