MENS 4'S & 5'S END OF SEASON CURRY

I have organised a dinner at the clubhouse on Saturday 12th March for everyone who has played for the 4th or 5th team this season.

The cost will be £7 per person and will include starter, chicken curry and dessert, and will be provided by Sandra and her team. Please let me know if you are vegetarian or have special dietary requirements.

Please email me at jbootl01@bcuc.ac.uk if you wish to attend and let Ian Hockney or I have your payment as soon as possible, your place will not be confirmed until money has been received. The last date at which I can take a booking will be Saturday 5th March.

I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

MOUTHGUARDS

David Claridge the mouthguard guy is still selling mouthguards on www.ebay.co.uk. Warren and I recently picked up some for the bargain price of £14 each. There are a couple that are going in the next couple of days that are currently priced for £16 each. They normally retail at about £30.

PRE-SEASON TRAINING

Chalfont Park Phoenix continues it's pre-season training this Sunday at 11am at the club. This is one of a regular series of Sunday sessions that we will run up to the start of the new season at the end of April.

We are also looking to expand over the spring so that we can run a second team in Division 3 this year. To achieve this we are recruiting inside and outside CPSA for new players. If you would like to give softball a go then please come down to training, no experience is necessary and the invitation is open to everyone. Don't worry about lack of experience, look what we achieved with complete beginners last season!

For more information please contact me at neil@umpires.co.uk.

SIX NATIONS RUGBY

The big screen is back at the Clubhouse! Please make it your venue for watching all the games of the Six Nations Championship. The club will be open for the following games:

Saturday 12th March
Ireland -v- France (1.30pm)
England -v- Italy (4pm)

Sunday 13th March
Scotland -v- Wales (3pm)

Saturday 19th March
Italy -v- France (1pm)
Wales -v- Ireland (3.30pm)
England -v- Scotland (6pm)

Thank you to the following that umpired for us last weekend:

YOU ARE INVITED...

... on Saturday 12th March out for a night of top quality modern and northern soul sounds.

Free adminission from 8pm till late-ish.

For further details please talk to Rachel at the Village Hall on (01753) 887596.

Monday night saw another 'Jeckyl and Hyde' performance in the local Indoor league, but unlike the last few weeks, the A&C A team came away with two wins.

In the first game against South Bucks, a dire first half saw A&C establish a 2-0 lead thanks to some fine keeping by Vicki and the two softest goals scored this year (I'm not sure if either of them actually reached the backboard, and they certainly didn't make a noise). The second half saw a much improved performance with some excellent work from Lou generating some pace in the passing and movement. Despite plenty of opportunities only a single goal was scored, from a well worked short corner, but with solid defence this was enough to secure a 3-0 win.

The second game was against Wycombe Rye B who had comfortably beaten our B side a few weeks ago, and with their team again packed full of the Wycombe High School girls, a tough match was anticipated. However, A&C went off at a blistering pace playing some of their best hockey of the season and quickly established a 4-0 lead at half-time. With Otty (Mrs Versatility) placing a string of good passes from left back, and with Laura breaking quickly down the right, goals came from Caroline and Lorna Dunning from open play and corners.

And then came the second half and another character change! Two goals quickly conceded, it looked as if Wycombe might get back into the game. But further fine keeping from Vicki and a steadying goal midway through the half allowed A&C to close out a 5-2 win.

Results to date:
A Team P6 W4 D1 L1
B Team P4 W2 D0 L2

Men's Seconds win again.
Unprecedented....two wins in a row. Our biggest win of the season and our third clean sheet. There you go, loads of stats all at once. Mill Hill are bottom and we are third from bottom and even after this game, we are still third from bottom. Some team changes saw Neil Turner, Tony Hewston and Andy Watts come into the side to replace others who were busy doing other things. Neil slotted into the middle of the park with Pete dropping to right back.

Another fine James Heath teamtalk, even more efficient than last week...he had magnetic boards and everything...I need to get one of those! Once again the work ethic was evident from the outset. Our movement and attacking play had Mill Hill worried and two early forays into their D were only repulsed by some frantic defending. Our short corner routine yielded the first goal. This was not a practiced routine! The push out from the short missed all the players at the top of the D and headed towards the half way line. Jim Keenan hammered it back to the D where James Heath deflected to Watsy who scored his first. Might use that one more often.

A Mill Hill player then took a ball to the face off one of their sticks and had to be removed to hospital (Thanks Annie). Mill Hill were down to 10 men as they had no subs. An Alex Bagehot cross from the left led to Watsy's second and a Jim (sweeper) cross from the left led to a third from Nick. A third goal from Watsy before half time gave us a 4:0 lead at the break.

After the break, we stopped passing and started running and lost the ball continuously. Pushing forward to score more goals we completely lost our shape and cohesion and allowed them back into the game as an attacking force although they were pretty inept and still didn't manage a decent chance on goal. We did manage a fifth however. Another well worked short resulted in an initial save from their keeper. Watsy, who had made it to the post for the deflection found himself running along the end line away from goal and pulled off an audacious reverse flick into the roof of the net. A very comfortable 5:0 win, but there is still a lot of work to do this season as High Wycombe are still clinging to our coat-tails and have an easier run in. Bring on Gerrards Cross.

Team: Fyffe; Watson; Cartledge, Parker, Brothwell; Ruxton, Teasdale, Frick, Durkin; Coates, Patterson; Sub. Bullock, Ferguson.

A&C played some of their best hockey of the season in overcoming Milton Keynes in some very trying conditions in Division 1 of the Trysports Three Counties League on Saturday.

A&C took the lead within two minutes of the start when a fine run and cross from Laura Patterson allowed Caroline Coates to score. In fact, Patterson and Coates combined superbly in the early stages to cause all sorts of problems for the home defence. Their movement and passing was quick and they both nearly scored from further passes between themselves.

Milton Keynes eventually got themselves into the game and began to press A&C back and in the process won several penalty corners. From one of these they equalised with a crisp shot after 19 minutes. Further pressure saw Tanya Fyffe make a couple of excellent saves to prevent A&C from going behind and Sarah Cartledge and Catherine Watson both cleared their area well as Milton Keynes enjoyed a spell of possession.

With the score 1-1 at half-time and everything to play for, it was A&C that came out and stamped their authority on the game with three goals in the first 11 minutes. After just 53 seconds of the re-start, Heidi Frick's powerful strike put A&C back in the lead. Then Coates set-up Patterson to make it 3-1. Two minutes later, from their first penalty corner of the match, Rachel Parker deflected in Lynda Bullock's shot following a well-worked routine.

With Frick and Annie Brothwell thwarting many attempted attacks by Milton Keynes in the centre of the pitch, A&C found themselves in the ascendancy. Natalie Durkin shot just wide from Bullock's free-hit before, after 54 minutes from another Bullock free-hit, Patterson got a deft touch in the D to make it 5-1.

Milton Keynes did manage a short spell back in A&C's area again and hit the post as well as forcing Fyffe into a couple more saves. However, A&C had the final say with a minute left when Erin Ruxton picked up a loose clearance in the middle of the pitch and drove forward beating two defenders before slotting the ball past the 'keeper.