Slazenger England League Premier Division

Saturday 8th March

Ipswich v Old Loughtonians

Drew 1-1

Scorers: L King

Ipswich recorded their first point of 2008 against Old Loughtonians on Saturday but the home side were left with a feeling of 2 points dropped after camping in the visitors half for the majority of the game.

With Slough crowned as Champions after a 2-0 win over Canterbury the bottom half of the Slazenger EHL Premier table and the battle to escape relegation becomes the focus of the final three games.  With Loughtonians relegation fate virtually sealed the fight to avoid the 9th placed relegation play-off spot involves currant occupants Poynton, 8th placed Chelmsford and 7th placed Ipswich.

Ipswich still sit 4 points clear of danger but face a tough run in, with games against Leicester, Chelmsford and Bowdon. Dropping points against Loughtonians has not made life any easier and the Suffolk side will need to rediscover winning ways quickly if they want to avoid any relegation issues.

Ipswich started the game brightly pushing their opponents onto the back foot and were unlucky not to take an early lead after peppering the Essex teams goal. With Leisa King leading the striking line it looked only a matter of time before she got on the score sheet but some good goalkeeping and just off target shots kept Ipswich at bay.  The home side thought they had found the breakthrough when a great shot by King was illegally stopped on the line by a Loughtonians defenders leg but umpire Colin Burton did not see the foul and waved play on.

With the visitors happy to play 11 behind the ball and hit Ipswich on the counter the game was mainly played out in the Essex sides half but despite the pressure from Ipswich the teams entered half time locked at 0-0.

2 minutes after the restart Ipswich were victims of another bizarre piece of umpiring. Defender Kirsten Spencer lost her footing while taking a free hit and mis-hit the ball, topping it so it rose a few centimeters of the floor. The umpire blew for a foul signaling that the hit was dangerous much to the amazement of the Ipswich team and crowd. Still stunned by the decision Ipswich switched off and a pinpoint cross was touched in at the far post by Miranda Weeks to give Loughts the lead.  Ipswich to their credit kept their composure and 5 minutes later Spencer created the equalizing goal. A superb free hit from outside the circle found a diving King who deflected the ball into the goal to make it 1-1

With plenty of time remaining Ipswich had high hopes of winning the game but the visitors were determined to hold on. In fact they should have taken the lead again when a sloppy ball out of defence was picked up and passed quickly to create a one on one with Ipswich keeper Charlotte Lee-Smith. However Lee-Smith closed the angles down quickly and the attackers attempted lob landed on the roof of the net.

Ipswich too had turns to win it, a run of short corners probably offering the best chances but try as they might they could just not get the ball over the line. The final whistle saw a point shared and with it the news that Poynton had upset Olton 7-1 to close the gap on Chelmsford to 2 points and Ipswich to 4.

Old Loughtonians now cannot catch Ipswich but with Poynton and Chelmsford still to play in their final games they will have outside hopes of avoiding the drop.

Ipswich at present remain in the best position of all the teams involved but with such a small margin for error the pressure is on the Suffolk side to get the points needed. Saturdays home game against Leicester will prove to be a big challenge but the rewards of a victory could be massive.

 NE14HOCKEY East League

Div 2C

Suffolk Premier League

Suffolk Div 1

.Slazenger England Hockey League South

Sunday 9th March

Ipswich v Holcombe

Lost 3-0

Scorers: 

Ipswich fell to defeat against a Holcombe side blessed with ability and international experience. Despite a score-line of 3-0, Ipswich gave their high-flying opponents a tough time of it, but it was former England and Great Britain striker Dave Mathews who proved to be the difference between the two sides, scoring all three of Holcombe's goals. Ipswich will be disappointed not to get on the score-sheet, but can take great heart from a performance that was a long way from the 6-0 thrashing that Ipswich received from their opponents in October.
"It is not very often that I am happy with a defeat, and it was very disappointing to lose, but I think we played some excellent hockey against an extremely talented team", said Ipswich coach Iain Gall. "The players made me proud as they did everything I asked of them. The work rate was outstanding from everyone, and a draw would not have been an unfair result."
Dave Mathews - nick-named "Pies" due to his stocky figure and fondness for the meat-filled pastry slices - was a constant goal scoring threat for Holcombe, hardly surprising considering his past record. Four season's ago Mathews was a professional hockey player for Amsterdam HC in Holland's "Hoofdklasse", the best club league in the world. It was rumoured that he was being paid 500 euros (£380) per goal, of which he scored 37 to top the Dutch scoring charts. His first chance to open the scoring came just 30 seconds into the game, when Holcombe winger Denzil Dolley won a penalty corner. However, Tony Burch made a terrific save to block the feared drag-flicker. Ipswich recovered quickly, and an excellent move involving Ivan Smith and Richard Fox almost created a goal scoring opportunity. However, Mathews soon opened the scoring through his side's second penalty corner opportunity, with his virtually unstoppable effort rocketing past burch and into the roof of the net. Ipswich immediately went on the offensive, with Phil Messent and Kier Dixon linking up well down the right before setting up Rich Stainthorpe, but the Holcombe goalkeeper made an excellent save just as the forward was about to get his shot away. Kier Dixon was then given the chance to prove that Mathews was not the only drag-flicker on the field after Mark Wrinch had won a penalty corner, but his scorching effort sailed fractionally wide of the post. Just before half time, Ipswich's task was made all the more difficult, with Mathews again the protagonist. The big centre-forward received the ball at the top of the circle before unleashing a fierce reverse stick strike which again gave Burch very little chance of saving. 
Much of the best play in the second half came from Ipswich, including a 14 pass move that cut through their opponents and won a penalty corner. With Holcombe expecting the shot to come from Dixon, Ipswich instead moved the ball to Smith, whose shot was well blocked by the Holcombe keeper. In fact, the goalkeeper was to deny Kier Dixon on three occasions during the game, including a breath-taking, instinctive stick save just as the ball looked to be sailing into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. In the 60th minute, Ipswich put together another excellent attack, and Phil Messent - playing his last game for Ipswich before heading out to Melbourne for the Australian hockey season - forced the ball over the line. Sadly for Messent, the goal was ruled out due to an infringement spotted by the umpire. Holcombe had survived the Ipswich pressure, and won a penalty corner in the 65th minute. Mathews stepped up to the mark and flicked his effort into the goal to secure victory for his side. 
The loss means that Ipswich have been leap-frogged by both Whitchurch and Firebrands, who both secured victories at the weekend. The side are now just two places above the relegation play-off spot, but are eight points clear of Cambridge University with only nine points to play for. Next week sees Ipswich travel to second placed Sevenoaks, hoping to build on this excellent performance. 
All of Ipswich HC would like to wish Phil Messent good luck for his Australian adventure and thank him for his efforts during the last three seasons. 

NE14HOCKEY East League

Prem A

Ipswich v Broxbourne

Lost 5-2

Scorers: S Miller (2)

Ipswich Men's 2s are in turmoil at present, with the form book not looking particularly good and yet another defeat. Ipswich are now without a win in their last 4 games, and to make matters worse are not playing with any confidence or well.

Injuries and suspensions have not helped the team, and with 3 of the 4 regulars at the back missing in the last 3 games it is enough to unbalance any team.

Josh Fry came in once again and put in a strong performance, and Patel and Youngman have both come in and done well in recent weeks.

Ipswich started the slower of the 2 teams and Broxbourne through influential midfielder Dover scored from a short corner, but Ipswich put together a lovely move to get them selves back in it, Youngman finding captain Reed in the middle of the park laid it off to M Walker who in turn found Cook wide left, and the powerful forward put a lovely ball in for Miller to slam home.

After the second half a sloppy 5 minute spell saw Broxbourne pull away and although Cook and Reed combined on a short to win a flick, which Miller dispatched, Broxbourne found 2 more late goals to take all 3 points.

Ipswich have a tough trip to Bluehearts next week, 2 places above them in the table, but not in great form themselves, but it will be a good chance for Reed to bring in more youngsters and progress them as Ipswich are now mathematically safe in Prem A for another year.

Possible call ups for Gall, and Woodgate, whilst Cook will drop down to the 3s this week.

NE14HOCKEY East League

Div 2N

NE14HOCKEY East League 

Div 4NE 

Norwich Union v Ipswich 4's 

Result: won 2-1

Scorers:  Whetton

Your reporter has thought long and hard and delayed his match report to try to come up with words to describe this match.

Ipswich were awful

Cranes played really well

The better team won

But not by as much as they should have done.

End of report.

But hey first bit of poetry of the season and a poem that is almost worse than the 4th X1 performance was.

So Ipswich lost, in feeble fashion, a two year winning run at home and now need to win their next two games to cement promotion and their last three to secure the league title. But after Saturday, unless Ipswich improve, the odds must favour UEA and Gorleston gaining promotion.

Congratulations to the 5th XI on being the highest ranked men's team to win in the league at the weekend.

NE14HOCKEY East League

Div 6NE

Ipswich 5's v Bury Ste Edmunds 5's

Result: Won 3-1

Scorers: Ed Messent, Simon Godbold, Alan Fisher

This was always going to be a more challenging game for the 5s against a third placed Bury side who need just a little more to turn draws into wins. Unispirational 5s Captain Howard Walker ranted as usual in his pre-match team talk about the need for patience & not to push forward like headless KFC victims. The advice, as usual was not heeded & sloppy marking allowed Bury to score from a resultant short corner after Ipswich keeper, Joe Wroe had made a fine save in open play. This alas did not inspire the home side to greater things & off we trudged for half time.

Maths has never been a strong point for the 5s as it dawned on the side that they were only one goal down - cries of 'we can win this' in a similar vein to Russell Osman's immortal line from 'Escape to Victory' (yes, the 5s captain is that old!) rang around.

Ed 'Cheshire Cat' Messent gave Ipswich the equaliser early in the second period when his deceptively slow shot squeezed in between post & keeper. Simon Godbold added a second straight down the middle from a short corner. The 5s breathed a sigh of relief started to play some great short passing hockey. Charlie Hatcher was having a fine game @ right back, defending when necessary & supporting the attack @ every opportunity. Alan Fisher made the game safe with a third goal before Andy Galbraith commenced some interesting dialogue with the umpire resulting a yellow card & complete loss of perception - just where is the far side of the pitch?

Ipswich 5s should be pleased with the result, a fine victory against a gritty, determined & experienced Bury side. The home side fielded 4 players under 15 years & only 4 over 18 years old - the future is looking promising for the 5s.

East League

Ipswich v  Bury St Edmunds

Result : Won 5-0

Scorers: Crowe 2, Wheaton, Tew, og

Ipswich won unconvincingly against local rivals Bury, and only showed their attacking flair on very few occasions. Ipswich took control early on and kept the ball for long periods but the only reward was a Crowe effort, managing to avoid numerous tackles before forcing the ball home, Tew smashed a penalty corner home against his former club and then Wheaton scored the best goal of the game turning home Foster's cross.

Ipswich continued to dominate possession in the second half but found it very difficult to convert the advantage into goals. Bury were always in the game but rarely troubled Steward in goal. Ipswich however, did manage to improve the scoreline with two bizarre goals; Crowe flicked at goal from a penalty corner and as Tew tried to avoid the shot the ball ricocheted off his stick and lobbed over the stranded keeper, and then Flettons cross was turned into the goal by an unfortunate defender.

Ipswich will need to sharpen their finishing for the visit to Bedford next week in an attempt to avenge last years defeat.

Veterans Cup-Quarter final

Ipswich v Stourport

Result : Won 9-1

Scorers: