PLYMOUTH MARJON A 2 v 2 PGSOB

11/11/2006

Returning to home after another away drubbing Plymouth knew things had to improve if the 100% record was to be kept intact especially as city rivals PGSOB would be sending their 1st XI to try and prove to themselves that they were the best team in the city, don’t worry though we will remind them that we are only a 2nd XI, and we had the biggest crowd Marjons had seen for many a season. Things got off to a positive start for the home side who were soon creating the better of the chances although unable to finish as usual and the weekly problem of having goals disallowed returned when an Umpire conference decided that Ben ‘Left’ Daplyn’s penalty corner GOAL was high despite coming off a visiting defender and hitting the backboard. For once this did not rattle PMHC and when Keeper Dukes made a long kicked clearance the resultant attack left Adam ‘U21’ Tonwley-Jones to launch the ball into the roof of the net for his first goal in English hockey. PGs responded with a string of direct attacks and levelled the game when some lucky forward play in the air dropped the ball to the lone forward who was able to lift the ball over the diving Dukes to level the score, another piece of poorly timed defending gave the visitors a penalty corner as the half time whistle blew and as the law of sod states a well positioned strike beat both the keeper and Rhys ‘West’ Hart on the line to give the visitors a 2-1 advantage at the turn around. At some point during the half John Aked was sin binned for continued niggly offences that Umpire Porter must have considered dreadful as he remined on the bench for some 10 minutes and gave him something new to moan abouth after the game.

Fortunate to have DoH Oxley watching the game a constructive half time talk meant that all was not lost for the Mighty MoPs and more of the same would decide the age old arguement of who was the second best side in Plymouth. The return of Ben Cooper after an extended summer break in Greece added some much needed solidity to the home defence when he stepped on for the second period and we were soon pushing for the equaliser that after many missed chances finally came late in the game for Matt Metcalfe when a great pass across the circle from the visitor’s defender left him with a one on one which he duely hammered past Ben Bundy (the Marjons BUSA keeper) to make 2-2 with about 5 minutes to play. More pressure was piled upon the visiting goal but as to be expected no goals was the result and Plymouth survived a last minute scare when Dukes was forced to attack a PGSOB forward outside of his D and force him to lose control and run of the back line. Honours even and the debate continues, we feel robbed as once again a good goal was disallowed, they feel robbed because we are Plymouth....

www.marjons-of-plymouth-hc.co.uk Man of the Match was Steve Wilson who despite his continued fear of scoring put himself about really well and looks a much stronger player than his years permit.

 TAUNTON VALE 5 v 1 PLYMOUTH MARJON A

04/11/06

What can I say another poor performance on the road with the basic 11 again, Taunton had 5 shots and 3 penalty corners we had 40 shots and 20 penalty corners so look at the score and do the maths.....Steve Wilson finally got a goal.....

 PLYMOUTH MARJON A 3 v 2 NEWENT

28/10/2006

Returning to Fortress Marjon after last weekends debacle on the road the mighty A Team knew only a much improved performance would keep the sizeable crowd entertained. However, as is the norm, things got of to a poor start when captain Aked was late for the meet and DoH Oxley relegated him to the bench, but on the bright side perennial late boy Ed ‘why so’ Long arrived early.

It was soon time for battle to commence, though not before another twist when Umpire Rowe failed to show and a willing or not so willing neutral pool A umpire was found on the side lines. Plymouth started the brighter and were soon peppering the visitors ‘D’ with wild shots and some good interplay led to Steve ‘One Inch’ Wilson latching on to a rebound to score what he thought was his first goal for the seconds, unfortunately the neutral umpire deemed the ball to have hit Phil ‘The Hit Man’ Ithurralde’s foot as he took the initial shot so still 0-0. This was the signal for PMHC to collapse and allow Newent back into the game and when keeper Nick Jones, returning from injury, upended the visitor’s lone attacker a penalty stroke was awarded, Jones still unhappy with the decision made an excellent diving save to his left and still 0-0. A couple more fine saves from Jones in his lurid pink outfit kept the opposition at bay before Ed ‘I’ve Got One At Last’ Long completed a fine attack with a cool finish to make it 1-0 at half time.

Not much to say at half time as we all knew the problems, the second half started much the same with the home side dominant but still playing poor hockey and trying to rush the game to prove last weekend was a one off and we are still promotion hopefulls. After some fine fast and direct runs from newly promoted Dean ‘Poly Scum’ Record a penalty stroke was awarded which John ‘I Can Score Strokes Even If The First Team Can’t’ Aked pushed his way to the front to make it 2-0 to Plymouth. True to form it was time for Plymouth to forget everything they have trained for to allow Newent a series of penalty corners before making it 2-1 with probably the worst effort. More pressure from the visitors and some even poorer work from the home side resulted in Newent levelling the score when a shot from wide found its way past Jones on the near post. Prompted back into pushing forward Plymouth were rewarded with a barrage of penalty corners two of which were saved on the line (where is the Russian linesman when you need him), another was disallowed as Big Foot Record was deemed to have encroached upon the ‘D’, and another shot being stopped illegally on the line only for the umpire to award a hit to the visitors for dangerous play. The resultant indiscipline for Plymouth resulted in Ithurralde and Jones having spells in the sin bin and Record donning the pads to make a couple of fine saves during his 5 minutes covering for Jones.

Looking as 2-2 was all the reward for another poor performance the mighty A Team kept pushing and were rewarded with yet more penalty corners before Ithurralde sealed the win with a drag that even the South African contingent would be proud of.

Not a good game but the 100% home record remains intact, there were strong debuts from Record and Australian Adam Townley-Jones and coach Oxley has plenty to work on prior to next weeks visit to basement side Taunton Vale.

www.marjons-of-plymouth-hc.co.uk Man of the Match were Aked, Daplyn, Long and Jewell although as official Captain I have the casting vote and award it to Colin Wood for having enough sense to not get involved in another poor game and score for the B Team in their 2-0 victory over Truro

 DEVIZES 15 v 0 PLYMOUTH MARJON A

21/10/2006

Once again the A team were light due to injuries and unavailability, with Lewis Waitt falling off the dance floor and breaking his collar bone, Rowan Oliver, Dean Record, Matt Metcalfe and Justin Rose on holiday, various others not committed to the cause and Joe Thomas and Dan Dukes stepping up to the 1st XI, and it wasn’t until late on the Friday night that we actually got a team of eleven. Many thanks to the 3rd, 4th and 5th teams for accommodating our demands and especially to Mike ‘The Colander’ Timson for playing in goal for the first time in a decade (it was actually the first time he has had to defend against reverse hits and undercuts if that shows when he last played in goal).

Things got off to a good start as usual with Ed ‘VanWinkle’ Long still in bed 30 mins after the meet time and one poor volunteer from the 4th XI waiting by the wrong mini bus, but not to worry we were soon on our way and talking of the upset that was about to collide with the league leaders. Fortunately Sat Nav Jewell was in the back of the bus and we had good directions although some fine Vospers Apprentice must have put the gear box in back to front as none of the gears were where the driver expected.

After complaining all the way about our lack of commitment and poor pre match rituals it was over to Captain Aked (twenty years in the Army and only a Corporal and already promoted to Captain at PMHC) for a serious bollocking and warm up session, everybody commenting on how well it went and we won the push back and advanced into the home sides half before the forwards lost the ball and this was the last time we touched it with a stick until half time, 9-0 down it was time for another inspirational team talk. Here’s the edited version, they haven’t scored a good goal yet, we can still get something out of this, win the second half and take something out of the game, they are miserable bunch of tossers for a side that keeps winning, you know the thing.....

We then decided it was time to play the second half and took the game to the visitors how were only too keen to foul and cheat to stop us from scoring and with some poor umpiring we decided it was time to give up and allow the home side to score another 6 goals, although there was one high point for Plymouth when Paul ‘ The Flounder’ Jewell thought he could dive like the big boys and only really made an ass of himself.

Hopefully a full team and some improved play will be available for the 28th when we try to keep our 100% home record intact against Newent. 1400hrs at Marjon for all you lucky people with out a game, I can’t promise the same levels of entertainment as the first team but there should be plenty of goals.

www.marjons-of-plymouth-hc.co.uk Man of the Match was Steve Langton and he plays in defence (well I suppose he saw a lot of the ball)

 PLYMOUTH MARJON A 3 v 1 LYDNEY

14/10/06

For the first time this season the mighty A Team started to play from the first whistle and were soon pushing  Lydney deep into their own half, but as to be expected this positive start did not reflect on the goal tally with another poor showing in the oppositions 'D'. After many failed attempts and some poor decisions Plymouth were finally awarded a Penalty Stroke when a goal bound shot was saved by the defender's size 9s, yet another stroke of luck was to hit PMHC as the Aussie stroke misser was still AWOL and inform attacker (he promises me that is his best position) Joe Thomas stepped up to make it 1-0 with a fine effort. Despite many more attempts and even more pressure this was to remain the score as the half time whistle blew and the home team drudged to the goal mouth for one of DoH Oxley's infamous moral boosting technical talks.

Returning to the fray for the second half saw much of the same but with a more positive response from the visitors and one or two attempts on the home goal where Dan Dukes was having a warm up match prior to travelling away for his National League debut on Sunday, and I have to say he dealt with most of them adequately. The visitor's pressure rattled Plymouth a little and the game became scrappy with Rowan 'Kiwi' Oliver and somebody else whose name eludes me getting green cards form two excellent Umpires who kept control of the game superbly although defender Matt Metcalfe, returning from an 18 month skiing break performed above and beyond the call of duty in the home half. This pressure resulted in the 2nd for Plymouth as John Aked waltzed his way out of defence before sending a defence splitting ball some 75 yards leaving Crusoe Thomas with just the keeper to beat, which for once he did without trying to over complicate the issue. The visitor's were not dead just yet and responded with a series of penalty corners which resulted in what was probably their worst attempt eluding Dukes in the net to make it 2-1. Upset with conceding in a game that should have been sealed in the first half  Plymouth continued to push and One Inch Wilson was unlucky not to score before a first time strike from Ben Daplyn polished off the win with a 3-1 final score. Still unbeaten at home and sitting in the top 5 of the league Captains Sandry and Aked must be pleased even if the game was a little fraught at times, next week sees a trip to League Top Guns and top payers Devizes and with already what promises to be a weakened side Mike Timson might be recalled to goal with some major injury worries in the keeper department and Dukes in the 1st XI.

www.marjons-of-plymuoth-hc.co.uk  man of the match was Matt Metcalfe who wins himself the chance to play again.

CIRENCESTER 4 V 6 PLYMOUTH MARJON A

07/10/2006

Once again after travelling for 3 hours to an away fixture PMHC were slow to start, this week however was exceptionally bad. Things started to go wrong before we left Plymouth with our Aussie super star Jeremy ‘Justine’ Rose being spirited away by aliens or was that immigration to leave us with a bare eleven, although not as bare that we didn’t have our nice silky shirts. We stuck to the usual routine with Paul ‘ Satnav’ Jewell getting his car lost and the last car to leave, who also made two pick up stops on route, being the first to arrive where upon we sat back to watch the pre match entertainment and wait for the panic phone calls for directions. After a rather lack lustre warm up and 5 on 5 practice game it looked as though we were finally ready to start the game, but that just goes to show looks can be deceptive as the only Plymouth player to turn up for the first 20 minutes was Dan ‘The Man’ Dukes in goal with a string of incredible saves to keep the visitors in the game. He was however unable to do a lot about Cirencester’s first goal after a fine initial save was pounced on by one of the 15 unmarked home attackers to fire home and nearly reach the back board. this was the key for plymouth to start the match and were soon rewarded with a penalty corner that despite setting out our plans prior to the game went horribly wrong and left Rhys ‘Stopper’ Hart to take it himself and score his first Premier goal. One all and time to relax again before Steve ‘Dirty Tackler’ Langton was yellow carded for one of the cleanest tackles he and most of Cirencester has ever made and the home side were able to score from the resultant penalty corner. Straight back to the other end and a string of chances went begging for Plymouth before Joe ‘Crusoe’ Thomas equalized from a couple of yards out, which spurred the home side to resort to game plan one and the one that PMHC can not defend against the direct long ball style of so much of Prem 3 this season and it was soon 3-2 to Cirencester, which if my old memory is correct was the half time score.

John ‘ Sergeant Major’ Aked didn’t mince his words at half time and the mighty A Team were in no doubt what they had to achieve in the second half and with a slight change in positions were soon pushing for the equaliser which Thomas found after some great supply work from Ed ‘Still in bed 30 minutes after the meet time ‘ Long. This was end to end stuff and it wasn’t long before the home side were 4-3 to the good but that was it the visitors had seen enough and decided to win the match when Aked found himself at the top of the ‘D’ unmarked and screaming for a pass from Jewlly who obliged it was 4-4 as the ball sailed high into the net from his flick (that was high into the net for John but just above knee high for most). Many more chances were missed for Plymouth, most notably from Steve ‘One Inch’ Wilson who made a spectacular save for the home team from virtually inside the goal, before Thomas completed his show of forward mastery with another two scrappy goals to make the final score 6-4 to the travelling A Team.

Dan Dukes was voted www.marjons-of-plymouth-hc.co.uk Man of the Match despite having a really poor game and not being anywhere good enough for National League just yet (honest)

BRIDGEND 3 V 1 PLYMOUTH MARJON A

23/09/2006

The mighty A Team came away from deepest darkest Wales happy with most of the performance if not the result, travelling for 3 hours with the bare eleven of which 8 were making their 2nd string debuts things were never going to be easy against newly promoted Bridgend. PMHC started the game full of running and soon had the home side totally bemused and wishing they had stayed in the lower league with some fast, accurate passing and the training ground moves for once being brought into the real world. All of this was not good enough however as the eternal A Team problem appeared again, how do we convert 90% of the play into goals, although to be fair to the Welsh their best player by a margin just happened to be the net minder. After many fine saves from feeble shots Plymouth were awarded a penalty stroke for perseverance and up stepped the Aussie stroke master, Jeremy 'Justin' Rose only to put the ball slow and mid height at a static keeper, he soon made up for this lack of ability by seeing one of his penalty corner shots deflect past the defence and into the corner of the net just as the half time whistle blew. 1-0 to the visitors at half time. The team talk was calm and asked for more of the same but with a little more cutting edge in the D, everything looked good for three points on the road. Not wanting to dishonour last years side we decided to not play the second half and let the home side back into the game and once again we struggled to defend against negative big hitting hockey and allowed the Bridgend striker to have clear space behind our back lines and when another huge clearance picked him out it was just a case of beating Dukes in goal, and I have to say he did this with the only real shot of the day by any side and a goal to be proud of. No worry it was still our came for the taking until a penalty corner was awarded to the home side, Colin 'OUCH' Wood was quick to run down the first dragged attempt and shatter his knuckles only to see the ball fall nicely for the attacker to try again and without Woody to close him it was 2-1 to the home side. Still having most of the came and pushing for the win Plymouth must have won 15 penalty corners but were unable to finish any of them, an important area to be worked on I think so everybody at training Thursday please, when another furious slam down the field by the home defence found their attack but this time the visiting defence were not giving in and when an attempted shot that would probably have hit the corner flag was deflected by Captain Sandry as he ducked like a wimp it was 3-1 to the home side and all was lost. Out done again by our inability to score but some encouraging signs with REAL HOCKEY being played and super performances by many of the team especially 15 year old Rhys Hart who was www.marjons-of-plymouth-hc.co.uk man of the match and our two freshers who were struggling due to their over indulgence during fresher’s week but gave encouraging signs a actually being able to play the game

GOAL SCORERS