Golborne Men’s 2s 7 Whitchurch Men’s 2s 1

Whitchurch travelled away to face top of the league in a late start. Golborne took the game to Whitchurch from the start with a combination of strong running and quick passing and were in front within 5 minutes.

Whitchurch throughout the game caused Golborne issues on the break with the speed down the wings from Airan Jones and Alfie Williams. Whitchurch created chances but failed to take advantage forcing some excellent saves from the Golborne keeper.

Golborne had no such issues scoring from two penalty corners to give them a three goal lead at half time.

Whitchurch’s halftime talk was positive focusing on a few areas of improvement and they again went into the second half riding their luck as some excellent defending from Danny Foulkes, Harry Foulkes, Lucas Hill and Pip Jones and some inspirational saves from captain Neil Jones on his birthday kept Whitchurch in the match.

The Whitchurch midfield battled throughout the game with Will Edwards, Ethan Gresty and Tom Edwards working till the final minute. This resulted in Whitchurch picking out Joe Chesters who calmly accelerated away from the Golborne defence and beat the Golborne keeper.

Golborne scored on the break as Whitchurch were caught out of position. With ten minutes to go Golborne scored from a penalty corner and despite the Whitchurch appeals that it hit the back of the attackers stick the goal was awarded and Whitchurch reduced to ten players. It was only then a matter of time before Golborne scored their final goal from another well worked penalty corner.

Whitchurch finished the game with heads low after their efforts but after a final talk from their captain and some praise for their efforts soon got them look forwarding to taking on Warrington in the last league match before the Christmas break.

Whitchurch Men’s 1s 3 – Macclesfield Men’s 2s 5

Whitchurch had another tough game this week against a skilful and well-organised Macclesfield team, and were under pressure from the first minute. Macclesfield used a high press to good effect, and Whitchurch had a day where nothing quite clicked so weren’t able to take advantage of the space that a high press leaves. Macclesfield went ahead early on, with numbers in the dee turning into two goals despite the heroics from Paul “Sturge” Leigh in goal. The Reds couldn’t quite get out from the back, and their passes and runs were cut out and pressure immediately reapplied, and eventually it left them two goals down and with a mountain to climb.

Thankfully at the other end, some great work down the right hand side of the pitch had Joe Coburn slip a ball through to Chris Ruscoe coming in at speed, and he was able to fire the ball into the net. Shortly after, the Reds got their second, with a hacky tackle in the dee leading to a penalty stroke which captain Jack Barnes put away well.

Two-all at half time was a good result given how under-the-cosh the Reds had been for large parts of the game so far, but in the second half Macclesfield started strongly and were able to grab three more goals despite some last-ditch defending and some great work by Sturge in goal. The Reds struggled to put together any fluency for the first twenty minutes of the second half, and were on the back foot as attempts to work the ball out from the back would find a tackle or an interception and the pressure would be back on. They did, though, start to find their rhythm with some good build-up play down both wings and some excellent work driving into the dee, but Macclesfield were very strong at the back, and their keeper had a good game, and it was hard for the Reds to get decent end-product from their efforts.

In the last few minutes of the game, Whitchurch had two chances: the first was a well-worked drive down the right with the ball fired across the dee and Tom Forster was millimetres away from getting on the cross to tap it into the goal. He made up for it a minute or so later as a scramble in the dee came to him and he fired it goalward and it took a deflection and looped up into the air and made its way over everyone to land in the goal.

It was a good comeback from Whitchurch, but just a little too late in the game to change the result. A tough and frustrating game for them, knowing from the previous game just how well they can play as a team, but Macclesfield were a decent team and deserved the win.

Whitchurch ladies 1s 7 Warrington ladies 1s 0

This week Whitchurch ladies 1s greeted Warrington 1s at home.

The game got off to a steady start, but we needn’t worry, Whitchurch’s first goal was on its way, a short corner was won and Molly Fry promptly put the ball through the keeper’s legs. Excellent running down the line from Jasmin Williams shortly led to a cross into the back post from Cath Gresty, which was then quickly converted into a goal by Phoebe Jones.

Warrington were kept in their own half most of the game due to excellent pressure from the midfield, Lisa Sullivan creating lots of opportunities from the centre. With Mollie Bell holding the left hand side of the pitch and Tilly James on the right, blocking any attacks from Warrington, often turning them into an amazing counter attack. Any balls that did manage to sneak through the midfield were swiftly picked up by Hermione Ball and Chloe Lloyd at the back.

A run along the baseline from Lisa Sullivan was then put in the net by Cath Gresty, bringing the score at half time to 3-0 to Whitchurch.

The second half got off to a great start with Cath Gresty making a run down the line and crossing the ball into Molly Fry, who placed the ball in the back of the goal. Another goal was to follow very shortly, a run into the Dee from Poppy Huxley was picked up by Cath Gresty who had an excellent strike on goal, scoring her second of the game.

Phoebe Jones was to score her second goal of the game in a short corner for Whitchurch, Holly Edwards made a pass to the back post where Phoebe was waiting to deflect the ball into the goal. More excellent play outfield kept Warrington out, with goalkeeper Megan Nicholson keeping the ball out of the Whitchurch goal.

A short corner in the last minutes of the game was converted into a final goal for Whitchurch by Hayleigh Busby, leaving the final score at 7-0 to Whitchurch.

Next week Whitchurch ladies 1s will travel away to play Knutsford 1s.