Whitchurch ladies 1s 3 Knutsford ladies 1s 0
Promotion for the ladies 1s and they played Knutsford at home with a relaxed feel. From the off Knutsford found themselves defending heavily as Whitchurch attacked strongly, within 3 minutes Whitchurch won a penalty corner and a powerful straight strike from Captain Cath Gresty flew through the keepers legs and hit the backboard.
Knutsford held tight in their dee as several more shots on goal came from Lisa Sullivan and Georgia Munro, but then another penalty corner was awarded and a slip from Gresty to Molly Fry deflected up into the net.
2 -0 now and Knutsford tried to make some attack on the Whitchurch twenty-five but the defence Hayleigh Busby and Chloe Lloyd made some speedy interceptions and pushed the ball back up to Tilly James and Sarah Kay who pushed up high to give as much pressure on Knutsford as possible.
A battle for Whitchurch as Knutsford’s defence held very tight not allowing them to score again in the first half.
A quick break and back on the pitch, Whitchurch thirsty for more goals played the ball round but Knutsford players were attacking hard working in packs the break down the Whitchurch play, Jasmin Williams worked tirelessly to stop attacks down the right, Sullivan, Gresty and Munro made attempts on goal but couldn’t break the defence.
Whitchurch sat back as they began to tire, but a couple of balls were needed to be cleared easily by keeper Caroline Wynne. Fast footwork for Mollie Bell, she dribbled the ball through the middle to top dee to slap past the keeper.
With 5 minutes to go and Whitchurch continued to control play until the final whistle, for a comfortable 3-0 win.
One more rearranged game to play away this Tuesday night against Lymm.
Whitchurch Mens 1s 11 – Alderley Edge 5s 1
In their final game of the season, Whitchurch put together some of their best hockey to finish off on a high. Initially against only 10, as opposition players were late to arrive, the Reds knew they had to put the pressure on from the start and were able to put a goal on the scoreboard early on – and that was to set the tone for the day. As the scoreline increased, so did the style with the peak being the goal within 30 seconds of the start of the second half, as the pushback was followed by several crisp, clean passes before the shot on goal, with Martin Beecher showing his natural goalscoring abilities to pick up his hat-trick for the day.
Luke Beddow also got three, with captain Jack Barnes picking up a brace, as did Tom Forster whose second was a well worked flat-stick deflection from a short corner pass from Barnes. Phil Handley picked Whitchurch’s eleventh to mark their best result of the season – and there could have been more, with shots just creeping wide. In fairness to Alderley Edge, they had limited numbers but the young players on their team showed immense promise for the future. The one goal opportunity they had they took well, and they were using their speed effectively to try to find gaps in the Reds’ defence, but Neil Jones was strong in goal, and Alex Fry, Sam Conway and Chris Ruscoe were tireless in defence making critical interceptions.
It was the sort of game that Whitchurch would hope to play each week: everyone ran hard, worked well for each other on and off the ball, and kept positive attitudes throughout. In what’s been an up-and-down season, it was a great ending and showed what they’re capable of on their day.
Whitchurch ladies 3s 0 Runcorn ladies 2s 5
Whitchurch entertained Runcorn at home for the final match of the season.
Whitchurch were on the back foot from the start with having no keeper. But Wendy Cooper, Elsie Cottrell, Mel Reid and Rachel Chester’s buddied up and managed to keep Runcorn at bay for long periods of the game. Runcorn were awarded a penalty corner which they scored from. Whitchurch pushed through with runs from Chester’s to Erin Harnden, Jan Teggin to Sue Read who narrowly missed the goal. Runcorn took advantage of the lack of keeper and scored another 2 bringing the score line to 3-0 at half time.
After a up lifting halftime talk Whitchurch went back out fighting with keeper Phoebe Gregory back in to make some amazing saves on the line. Cooper picked out Bella Clarke who ran around the Runcorn mid field who picked out Alice Page who then continued down the baseline to pick out Abi Ashley on the penalty spot but was beaten by the Runcorn defence. But Whitchurch wasn’t stopping there with Mabel Hazelhurst picking up the ball from midfield and picking out Evie Hall on the Right to slip it to Chester’s who drove the ball towards the Runcorn Dee.
Runcorn then acted quickly and slotted another one bringing the score to 4-0.
Whitchurch were determined to get onto the score sheet with runs from Clarke, and Page towards the Runcorn Dee. Runcorn slotted their final goal within the last few minutes of the game bringing the final score to 5-0.
Player of the match was awarded to Mel Reid.
