Neston Ladies 4s 4 Whitchurch ladies 2s 2

Whitchurch ladies 2s started the New Year with a cold game away to Neston ladies 4s.

Whitchurch started the stronger of the two teams with Emily Vernon and Phoebe Jones driving hard down the wings to apply pressure on the Neston defence. Neston pressed hard down the left but a number of timely interceptions from Becky Brookfield in the middle stopped the Neston progress. Whitchurch should have took the lead following a run and cross from Hayleigh Busby which was deflected just wide of the post by Stephanie Stanton.

Neston managed to string together a number of chances and despite the best efforts of Whitchurch defence Martha Teggin, Jess Kimberley, Emma Clarke and Natasha Foster and keeper Shola Bailey they took the lead. Neston doubled their lead after a scramble in the dee saw the ball go through a crowd of players and roll into the Whitchurch goal.

During halftime Whitchurch had a positive talk and were able to regroup and attempt to stage a comeback. Whitchurch struggled to breakdown the strong Neston defence in the early stages as their defence who stood their ground and broke up Whitchurch attacks. Whitchurch finally broke the through with quick passing between Beth Sykes, Busby and Stanton found Phoebe Jones unmarked in the dee to tap home.

Whitchurch grew in confidence and within minutes levelled the scores as Brookfield then spotted picked out Stanton free on the edge of the dee who then also slotted the ball past the Neston keeper.

Whitchurch started to lose focus as their efforts and weeks off back to take their toll and Neston took advantage of this and t scrambled the ball over the Whitchurch goal to bring the score to 2-3.

On the final whistle Neston were awarded a penalty corner, which they slotted into the goal leaving the final score to 4-2.

Whitchurch’s player’s player was Shola Bailey.

 

Golborne ladies 3s 0 Whitchurch ladies 3s 4

Whitchurch ladies 3’s headed to Golborne for this week‘s match. Golborne had first push back and took it with speed leaving Whitchurch wondering what was happening, after a few moments of gathering their thoughts Whitchurch settled won the ball and were on the attack.

The first short corner of the game was awarded to Golborne and Whitchurch defended well with excellent defensive deflection away from goal by Wendy Cooper. The Whitchurch side attacked strongly throughout the half and managed to turn the game around when Amy Fry found the back of the net.

Whitchurch were then awarded a short corner which Ellie McEvoy converted doubling the Whitchurch total. Whitchurch attacked hard through the match with the backing of a solid defence of Sally Pearce making her come back, Jan Teggin and goalie Maddie Sugden.

At half-time Whitchurch had a lead and after a good team talk went back onto the pitch ready to continue the attack. Not long into the second-half Tracy Tolhurst scored her first of the game after battling hard with several rebounds. The Whitchurch midfield of Kate Goodwin and Edina Jones were strong and backed up the attacking players to give them several chances on goal which they were unable to optimise on.

Victoria Corlett and Izzy Huxley led the Whitchurch attacks and this resulted in Tracy Tolhurst finding the back of the net for the second goal for her of the game. Whitchurch had lots of chances but unfortunately did not manage to capitalise but took another valuable three points.

Player of the match went to Edina Jones.

 

Whitchurch Men’s 2s 4 Golborne Men’s 3s 1

Whitchurch Men’s started their New Year with a win and much needed three points. Welcoming back two regular players to the team following injury and work commitments Whitchurch took the game to the opposition from the whistle.

Whitchurch thought they had taken an early lead but the ball was judged to have caught a Whitchurch foot before being slotted away. It didn’t take long before Whitchurch did take the lead as Ewan Morris stormed down the right wing and fired in a cross for Phil Tranter to deflect past the Golborne keeper.

Whitchurch defended in numbers aware from their game earlier in the year how dangerous Golborne could be on the break. Wyn Morris, Mark Sugden and Rob Chappell kept the Golborne attackers quiet and quickly broke up any chances they had to score. Whitchurch scored their second from a penalty corner as Fred Egerton ejected the ball to Craig Hockenhull who flicked past the advancing defenders.

Whitchurch went into the halftime break confident with their performance and hoping to keep the same level through the remaining half. Golborne started to push more players forward trying to get back in the game and keeper Neil Jones produced a number of clearances to frustrate the Golborne forwards.

Joseph Colburn playing in the midfield for the first time showed composure and presence far beyond his years frustrating the Golborne midfield with his skills and range of passing. An excellent interchange of passing between Coburn and Peter Scales created space for Craig Hockenhull in the dee to score his second of the game.

Whitchurch continued to push forward and Sam Conway was rewarded for all his efforts in the centre of midfield with a run and goal. Golborne showed they could still cause problems as they worked through the Whitchurch defence for a consolation goal.

The game slowed as in the final minutes as Whitchurch finished the game with ten players after the ball deflected into Fred Egerton mouth leaving him unable to complete the game but not seriously injured and the team dropped back to see out the remaining time and earn another three valuable points.

 

Lymm 2s 7 Whitchurch Men’s 1s 1

Struggling with availability for this weekend’s rescheduled games from the snowy period before Christmas, Whitchurch were only able to field a scratch eleven against Lymm, who they had narrowly beaten at the start of the season.

They were exposed early on, with Lymm overloading the right hand side of the pitch to set up a simple chance in front of goal.  While the Reds competed well for most of the half, creating a number of chances and forcing a series of short corners, they ended up 3-0 down after two more similar attacks were converted.

The second half followed the same pattern, with Lymm scoring early, before Whitchurch got their consolation goal from a short corner struck by Martin Beecher, saved by the keeper but deftly collected and put away by Ben Kimberley.  A brief period of hope followed, during which Whitchurch created further chances, but narrowly failing to convert them.

After this the effect of the Lymm substitutes really began to show, and despite valiant keeping from Paul Leigh, and the best efforts of defenders Matt Brooks and Ryan Murtagh, Lymm repeatedly overran the midfield and defence to convert three more times.

At the halfway point of the season, Whitchurch Men’s 1s are in 7th place but hoping for a more consistent and successful set of results in 2018.

 

Whitchurch ladies 1s 2 Wilmslow ladies 3s 4

Whitchurch ladies 1s entertained Wilmslow for their first league fixture of 2018. The game was very evenly matched for long periods with both teams moving the ball but neither team making the decisive breakthrough. Wilmslow finally broke the deadlock as they broke through the Whitchurch defence and beat the advancing Whitchurch keeper.

Whitchurch then raised their game and took the game back deep into the Wilmslow half. A quick free hit from Captain Catherine Winter-Gresty saw Holly Jepson drive into the Wilmslow dee and score the equaliser.

The second half saw another very close contest as the two teams competed, but a momentary lapse of concentration saw Whitchurch stop playing thinking the ball had gone out of play and Wilmslow pass to the unmarked forward to tap into the goal.

Whitchurch again raised their game and within minutes equalised as a fierce cross into the dee was met on the back post by Ellie Windsor to deflect into the Wilmslow goal.

Whitchurch then suffered their first blow of the afternoon reduced to ten players as Windsor took a raised ball into the hand preventing her from competing in the remainder of the match. Wilmslow took full advantage of their extra player and soon took the lead again.

Whitchurch suffered their second blow of the afternoon as Wilmslow pressed forward goalkeeper Gwyneth Thomas-Rees made a number of fine saves and then took a nasty blow that saw Whitchurch reduced to nine players for the remaining couple of minutes. As Whitchurch defended in numbers Wilmslow scored their fourth to complete the victory.