Winchester Hockey Club Oracle Edition 24

Under 14 Girls

EH CUP match vs guildford - 2-0

Scorers: Amelie Carter, Amelia Wakely

On a wet and windy Halloween morning, the Winchester U14 girls headed up to Priorsfield School to play against Guildford U14 girls in the EH Cup. The Guildford girls were a strong and skilful side who kept the pressure high from the very start right to the end. After a close first half, the girls enjoyed their oranges and Haribo during the half time chat. A strong start to the second half saw Winchester force some fantastic saves by the Guildford keeper and Amelie Carter was at the back post to tap in a first goal for Winchester. Amelia Wakely then scored ten minutes later to double Winchester’s lead. Winchester defended very well in the last ten minutes under pressure from Guildford to secure their win. The bond that we have formed really helped us strive our way to victory as we all really enjoy training and playing together as a squad. Players of the match were Bea Eaton and Amelia Wakely.

Written by Bea Eaton.


Under 14 Boys

EH Cup Match vs Oxford Hawks - 4-0

Scorers: Bertie Lander (2), Tom Nolan, Billy Jones

After a night and early morning of torrential rain, the sun came out just in time for the start of the boys match. Our boys started well, relentlessly driving the ball forward but a resilient Oxford defensive and their fearless and extremely effective Goalie meant that despite numerous attempts our first goal wasn’t forthcoming. Finally towards the end of the first half Bertie broke the deadlock - 1- 0 to Winchester.

After half time the boys were hungry for more goals with everyone pushing up, that led to a few loose balls getting through but with support from Finn in goal, our defence managed to chase back gather the ball and send it forward once more. Working together with some excellent teamwork, three more well deserved goals were scored. Final score 4-0. Well played to all the boys - many thanks to the coaches and parents for all their support and Pete and Max Wedderburn for umpiring.

U14B vs basingstoke - 7-2 (24 October)

Scorer: Tom Nolan (2)

A tough start for the U14 boys’ B squad, facing what appeared to be much the same Basingstoke squad that played the A team the previous week, rather than an expected B squad. The young Winchester boys in fact started very brightly forcing a couple of short corners early on and although suffering from slow injections, the ball bobbled around each time and Tom Nolan was on hand to score in the second play. Basingstoke played some excellent hockey thereafter with good pace and strong right wing play to score 4 goals in the first half and with substantial possession. Thanks to Harrison in goal, many attacks were thwarted by an excellent display of goalkeeping and anticipation (throughout the match) as many of the Winchester outfield players found it very hard to play the ball down their own right-hand side, with many passes getting intercepted as they tried to move from left to right.

A reshuffle of team positions saw Bertie Lander playing the pivotal point of the defence which stemmed much of the Basingstoke central attack in the second half and that gave a lot of self-belief to debutants Oscar, Sam and Finn. There were some strong performances from Campbell, Henry and Matthew - all making many good passing decisions under pressure. Silas, Arthur and Ed also made some telling runs and with good movement on the ball to put the visiting defenders on their guard and force through some telling attacking play, in occasional quality bursts. Basingstoke did score three more goals in the second half, largely only though the occasional fast break attacks, as Harrison with player support was generally able to clear the danger when the attacks built up much more slowly. Tom Nolan completed the scoring, again from a short corner, which was the last part of play in the whole game, as he followed up yet another bobbling ball.


Covid Reminder

A brief reminder that if players feel unwell, they should not attend a hockey session. If players test positive, please email Kate Ellis (07598 779126), the club COVID officer, as soon as possible, confirming date of first symptoms, date of positive test and last hockey session attended. These details can also be used to pass on to Test and Trace.


WHC Kit Shop

We are pleased to announce a new kit supplier partnership with Akuma. You can now order individual shirts at any time, as well as a selection of other kit and ideas for those thinking ahead to Christmas! Please note, orders will take six weeks to deliver from date of ordering. If ordering a shirt, please email Stuart Swift first to obtain the playing shirt number, which should then be recorded in Teamo. Club socks can be ordered from Stuart and are priced at £10. Details are accessible through the website, by clicking on ‘WHC Kit Shop’.