Match Reports 12-10-19

Rhyl ladies 1s 2 Whitchurch ladies 1s 10

The ladies 1s this week travelled away to Llandudno to take on Rhyl 1s. Their first goal came from Jessica Carruthers after a battle with the keeper on the goal line. Lisa Sullivan worked her way quickly up the pitch, showing off many skills before selflessly passing it on the Izzy Huxley, who scored the team’s second goal. Shortly afterwards, Sarah Field worked hard to get two back to back goals, pushing the score to 4-0.

After the half time break, Rhyl broke through the defence to score a lucky goal. In response to this, Chloe Lloyd and Millie Edwards worked together down the line to get the ball to Ellie Windsor who scored a nifty goal off a deflection.

Captain Catherine Winter-Gresty fought her way through to pick out Carruthers on the back post to score another goal. Rhyl again stepped up and drove down the pitch very quickly, counter-attacking off a mistake. Maddy Sugden, the teams goal keeper, made some amazing saves, but unluckily one of Rhyl players was left unmarked and scored their final goal. 6-2 up, Emma Harper played some superb balls into the dee, allowing Field to score another amazing goal. Soon afterwards, Whitchurch were awarded a short corner, which Field yet again scored off.

Amazing play from captain Catherine Winter-Gresty was sadly curtailed after she was hit from a lifted side line ball. Down to 10 players, Whitchurch had to step up their game… and they did! With only 4 minutes left, Sullivan made a slick pass into the dee allowing Field to score her final (and 5th) goal! Windsor won Whitchurch a short corner in the final few minutes, allowing Field to cross the ball to Hebe Dixon, who slotted the ball into the bottom corner. Players player was awarded to Lisa Sullivan, which was well deserved.

Next week the team will be playing Warrington 1s at home.

Whitchurch Men’s 2s 1 Clwb Hoci Eirias 3s 1

After the heavy defeat away at Oxton, the Men’s 2s were looking to get their promising start to the season back on track with the visit of Eirias 3s to SJT. The Welsh side themselves had started the season reasonably well and proved to be a tough side to score against, having conceded only twice in their preceding games.

Whitchurch started the game well. Luke Beddow, Joe Coburn, Ethan Gresty and David Brunyard gained some control in midfield and drove the team towards the Welsh goal, but Eirias demonstrated why they’d been so difficult to score against by defending well on the edge of the dee. The 2s won several free hits around the edge of the dee but couldn’t get any meaningful possession closer to the goal and couldn’t turn the free hits into short corners.

The game evened out as the half wore on. Both sides had moments of control, forcing their opponent back towards their own dee. Eirias won a series of short corners, but resolute defending by Wyn Morris, Brendan Coburn, Will Snaith and Alex Leigh, plus some excellent stops from stand-in keeper Gareth Teggin kept the Welsh side at bay.

As the game opened out, Whitchurch also found good positions within the dee and eventually opened the scoring from a short corner. Euan Morris received the ball at the top of the dee, jinked left and swept the ball into the goal on the reverse stick.

The 2s saw out the rest of the half to go into the interval with a slender 1-0 lead and started the second half in the ascendancy. Pip Jones added power and experience into midfield, and the team were looking after the ball much better. Coupled with James Page, Owen Pearce, Jacob Buckeridge and Will Gilbert rotating onto the wings to provide energy and width, Whitchurch threatened to extend their lead.

Unfortunately, the rotation of subs to bring on fresh legs and to ensure every member of the squad got good playing time, seemed to knock Whitchurch out of their stride. Familiar mistakes of running the ball into trouble rather than passing the ball quickly handed the initiative to Eirias. For a spell the home side seemed be repelling attack after attack. The defending was excellent, and Gareth Teggin made several more good saves. The help from the midfield was also vital, with Dave Brunyard making an incredible goal line clearance whilst running towards his own goal.

Eventually however the Welsh side’s momentum brought them a deserved equaliser. For a period Eirias looked like they would go on and snatch the lead, but Whitchurch dug deep, defended deep and looked to threaten on the counterattack.

Neither side was able to find the winning goal, and whilst both teams will think they could or should have won the game, a draw was probably a fair result.

The Whitchurch defence and keeper were excellent all game and the midfield and attack had moments of good play, but too often fell into familiar failings … running the ball rather than passing and becoming too narrow when attacking. However, this game featured a very young squad, with three of the regular adults missing or injured for the game, resulting in 11 under-16s making up the 16-man squad.

Special mention to Gareth Teggin who stepped in as keeper for the first time this season in the absence of captain Neil Jones. Gareth had an excellent game making several important saves. Will Gilbert provided some fantastic energy in the second half, both on the wing and in his short stint up front. And a big thanks to Pip Jones for stepping in at the last minute to add some experience to the side and significantly increase the average age of the team!

Next up for the Men’s 2s is a trip to Malpas to face Deeside Ramblers 7s on Saturday 19th October.

Whitchurch ladies 3’s 1 Alderley Edge 8’s 3

After a tough week of getting a team together, Whitchurch went into action with a full team.

Following the push back Alderley Edge produced a strong attack catching Whitchurch off guard and resulted in an early goal for the visitors. Whitchurch’s heads came up and they began to attack back. A strong attack from Alice Page and Louise Whitley on the left supported by Caitlin Edwards, Ellie McEvoy and Hermione Ball got the ball into the opponents dee where Beth Wright took a shot which was saved by the keeper and Alice Page caught the rebound and had another shot which was also deflected.

Alderley Edge then pushed on with their attack and pressured Whitchurch’s defence of Mel Reid and Emma Stubbs who held strong. Keeper Louise Cottrell made some excellent saves from the visitors attacks. The first half was almost over when Whitchurch pushed hard up the pitch with some excellent passing and teamwork in the dee gained a short corner. After a couple of attempts from the Whitchurch attack, Jasmin Williams managed to score her first goal for the club bring the score to 3-1 at half time.

After a positive team talk at half time from captain Wendy Cooper, Whitchurch went back onto the field with a positive outlook. Whitchurch dominated the second half with some superb passing from Annie Leigh and Jan Teggin resulting in Beth Wright having a shot which beat the keeper but scrambled off the goal line. Alderley Edge pushed again and thought they had scored from a penalty corner but a foot ruled out the effort. Jasmin Williams earned a well-deserved players player.

Next week Whitchurch 3’s travel away to play Bowden 7’s.