Day 1 in Prague

Hello blog fans and welcome back to another Whitchurch European Hockey extravaganza all the way from Prague.

After arriving safely courtesy of the reliable Czech airlines, Mark “Bergkamp” Whatling successfully made the aeroplane journey after some heavy sedation, safely administered by Iwan “im a Doctor not a tramp, my hairstyle rocks“ Williams.  We then checked into the lavish and luxurious hotel Slavia situated (according to Nazir  “don’t worry ill sort it for a fiver“ Mohammed) 150m from the pitch.

A light training session from 8-9pm was made more enjoyable by Laith “don’t make an issue of it Keats” el Katib and Alex “its not a bin liner its my coat” Keating having a discussion about short corner routines. The team seemed relaxed and the bouncy pitch should give everyone a chance to show off their hockey basics according to Jon “doesn’t matter if u miss the first six!!!” Collis

Dinner was soup followed by pasta whilst watching the disappointing display from Man Utd but lets be honest who really cares. Jamie “my team aren’t anywhere near the final” Westerman seemed pleased with the result and said it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch.
24 hour Tesco allowed us to get some fluids, sweets, nuts, fruit, ice creams. For Nazir “Big spoon” Mohammed and Tizer “Little spoon” Moore a way to show that team work really pays off when they carried there 6 pack of water.

Our first game of the tournament is against our local rivals Cardiff the 5th game between the clubs this season. The squad is full of confidence going into the match and hope to put a performance for the travelling fans.

Tune in again same time tomorrow for some more fun from inside the squad.

Day 2 in Prague

Apparently kids in Prague do not sleep which meant we were all woken at 6:30am by their high pitched screaming (Don’t worry Ben Croxall has been CRB checked and they were only playing football outside our hotel!)  So after such a rude awaken, a  hand full of boys went for a morning stretch on the pitch only to find 3 goats grazing by the side (who says Eastern Europe isn’t full of clichés).  An athlete’s breakfast of hot dogs and angel cake followed with Laith “I always get searched at airports” El Khatib eating the lions share of hot dogs.

Following a couple of hours of waiting, the big game was upon us.  It has been a long old season playing the same old hockey teams so we were really looking forward to play the best that Europe has to offer.  We had travelled huge distances. From the deepest Wales to the shining lights of London. From the Heathrow metropolis to the beautiful ancient city of Prague.  Here we were wondering who could we be playing, stylish Paris maybe, glorious Rome perhaps, majestic Athens even. Errrrrr…… no, not quite.  We got to play those pikeys from over the Taff, Cardiff and UWIC.

So there we were about to face the old enemy for the 5th time this season. The air was tense, butterflies in the stomach (Laith even tried to claim the dodgy feeling in the stomach was nerves rather than the 18 under-cooked hot dogs he inhaled for breakfast).  However, our concerns fell by the way side following a glorious 35 minutes of hockey (so glorious that even our team Irishman Doug Young scored twice, one from a duff shot from Neil “umpire, I believe you made the wrong decision” Potter and another using his sledgehammer first touch). 

Jamie “I now have free reign to shoot from ANYWHERE” Westers realistically finished the game off a minute before half-time, making it 3-0 going into the break.  A spirited fight back by Cardiff made the game a little more of a contest but a well taken self preservation goal by Mark “I’m looking over your shoulder” Whatling finished the game on a high with 15 minutes remaining.

Day 3 in Prague

After Neil “I want to write the blog” Potter and Jon “I told u I’m not funny” Collis poor attempts well noted by fines master Alex “Let me take flicks” Keating.

Whitchurch faced their second opponents of the tournament the slags (Slagelse) from Denmark in what can only be described as one of those half’s where we were camped in the oppo’s half and the weather conditions played their part. Ben “bad aids” Croxall struggled with the pitch and illness the first 15 minutes until he decided to pull his finger out and man up!! The game was a bad tempered niggly affair from our boys but we eventually started to get some results. A flick awarded midway thorough the half, was coolly dribbled towards the keeper by Laith “it was ripped” Kebab. He claimed there was too much damage to connect properly. hmmm!

Minutes later Jon (Didier Drogba) Collis waltzed through the Danish defence only to be savagely up ended by the rush keeper - but the dive scores weren’t high enough to warrant a second stroke even though the keepers head was “kicked” off by the angry man

Eventually the dead lock was broken by Laith “I can‘t believe I missed again” Khatib and 2 more goals quickly followed with Rhys “I‘ll listen to coach ”Gowman showing the way to go round the keeper to convert the first and do the keeper and pass to the unmarked Jamie “Now Joint Top Scorer“ Westerman.

Game ended  3-1, but Richard “I’ve only had the stick 12 hours” John tried to make it closer by passing to the ball boys and another pass straight to the unmarked striker just outside the D. After the game Iwan “Johner’s who the F*** was that 2” Williams said he was pleased with the result but was gutted to concede such a soft goal.

Day 4 in Prague

Hello Whitchurch fans and welcome to another thrilling instalment of the Prague 09 blog.

Day 4 started bright and early with a jog and stretch, where for the first time Mark “don’t call 4 the ball when your marked” Whatling and Ben “Just good aids now” Croxall managed to sort out each others morning wood in record time and make the meet. Breakfast was the next call, with a healthy filling of the teams new favourite hotdogs and cake. However seconds was not an option as the Belarusian’s were cunningly smuggling out food for friends and relatives in the mother land.

Needing at least a draw from the last group game to finish top the team was focused on another win, Neil ’that was never an open goal’ Potter and Jamie ’shoot on sight’ Westerman both should have scored within a few minutes, before Dougie ‘terry butcher’ Young opened the scoring. Not a rough game although Laith ‘not by the hairs of my chinny chin chin’ el Kebab managed to head the ball to safety.

Rhys ‘slasher’ Gowman entered the fray only to be dismissed within seconds after a frankly wild and ugly ‘tackle’ at the opposition in what can only be retaliation for the other teams cake stealing earlier in the day!

Goals from Neil ‘give me the f******g ball’ Potter put us in front only for the Austrians to equalise in seconds. However we managed to nose in front with a flick from Alex ‘did him with the eyes’ Keating and a late goal from Jamie “Im just letting you know I’m here” Westerman sealing top spot in the group.

Special mention goes to tour virgin Rhys ’Toured the sex museum’ Gowman who completed a special hatrick of yellow card, missing an open goal and forgetting the mighty Whitchurch shirt at the end of the game.

Naz ’I’ve sorted the weather again’ Mohamed and Tyrone ’always itching’ Moore went to the local fishmongers to get the finest ice for weary legs. After ice baths some boys headed into Prague for some coulter or the sex museum.

Tomorrow is a massive game for the squad with a win promoting us to the Euro Trophy Tournament we just hope our tired body’s will allow us one more win. The boy’s would like to thank the group of supporters that have followed them out to Prague they have really made a difference.

Tune in again same time tomorrow where I’m sure there will be lot’s of interesting stuff to read about from the night out in Prague.