Ampleforth OAs

OA Hockey Club

Current OA Hockey Team Players:

Harry Leeming (H09), Jack Blakiston-Houston (C08), Kit Blakiston-Houston (H09), Will Ramsden (H08) (captain), Hugh Ronan (J09), Jack Ronan (J07), Charlie O'Kelly (C07), Bartie Stagg (E07), Jack Moody (C10), Ted Wright (T10), Olly Cardozo (O10), Charlie Naylor (E10), Ed Power (O09), Henry Davis (H08) and Will Rogers (O09).

Match Report July 2011

Ampleforth OAs vs Ampleforth 1st XI

I would like to firstly say a massive thank you to all those who were involved yesterday and making it a fantastic event. We want to get OA’s hockey going so this was a great way to get the ball rolling. If you weren’t there, you wouldn’t believe the change in Ampleforth hockey, floodlit pitch, talk of another astro, SERIOUSLY swanky kits, a coach that has actually played hockey and has turned hockey into the biggest sport of the Easter term. The team that we played against were fantastic.

From the offset I think it is fair to say that the main worry for the first ever OA’s hockey game would be fitness and this proved to be very true.

A very strong Ampleforth 1st team started all guns blazing and the defence somehow struggled their way into keeping a bombardment of repeated attacks from turning into a goal, Harry Leeming being solid as ever to ensure this. After we had regained our composure we then started to play some surprisingly good hockey. Charlie O’Kelly was pulling strings from the centre mid with Henry Davis and Jack Ronan causing problems up front (and Will Rogers). The break finally came with a well worked goal and Henry found himself in the right place to put the OA’s 1-0 up.

Ampleforth continued to play quick hockey and we were at out most vulnerable just after we’d created our own chances – tracking back did prove harder than it used to be and suspect marking led to SHAC drawing level with a nicely worked goal from Hewie Dalrymple. This annoyed all of us, Jack Moody even more so who, five minutes later, decided to drill the ball into the back of Jack Ronan’s head, Ronan however played on like a man “feeling slightly weird in the second half”.

Half time came and lactic acid reigned hell through our bodies, and it suddenly kicked in that we had to do another half an hour of this. At O’Kelly’s suggestion we employed the half court press in the second half to try and stop them having too much space and to minimize exercise. Alas – it still didn’t stop them.

4 days training a week compared to close to sod all exercise started to show and the second half was a struggle to say the least. Fabian Harmer’s hat-trick looked like it was going to be the end of us.

HOWEVER, hours and hours of short corner training led to precision from our set plays. Hugh Ronan injected like a fiend, O’Kelly stopped like it was second nature. The first goal was a well worked mishit from Ramsden which went straight to Hugh Ronan who found himself on the end of it and slotted it like a champ. 5 minutes later we get a last play short corner, and another well worked mishit led to chaos in the dee where Jack Ronan elegantly slotted it past Harry Leeming – we celebrated like we’d won it and to such an extent that some thought that we had.

4 – 3 was the final result and a great match to get OA’s hockey going. Big credit goes to the 1sts who were the best SHAC team that I’ve seen. It was an awesome day and I’m psyched for it next year.

Man of the Match as voted by the opposition – Henry Davis

Opposition Man of the Match – Fred Leeming
(for some stunning goalkeeping)