Winchester Hockey Club Oracle Edition 42
U18 Girls
vs Marlow - 3-2
Scorers: Lizzy W (2), Viv
Another lengthy trip for an away game and thank you to all the parents who provided transport. Marlow started strongly and we had a flurry of short corners against us in the first five minutes with Marlow opening up the scoring quickly. It looked like it might be a rather one-sided game but the girls settled down and worked hard to level the score with a goal from Lizzy W. Five minutes later Viv scored from a short corner and we finished the first half 2-1 up.
Marlow applied continuous pressure in the second half with Chloe again making excellent saves and Izzy and Amelie also making saves off the line but despite this Marlow equalised from open play. The midfielders and forwards battled back in the heat and Lizzy W scored her second goal of the game giving us a 3-2 win.
U14 Boys
‘A’s vs Havant - 6-0
Scorers: Bertie (2), Tom, Will L, Teddy, Isaac
Winchester U14 boys secured their first league points of the season with a comfortable victory over Havant. Learning from the previous week’s experience, the coaches tweaked Winchester’s line up in an attempt to get the team playing wider and faster. This included a few changes of position, which worked well thanks to the willingness of the boys to try new positions and execute the game plan. In particular, Tom controlled the game from central midfield, Lawrence offered a serious threat wide on the right and Teddy proved a willing and energetic presence up and down the right flank.
Winchester were always in control and it wasn’t long before a typically weaving run into the D gave Tom an opportunity to clinically despatch the opening goal. Bertie scored two crackers and it was really pleasing to see some of the less experienced players embracing the dynamic nature of the attacking game, and getting themselves into goal scoring positions. Isaac has great intensity and was rewarded for his desire and instinct to get himself close to goal with a back post tap in; Will L got himself in position to strike in a rebound and Teddy deflected in a shot from close range.
Once the game was won, a few players were guilty of taking too much on themselves, but all in all this was a great performance and a further step forward in their development.
‘B’s vs Trojans - 3-1
Scorers: Ben, Tom, Patrick
The result did not quite reflect the overall closeness of this match. With both sides fielding several players who had not played 11-a-side matches before, it was a compelling contest. Trojans certainly attacked strongly in the first half and thankfully Hugo in goal and his co-defenders Freddie, Benno, Ollie and Leo excelled in holding them at bay.
In response, two guest Winchester U12s - Nat and Will - linked well with Oscar and proved to be a real threat to test the visitor’s defence. It was not really a surprise when Trojans went ahead early in the second half but then they sat back on their laurels as Tim, Archie and Aedan began to then create several good chances in the visitor’s D. Three were duly scored close to the end of the game – well taken by Ben, Tom and Patrick. A really exciting game full of memorable debuts.