Worthing Hockey Club

Match "Wolves Vs Lewes Lions" Report By frenchie30

frenchieatwhc@live.co.uk (Admin) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:40:51 +0000

Worthing Wolves 1 Lewes Lions 4

Submitted By: Richard Rudrum

Last Saturday the Wolves played their first match of this season, a friendly away at Lewes Lions. The Wolves have some new younger players this year and, although a fairly young squad, the players have already built up a lot of playing experience over the last few years. For this match we decided to trial two very young goalkeepers, Stevie Doolan & Connor McAllister, who would play one half each. With Greg Middleton playing as the Wolves adult at the back, flanked by Luke Binstead and Tom Penny, Wesley Milne as sweeper just in front, Gareth Middleton, Arthur Graham, Jack Dunn and Ollie Hansen in midfield and Ollie Wakeling and Liam Ross-Thomas up front the scene was set.

The match started at a quick pace and both teams played some nice hockey to get in to each other’s Ds, but the defences held out. After some nice moves by the Lewes midfield they finally unlocked the Wolves defence and a shot at goal resulted in the first goal. 1-0. Lewes now had the bit between their teeth and found the net again to lead 2-0 at half time.

The Wolves responded with some great play at the start of the second half with Greg & Wesley bringing the ball out of defence to Gareth & Arthur in midfield who, distributed the ball nicely to the wing men Ollie Wakeling and Liam Ross-Thomas. Numerous attacks were made but the Wolves just couldn’t slot the ball in the net. With the Wolves subs rotating on Ed Bromley, Ben Childs, Alfie Barwick and Max Holloway entered the fray and kept the flowing hockey going. The Wolves, having had most of the possession and made quite a few chances, were just lacking that finishing touch. Lewes came on the attack again and, against the run of play, scored their 3^rd goal, 3-0.

The Wolves, however, are made of stern stuff and kept going with Jack, Gareth and Arthur fighting hard in mid-field for the ball and with the ball flying up the right wing on the end of Ollie Wakeling’s stick the Lewes goal was suddenly under siege and Ollie scored his first goal of the season, 3-1. Despite an extended period of pressure by the Wolves and again having most of the possession the Wolves were unable to score again and with the Lions demonstrating slick finishing skills the final score was 4-1 to Lewes. Well done to all the new players and to Connor and Stevie for their debuts in goal. Congratulations also to both adults who played in a way that got the boys involved and developed their hockey without dominating, and big thank you to the efforts of Arthur Graham who was man of the match. His great support play going forward was only eclipsed by his tremendous efforts tracking back to tackle and win the ball back time after time which was a great example for all the youngsters to follow. Thanks to Lewes for a great match and we’re looking forward to playing the Hotshots this week.

Team: Stevie Doolan (GK), Connor McAllister (GK), Greg Middleton (Adult), Luke Binstead, Tom Penny, Wesley Milne, Gareth Middleton, Arthur Graham, Jack Dunn, Ollie Hansen, Ollie Wakeling (1 Goal), Liam Ross-Thomas, Ed Bromley, Ben Childs, Alfie Barwick & Max Holloway

Match "Wolves Vs Horsham Hotshots" Report By frenchie30

frenchieatwhc@live.co.uk (Admin) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:22:47 +0000

Submitted By: Richard Rudrum

Last week the Wolves were away to the Horsham Hotshots. On a swelteringly hot autumn afternoon we made the trip to Millais School to play the, normally strong, Hotshots. With 3 players injured and 3 more key members away, two of the Tigers, Jack Cooper and Gavin Walker, played this week and George Usher was promoted to play his first game ever for the Wolves. The match started at a fast pace and some early exchanges in midfield showed that Horsham were determined not to lose two games in a row to Worthing teams, having suffered a 5-1 defeat to the Tigers the week before. Some slick passing by the Hotshots soon had them attacking our goal and they quickly went 1-0 up. This was followed by two more goals in quick succession before the Wolves steadied things down. Kieron Mills in goal, made some fantastic saves and the Wolves managed several attacks, which, unfortunately, finished short of finding the Horsham net. As we only had one substitute available, the younger members of the team, namely Max Holloway, George Usher and Tom Penny had to work very hard to stand their ground, guided by Jack Cooper at centre back. Arthur Graham, Gavin Walker, Jack Dunn and Ben Childs fought hard in mid-field but Horsham were leading 5-0 at half time.

After a much needed drink and a rest, the Wolves started the second half and quickly showed the ‘never say die’ spirit that was evident throughout the whole of last season. They fought for everything and started to retain possession. With Alfie Barwick playing on the left wing, and Ollie Hanson tangoing his way down the right, the Wolves were suddenly pressuring the Horsham goal and went close to scoring several times. Despite some superb reflex saves by Kieron, Horsham managed a breakaway score to go 6-0 ahead. With 20 minutes to go, the Wolves finally started to retain possession and wave after wave of attack resulted in a great debut goal for Alfie Barwick, who was in the perfect place to slot the rebound when Gavin Walker’s shot was saved by the Hotshots keeper. Several minutes and several more Wolves attacks later the Wolves earned a short corner. The resulting shot from Gavin was stopped illegally on the line and the Wolves were awarded a p-flick. Sadly, Gavin’s flick was saved by the keeper and the final score was 6-1. Despite the score-line the Wolves’ character shone through and the last 20 minutes was a testament to their fitness and fantastic attitude. Thanks to all the parents who came to support the team and to Mike Shreeve for umpiring. Well done to everyone who played and I’m looking forward to next week’s match against Pingu and his friends.

Team: Alfie Barwick (1 Goal), Luke Binstead, Ben Childs, Jack Cooper, Jack Dunn, Arthur Graham, Ollie Hanson, Max Holloway, Kieran Mills, Tom Penny, Gavin Walker

Match "Wolves Vs Penguins Juniors" Report By frenchie30

frenchieatwhc@live.co.uk (Admin) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:32:30 +0000

Worthing Wolves 3 Penguins Juniors 2

Submitted By: Richard Rudrum

Last Saturday the Wolves were away to Penguins at Angmering with a 2.30 pushback. The Wolves, shored up by the addition of Tigers Josh Barron, Ollie Fenton and Callum Rudrum, got off to a great start putting loads of pressure on Pingu’s goal from the off, getting in to the D and sending several shots on target which were well saved by their keeper. After a concerted effort, Wolves gained a short, which Arthur Graham injected and Gareth Middleton shot towards the goal. The shot was a little wide, but Callum Rudrum coming in fast simply scooped the ball up and over the Penguins keeper in to the net. Sadly, the goal was disallowed, as Gareth’s effort was not deemed to have been the first shot. Never mind. Penguins rallied and for a while it was end-to-end stuff. The Wolves gradually gained control and a three pass move out of defence from Greg Middleton to Gareth to Ollie Fenton who was one-on-one with the keeper and after feinting one way and then the other slotted a lovely reverse sweep low in to the goal. 1-0 Penguins. Pingu re-grouped and several attacks later the Penguins had a short from which a good shot which went low and hard in to the left hand side of our goal, because all our defenders, in their exuberance, ran out and didn’t cover the near post. Thus half time arrived with the score 1-1.

The second half saw some more end-to-end play with both teams having chances to score but fortunately the Wolves managing to gain the lead 2-1 with a lovely flowing move finished by Callum Rudrum. This time there could be no argument! Wolves kept the pressure up and with Jack Dunn, Alfie Barwick, Ollie Hanson and Liam Ross-Thomas all moving the ball quickly up the pitch there was no stopping Ollie Fenton once more as he slotted another goal for the Wolves to lead 3-1. With time running out, the Penguins upped their game again and after some nice hockey managed to get a goal back which put the score at 3-2 and made for a very nervous end to the match with Penguins piling on the pressure desperate to salvage something from the match. Having asked how long to go, the umpire replied 5 minutes. I duly timed a very nervous 5 minutes, trying to get the Wolves to play out the remaining time by keeping possession, at the end of which I politely enquired of the umpire again how long to go. 2 minutes came the answer. I duly timed another 2 minutes and inquired for, hopefully, the final time, how long to go please!!! 1 minute!! It literally was the longest 5 minutes of my life, and I could have sworn I saw Dr Who’s Tardis land in the corner of the pitch at one point, obviously upsetting the space/time continuum. Finally, the whistle went and the Wolves had their hard-earned win over their local rivals.

Team: Josh Barron, Alfie Barwick, Luke Binstead, Jack Dunn, Ollie Fenton (2 Goals), Travis Gibbs, Arthur Graham, Ollie Hanson, Gareth Middleton, Greg Middleton, Tom Penny, Liam Ross-Thomas, Callum Rudrum (1 Goal)

Match "Wolves Vs Mid Sussex Colts" Report By frenchie30

frenchieatwhc@live.co.uk (Admin) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:24:15 +0000

Worthing Wolves 2 Mid Sussex Colts 0

This week a stronger Wolves team visited Mid-Sussex Colts at the Triangle in Burgess Hill, courtesy of Luke Helmer lending a number of Tigers to the team. The match was extremely competitive with the Colts having the upper hand initially and the Wolves having to defend early on. Mid-Sussex, as usual, know their way around a hockey pitch and Travis Gibbs had to produce some great saves in both halves to keep the Colts from scoring. The Wolves soon got to grips with the opposition and moved the ball extremely well through midfield with Callum Rudrum, Gareth Middleton, Arthur Graham, Kieran O’Brien and Ollie Fenton linking up extremely well with not only, Jack Cooper, Greg Middleton & Josh Barron to move the ball from defence but also with Aaron Aitman & Gavin Walker up front. This pressure soon created chance after chance and it wasn’t long before Aaron Aitman put the Wolves in front 1-0. The Colts also moved the ball up the pitch very well using the their wings and created a number of chances which, on another day, would have resulted in goals.

However, they hadn’t reckoned on Travis having one of his best games in goal of late, and keeping them out by hook or by crook (mostly crook!) and they can feel aggrieved not to have scored. The Wolves second goal was something to be remembered. Josh Barron moved the ball out of defence to Gareth and Callum in mid-field who quickly fed the ball out to Aaron (The Flyer) Aitman on the right wing who made it all the way to the Colts goal-line before delivering an inch perfect pass, at some pace, to the top of the D where Gavin Walker was charging in. Now, Gavin’s a well-built individual, and the resultant shot flew in to the top left corner like a missile. I was amazed not to see a hole in the Colts net from the sheer force of the shot. Although it’s early in the season, it must be a contender for goal of the season. 2-0 to the Wolves at half time. In the second half the Colts really worked the Wolves defence very hard but didn’t manage to find the net. Some more saves from Travis and tireless work from Josh, Jack, Arthur & Greg in defence kept the colts at bay. There were some nice attacks from the Wolves, with Liam Ross-Thomas showing some nice moves (now known as the wallop!) to clear the ball out of defence more than once. Kieran O’Brien, Ollie Fenton and Arthur Graham worked very hard throughout the match showing the value of tracking back to defend as well as moving forward, but man of the match this week goes to Jack Cooper for his great play at right back. His timing was excellent, both when passing and tackling and his interceptions were crucial when the Colts were putting the pressure on to keep the Wolves a clean sheet. Well done to the whole team. Lastly, a small extra mention for Callum, Ollie & Aaron who played for the Men’s 6^th team later in the day showing some great skill in that match as well. Aaron scored twice and Ollie once helping the 6^th team to a 5-3 victory to round off a nice day.

Team: Aaron Aitman (1 Goal), Josh Barron, Jack Cooper, Ollie Fenton, Ross Fletcher, Travis Gibbs, Arthur Graham, Ollie Hanson, Gareth Middleton, Gregg Middleton, Kieran O’Brien, Liam Ross-Thomas, Callum Rudrum, Gavin Walker (1 Goal)

Match "Wolves Vs St Francis Leprechauns" Report By frenchie30

frenchieatwhc@live.co.uk (Admin) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:46:47 +0000

Worthing Wolves 0 St Francis Leprechauns1

This match was set out to be a thriller and it was definitely one to remember. Any myths that leprechauns are little people dressed in green were quickly dispelled, when the St Francis team arrived at Worthing Leisure Centre. They were dressed in green, but there the similarity ended. The pitch temperature dropped by several degrees as the sun’s rays were blocked out by the giant St Francis squad, which arrived to play our Wolves. No one mentioned there was going to be an eclipse on Saturday, as we stood in semi-darkness. If Martin Johnson is looking for some second rows for the England rugby team, I think several of the Leprechauns are in the running. I was also suddenly worried that there might not be enough chilli to feed them all after the match!! The game started with some cagey play from both sides but soon St. Francis started to dominate and had shots flying toward the Wolves goal with the Wolves forced to spring back and attack on the break. Early into the first half the Wolves had a great attack on the go but failed to use the overlap to their advantage. Travis Gibbs made some great saves to keep the Wolves in the game but sadly Liam Ross-Thomas was injured by a hard shot which struck him just below the shin pad on the right ankle. (He has my sympathies!) and he had to come off for some treatment. The St Francis pressure told and some skillful play by the St. Francis striker led to a clean strike by their midfielder just inside the D, which flew in to the Wolves net. 0-1. The rest of the half was tit for tat and the half finished 0-1. In the second half it was end-to-end stuff with both St. Francis and Wolves playing their best hockey of the game. The Wolves gradually grew in confidence supported by some fantastic defending by Greg Middleton, Josh Barron and Tom Penny and started to pile the pressure on St Francis. Wesley Milne, playing as sweeper, Gareth Middleton, Arthur Graham, Gavin Walker and Ollie Fenton (mid-field) played some lovely hockey to keep the ball in the St Francis half and attack after attack resulted in several long corners and 3 penalty corners. Sadly, none were converted but the attacks kept coming and Ollie Hanson just missed out on scoring on the right and Ollie Wakeling went extremely close when his shot went just left of the goal post. St. Francis weren’t done yet and the Wolves had to defend to the end as they risked being caught on the break. Liam Ross-Thomas recovered sufficiently to rejoin the fray and fed some great balls up the right hand side. The Wolves pressure was such that the leprechauns were happy to just get the ball out of play by any means and defend their slender lead. Eventually the game came to an end and the final score remained 0-1 to St Francis. It was a great Wolves performance considering the size of the team they were up against and either team could have won the game. Well done to the whole team and particularly to Tom Penny who was man of the match for his excellent tackling, passing out of defence and non-stop perseverance. On another note, Alan Grey came to watch this match in order to assess Josh House who was umpiring with Adam Hart, another of our young umpires, at the other end. Josh has shown a particular flair for umpiring and Alan told me that he had already passed Josh after only about 10 minutes of observing. Josh was presented with his Sussex Umpires shirt and a 2012 Olympic 50p hockey coin, which he can use to toss up before matches. Thanks to Daniel Hulme, who is currently out injured, but is still supporting the team by collecting the match fees and help write the match reports until he’s fit to play again.

Team: Josh Barron, Ollie Fenton, Travis Gibbs, Arthur Graham, Ollie Hanson, Greg Middleton, Gareth Middleton, Wesley Milne, Tom Penny, Liam Ross-Thomas, Gavin Walker, Ollie Wakeling.

Match "Wolves Vs St Francis Leprechauns" Report By frenchie30

frenchieatwhc@live.co.uk (Admin) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:43:30 +0000

Worthing Wolves 1

St Francis Leprechauns 3

The Wolves arrived on a cold and frosty Saturday morning at St Paul’s College in Burgess Hill, with the pitch looking decidedly unplayable. However, with the sun’s rays working their magic the far side of the pitch started to defrost. The Leprechauns were asked to sit down so the sun’s rays could hit the pitch, and soon half the pitch was looking green and it was agreed to start the match at 10.45, 15 minutes late with each half reduced to 30 minutes. Ian (Spenny) Penny was dropping Tom off for the game and was, luckily, able to play as the Wolves adult, before shooting off to Horsham to play for the 4s. This was just as well as the Leprechauns came out of the blocks flying and put pressure on the Wolves defence straight away. However, the Wolves held firm and managed to get an attack going by the bringing the ball out of our D and the mid-field of Callum Rudrum, Robbie Brown, Matt Isaacs & Ollie Hanson shifting the ball to Adam Hart & Aaron Aitman up front. The little people were getting the upper hand through some fast passing and soon were back in the Wolves D. Indeed the Wolves had to defend furiously for a lot of the first half but after a short to the leprechauns we finally conceded a goal. 0-1. After more attacking play from the little people they managed to score again and the Wolves were suddenly 2-0 down. However, with the usual never say die spirit the Wolves started to get more of the ball and after some great work by Jack Dunn, Matt Isaacs & Robbie Brown, Aaron Aitman was able to slot a goal for the Wolves reducing the deficit to 2-1. With only 5 minutes to go before half-time a 2-1 score-line wouldn’t have been too bad considering our possession (or lack of it) but with the Wolves not fully concentrating the Leprechauns burst through to score again, making it 3-1 at half-time.

The team talk had the desired effect and the Wolves started to play hockey in the Leprechauns half more consistently, with Spenny helping the boys to keep their shape at the back. It was ebbing and flowing one way, then the other with no goal resulting, when in to the last 10 minutes of the match the Wolves came alive and laid siege to the Leprechauns goal. Short corner after short corner was awarded, all the play was in their D but the Wolves just couldn’t convert the pressure into goals. Several attacks went just passed the right and left posts after great efforts from Adam and Aaron up front and Callum, Robbie Brown, Arthur Graham and Mattie Isaacs playing some lovely hockey to keep the pressure on. The opposition were desperate for the final whistle and the Wolves could have used the 10 minutes we lost due to the frosty pitch. The Leprechauns must have used some of their magic gold to keep the Wolves out, as I still don’t know how we didn’t score. It was a great way to finish a less than perfect performance and showed how good the boys are when they put their minds to it. Big thank you to Spenny for playing and I’m sure Tom enjoyed playing with his dad!

Team: Aaron Aitman (1 Goal), Robbie Brown, Jack Cooper, Jack Dunn, Travis Gibbs (GK), Arthur Graham, Ollie Hanson, Adam Hart, Matt Isaacs, Ian Penny (Adult), Tom Penny, Callum Rudrum

Match "Wolves Vs Worthing Tigers" Report By frenchie30

frenchieatwhc@live.co.uk (Admin) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:28:07 +0000

Postponed - Weather

Match "Wolves Vs Crawley Hawks" Report By frenchie30

frenchieatwhc@live.co.uk (Admin) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:21:47 +0000

Worthing Wolves 2 Crawley Hawks 1

This week the Wolves were playing host to the Crawley Hawks at the Worthing Leisure Centre. The boys will have to be fit just to retrieve the ball, because when it gets hit off the pitch it has been known go quite a distance or even disappear altogether. It was a lovely morning with the low sun shining brightly when the match got underway at 11.35. As has been the case for all matches this season, the Wolves were made up of younger and older U16 players, which are proving to be quite a potent mix in most matches. This game was no different and the match started at a quick pace with the Wolves on the attack from the pushback, with Arthur Graham and Gavin Walker in mid-field moving the ball out wide for Aaron Aitman to zip up the right wing and deliver the ball into the D with the speed and precision we’ve now become accustomed to. Robbie Brown was controlling things well in mid-field and another nice flowing move resulted the Wolves first short corner. A nice sweep to Gavin Walker resulted in a good hit that was saved by the Hawks keeper. More pressure was piled on by the Wolves and another attack resulted in Liam Ross-Thomas finding himself in space in the D and scoring the Wolves first goal with a strong hit to the right of the Crawley goalkeeper. 1-0. Liam R-T is becoming a very versatile player having played a blinder last week at right back versus the Cherubs (who were unable to score in that match due to the excellent defending by the whole defence) and this week playing as an attacking centre forward. The Hawks fought hard to get back in the game but got short thrift from the Worthing defence for most of the match. In fact, when the Wolves were attacking there were many instances where Tom Penny (right back) was collecting the ball, not only inside the Crawley half, but often just outside the Crawley D where he would fire the ball straight back in to their D. Tom’s superb play would eventually earn him the man of the match this week. With Josh Barron at left-back and Howard Wakeling and James Hanson rotating as adults at central defender, the Wolves back line looked fairly secure for most of the first half. However, Crawley attacked up the left hand side and managed to win a short. Despite not getting many chances to score they did manage to convert and the game was suddenly 1-1 with only seconds to go until half time.

After a little chat at half time, the Wolves came out strongly and had many attacks before Aaron Aitman struck the killer blow that resulted in the second goal 2-1. The Hawks fought hard but the Wolves were pretty much in control of the match as their superior fitness also told. With experienced players like Wesley Milne, Brad & Josh House (goalkeeper) and Ben Childs all combining well in attack and defence the Hawks just couldn’t get on even terms and at the final whistle the score was 2-1. The Wolves had earned yet another good win, which makes three in a row and 4 from 7 matches, which is a great position half-way through the season. Well done to Crawley and their player/manager Andy Ortyl, who, together with his Hawks, made this a very enjoyable match to umpire and watch.

Team: Aaron Aitman (1 Goal), Josh Barron, Robbie Brown, Ben Childs, Arthur Graham, Josh House, Brad House, Wesley Milne, Liam Ross-Thomas (1 Goal), Tom Penny, Gavin Walker, Howard Wakeling (Adult ½ match, James Hanson Adult ½ match). Umpires: Mike Shreeve and Richard Rudrum