News

TITS 2009

Cardiff's representation at "Rumble in the Jungle" was left up to the first team as the 2nd and 3rds were dumped nceremoniously out of the competition at early stages. However the 1st team, skippered by Pheo, lived up to the pre-tournament hype and eased to their second title in as many years. "Winning the tournament was anticipated, and I'm just relieved that we lived up to peoples expectations," said Pheo just after the final. "It was a special pleasure to have the club Führer Stuart Frankland watching the final this year, as he really missed out on a quality game of hockey last year."

The 1st team struggled to gel the group stages, scraping draws against Southampton 2's and Peninsula 1's. However, a 5-0 demolition of a woeful Birmingham 2nd team meant that they went through as runners up. Once they had reached the knockout stages the team really found its form, and they despatched Brighton in the quarter final 1-0. The semi-final versus Birmingham was another great display of total hockey from the 1's, but somehow they couldn't score and the game went to penalties. This is where the Cardiff sides experience of the later stages of big competitions came in handy as they stayed cool to net all four of their strokes while Birmingham predictably floundered by missing two.

The final was a repeat of the previous year with Southampton 1sts challenging the seemingly invincible Cardiff team. Cardiff started strongly, and were rewarded when Ricky Hesketh expertly deflected the ball off the left hand post to Gabrielle Spicer to stick in the top corner. While Southampton battled hard to scramble a goal back, Cardiff proved too strong yet again, and Kat Lenan expertly finished a well rehearsed short corner routine just moments before the final whistle.

Despite the 1st teams success, Cardiff will hope that their second and third teams can step up in future years and add a little more strength in depth... especially the second team.

IMPORTANT: AU Registration

Register yourselves with the club and AU now by going to the AU website and try to navigate their website. Membership cost £27 this year. If you have problems with the registration contact Niv Patel.

Cardiff Medics A V Cardiff University 4's

The 2's began their league campaign with a regulation 1 - 0 victory over Cardiff Uni 4's. Kieran "Mowgli" Lambert scored the only goal of the game.

Cardiff Medics V Swansea Bay A

The hydrolution took a turn for the worse today as the Medics went down 4 - 0. It was a familiar story for the Medics as a dismal first 15 minutes meant that they were 3 - 0 down and the game was all but over. An improved performance from then on meant the Medics played some of the better hockey, but unfortunately couldn't convert and conceded another goal late on. Full match report to follow.

Cardiff Medics V City Of Bath A

The Hydrolution began with a solid 0 - 0 draw against a City Of Bath side that were relegated from North 1 last year. Both sides had chances to win the game but none were better than a penalty stroke awarded to the Medics. However the stroke miss was the one blight on an otherwise impressive performance from Oli 'Rufio' Lenan, who will no doubt be looking to fill the void left in midfield by the exit of the team captain from the previous season. At the other end of the pitch Ed Broad started his reign as captain with a man of the match winning performance, making some impressive saves, with Bath living off scraps of possession mostly provided by Rob Grounds.

Man Of The Match: Ed Broad