Whitchurch Men’s 1s 7 Liverpool Sefton 4s 0
Whitchurch men’s 1st entertained Liverpool Sefton 4s and despite a number of the regular players being unavailable and the weather Whitchurch men’s 1s were determined to win.
Tom Leonard and Tom Forrester both returned to the team after absences and contributed to Whitchurch winning the game. Joe Nicholson opened the scoring with the first of his goals and Tom Leonard scored a second from a well-worked short corner to give Whitchurch a 2-0 lead at the break.
Whitchurch continued to pressure in the second half and Joe Nicolson scored another well-worked short corner Liverpool lacked the speed of the Whitchurch midfield and when Tom Forrester picked out Joe Nicholson in the dee he fired the ball into the top of the net.
Some nice passing between Aaron Swain and Jake Woods provided the pass for Joe Nicholson to score his fourth of the game. Tom Leonard scored two goals in quick succession in the dying stages of the game to complete his hattrick.
Deeside Mens 7ths 2 Whitchurch Mens 2s 1
If ever there was a game of two halves this was it. Whitchurch started the stronger of the two teams and despite having chance after chance from both short corners and open play they couldn’t take advantage of their opportunities presented throughout the first half. Eventually an Ellis Hickson shot was deflected home by Jack Barnes to give Whitchurch a slim lead going into the break.
The second half saw Whitchurch forced back as Deeside re-arranged and attacked on the break from which they scored from a penalty corner. Whitchurch lost their discipline as more players pushed forward looking for a winning goal, this left space for Deeside who took fall advantage to take the lead from another penalty corner.
Whitchurch continued to apply pressure the Deeside defence and chances came and went and the Whitchurch team started to show its frustration and with ten minutes left Whitchurch were reduced to ten men and their efforts to equalise were gone.
Oxton ladies 2s 2 Whitchurch ladies 1s 4
Whitchurch ladies 1s travelled away this week to play Oxton 2s for a top two place in the league. From the start Whitchurch took the game to Oxton, with majority of the play around their dee.
First goal came from a short corner with a straight strike from Lisa Sullivan and followed minutes later with a pass into the dee from captain Catherine Gresty and Sue Read tapping in her first goal of the match. Just before half time a well-executed short corner saw Sue Read once again tap in for her second.
Oxton seemed a bit shell shocked with how hard Whitchurch were attacking as the ladies kept the pressure on with several more shots at goal from Nicola Workman, Ellie Windsor and Lisa Sullivan.
Oxton came back hard and keeper Gwyn Thomas- Rees and defenders Katie Plant, Gayle Ladd, Emily Hilton and Catherine Reece-Gresty had to work hard to keep Oxton at bay but after a number of hard strikes on goal Oxton scored.
Whitchurch worked hard and bounced back to get the ball back into the opposition half and as a result captain Catherine Gresty pushed through the defence and scored through the keepers legs.
With five minutes to go Whitchurch just needed to hold onto the ball but Oxton were determined to get another which they managed with nearly all their players in the Whitchurch dee at the final whistle their were smiles on Whitchurch 1s faces to have beaten top of the league 4-2.
Whitchurch ladies 2s 0 Neston ladies 3s 9
The score in no way reflected the majority of the game. Whitchurch started the match ready and willing but Neston took advantage of the gaps that Whitchurch left them to score past goalkeeper Phoebe Jones. Neston didn’t stop there and scored a further three goals before half time.
Whitchurch managed from the break to get the ball up into the Neston dee but were unable to convert. Masie Owen and Ashleigh Heath worked tirelessly down the middle and the right hand side getting the ball high for Charlotte Lawder to run the Oxton defence.
Whitchurch defence of Emma Clarke, Becky Brookfield, Mel Reid and Sami Ives worked tirelessly until the end hitting the ball clear of the goal with Phoebe making numerous saves.
Helen Hocknell, Captain Julia Neale, Emily Vernon worked tirelessly with the ball to get it up to the Neston dee but Neston just had the speed and the strength on the ball.
During half time Whitchurch had a very tactical talk that helped the team to work more as a unit and keep the ball more in the centre of the pitch. Neston grew stronger on the second half went on and Whitchurch tired and they applied more pressure than they did in the first half resulting in a further five goals.
Mel Reid was awarded player of the match. Whitchurch will be travelling to play against Brooklands Poynton.