The U-14s entered the National ENNA competition with five of their team borrowed from the U-12s: this was reflected in their 3 defeats this weekend. But the U-16 Girls became National Champios with 2 wins, 2-0 and 5-0 today against Futebol Benfica.

Yesterday the Veterans beat a a visiting German team from Idar-Oberstein 4-0, and then it was the turn of the Ladies to take on Sport Club in the home leg of their play-off Final. After losing the first game last week, the Casuals were again behind 0-1 at the break to a penalty corner goal. However they came back strongly in the second half to tie the score 1-1 and take the game into extra time. Unfortunately Sport Club scored the winning Golden Goal to become National Champions, but the Casuals Ladies can be proud of this season’s league campaign and their runners-up medals.

Travelling up to Porto today, the U-18s took on Viso. After failing to convert a penalty stroke, the Casuals finally broke down the Viso defence after 25 minutes, but then promptly allowed the home side to equalise 2 ninutes before half-time. However in the second half, a marked improvement in the Casuals’ play and attitude gave them a deserved 4-1 win.

The U18s travelled to Lousada this weekend for two league fixtures. In yesterday’s match against Lousada, the home side scored the only goal of the first half after 20 minutes. When they increased their lead from an excellent strike in the first minute of the second half, the Casuals did not give up; but, despite scoring themselves from a good tip-in, they could not find an equaliser and went down 1-2.

This morning’s match against Juventude was a different story: the Casuals started on the attack and were 4-1 up at the interval. Some frankly poor umpiring found its low point when the Casuals captain received a 5 minute suspension for exercising his right to question a dubious decision: this upset the team’s rhythm and allowed Juventude to pull back to 4-2 and then 5-3, but the Casuals deservedly ran out 7-4 winners.

Back in Lisbon, the Men’s team were involved in a very even league match against Espinho. Despite going behind twice, the Casuals levelled the score at 2-2 and had chances for a winner. But they were unfortunate to be beaten 2-3 by a penalty corner in the final seconds of the game.

This evening the Ladies travelled to Porto for the first leg of their play-off Final against Sport Club. A slow start set the tone for a crushing 0-5 defeat, but the Casuals have the chance to redeem themselves in the home leg next Saturday.

In the deciding third semi-final play-off game against Lousada this evening, neither the Casuals Ladies nor their opponents were able to break the deadlock until the visitors scored 7 minutes from time. But, with the Casuals unwilling to give up the fight, there was drama to come: from the final penalty corner before full time, the Casuals found an equaliser with a low drive into the backboards. This took the match into extra time and, 7 minutes into the first period, a Casuals attack down the left ended with a cross and a tap-in for the Golden Goal winner.

This takes the Casuals Ladies into their first league final, with the first leg next weekend in Porto against Sport Club.

Last night the Men beat a visiting London Wayfarers Vikings team 6-0 at the Estádio Nacional.

This morning the U-12s played in a Tournament at Casa Pia and won their first game against Futebol Benfica 2-1. They were 2-3 down at half time against Carris, but a second half fightback, with the winning goal scored in the last minute, gave them a 4-3 win.

The Ladies travelled to Lousada for the second leg of their semi-final play-off. After losing the first leg last week, they went on the attack and soon opened the scoring. Lousada came back strongly to level the scores before half time, but the Casuals made it 2-1 with 8 minutes to go. This means Lousada have to travel to Lisbon for the deciding game tomorrow.

On Sunday the Casuals Ladies played the home leg of their semi-final play-off against Lousada. After the visitors reached half time with a 4-0 lead, the Casuals were always going to struggle, but a much improved second half saw them score twice to restrict the damage to a 2-5 defeat.

U18 Tour to UK: Last Friday the Casuals U18s flew to Luton and then travelled on to Chelmsford for a weekend of hockey at Chelmsford HC. On the Saturday these two clubs and the other visitors, HC Zevenbergen from Holland, were distributed into 16 teams who competed against each other throughout the day.

The Sunday was earmarked for the ‘official’ U18 games. In the first match between Chelmsford and Casuals, the hosts’ superior finishing gave then a 3-0 half time lead; but, despite the Casuals improving their play in the second half, neither side was able to score again. After Chelmsford and Zevenbergen had played out a 1-1 draw, the Casuals took on the Dutch in the afternoon, and immediately looked threatening. They duly ran up a 3-0 lead with some flowing hockey, before Zevenbergen came back strongly to pull back 2 goals. However the Casuals were not to be denied and found the net again to run out 4-2 winners.

After a day’s tour of London on the Monday, the Casuals took on a Chelmsford U18 ‘B’ team in the evening. Playing some very mature hockey against a side missing some of their stronger players, the Casuals shot into a 4-0 half time lead. The second half saw a few changes to both sides , but the Casuals continued their ascendancy to win 7-0.

All 3 Clubs shared a great weekend of hockey and socialising, but special thanks are due to Chelmsford for their great organisation and the generous welcome they provided.

The U18s today hosted another league match against Juventude HC. Despite the visitors creating several chances, it was the Casuals who went ahead after 8 minutes from a fast break. They created many more chances and could have paid for their inability to convert them, when a Juventude attack ended with a shot being cleared off the line by a covering defender. But 7 minutes from time, the Casuals finally scored their second for a deserved 2-0 victory.

The Casuals began a full weekend of home fixtures yesterday morning with the U-12s notching up a 0-0 draw and a 1-0 win in their Tournament at the Estádio Nacional. The U-16 Girls also drew 0-0 with a Futebol Benfica team.

In the afternoon the Veterans took on Futebol Benfica. Leading 1-0 at half-time, the Casuals soon increased their lead and despite the visitors pulling a goal back, they ran out 4-1 winners.

The Men’s team got off to a dreadful start, conceding a goal in the first minute of their league match against Viso. They equalised six minutes later, but fell behind again to a needless penalty stroke. In the second half they put up a spirited fightback and were rewarded with an equaliser 10 minutes from time.

This morning the U-18s had a crucial league match against the 2nd placed team Lousada and this challenge was confirmed when the visitors opened the scoring after 25 minutes. However by the interval the Casuals were back on level terms. They increased the pressure in the second half, and a goal from a delicate tip-in and a well-worked penalty corner gave them a well earned 3-1 win.

After their excellent 3-0 win against Belenenses on Thursday evening, the Ladies today played their last match of this season’s regular league competition against Lousada. In a very even game, Lousada had the better chances; but they paid for their inability to convert any of them, when the Casuals scored the only goal of the game from a penalty corner 10 minutes from time.

The Casuals hosted two league matches this afternoon. The Ladies’ strong passing game brought them a 3-0 half-time lead and, although CAMIR reduced the deficit with the conversion of a penalty stroke, the Ladies added another goal for a 4-1 win.
The U-18s had a difficult first half against CAMIR and, although it remained goal-less, they could easily have been a goal down. Tactical changes brought immediate results, with a goal two minutes into the second half. The Casuals then kept up their attacking hockey to run out 4-1 winners.

The Men’s team travelled to Lousada this weekend for a double-header of league matches. In yesterday’s game against Lousada, the Casuals went ahead from a quickly taken free hit after quarter of an hour. Disciplined play kept the Casuals ahead until the 49th minute, when a shot following a Lousada foot gifted the home team an equaliser. Things got worse shortly after, when a seemingly illegal shot from a penalty corner allowed Lousada to take the lead. Two more goals in the last 10 minutes gave Lousada an exaggerated 4-1 win.
This morning a tired but upbeat Casuals team took some time to open the scoring against Juventude, but a 2-0 halftime lead was extended to a well-deserved 6-0 win.
Meanwhile in Lisbon this morning, the U-14s opened their Tournament with a 3-0 win against the Futebol Benfica B team. In their second game, they had a tough goal-less first half against Futebol Benfica A, but also beat them 3-0.
The Girls U-16 made it a clean sweep with another 3-0 win against Futebol Benfica in their first ever fixture in this age group.
A successful day for the Casuals was rounded off when the Ladies beat a visiting Southampton University team 10-1.

In yesterday’s league match against Futebol Benfica, the Men’s team went 1-0 up after 20 minutes and some constructive hockey, but the visitors equalised just befores the interval. Although the Casuals’ quality of play went down in the second half, a draw seemed likely until Futebol Benfica found a winner from a penalty corner 5 minutes before the end.
In this morning’s Veterans Tournament, the Casuals performed the unlikely feat of drawing all their four matches 0-0.
The weekend was rounded off with the U-18s beating Viso 1-0. The Casuals had by far the better of the game, but were unable to add to the scoreline.