Southend Ladies 2 v Basildon 2 WON 3-1 (A. Cole, E. Cole, K. Davies)

A perfect day for hockey, Southend were looking for a win before the Christmas break. Southend got off to a good attacking start but had to wait a while for the first goal. This came from a short corner injected to Kate Davies at the top, slipped right to Adele Cole who slammed it into the goal. Southend went on to score again in the second half from a never ending short corner that a patient Elli Cole managed to manouvre over the line from the right post. Kate Davies did not want to be left out of the goal scoring business and expertly scored from a pass from Elli. However Southend knew never to underestimate Basildon, especially on the break and defence worked hard, with Laura McHugh making a dash across the pitch to put in a great tackle and Leanne Neicho keeping Basildon's top scorer out of the game. Gill Smith made a super "stretch" save and Jodie Linge scraped the ball out from under Gill's foot. Basildon's goal came late in the second half with a cry from Tess Belchamber of "I am marking someone", which was very true, it just happened to be team-mate Leanne. The Southend defence then did a little jig round and Basildon scored. But a jubilant Southend didn't care, Happy Christmas Southend 2.

Ladies 5s won 4-2
Amy Sullivan. 4
A great end to the year...

Shefford and Sandy 3 Southend Mens First Team 6 (Jenkins 3, Mulligan, Utton, Hill)

After last weeks messy game, a long trip to Shefford was the last thing that Southend First Team needed. Phil Harvey was again unavailablem his hand not mending. Luckily Dave Robeson drove over a hundred miles to help out. After 16 minutes of being on top, Shefford scored from open play. 0-1, however Southend would not let their heads drop. The pressure grew and eventually Shefford could only prevent the goal being scored illegally. Penalty Flick awarded and dispatched with aplomb by Christian Jenkins. 1-1. Five minutes before the half time whistle James Byford tricked the Shefford defence and fed Neil Utton, who crashed the ball home 1-2. The injury jinx struck again and Paul Mellish had to retire with a hamstring injury.

Three minutes into the second half Christian Jenkins turned provider and Dan Mulligan celebrated a fine goal 1-3. Ten minutes in Shefford scored a good goal from open play 2-3. Southend would not be denied Christian Jenkins scored a superb solo goal 2-4 and then minutes later he did it again 2-5, however he injured himself in the process. Three minutes from the end Rich Hill (captain on the day) made it safe by scoring Southends Sixth goal. Shefford scored a consolation goal but it was never going to make a difference to the result. Christian won the man of the match award but James Byford won many plaudits for is performance.

You let Christian take a flick?

Do you not kow how many he's missed?

Ladies 2s LOST 2-1 to Dunmow. Dani French scored.

East London XI 4 - Southend 4th XI 1 (Jo Hall).

On a cold winters morning, in deepest darkest London Village, the ladies 4th team took to the pitch against the divisions form team , East London. With a team of only eleven it was always going to be hard against a strong opposition. After finding their feet in the first few mins they unfortunately conceded a goal via the oppositions power and pace. Not to be outdone Sarah, Hannah and Sophie made swift counterattacks, combining with the midfield on a number of occasions, one of which resulted in a penalty flick. The keeper managed to keep it out, however, Southend kept their heads high and pushed on. EL then doubled their lead against the run of play, even with Katy's best efforts in goal repelling almost everything else. Southend changed formation to cope with the oppo's playmakers and this evened the game up. After half time, the EL center fwd got free on the P spot from an optimistic ball from their midfield and she finished well. Southend went back up the other end and got a shortie which was switched around like a pinball machine finishing with two great saves from the keeper and just as the opportunity looked to have gone, Jo pounced to slam the ball into the far corner. Southend continued to work hard, the defence had the best game to date, Anne and Gail solid in the middle, Lisa providing the link from defence to attack up the right and Nicola at left back giving a tackling masterclass. Jo, Hazel and Shannon didn't stop running all game and frustrated the oppo. With the last hit of the game, EL sneaked their 4th via the post which meant the scoreline flattered them. A really brilliant effort by everyone in the last league game before Christmas, watch out for 11 wins on the bounce in 2009!!!

Well played 5s, danni's talk clearly worked :) was a great result.x

Great report Tristan, how about the Mens 4's

Upminster men (6th XI) 1 - 6 Southend Mens 4th XI (Pete Taylor 1, Keith Arnold 1, Tristan 2/3? Steve Lockwood 1) Mistakes may be made

With most of the tired and weary from other game, coming down to start with 8 outfield players and no keeper seemed an impossible task for Southend, and just a few minutes from the beginning of the game, Upminster went up 0-1, but alas, the lead was short lived with Tristan bouncing straight back to make the game 1-1, a certain 2 lockwoods showed up to save the day, Steve to give a helping hand in defence and Joe to provide us with a keeper, the game from here on in became very one sided with very fine stick skills showed from Tristan and great passing around between the midfield and the forwards, a very stressed out Upminster side then began to show cracks and short corners were being awarded Southend's way, in which Tristan managed to convert the majority. Upminster then retaliated most vindictively having personal vendettas against Tristan, Stick tackles were plenty, with one of the opposition being shown a green, not showing proper etiquette to the youngsters of their or our teams.
Well played guys, great effort made by everyone to keep the scoreline a draw with 8 outfield players and no keeper!

Old Southendian Mens 3rd XI (5/6?) Vs 2 Southend Mens 3rd XI (Ginge 2)

just to clarify. Aaron Pitts scored, not me. I'm proper proud of the 1s this season. Lot's of hard work and great coaching from Bob have made this the most enjoyable half of a season i've been part of.

Ladies 1's vs Sevenoaks 2
Lost 1-0

Another "it wasn't our day" - again, some of the best hockey we've played, but not converting our chances and conceeding a sloppy goal just adding to the frustration. Well played ladies, it'll happen after the break.

I know our results have been posted for Ladies 5s already but I just wanted to reiterate what a great game it was...everyone made a fantastic effort, despite the calm inducing affects of the weed that was floating across the pitch, and Dani's talk had us all fired up to come back fighting in the second half and play some 'awesome' (said in a Shannon accent!) hockey! Amy did brilliantly scoring all 4 goals, but credit must also go to Keira and Ems who supported her throughout and ensured she was set up to score! WELL DONE LADIES xxx

Just so that I know who we are talking about, please give me the surnames of "Tristan" and "Ginge" - thanks.

@Mike: Tristan Handley & James Morgan

Who is this Tristan person? Sounds like a bit of an upstart to me!

On my first look at him , I would say he plays like Christian, but is much nicer and possibly a bit better. He certainly looked like he could do well in the 4's.

What we need is for one of our ladies to persuade him to move here for good.

This weekends highlights ( loads after the drought of the past few weeks )

Amy Sullivan's four goals for the Ladies 5th team .
Christian's hat trick for the men's 1's.
Men's 4's bagging 6 ( is that 14 in two games boys ? ).
Ladies 2's drubbing Bas and securing a much deserved 3 points.
Nobody got sent off.
Alan Lamb debuting at left wing.

And finally - (this will get the forum buzzing) - Orville disallowing a perfectly good goal from a perfectly struck PC (by Vicki). Two minutes to go .................. Sevenoaks laughed all the way through the Dartford tunnel.

Great game ladies 5s, we all seemed to still be on the A13 still in the first half, ending the half 1 -0 down but some team tactics (negative split dani negative split..) meant we came out fighting in the second half. The defense were solid, midfielders running their butts off and forwards linking very well. Everyone played excellent and showed true desire resulting in some fantastic team plays. ...great result great end to the half of the season...all coming together now, and THANKS Gem for Christmas chocolate lollies and christmas tree gingerbread woop woop...xx

Well done ladies 5s, great to watch such a second half comeback. Thanks Gem for showing me all your hockey skills, I owe it all to you Big Sis!!

Oi!! What about solid GK -ing as well ladies 5.... us goalies always get left out :-( *sniff sniff*

To be fair to Tess, I was marking her as well!! At least she noticed that we were marking each other, I didn't even realise!!!!!

(Defense includes the goalie Katie I thought)....er herm great GK action from Katie for the ladies 5s also, whose GK skills are thankfully better than her time keeping and map reading skills.. thanks for helping us out x

haha no worries... and I was only joking........ they always were the two badges I couldn't seem to gain at scouts!! :S

Well done everyone it sounds like we all had good games whether we won or lost.

And am so happy the Ladies 2s had such a brilliant win before Crimbo, hopefully we'll continue to win after the break! And well done big sis for scoring such a cracking goal which kick started us all!

Men's 2nd XI and Ladies' 6th XI scores & scorers please! Also all reports to be put on this topic before 5pm tonight for inclusion in the press report. Thanks.

Just incase nothing is posted........

If I remember correctly from what Grace's dad told me...... ladies 6's lost 3-0

@ Katie: yeah you are right ladies 6's lost 3-0 but they played very well with a strong defence according to my sources :P well played 6's not a bad loss considering the opposition!

Mens 2's Lost 6-0 .

Revised First Team report after trip to the optician

Shefford and Sandy 3 Southend Mens First Team 6 (Jenkins 3, Mulligan, Pitts, Puncher)

After last weeks messy game, a long trip to Shefford was the last thing that Southend First Team needed. Phil Harvey was again unavailable his hand not mending. Luckily Dave Robeson drove over a hundred miles to help out. After 16 minutes of being on top, Shefford against the run of play scored from open play. 0-1, however Southend would not let their heads drop. The pressure grew and eventually Shefford could only prevent the goal being scored illegally. Penalty Flick awarded and dispatched with aplomb by Christian Jenkins. 1-1. Five minutes before the half time whistle James Byford tricked the Shefford defence and fed Barry Puncher, who crashed the ball home 1-2. The injury jinx struck again and Paul Mellish had to retire with a hamstring injury.

Three minutes into the second half Christian Jenkins turned provider and Dan Mulligan celebrated a fine goal 1-3. Ten minutes in Shefford scored a good goal from open play 2-3. Southend would not be denied Christian Jenkins scored a superb solo goal 2-4 and then minutes later he did it again 2-5, however he injured himself in the process. Three minutes from the end Aaron Pitts made it safe by scoring Southends Sixth goal. Shefford scored a consolation goal but it was never going to make a difference to the result. Christian won the man of the match award but James Byford won many plaudits for his performance. Rich Hill (captain on the day) was pleased with the performance "I am have 100% record as Captain, it was easy because the boys done well"

Press reports now sent out - thanks for all of your match reports this week. You can download the document from the 'Press report' page in the 'All about us' section.

If anyone has any press contacts who would like to receive this report each week, please let me know. Thanks.

Apologies this is late - haven't been near a pc that works til now.....

Ladies 3XI vs Dunmow : Lost 2-1 (urgghhh!!!)
Always top on the technical front, Dunmow are lousy tacklers but excellent on the ball retention front and Southend had to fight this all the way in a well battled game. Dunmow came lucky in the first half of the game a converted a short corner. Despite a few chances, Southend were struggling to put the ball where it counted. Undettered at half time, Southend came out fast and furious and after a great team short corner play, Dani French tucked the ball into the back of the net from the post equalling the score line. Southend thrived on this and 'upped' their game and started working really well as a team which was refected in the ball possession of the second half, but 7 minutes from the end of the game, the umpires gave away a very harsh penalty flick which put Dunmow back in the lead and despite hitting back as hard as they could, Southend could just not score again in the short time period left. 'Men' of the match went to Hayley Middleton and Nicola Bryant.

Ladies 5s you are "awesome!!!!" and 4s are gonna start "snagging" some games too!!!!!