Whitchurch ladies 1s 1 Oxton ladies 2s 1

It was a clash of the leagues top two as Whitchurch ladies 1s played Oxton ladies 2s this week. After the last few games of a slow start Whitchurch were determined to take the game to Oxton.

For the start of the game it was very equal with the ball being passed around between both teams and it was obvious that both sides wanted to gain the advantage and the win.

Oxton finally took the advantage against the run of play as they broke through the Whitchurch defence Catherine Reece-Gresty and Katie Fowles and scored first.

Whitchurch pushed up and seemed to take more control of the game in the second half earning a few short corners. Plenty of shots on goal from Emma Harper and Lisa Sullivan helped put pressure on the Oxton defence but they continued to stand strong.

Whitchurch captain Catherine Gresty scored pushing the ball past the keeper. Ellie Windsor and Nikki Workman worked hard in the Oxton dee to score another but couldn’t make it as time was running out.

At the end Whitchurch were disappointed not to have come away with the three points but the valuable point for the draw still keeps them in the promotion places with two games to go.

Player of the match went to keeper Gwyneth Thomas-Rees.

 

Whitchurch ladies 2s 1 Neston ladies 3s 11

Whitchurch travelled to play top of the league Neston knowing that this would be a tough match and Whitchurch knew that they couldn’t give up trying to keep the strong Neston team at bay.

Whitchurch fought hard to keep the tactical Neston team away from the Whitchurch dee and with a strong defence of Jess Kimberley, Wendy Cooper and Emma Clarke and keeper Shola Bailey were unable to keep the Neston team away as they were just really strong.

During the first half Whitchurch suffered a major hit back as defender Wendy Cooper was unable to play on due to injury and this left Whitchurch fighting throughout and the Neston team came back stronger and faster.

At halftime Whitchurch had a strong positive talk from Captain Julia Neale and gave Whitchurch a boost even though we were down 7-0 at half time and gave everyone a calming down as it was getting a bit stressful.

In the second half Whitchurch had turned around and became a lot more defensive and got back and helped to keep Neston at bay. With 5 minutes to the end the Neston team began to tire and Whitchurch saw a break and Jess Kimberley ran the ball past the Neston team and past the kicking back and scored the one and only goal for Whitchurch.

This game did not reflect on how well the Whitchurch team had been playing.

Next week Whitchurch will be entertaining Neston 4s at home at 12:30 push back.

 

Whitchurch Men’s 2s 3 Deeside Men’s 7s 0

Whitchurch 2s entertained Deeside Ramblers 7s in their penultimate game of the season, looking to avenge their unfortunate defeat in the return fixture earlier in the season.

Whitchurch started brightly and took control of the early stages of the match but good chances were hard to come by as Deeside defended resolutely. However as the first half wore on, so Whitchurch’s formation became more ragged allowing Deeside to get a foothold in the game.

As Whitchurch pushed forward to create chances, Deeside resorted to leaving 2 players high up the pitch and breaking quickly past the Whitchurch midfield. The quick breaks enabled Deeside to outnumber the Whitchurch defence on a number of occasions, but the defence of Iain Bones, Mark Sugden, Ryan Murtagh and Doug Buckeridge repelled most of the attacks and limited any clear cut chances. When Deeside did get shots at goal, goalkeeper Aaron Swain made some good saves.

At the other end, Whitchurch were starting to create chances of their own and forced the Deeside keeper into a number of good saves. A succession of short corners were won and eventually Ben Fry scored with a slow shot from the edge of the D.

Despite the 1-0 lead at half-time Whitchurch made some adjustments to their formation to prevent Deeside bypassing the Whitchurch midfield. Ryan Murtagh switched to sweeper behind the defence and Richard Leigh dropped into a deeper midfield position.

The changes worked and blunted the Deeside attacking threat in the second half with Richard effectively taking Deeside’s strongest midfield player out of the game. Other than a flurry of short corners midway through the half, one of which was well defended by Iain Bones and one well saved by Aaron Swain, the Whitchurch goal was relatively untroubled.

Whitchurch’s attacking threat was much more dangerous in the second half. Simon Valiente-Briceno and Jack Barnes caused Deeside all sorts of problems, ably assisted by Craig Hockenhull in centre midfield and Jake Wood and Josh Parry in the wide positions. A number of chances were created most of which fell to Simon, who just couldn’t manage to get the ball in the Deeside goal. Jack Barnes, Craig Hockenhull and Iain Bones all had attempts from short corners flash narrowly wide or well saved by the Deeside keeper.

Eventually Whitchurch doubled their lead thanks to a brilliant run by Phil Tranter. Cutting in from the left and beating three Deeside defenders he unselfishly squared for Jack Barnes to fire through the keeper’s legs.

Further good chances came and went for Whitchurch until Ben Fry found Simon Valiente-Briceno in the D and he got the goal he deserved on the reverse stick.

The 3-0 win leaves Whitchurch 2s in 7th place in the league, just behind Llandudno 2s who have now played all of their fixtures this season. Whitchurch travel to Denbigh next weekend for their final game of the season. A win would see the 2s finish 6th in the table.