Gameweek 1 Roundup 27th September

Bristol & West
Oct 2
8 min read

Weekend Results: Goals, Wins, and a Flying Start to the Season!

The first league weekend of the season is in the books, and what a start it was! The energy was fantastic to see, with teams up and down the club eager to get their campaigns underway. Our attacking force was on full display, with Bristol & West teams finding the back of the net a fantastic 19 times across all matches.

A huge round of applause goes to our winning teams this weekend who started their seasons in style. Congratulations to the Men's 1s, Men's 4s, and Men's 5s, who all kicked off their campaigns with dominant victories and crucial clean sheets. There were also some incredibly hard-fought draws and valuable lessons learned in some tough opening fixtures elsewhere.

Thank you to everyone who played, supported, and contributed a report. Dive into the full stories from every single match below!

Men's 1s

Bristol & West M1 [3-0] University Of Exeter M4

West Open - Men's Division 1 South Mangotsfield School

First league game of the season, and a strong performance from the team. We started the day supporting the Ladies’ 1s from the sideline — great to see them looking sharp! Our own warm-up began well, with cones out early and everyone switched on. Exeter Uni came out quickly and looked like a fit, energetic side. Luckily, all the summer training, fitness work, and a tough pre-season meant we were ready for the challenge.

Goals:

Macky made a great run behind their defence and was calmly slotted in by Otty.
Luke showed some quick thinking at the top of the D and smashed a reverse stick shot into the bottom left corner.
On a short corner, I went early (by accident), which meant we lost our injector. Fortunately, one of their runners also went early, leaving them with only three defenders. We stuck to a simple routine — Harry slipped the ball back post, and I deflected it top bins.

Team Performance: Another clean sheet — three in a row. The team is feeling confident, positive, and focused for the season ahead. A solid 3-0 win. 17-0 across our last three matches, including pre-season games against Firebrands and Cheltenham. Strong start to the season. On to the next.

Awards:

Man of the Match: Nella and Macky for strong defensive performances.
DOD: Me, for celebrating my goal with four different celebrations. Also pointed to my head to pretend like the false start was all part of the plan.

- David Cadman

Women's 1s

Bristol & West Jaspers W1 [2-2] Team Bath Buccaneers W4

West Women's Division 2 East Mangotsfield School

A hard fought draw for the ladies 1s yesterday. Facing a tough Buccs side we went 2-0 up in the first half with a superb short corner from Becky and a tap in at the back post from Meg. But Buccs came out strong in the second half putting us under constant pressure, eventually grabbing 2 goals to pull back level. We held on to take a good point against a solid Buccs side.

Player of the match was Becky for great movement on and off the ball, a solid short corner goal and high work rate in the press. Dick of the day goes to Becca for beefing with the opposition, late arrival and getting a shock from the keeper outside the D!

Well played everyone.

- Ange Brown

Men's 2s

Bristol & West M2 [1-1] Yate M1

West Open - Men's Division 2

West Yate Outdoor Sports Complex

Tough opening fixture for the men's 2s against seasoned rivals Yate. The game started at a frantic pace with a battle developing in the middle of the pitch. Our offensive press sprung to life early on with an interception, but today's DOD couldn't capitalise with an ambitious reverse strike. Moments later we strung together the move of the match: JJ to Fish on halfway, forwards to Harry across the goal to a diving Dan at the back post. 1-0.

Momentum swung towards Yate as we neared halftime... a couple of cards probably not helping!! A rebound fell kindly to a lone Yate striker on the back post leaving little chance for Wayne to make a save. 1-1.

Fatigue started to show from both teams in the second half with the game getting stretched out. Some good play from the boys in orange, but we rode our luck at times. Their big guy up top hit the inside of the post, then moments later pinged a rocket of a reverse off Wayne's forehead! Our final attack of the game almost certainly would have resulted in a winning goal, if not for the final whistle.

Overall, probably a fair result and a good point to bring home from a tough opening day away fixture.

Goal: Dan V
MOM: Wayne (kept us in the game)
DOD: JJ

- Joe John

Women's 2s

Bristol & West Jaspers W2 [0-2] West Wilts W1

West Women's Whitehorse Division 1

Land Warfare Centre

Women’s 2’s went for their first away trip to Wiltshire facing West Wilts. Unfortunately we lost Sid through injury before the game so had to have a very quick reshuffle. We held our own in the first half in the face of some debatable decisions going into halftime 0-0. We came out fighting with some great passages of play in the second half. Apart from when Rach forgot about the sideline and continued playing a foot over the line. Despite fighting we conceded an unlucky goal early on followed by a flick. An unlucky loss to a solid team but some promising play.

POTM: Super star Shaz despite taking Millie out.
DOD: Karen for discussing with the umpires decisions.

- Karen Corrigan

Men's 3s

Bristol & West M3 [2-7] Marlborough M1

West Open - Men's Division 2 East

Marlborough College - Pitch 1

Newly promoted M3 in a new league was riding on confidence, with good pre season performances. Alas the game today was tougher, but definitely the standard we should be competing at, making for fun competitive hockey.

Unfortunately on the back foot for a number of reasons; travelling with only 11 fully fit against an established first team opposition. Thanks to new member Joel Dennison and pulled up returning Matt Sullivan to ensure we could field a team; combined they’ve not played for c.24 months! Which meant we had players who only met for the first time as we warmed up. We made it hard for ourselves with a shaky start, and what felt like a defensive training session for the first half, until we changed the system. Half time 1-4.

As a collective group we never gave up, but didn’t help letting in two early second half goals. Being behind didn’t break our spirits, as we grew into the game and controlled most of the last quarter, creating more chances and resulting another good team goal. Much to learn and to be proud of, regardless of the scoreline, as we recognised they were a well organised team, but we’re confident with a few tweaks, there are points to be gained in the second leg.

Goals: Joel Dennison, Alex Law
MoM: George Joyce - bossed it
DoD: John Whiting - oh dear

- Pakchum Tse

Women's 3s

Bristol & West Jaspers W3 [0-3] Team Bath Buccaneers W6

West Women's Brunel Division 2

Mangotsfield School

Women's 3s had a run around against Bath Bucs this afternoon. As always, TBB played 11 outfield and overloaded us in our defending D. The first half remained 0-0, but unfortunately they managed to sneak 3 goals in the second half and made the final score a 3-0 loss. We had a tie for POTM this week between Shaz with her brilliant saves (and it was her second game of the day!) and Eilidh Rayfield keeping us solid at the back. Onwards and upwards, I have good hopes for next week. Well done everyone!

- Polly Griffin

Men's 4s

Bristol & West M4 [7-0] South Gloucestershire M2

Mangotsfield School

4s (Shadow 5s) played south Gloucestershire. Good passing good team spirit. Sam Bennett got his first ever goal for Bristol. Andy Jowett got 1. X McKinnon scored two, but a surprise hattrick for Andrew McCann led to a 7-0 win. Really pleased with everyone and a great start towards #promotion26. End the day top of the league.

DOD: Bully
POM: X

- Andrew McCann

Women's 4s

Bristol & West Jaspers W4 [1-1] Keynsham W4

West Women's Brunel Division 3

Wellsway School

Well what a wonderful start for the ladies 4’s resulting in a point for us at the start of the season. We arrived keen for the win and determined to put into practise all that we have been working on in training.

Right from the start Keynsham attacked hard and for the first quarter we went under numerous waves of attack, but our defence remained strong. We held our shape well, with the option of always being that back pass. We remained determined and gradually started to push more into their half. As half time approached it looked like Georgie was going to complete an epic run towards goal but then the half time whistle went 0:0!

More of the same was called for. The team talk worked. Keynsham were obviously miffed that they hadn’t succeeded in scoring and set out on a mission of trying to get as many short corners as possible - I think Chloe said they had 11 and not one of those were converted. Rachel and Charlotte did an epic job of running out.

We managed to get a long corner. Manoji took this and Josie was hungry for the goal - some passing in and around the D resulted in a wonderful Manoji assist followed by Josie tapping the ball in... 1-0 up! Keynsham reacted and had numerous attempts on goal. Chloe also made numerous saves including an epic one high to her left.

Alas they were awarded a penalty flick in the final few minutes... they equalised the score line. End result 1-1.

Player of the Match: Josie
Defender of the Day: Chloe

So excited as to what looks to be a promising season for the 4’s.

- Catherine Charlton

Men's 5s

Bristol & West M5 [3-0] Cardiff & Met M6

West Open - Men's Bridge Division 2

Mangotsfield School

A confident start from Cardiff showed we were in for a game, though solid defending blunted their early attacks. After enduring the early pressure, we started to get into the ascendancy. Eventually the cracks opened though, and a rampaging run to the baseline by Joe from right back was turned into the net off a Cardiff foot. A few unrewarded corners followed, and 1-0 the halftime score.

The second half was one way traffic. The goal of the game followed, with an electric run from Joe to the baseline crossing to a rampaging Riley who somehow deflected it from an impossible angle outside the near post into the roof of the net. The final goal was the ultimate in route one - a Matt Gimson ICBM from inside our defensive quarter taken by Joe outpacing the Cardiff defence and slotting it past the keeper.

Excellent start to a new promotion push!

PoM: Joe McMahon (in one of the more lopsided votes I have seen!)
DoD: Riley Florio (including a vote from Si Florio....)

- Jeremy Bourke

Men's 6s

Bristol & West M6 [0-7] Minehead & West Somerset M3

West Open - Men's Concorde Division 2

West Somerset Community College

First game proper ended in a 7-0 loss but some context, we only had 10 due to illness, against their 14. We welcomed two new players, George and Vijay. In the spirit of the 6’s everyone kept going to the last minute. Whilst we didn’t create too many chances, both Sam and Peter went close late in the second half. Trev had an excellent game in goal and kept out more than the opposition scored. Tough start but onwards and upwards.

- Steven Mildren