WH&E L1 5 : 0 Ashford
After a passive, sheepish 1st half the Ladies 1s really upped their game in the 2nd half to run away with a convincing 5-0 win!
Playing against bottom of the league Ashford meant that it was time to get some goals in, and we did just that. Only 1 in the first half from Karen Smith but a push in the 2nd half meant Karen Goode got 2, Helen Fenning got 1, and 1 for the skipper, Bethany.
Some highlights were…
Bethany; after receiving the ball into the D, she decided to simply fall to ground after no challenge whatsoever…
Luckily for Bethany, superstar on the right Karen Goode swept up the ball and slotted it into the goal.
Karen Goode’s 2nd goal about 2 minutes from the end of the match taken from the baseline at the edge of the D beautifully ending up in goal.
Freya’s beaut save in the beginning of the game when we weren’t quite playing our best.
Our hard work has paid off as we’ve just moved out of relegation zone.
Well done Ladies ♥
#dreamteam #fight #hockeyfamily
WH&E M2 4 : 0 Southgate Tankards Z
A bright and early start against a mature Southgate team. We started strong, with people finding space, putting in good passes and defending from the front. Spent a lot of the first half up their end pressuring their goal. This led to them making sloppy passes and giving the ball away frequently as they struggled to move up the pitch. One attack though did get all the way through to the goal, leading to a great looking save by Nick. Not quite so good from his perspective, as play was paused for a while as he checked he still had the full complement of equipment down below, nasty!
Ultimately, we scored 3 goals in the first half: A good deflection by Leo. Wonderful poaching at the far post by Thomas. The third was a fantastic bit of teamwork, some lovely passing interplay led to Thomas setting up Rafi.
The second half was harder. We weren’t quite as sharp, the opposition pressed higher and harder. Despite this they didn’t have many clear-cut chances, a lot of time was spent in gritty midfield play. Eventually Hitesh decided he’d had enough and some dirty play led to a green card and a short corner. We survived this and were soon having one up the other end. Dom duly dragged it into the goal and that was that.
Final score: 4-0.
MOTM: Thomas, good play on the right. Found space, played passes, tracked back, involved in two goals.
DOTD: Hitesh, taking up the green card mantle.
WH&E L2 4 : 2 Old Merchant Taylors L3
The Ladies 2s had a sleepy start with 11 on pitch and Gem playing kicking back. As Debs kitted up on the sidelines, OMTs made the most of it scoring an early goal from a short corner that bobbled just inside the post.
Undaunted, we were quick to respond with a centre pass to Charlotte who crossed it into the D for Abbi to sweep home. Hill woke up and both teams battled for the ball especially Mia and Kate who showed great grit in the centre. Some of our more experienced players (Pippa, Gem and Mich) were perhaps a little too over-enthusiastic and were spoken sternly to by the umpire. Naughty naughty! Our second goal came from an Ellie pass to Michelle who hit the backboard with a good-looking reverse sweep and we went into half time 2-1 up.
Sorry Ellie but I can’t really remember your goal which could have contributed to me thinking the game ended in a draw (DotD to me!). I think it was one of those scraggly, everyone in the D messes and Ellie slotted it in from close range. We stayed calm under sustained pressure from OMT, including quite a few short corners. Debs made some great saves but unfortunately one slipped through. That goal made for tense few minutes especially when we went down to ten players (tut tut Mich). Gem brought a sense of relief (to everyone apart from Lisa who somehow still thought it was 2-2) as she stonked the ball into the goal from a beautiful short corner strike.
We saw out the rest of the game comfortably but missed out on the cherry on top when a ‘Harry Stone’ tennis special whizzed just outside the post!
A good day all round. Well done ladies, what a great game.
WH&E M1 2 : 4 Vauxhall M1
Match report unprintable ?