Whitchurch Men’s 2s 3 Neston Men’s 8s 2

After a heavy defeat away at Neston earlier in the season, Whitchurch were hoping to turn the tables when Neston arrived at SJT with a much younger team than they fielded in the first match.

Whitchurch began with a focus on defence trying to frustrate the Neston players. Without any substitutes the away team soon began to tire and the Reds soon began to string together some good passes resulting in some great opportunities. Euan Morris was receiving lots of passes from Luke Beddow, Ethan Gresty and Joe Coburn resulting in plenty of shots on goal, two of which narrowly missed the post.

The game was starting to heat up and the away side couldn’t get the ball out of their half, with their through balls being blocked by the Whitchurch defence. Good play from Will Snaith started a dangerous run up the left which was continued by Luke Beddow but unfortunately didn’t result in a goal. Buoyed by the vocal support from the sidelines, Jacob Buckeridge played a good pass down the wing to Euan Morris, who dribbled along the touchline and crossed for Owen Pearce to score a debut goal and put the home side 1-0 ahead.

Neston fought back with long balls forward towards their speedy players, but all danger was quickly cleared by Brendan Coburn and Wyn Morris in defence. Eventually, however, Brendan was caught in a 1v1 with the Neston striker and after evaluating the situation he decided his best option was to just bulldoze the visiting player … resulting in a penalty flick. Unfortunately, despite the miss-hit flick, the ball went straight between keeper Gareth Teggin’s legs and was near impossible for Gareth to save.

Neston rode the high from their equalizing goal and produced a quick succession of strong attacks. After a foul in the dee the away team won a series of short corners which were well defended by the Reds. But Neston soon took the lead when they struck on the counter attack and after another scramble in the Whitchurch dee.

Whitchurch kept their heads up and, with great captaincy from Richard Leigh, struck back to equalise. A free hit near the edge of the Neston dee found its way to Wyn Morris who slammed the ball into the goal.

With minutes remaining, Whitchurch were soon on the attack again. Once again, Euan Morris jinked his way into the visitor’s dee and unselfishly passed to Luke Beddow who scored with a great finish to make the score 3-2.

This was another excellent performance from the young Whitchurch team. Owen Pearce crowned a good debut with a goal and Alex Leigh was excellent in defence in his first senior game. Joe Faithfull provided energy in midfield and Joe Coburn continued to provide steel and guile in midfield. Luke Beddow thoroughly deserved his goal for his excellent contributions in the past couple of games and it was great to see “golden oldie” Wyn Morris score his first goal, although what he was doing in the attacking dee is anybody’s guess!

The Men’s 2s now have a couple of weekends off before they travel to Oxton 5s on 2nd March.

Deeside Rambler Ladies 3s 1 Whitchurch Ladies 1s 3

Whitchurch Ladies 1s faced local rivals Deeside Ramblers 3s for a top of the league decider match last Saturday.

Deeside’s young, 16 strong squad appeared to dominate the game from the outset with many balls turned over from each Whitchurch attack. Opportunities to score by the forwards Stephanie Stanton, Izzy Huxley and Ellie Windsor were not converted, allowing Deeside to take an early lead with a break past the Whitchurch defence with their striker scoring a convincing goal from the top of the dee.

Whitchurch mid-fielders Hebe Dixon, Lisa Sullivan and Catherine Winter-Gresty were forced to continually join the defensive line of Helen Mellor, Millie Edwards, Catherine Reece-Gresty and Sophie Ward, as Deeside’s tactics of closing down every ball on the Whitchurch stick put the whole team under pressure resulting in several penalty corners successfully defended by goalkeeper Maddy Sugden.

The half time team talk by Captain Catherine Winter-Gresty focused on the need to turn the tables on the opposition, this proved to pay dividends as the dynamic Lisa Sullivan took hold of the centre field allowing for better distribution of the ball amongst the Whitchurch attack.  This created scoring opportunities as the first Whitchurch goal came from a big hit from Sullivan from the top of the dee, this hit the Deeside goalie’s pads allowing Helena Dannenfeldt to score off the rebound.

This equaliser gave the Whitchurch players the boost needed to take control of the game, Hebe Dixon quickly increased the score with the first of two, running in to the Deeside dee and hitting a reverse stick hit past the keeper up into the net. This was followed by her second goal instigated from a build up by Sophie Ward, Ellie Windsor and finally a pass by Izzy Huxley, which Dixon flicked around the keeper.

The final score line was 3-1 to Whitchurch and a top of the table ranking in Cheshire League’s Division 3, secured for another week.

Whitchurch ladies 3s 2 Triton Ladies 3s 2

Whitchurch ladies 3s hosted the match against Triton ladies 3s this week.

After winning first push Whitchurch attacked strongly and after a few minutes Captain Wendy Cooper attempted to open the scoring but her shot went wide of the goal. Whitchurch continued to push forward with a large amount of possession but attempts to score by Nikki Forster and Sue Read came close but to no avail.

Whitchurch were awarded several short corners from which Nina Hodges managed to score from putting Whitchurch a goal ahead. Triton then caught Whitchurch off guard and managed to equalise just before half time.

Whitchurch took the lead in the early stages of the second half with another goal from Nina Hodges which earned her player of the match. Whitchurch demonstrated a strong attack throughout the match with some excellent tackles and passes from Kate Buckeridge, Millie Carruthers, Mia Spruce and Laura Workman. Annie Buckeridge played an excellent game providing a strong attack throughout the match.

Whitchurch’s defence were strong with some excellent clearances from keeper Beth Wright supported by Mel Reid and Emily Lister, but triton managed to equalise.

Whitchurch were pleased with their efforts and hard work and travel to Bowden 7’s next week.

Brooklands Men’s 6s 5 Whitchurch Men’s 1s 1

Whitchurch travelled to the centre of Manchester for an early game against Brooklands without several regular players.

Brooklands started the game the quicker of the two teams and quickly scored three goals as Whitchurch struggled to find their feet. Whitchurch started to settle and spread the ball around and started to get more possession in the midfield with Jack Barnes, Alex Fry and Ben Kimberley. Whitchurch started to string together passes and pressure the Brooklands defence with Ben Kimberley forcing a fine save from the keeper. Whitchurch were awarded several short corners and from one of these Craig Hockenhull deflected in Barnes shot.

For long periods Whitchurch were in the game but unforced errors and the clinical finishing of Brooklands took the game away from them as Brooklands finished the half 4-0 up.

The second half saw the makeshift defence of Dale Seymour and Danny Foulkes start to settle as a partnership ably supported by Airon Jones and Fred Egerton. Whitchurch created chances but were let down in the final third as they struggled with their final passing around the dee.

Tom Forster and Sam Conway worked tirelessly on the wings but it was just not Whitchurch’s day and despite a number of brilliant saves by Whitchurch goalkeeper Paul ‘Sturge’ Leigh Brooklands scored another two in the second half.