Saturday 24th October 2009

Mens 1sts

On a wet and windy day Aylesbury 1st XI team went up against an unbeaten to date Wycombe's 2nd team. Both teams started strongly with the game quickly moving from end to end.

Wycombe were first to open the scoring with a close range shot that was just beyond keeper Wayne Scott. Solid defensive work by Niall Carter and Pete Smythe kept the Wycombe forwards at bay until a hastily scrambled goal put them 2-0 up before half time.

Despite the two goal advantage Aylesbury never stopped pressing the Wycombe defence and were rewarded with a goal back before half-time. Paul Gregory's powerful pass through a gap in the defence was deflected towards the keeper by forward Mark Hignell. The keeper made a reaction save but could not stop the rebound from Austin Greenlee.

The late goal put Wycombe on the back foot in the second half as Aylesbury continued to press for the equaliser. Ed Hill and Olly Patterson continued to twist and turn the Wycombe defence with their stick skills, winning more and more short corners. Finally the game was tied up after a Paul Gregory short corner strike ricocheted of a defenders stick, taking a hop over the keeper and landing in the corner of the goal.

The final minutes of the game were a display of intense hockey by both teams trying to grab a win in this close game. Finally it was Wycombe who broke the deadlock with a well worked short corner to clinch the winning goal. Final score was 3-2 to Wycombe.

Mens 2nds

The Aylesbury 2nd XI travelled to High Wycombe, again to face local rivals Wycombe Men's 3rd XI in a top of the table clash.

Once again Aylesbury had a much changed line-up due to injuries and availability, but overall took a strong and experienced team flavoured with a dash of youth. Aylesbury started by looking to defend in depth and hit the opposition on the break, but straight away this plan back fired as somehow a High Wycombe player got round behind the Aylesbury defence and got a lucky rebound off the inside of keeper Skinner's arm to go 1-0 up within the first 5 minutes. Just minutes later, having still hardly touched the ball, it was 2-0, and it looked like the well organised Wycombe team might rack up yet another big score in the league.

At this point the inner steel in Blest and Hughes in midfield began to show, and with the defence settling around veterans Pridgeon and Park, Aylesbury began to have some more of the possession. Rarely did the away side look like threatening though until the tireless work by Battye and Ferguson down the right finally unlocked the defence for Gurney to slot home a goal late in the first half.

Seeing the less experienced heads of the Wycombe team go down brought Aylesbury back out into the second half looking like a different team. With McLean and Hill soaking up massive amounts of pressure down the Aylesbury left, and with Elliott and Pritchard rolling back the years up front with tireless and selfless running Aylesbury suddenly were back in it when Elliot slotted home one of his handful of chances. The day was rounded off when Pritchard fooled everyone with an amazing strike off the back foot to put Aylesbury 3-2 up with minutes to play. The remaining minutes Aylesbury took control and gave Wycombe no chances to sneak a draw.

A great performance from 2-nil down against the league favourites. Hosting City of Oxford at home next week now cannot come quick enough.

Mens 4ths

The Men's 4th XI travelled up the A41 to Bicester on a typical autumnal Saturday (wind, heavy rain showers and sunny spells). Aylesbury warmed up in one of those heavy rain showers of the day. This helped the team get used to the pace of the pitch.

In the team talk before the start of play, communication, awareness and simple hockey was the name of the game. Aylesbury lost the toss and pushed back. Once the first few minutes nerves were out of the way, Aylesbury played as one. Lots of good calling, positioning and passing meant that Aylesbury had most of the possession with Bicester finding it hard to pass to their own sticks.

One such move resulting in the first goal. Aylesbury mid-field, controlled well by the ever present Jon Smith, cut out a Bicester pass and sent the ball on its way to Ant Wilson (still in his debut season as an outfield player). Wilson took the ball towards Bicester's back line before a great cross into Tim Wodyznski resulted in Tim scoring his first of the season in his first game back. 1-0 to Aylesbury.

The possession stayed with Aylesbury, with wave after wave of attacking play getting into Bicester's ‘D', but sadly not resulting in goals until Wadell managed to score a cheeky little goal, making it 2-0 to Aylesbury.

Bicester, sensing Aylesbury were getting tired and fading, pushed forward and broke through the Aylesbury defence a few times. Thankfully, because the Bicester forwards hadn't had much to do for most of the first half, and with Dave Bryant being alert, they failed to score before the break.

Aylesbury had a few more chances before the break to increase the score, but sadly could not add to the tally before half time.

Aylesbury were a little slow out of the blocks at the start of the second half. Bicester capitalised on this and gained a few short corners. One of these paid off for them, even though Aylesbury felt slightly hard done by when the goal was awarded. This, along with the Aylesbury supporters shouting encouragement from the sidelines, spurred Aylesbury on again and team reverted back to playing as they had done in the first half. Wadell got his second goal of the match from a simple tap into the Bicester goal giving Aylesbury the 3-1 lead. Unfortunately Aylesbury then missed several opportunities to put the game beyond Bicester.

All credit to Bicester as they didn't give up and their second goal came, again, from a short-corner, giving the home team an easy goal following an error by the Aylesbury defence. The score was 3-2 to Aylesbury and the game was starting to get interesting.

Aylesbury pushed hard but still couldn't get that vital fourth goal to put a little more daylight between the teams.

With seconds to go Aylesbury conceded another short-corner. In an attempt to clear the ball, Jon Smith inadvertently directed a high ball into his own player's face. Rob Fulton sustained a cut and bruising under his left eye. Bicester had one last chance to equalise. A fearsome strike followed but Aylesbury's keeper, Dave Bryant dealt with it calmly giving a great 3-2 win for Aylesbury. It was fantastic team performance from the 4th XI with a number of outstanding contributions from Darren Keeping, Jon Smith, and Tim Wodyznski.

Team: Dave Bryant, Darren Keeping, Richard Locke, Charlie MacLaughlin, Jack Rolfe, Tim Wodyznski, Jon Smith, Sam Bassett, Ant Wilson, Rob Fulton and Wadell Wilson.