By now you will have hopefully received your dinner dance invite, or will do the weekend of the 6th March. If you don’t get one, then don’t fret, you can download yours here…Invite 2010

Missing their manager, the ladies were less organised than usual before the game and seemed to carry this disorganisation onto the pitch, conceding a p-flick in only the third minute of the game. Despite Sharky’s best efforts, the Banbury forward managed to convert, to the obvious delight of the home side who were pumped up for the occasion.

The team managed to pick themselves up from this early disappointment and spent most of the first half defending against a young, quick Banbury side. The personnel in defence were rearranged again this week and took a little time to adjust to their roles but the midfield defended well and did their best to relieve the pressure - notably with some super driving runs from Izzy Wise and Laura Hodder.

Unfortunately, with the low sun making it difficult to differentiate between the orange of P&R and the red shirts of the opposition, there were too many easy balls given away all over the pitch and we found it difficult to bring the wide players into the game. The ladies relied on Sharky’s solid keeping, including a series of four saves on the bounce, to take them into the break only 1 goal behind.

After constructive words and reviving Gummy Bears, it was a rejuvenated team that took to the field for the second half. With the sun now in P&R’s favour and the half time instruction to come to meet the ball, Phoenix started to build their play, working the formation and making full use of the wide players and forwards. Rhian Evans had a superb game at Sweeper and managed to intercept a lot of Banbury ball and redistribute to the midfield.

It wasn’t long before the rejuvenated P&R stunned the opposition with two goals in quick succession from Jane Marriot-Ball and Tiffany Saul - the second coming within minutes of the first - and a chance for a third send just wide by the excellent debutant Chantal Facchetti.

Banbury were obviously frustrated by the turn in events and the rest of the game was played over the full length of the pitch with every single P&R player running themselves ragged in attack and defence. When the final whistle went, it was relief and exhaustion all round - along with jubilation at opening up a 9 point lead over their closest rivals.

Well Done Ladies

The 2’s faced a tough match straight after the first team, when they faced Bracknell in a hard fought contest.  Bracknell drew first blood, but P&R got the game back to 1-1 with an excellent reach from Woody to get a precious goal!  As with most of the games this season the ladies 2’s were unable to hold the ball up in midfield or up front and the pressure on the defence took its toll with at least 6 short corners in the second half conceded from last ditch defending.  Bracknell scored 2 in quick succession to take them 3-1 up and then scored their final goal 5 minutes from time from one of their shorts with a well-worked training ground routine.  Lack of fitness was an obvious factor in the last 20 minutes of the match and P&R gave away lots of possession cheaply which again is a pattern that keeps on re-occurring - bring on the next training session when we can do some work on that!

The team will play Reading 3’s this coming weekend with a much changed team and a lot more young players whose fitness and enthusiasm will be needed!

The 3’s worked wonders away though and they beat Banbury 2-1 with goals coming from Barbie (tbc) and Tiff.  Pitch captain Chrissy Mohamed is writing a match report which will be put on here shortly!  Congratulations to the 3’s who stay solidly in 3rd place.

The side remain solid in third place with only the 2 teams above them having beaten them in League fixtures. 

The 1’s made a proper fight of it away at Reading HC, only losing 2-1, and were close to giving the home side a scare.  Helen “Saucy” Phillips did her bit with a goal from a Claire “Rooney” Chitty cross which she swept in to give the Reading side something to think about.  P&R stuck to their task well; not letting some showboating from the Sonning Lane side get under their skin and showing them how close they are to gelling as a side.  Next week they are at home to Milton Keynes and they will be looking to improve on that result.

The 2’s faced City of Oxford at home and despite a 3-0 loss can also be buoyed by an improved performance.  The return fixture saw them beaten 6-0 so you could say they made it twice as hard for COO.  In fact 3-0 flatters COO as the final goal was scored with the last touch of the game and 2-0 would have been a fairer result.  They are at home again  this weekend coming - playing at 1pm after the 1’s match.

All supporters welcome at Rivermead to cheer the ladies on!! 

Trojan Tour Easter Dates

April Friday 2nd to Monday 5th

Let the circle of purple begin….

……details to follow, watch this space…..!

All you need to do is put your name down to register a team and turn up on the night with a £5 each and a head full of really random knowledge (who knows what Chick and Flying will have in store for us this year!).

Your team will ideally be 5 or 6 people and all are welcome.

 There will be a menu of bar food available to order throughout the night (please see here Menu for details).

There will be a cash prize for the winning team, but the honour is generally enough!

This is the quiz night for people who don’t necessarily like quiz nights…

To pop your name down, just contact Charlie, Ashton, Rooney or Jackie B.

See you there!

Have a great break and see you all at your respective training sessions in 2010.

Ladies - Monday 4th January 8pm start at Reading HC, Sonning Lane

Men - Tuesday 5th January at Reading Uni. Times to be confirmed.

The Ladies 2’s finally got their 2nd win of the season away at Bicester on Saturday 5th Dec. The scoreline should have been a lot more convincing than the 1-0 victory but a lack of composure combined with lack of practice in front of goal meant that Chick’s goal in the second half was the winner!

The team played well as as unit with Charlotte Watt playing in sweeper with Jax B moved to inside left and then outside right to accommodate the 12 players available for the game.  Sharkey had a pretty quiet game for a change in the P&R goal and was well protected by Bridget, Tracy and Lucia who dropped back from playing up front to strengthen the defence. 

The 3 points were well deserved and well timed just before the Xmas break, and despite not moving off the bottom of the table there is now only 1 point between the bottom 4 teams.   Chick is 2nd in the Club goalscoring rankings with 5 goals this season.

The 3’s battled out a 0-0 draw over Sonning Vets who are bottom of the table but very experienced. The 3’s remain in contention at the top with 22 points in 3rd place and A&C 5 clear points behind in 4th.  At the sharp end, Heather Clements leads the way with 7 goals this season - despite playing in goal for 2 games!

The 1’s played their best game of the season so far against 2nd placed Amersham and Chalfont and lost 4-0, although at half time they were only 1 nil down and battling hard to stay in the game. 

All the teams finished their league action this weekend and there are friendlies for the 2’s (10am) and 1’s (11.30am) at Rivermead on Saturday 12 December.

What a miserable and wet Sunday, the weather did not put them off, we had 10 rays of sunshine shine through on the pitch. They all played fantastically well and their efforts at training have brought great results.

All of them giving 100 per cent effort and determination. This resulted in 4 wins and 2 draws. I was very proud of them and their achievement.

Many thanks to Jeff Castle for umpiring all of our games and to the parents for their support, it was a good atmosphere.

Well done to Josh, Christian, Bethan, AJ, Jordan, Miah, Phoebe, Katie, Caitlyn, and Molly.

I have been told by a couple of parents that we got a mention in the Henley Times, saying that Henley drew with a very strong Phoenix and Ranalagh team.

Keep up with the good work, ready for the next tournament in January 2010.

Bev (Coach)

The Ladies 2’s were unable to improve upon last weekend’s draw and went down 3-0 to a pacy Reading 3A’s side. The 2’s defended well for the first 20 minutes but conceded just before half time, and then again 10 minutes into the second half. They had their chances though and there was some much improved play despite lots of changes to the team again this week.  Reading got their 3rd literally on the final whistle of the game and the finishing scoreline flattered them.

The 1’s took on Maidenhead and despite a 4-0 loss performed the best they have as a team all season. Both Flying in goal and captain Polar both were quick to praise the side that worked really hard to stay close to a Maidenhead team who are well above them in the league table.  Maidenhead took 25 minutes to get their first goal from a short and got their 2nd just before half time.  P&R also had a  short or two in the first half but couldn’t convert them, and for once had  some excellent “killer balls” into the D.

P&R suffered twice more from Maidenhead’s short corner routine in the 2nd half (something to work on in training Ladies!) and like the 2’s the final scoreline flatters the opposition without telling the full story of the game.

Cup Action

Phoenix Ladies were also in Cup Action on Sunday, pitched against Oxsted who are currently top of Prem 1 in the Surrey league.  A ‘makeshift’ team consisting of Flying, Bridget, Polar, Dixie, Jax Batten, Carol, Ashton, Maddie Cottam, Saucy, Rooney and Jackie Cobner travelled the 80 miles round the M25 with Polar’s words of “lets just treat it like a training game girls” revolving around their heads.

Remarkably the lack of pressure for the game made some players have stand out performances they have been lacking so far this season - Polar had a stormer at centre back, Flying was outstanding in goal, and Rooney worked herself ragged up front!! Oh and the midfield were fantastic too :-)  At half time Oxsted were only 2 nil up and I think quite surprised at the effort they were having to put in to stay in front.  In the second half their fitness showed and they had some fresh legs ready to substitute whilst P&R had to settle for the same 11 who had already played 70 minutes the day before! The Final score was 7-0 but everyone who helped out by making themselves available had a great day and played a good game despite the high quality opposition. 

Now if only we could all apply the same level of enjoyment and team spirit in our league matches…………

Good Luck to all this coming weekend.

Jax Batten