Disappointment against Guildford for the Women's and Men's 1st XIs although success for the Men's 2s, Men's 4s, Women's 2s whilst the Women's 3s took a hard earned point.

Plenty of stats to keep you entertained and a host of match reports for your viewing!

Don't forget to buy your Christmas Social tickets!

Boys U12s Tier 1 Tournament

The U12 competed in their 2nd tier 1 festival at Culford school and continued to develop at this level by coming 2nd. They beat Pelicans 4 0 with the highlight being Sam Newman's reverse stick strike into the top corner. There was then a narrow 1 0 loss to Magpies which could have gone either way and saw George Utley almost score goal of the day by trapping the ball in the D and then going for a reverse stick lob that bounced on the top of the cross bar. The boys then bounced back with a convincing 3 0 win against Bury with a goal each from the impressive Alex Swindin, Ollie Winchester and Finley Card. Another tough game followed against Chelmsford with Alex Swindin's short corner strike giving us a 1 0 win; Max Buss made some good saves in goal to ensure the clean sheet and Otto Hallam put in an impressive display down the right. The final game of the day saw us play Cambridge, the overall winners and a quality side. The boys showed great determination with the defensive players, Henry Noble, William Southgate and Joseph Knight, performing particularly well. It took a short corner strike and penalty flick for Cambridge to earn their win and the team created chances through Finley Card, Alex Swindin and Sam Newman. Overall another great afternoon of hockey and it is great to see the team gelling and progressing. The future is bright!

Men’s 1s L 1-7

A new weekend and a new captain for the men in navy. The mighty Dykes stepped up in Craigs absence, as our skipper enjoyed a weekend off in Tokyo - not sure how he managed to avoid getting DOD for this? Whoever got DOD must've been seriously rubbish!
Anyway, with Dykes back at the wheel and looking to resume his exceptional run of form as last year's captain, Ipswich were hungry to add to last week's well fought point against the Surbiton seals.

This week's squad saw the return of Elliot Steele and Josh Taylor-Grout as Ipswich looked to upset England's "Best hockey club of the year". A strong warm up set the tone for the game ahead, with Ipswich fast out of the gates.

The first half was a rollercoaster of emotions, with Ipswich going 1-0 down to a short corner, which I believe was conceded due to Oscar Taylor being 'too aggressive' - umpire must've been bored maybe? Ipswich reacted well, and looked dangerous on the attack through our fast front line, and started to see some positive outcomes from a few Jimmy-like baseline dribbles, resulting in multiple short corners. Missing the short corner demon Craig, the man with the tremendously big nose, Cutts, stepped up and flicked the ball expertly into the bottom left corner! Ipswich 1 Guildford 1.

Guildford then went on to score a second short corner just before the half time whistle to make it 2-1 at the break.

Ipswich were full of belief going into the second half, feeling that the scoreline flattered Guildford and that we were well in the game! Unfortunately, the next 35 minutes didn't have many positives in store for Ipswich, as Guildford managed to net a third goal in the third quarter, followed by four goals in the fourth quarter which showed the difference in desire between the two teams as the game concluded in an ugly 7-1 loss for the men from Suffolk. Scoreline aside, Ipswich played some excellent hockey throughout the majority of the game, and I am excited to see what next week brings against second in the league Indian Gymkhana. Back to the training ground and we go again!

Men’s 2s W 2-1

Scrappy, messy, gnarly....all descriptions of our captain JC, but also of a hard fought away victory against Nomads. The win puts the 2s on 12 points and next weeks home against Norwich, also on 12, will be a humdinger. The Belgian and German contingent (Oscar, Jakob and Mikey) played exceptionally well. Baler scored a flick up and self-volley worldy, Foxy a sublime deflection following Pete Wright's tactical masterpiece of a corner (he also played rather well!) and Max returned as a powerhouse in midfield. Paddy, JC, Trembath were superb at the back and Jez played a blinder with one spectacular save with 5 minutes to go. Wardy failed to score and got in a grump moaning to poor Windy who did his running for him; he was only rescued once the team had left soulless Wilberforce Road and found a suitable pub pitstop. All said and done, it wasn't pretty but it's 3 points, it's breathing space and who knows, one day we may even have a consistent team outside of our regular O40s who clearly still live for the game!

Men’s 3s W/O win

Men’s 4s W 10-0

I’ll start this piece with a statement, “I lost count”.
Ipswich hosted Norwich City 5s knowing a win would cement their place mid table and keep them in touching distance of the top 5, and a loss would allow city to leapfrog them.
We fielded a strong team, and that was evident after just a few mins as the first of 10 goals went in, but we are not going to call them all out here. This was not a game of two halves but in this case a game of four quarters.

After that first goal went in from Harry Mercer with a well placed clean strike from a penalty corner, four more were rattled in over the next 10 mins from Andy C, Charlie C, Archie, and Will S, making it 5-0 after 15 mins and it stayed that way until half time.

We had options of how to approach the second half, and opted for decent hockey with a mentality of structure, discipline and “we just need two more”. No point in everyone pushing forward to score as that wouldn’t work.

The first 15 mins of the second half was constant possession, and pressure by Ipswich with many goal attempts but none put away.

The 1st goal of the second half was another penalty corner, this time from Charlie C. Then 4 more goals in a further 15 min spell of sheer domination by Will S, Andy C, Thomas PF & Archie G.

Ipswich just had 10 goals in the 1st and 4th quarter, a barren spell in the 2nd and 3rd quarter and 3 points! Call out to Gavin who didn’t touch the ball once the entire game except for in the warmup. Sorry Gav!

If only we had this team each week, even the 3rd team would be nervous! Great play by all, and next week Dereham away for a much tougher game.

Men’s 5s L 0-6

The 5s lost 6-0 to a good Colchester team. They are doing tremendously well as the club's newest team and each week there is improvement all round and a few more games should iron out positions. They've won 1, drawn 4, lost 4 which is a pretty fabulous start!

Women’s 1s L 1-7

Ill-executed basics. Ipswich hosted top of the table Guildford at home. Ipswich went in knowing this what was going to be a tough game and tough it was…
Ipswich got off to a competitive start, matching Guildford somewhat. Ipswich found ways to build forward momentum but struggled to upgrade or get into D. A missed obstruction gave Guildford their first and the only goal of the first quarter.

The second quarter we’ll gloss over briefly, Ipswich’s errors caused a cascade of goals for Guildford, who made it to 5-0 at half time. Ipswich grateful for that half time whistle and in need of a big reset…

Ipswich knew this was going to be even more of an uphill battle now. One half of joint POTM Emma Rix lifted the girls’ spirits before the restart. Unfortunately, Guildford found 2 more goals and Ipswich started to clutch at straws.

The final quarter Ipswich turned up and in the 63rd minute, the other half of joint POTM, Lizzy Wheelhouse found the bottom left-hand corner of the goal. The only goal scored in the last quarter and thankfully not making the game end in Ipswich being bageled.
Guildford took very quick balls, countered on turnovers and players were in the right place at the right time. A very hard pill to swallow for Ipswich but as long as they learn from it they can bounce back from this defeat. Had to go fishing for the stat of this week and luckily found one. Ipswich won the 4th quarter making it the first 4th quarter win score line of the season so far… now they must try to turn that into taking 3 points.

Ipswich travel to the other unknown team in Conference East, just inside the M25, the other side of London again: Old Georgians. Time for Ipswich to brush off this weekend and go into next weekend fresh and grabbing another opportunity by the horns.

Women’s 2s W 5-2

This week proved to be an entertaining game, with L2 playing Norwich City 2s at home. The 2s welcomed Lauren for her first match, putting in a good stint in the centre mid position throughout the game.

Before Ipswich could fully settle into the game Norwich city took the early lead, attacking strongly and passing it around the team to score an early goal.

The 2s shook this off and quickly settled into the game, playing to their game plan which led to a string of shots on goal that failed to find the back of the net.
Ellie Scott scored her first goal for Ipswich from a well rehearsed short corner routine and as a reward got hit in the nose causing a nose bleed leading her to take a well deserved rest.

As the half time whistle was about to blow the opposition had a strong attack. Leading to Emerald, goalie, trying to smother the opposition attacker which resulted in a flick and a yellow card. Luckily, coaches Sarah and Annie clearly saw into their crystal ball whilst making selection this week and brought two keepers to the game. Resulting in the team forfeiting an attacker to allow Gigi to step up and defend the stroke. Gigi proved she could preform under pressure making a great save to deny the opposition a led going into half time.

With new determination the 2s shown domination in the 2nd half. This lead to a big push for goals with Ellie Scott, now hungry for more goals, scoring her second goal from another short corner routine resulting in her getting POTM.

Rixie’s showed her experience and determination upfront, showing the younger generation how it’s done by scoring a nifty goal from right of the D.

Goals also came from Chloe and Ester, showing great strength and skill to score from a mighty hit from top of the D. With questionable tackling throughout the game the fall fell on Emilia who took the green card resulting in Ipswich demonstrating good discipline, soaking up the pressure well during being a player down.

The whole team also proved to be worthy dodgeball players, needing to make several dips and dives to avoid being hit by high flying balls from the opposition.

With the final whistle blown just after Ipswich secured a short corner. Ellie looked to score her hat trick but didn’t quite have the power on the hit to see it deflected into the goal by Beth Scott.

Final score 5-2 win for the 2s they want to thank everyone who provided entertaining support from the sideline.

Women’s 3s D 1-1

After a long drive the team turned up to the pouring rain of UEA and our team of 11 were faced with a full 16 opposition.

We decided that only positivity was allowed and Jeffers was prepared with a full and heavy ball sack which meant for a strong warm up.

Rain had stopped in time for the starting whistle and we were raring to go.

Most of the first half consisted of defending short corners which were kept at bay by the strong defence and the classic line from Claire “nothing comes through”! Unfortunately, one short corner led to a flick owing to an accidental hand on the line. Bottom left corner saw UEA go 1-0 up. We ended the first half with plenty left in the tank so a team talk to re-group was just what we needed.

As the second half was underway we held firm in the centre, moving as a unit to protect the middle, much like a testudo (Roman tortoise shield, for those who don’t know what that means). UEA we’re getting progressively more irritated by our strength in the middle and resorted to transferring around the back. Taking advantage of this, we pressed high and managed to win a short corner! The ball was slipped left to Lily for the first shot which rebounded and was swiftly pushed across the line by Lucy. We held firm for the rest of the second half. Working together, moving as a unit and communicating well to make sure every opposing player was man marked. We faced even more short corners and a few desperate attempts from the opposition to sway the umpires in their favour. We stood our ground, we played brilliant hockey and we came out the other end chuffed with a 1-1 draw and another point in our favour!

POTM - Claire Miller

Women’s 4s L 0-4 (no report submitted)

Women’s 5s L 1-3

Ladies 5s played Bury St Edmunds 5s at home on a very drizzly Saturday morning. Bury went ahead in the opening minutes of the match and looked quite strong, however we quickly regrouped and held our own well throughout the first half. Just before half time a brilliant pass across the D at pace from Emily to Leanna led to a truly epic goal - it felt great, we may have over celebrated….oops. We went into the second half full of confidence but sadly we conceded two for their goals - super annoying as it felt more like a draw. Importantly the spirit was great and we equipped ourselves well. Isla and Clara shared the GK and both saved lots of goals and showed great skill. Another loss but we still all still had a great time and lots of laughs.

Stats
Team GF av. GA av. Win Ratio
W1 1.1 4.00 13%
W2 2.2 1.33 56%
W3 1.3 2.89 11%
W4 1.1 2.33 22%
W5 1.1 2.29 29%
M1 1.1 2.50 25%
M2 2.4 3.56 44%
M3 7.9 0.63 100%
M4 2.7 1.33 44%
M5 1.0 3.00 11%

Team P W D L
W1 8 1 1 6
W2 9 5 1 3
W3 9 1 2 6
W4 9 2 1 6
W5 7 2 0 5
M1 8 2 1 5
M2 9 4 0 5
M3 8 8 0 0
M4 9 4 0 5
M5 9 1 4 4

Overall
P/W/D/L
85 30 10 45

Men
Won Drawn Lost
19 5 19

Women
Won Drawn Lost
11 5 26

Team Form Guide
L1 W D L L L L L L
L2 L W W D W W L L W
L3 L L D L L L L W D
L4 L W L W L D L L L
L5 L W L W L L L
M1 W W L L L L D L
M2 W W L L L W L L W
M3 W W W W W W W W
M4 L W L W L L W L W
M5 D W D D L L L D L

Men's Goals
Fred Weller 29
Joab Bennett 7
Wardy 6
Craig Wiid 5
Pete Wright 4

Women's Goals
Chloe Williams 6
Min Patel 4
Emily Calver 4
Lizzie Wheelhouse 3