It's November. How the devil did that happen? Kudos to all the parents who survived half term, I'm in pieces and Saturday's match was a welcome break even if it did mean going to Upminster! There is a separate junior report to follow, below are this week's match reports.

Can I take this opportunity to remind you of 1 thing and ask you 1 other:

- The bar: remember to ask for your membership discount on drinks. I'm also working on prices before you ask.
- Umpiring: Vic Shelley has done a monumental job getting umpires out each week but it is the same faces and we are very reliant on a talented young group. Please please if you are qualified, can you let Vic know. 1 game a season is so helpful and you get paid!

Good luck this weekend, I hope to see you at Tuddenham - some big games for the Men's and Women's 1s. The Men need to beat league leaders Pelicans to stay in contention and the Women need to win to stay top and bounce back after an unexpected loss last week. Let's get Tuddenham bouncing!

Our statman appears to have gone into hibernation, I'll see if I can locate his burrow but for now enjoy the reports.

Men’s 1s
Upminster, what a place to travel to. Ulez, school pitch and a pretty one dimensional opposition. Coach Foxy spoke beforehand about knowing nothing about the opposition and not having a passionate view of the demerits of playing hockey for another club. 70 minutes later, he had one. Ipswich won 3-2 but it was not pretty, not one for the purists and for most of the team one to forget about. Ipswich nearly took an early learn courtesy of a marvellous aerial from the Wiiderbeest that Wardy lobbed over the keeper however, the ball skirmed just wide. The blues continued in an attacking vein and the Honeymonster in his new role as corner winner supremo dropped it onto a defenders foot and the rest was predictable, the Wiiderbeest slamming in a corner to make it one nil. For the rest of first half Ipswich were fluent with some slick and patient passing. Fry, Dykes, Wiid, Collins and Beales distributed well to Max (MoTM), and Harry who in turn effectively went left and right through Tom and Sam. The midfield were exceptional in the first half. The pressure paid off and a well worked goal after numerous passes saw Wardy slip one past the keeper. 5 minutes later and Ipswich went 3 up following an excellent move involving Pete and Cutting who classily layed it on a plate for the youngster Wardy to slip a second past the keeper from close range.

At half time, the boys had a vision of a 6 or 7 nil performance but it wasn’t to be. Upminster played crash ball – down the middle, whack, thwack, whack, thwack. It eventually paid off with them winning a corner and making it 1-3. Five minutes from time the same again and another corner, 2-3. Cherry was called on to make a number of saves and Ipswich, expecting to be dominant ended up hanging on conceding a corner at the death which fortunately came to nothing. Regardless, the team will be happy to have secured their first away win and now sit on 12 points. They have a big eye on the unexpected league leaders, Pelicans who they play at Tuddenham this weekend. It’s going to be quite a game!

Women’s 3s
In what was arguably one of our best performances this season, the Ladies 3s travelled to Harleston to delight in a goal-saturated game, 12 of them spread across the two teams to be precise. The game started after an enthusiastic warm up and wise words from coach Daley and Ipswich were certainly on the front foot. An early corner led to Min to put away a resulting penalty stroke. It didn’t take long for Min to double our advantage with a creative reverse finish from close range in another short corner. Harleston then went on the break a scored to level things! The obvious frustration was coolly put to great effect by Jane minutes later when she let fly with a wonderful lifted strike from top D to the top corner. Harleston’s bounced back with a second but Summer responded with the first of her goals. On the stroke of half time, Harleston did slot home a very impressive tight angled shot and so 4-3 at half time and lots of positivity in the team talk. The good form was infectious in the team and the passes flowed, players worked their butts off and Summer very quickly completed her hatrick. This 3 goal buffer was the magic number for the team to start taking some more risks and Katie’s aerial, taught to us by maestra Lizzie W this week in training earned her multiple MoM votes. With two more goals still for Ipswich to score before the final whistle, Daley made her trademark cameo appearance to slot calmly home and Idunn was also rewarded for her tireless work in the match with a final goal. I think that makes 8?! An incredible performance all round and capped off with a MoM win for Min for her excellent link up play and also 2 smart goals.

Men’s 5s
lost 5-0 but a great competitive game, we just lacked up front and some experience having lost Chris and Andy last minute.
Everyone put in a shift with Utha having one of those horrible shots hitting the inside of the post and rolling slowly along the goal line with no one to finish. A good performance but to no avail. I did mention that we were unbeaten so late in the year where last year it was probably the reverse?

Funny side
As you were aware I was constantly losing players throughout the morning and last night. I was relieved when I knew we had a team. However 2 of my players who will remain anonymous, turned up for the match without a stick!!
Howard and myself had some spares so lent them the sticks they needed.

One of the players unfortunately deflected a shot into our goal. The umpire said "it's a goal as the defender deflected into his goal with his stick" I tried to argue that "No he didn't, he deflected with my stick "

Men’s 6s
With only four adults in this super young development side, we had another excellent game. Some super hockey played at times, and with Ipswich having the majority of possession, territory and shots, it was with a tinge of disappointment that we left the field with a 0-0 draw.

Men’s 4s v Bury 4s (H) 1-4
Ipswich needed a win here to get some confidence back after a string of tough results, however with an under-strength squad it was clear this would be a real test. We started brightly with a very even first half, weathering an early storm from Bury confidently and working well on the break. Our goal came from a well worked break from midfield with Evan’s pin-point pass finding Ant at the top left of the D, who slotted home superbly. We carried on in the same vane for the rest of the first half, with a few opportunities to widen the gap but not finding goal. 1-0 at half time. The second half couldn’t have been more different. Bury must’ve given themselves a real telling off at half time as they flew out of the blocks and continually piled on the pressure. Once their first goal went in the momentum had fully swung in Bury’s favour. We struggled to get out of our half and when we did we couldn’t maintain possession, after which Bury would break at pace. 2 Bury goals came from giving the ball away directly from a 16, the other from a textbook drive down our byline. Bury had a player Green carded but we struggled to capitalise on this, the damage already done. Positively, there was real potential with our gameplay that would come true with a full strength squad. The juniors also showed some real skill and the future is definitely bright. MOM for me is a difficult call but Frank and Ollie C worked tirelessly in midfield, they’d get my vote equally. Lots to work on but some genuine positives in the first half to build on and take forward. Felixstowe 3s next week away.

Men's 3s
Men's 3s v Colchester 2s (a) 2-6Equal on points and separated only by goal difference we knew it was going to be a tough game. A physical opposition caused us a few problems but some great passages of play nearly resulted in goals for us, one did with Benji shooting and Gladders guiding it in (or stealing it?!). Two short corner goals from Colchester and a dubious looping pass into the D was guided over our heads and into the goal. 1-3 at half time and by no means out of it.Working well again we put the pressure on and won a few short corners, Gladders got the benefit of the doubt with a lifting shot that caught the runner coming out but kept going into the goal 2-3. Chasing for the equalizer we over committed forward and were caught on the break with Fraser facing a two-on-one twice with defence still on route back.So a 2-6 loss probably flattered Colchester with the game playing out closer than that for nearly the 70 minutes. MOM was closely contested with Alex, Dylan, Sam B, Storm and Tommy all getting votes, but Tommy took the honours for a well deserved award.DOD was settled before a ball was struck with Storm turning up on 2nd November in a Christmas jumper! Other candidates would have been Harry for his green card, Harry and Adam for needing more grip and Will for testing the match teas coefficient of friction!!Roll on Bury next week...