It is rumoured that the first game after the New Year break is always going to be a sluggish one for obvious reasons, however anyone watching the ladies 3's on Saturday would have thought that they had been playing during the break and not stopped at all. High Wycombe arrived at Newlands Park feeling confident having beaten this same side by a margin that A&C would rather forget at the beginning of the season. Yet we were feeling very confident.

The game started well with A&C straight onto the attack, Wycombe had the push back and Fay Rider immediately intercepted, passing down to Gabby Bugg who run into the D, found space in front of the Wycombe goal and very cooly tapped it in, 1-0 after 1 minute!!! This rattled them a little but the tempo picked up with some good attacks by both sides. A&C were kept in the game by some fantastic goal keeping by Sarah Wood and as per usual our very reliable back four were doing a great job in defence with some great tackling. Then the highlight of the game, a well worked short corner, slipped to Hannah Towers who then, and with great timing slipped it back to Julie Whitehead to slot it in just inside the left post.

2-0 up and we started to settle down moving the ball wide with good runs from Cathy Stewart and Alice Wainwright out wide, great defending by Val Cremin and Janet Carter, and we started to play some great hockey. A new face to the side Louise Stockdale was settling down up front and after having found some space received a good through ball to slot it through the keepers legs, a good goal on her debut, 3-0. The fourth came just before the end with Gabby who had worked extremely hard all game finding more space up front to neatly put the ball in the back of the net, 4-0.

A very good game and a good result, by a team getting stronger with every game.

The team: Sarah Wood, Rosemary Brand, Janet Carter, Val Cremin, Gill Brewer, Cathy Stewart, Hannah Towers, Julie Whitehead, Alice Wainwright, Gabby Bugg, Fay Rider, Louise Stockdale, Kate Hext.

QUIZ NIGHT - 29TH JANUARY

This is always a very enjoyable night at the club and should again be a great success. Teams of six people are to be entered through Catherine Watson (catherine_watson@yahoo.com). Price per person is £10 which includes quiz entry and a chicken/sausage and chip supper.

SIX NATIONS RUGBY

The big screen is set to return to the Clubhouse in the next couple of weeks so make it your venue for watching all the games of the Six Nations Championship. The club will be open for the following games:

Saturday 5th February
France -v- Scotland (2pm)
Wales -v- England (5.30pm)

Saturday 12th February
Italy -v- Wales (1.30pm)
Scotland -v- Ireland (4pm)

Sunday 13th February
England -v- France (3pm)*
* Followed by Happy Hour at bar

Saturday 26th February
Scotland -v- Italy (2pm)
France -v- Wales (4pm)

Sunday 27th February
Ireland -v- England (3pm)

All games in March will also be shown.

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

LOAN SCHEME DRAW
The latest draw was held on 15th January 2005 at the Club. The lucky winner, with number 5, was Doug Barr as witnessed by David Peters. Thanks again for the continued support of all the Loan Scheme members.

CLUB CLEAR OUT
The Club is having a clear out. Any property that is at the Clubhouse and shouldn't be will be sold on Saturday 29th January. If you think you have property at the Club that you don't want sold please ensure you remove it before then. Any items not sold on the 29th will be removed or thrown away at the end of the night. You have been warned!

WORK PARTY AND RUGBY - 13TH FEBRUARY
There is going to be a work party at the Club on Sunday 13th February to carry out much needed maintenance work both inside and outside the Clubhouse. Volunteers should register their interest to David Banner (david.banner@tiscali.co.uk). The party will work from 10am until 2pm followed by a free lunch if you register in advance. The England -v- France Six Nations Rugby will then be shown in the Club on the big screen from 3pm to be followed by a Happy Hour at the bar for the hour after the game.

A&C took part in the South Indoor Tournament at Haslemere for the second time over the weekend of the 8/9th January. With more teams entering this year (up from 13 to 16) the format changed to four qualification pools on the Saturday with the top two from each pool going through to the Sunday. Under this format A&C found themselves in a pool containing Wimbledon II's and Woking II's (their I's are National League Indoors and Out), and Oxford Hawks. A tough draw, since Wimbledon II's are running away with the top South Premier league outdoors, and both the other sides are in the South as well.

With a successful local league season behind them, the team felt that if a few things broke their way they had a fighting chance of making it through to the Sunday. And the first game against Oxford Hawks (after a very early start from CSP) started very promisingly with two early open play goals from Catherine Watson, well created by Otty. With A&C playing at a very high tempo and the opposition pinned back due to excellent pressing organised by Annie in the middle, half time came on a positive note.

But early in the second half things began to go wrong. Already reduced to six outfield players due to a late withdrawal, A&C were reduced to the bare minimum when Erin Ruxton broke down with a back injury. A change of tactics by the opposition, combined with tiring legs, saw A&C lose control of the game and Oxford Hawks managed to pull back to 2-2 by the final whistle.

From this point on it was always going to be a struggle, and the first half against Woking saw A&C outplayed. Excellent defensive work, with Vicki outstanding at corners, managed to restrict Woking to a 1-0 lead, and a change of tactics just before half time showed some promise as A&C gained their first corner just as the half ran out.

The second half proved to be much more even with more tactical changes keeping the opposition guessing. With Rachel causing lots of problems down the right boards, and Alex finding good passes forward down the left, A&C created a number of opportunities and corners throughout the half. To give some rest to the players Sarah Wood even made a brief appearance on the field, and the team kept working right to the end. Unfortunately we have had a number of evenings where we have been unable to convert corners this year, and this proved to be one of those days when nothing would go in, and in the end Woking escaped with the 1-0 lead they had held at half-time.

The result left A&C requiring a miracle to qualify and it just never looked like being a day for miracles! In the last game against Wimbledon, A&C took an early lead through a fine corner conversion from Alex (the first goal Wimbledon had conceded), but never really looked like gaining a result against a side who passed the ball around the pitch at great speed. Despite being always in the contest, and with Sarah Wood having a good game back in goal, Wimbledon eventually ran out 3-1 winners.

So since we had booked some rooms in a comfortable hotel in Haslemere, with a few partners and supporters also staying down, we went on to have a good night out as you'd expect of A&C. Sometime we'll find out who won!