Match : Belenses vs LC VETS

Warm up : Belem arrived early, quite as a surprise, they seemed determined not to lose again to LC. A bit stronger, they were lacking 3 players to make the 11 so LC loaned them 3 Top players, Joe Kodde, Cat Ward and Pedro Berga … 3 young and great players, that would make all the difference. Adding to that Belem also benefited from the presence of Rui Lopes Junior, who currently plays for Casa Pia Seniors.

LC had a moderate team, the usual vets, experienced but where was this game to go? There were no real expectations, just a feeling that LC were not the favorites.

Game : Belem started off brilliantly, in the 5th minute Pedro Batista scored a well placed goal, and it seemed that Belem would walk over LC… Far superior to LC they were in total dominance. Six minutes later came a surprise equalizer by LC’s Zorro, catching everyone by surprise. But in just 7 mins, Belem were 2-1 up, with a poorly given away goal by LC defense. But LC were not to give up.. after a penalty flick well placed by Rui Figueiredo, and a well placed goal by James Harrison out of the blue, LC walked away from the first half leading 3-2.

The second half was a different story. Around 15 mins into the game , Belem scored 3 goals, 2 of which cooly netted by Paulo Lima, who moved from center back to center forward. LC had 5 major chances, which unfortunately were all missed by Zorro, who seemed to be off target… what was his excuse? Guess he didn’t really have one, seemed to be totally unfocused, ran like the wind, was danger man, but poor finalizing. LC saw Jerry Harris come on, who scored and made a difference. But the best goal for LC was the equalizer by Alexa Kodde, who gracefully swooped the ball on the boards, after a great pass from Andy.

Result : 5 – 5

Man of the match : Andrew Baird, who had to leave in the 2nd half.
Worst performer : Zorro, missed 5 clear goals, and who has to go into repentance and further endurance training.

– Steve “Zorro” Fernandes

In our penultimate game, we were hoping to get another “win” and it appeared our opponents objective was only to “not lose” – from the first minute CP positioned all 6 players in and around their D (they literally “parked the bus”)!

So with little pressure against, we bombarded their D during most of the 1st half but, due somewhat to a lack of creativity, we were unable to score. The 2nd half was more open with lots of opportunities for both teams.

Our newest “star”, Miguel then scored a magnificent goal in his first game and it looked like we had done enough. Following a considerable number of “highly questionable” decisions going against us, CP then scored from a late SC to end with a 1-1 draw. Plenty of good quality hockey from the whole team!

Take a look the game video on LCTV YouTube (many thanks again to JM!):

Vicente Mourão, com apenas 16 anos, foi convocado para a Seleção Nacional onde representará Portugal no Eurohockey Indoor Championship II, que decorre entre 12-14 de Janeiro na Turquia.

Parabéns Vicente, o teu clube está orgulhoso de ti!

– Lisbon Casuals HC

We were blessed with wonderful weather for the parents vs kids mini-tournament on Saturday. As predicted, the two kids teams (the “Snowmen” and “Reindeers”) outclassed and outplayed the parents (“Fathers & Mothers Christmas”). The Snowmen won both their matches to come in first place, with the Reindeers a close second.

But lets give a really big hand to the mum’s and dad’s who revealed plenty of “hidden” talent and “raw potential”….

Pedro L – “what do you mean I can’t use my feet to stop the ball going into the goal?!”
Luis B – interesting inverted stick grip but surprisingly quick and sneeky (for a Burnay…)!
Nuno M – speedy gonzalez, just didn’t get enough quality ball….another who needs to come join the Vets…!
Frank – always a gentleman, even during the heat of battle!
Ginnelle – very competitive, but “I really don’t like any of these pesky kids” – ouch!!
Raoul – wow, a speedy Father Christmas who took no prisoners (definitely needs to join the Vets immediately)!
Graça E – super-mum, full of energy and talent and hungry for goals!
Duarte A – hasn’t lost any of his class and skill, so get operated ASAP and come back and play full time!
João S – a quiet young man, full of potential who also needs to come join the Vets…..!

It would be great to see them come join in with the Vets on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons so we can help turn them into diamonds (or at least polished quartz)!!

Missing in action:
Claudia – unfortunately ill
Ana B – what happened to our promised “Cheerleader”??

Many thanks to everyone for bringing food, drinks and being so willing to join in and have a fun time!

Merry Christmas to all.