Alderley Edge ladies 7s 1 Whitchurch ladies 2s 15

After the successful win last week Whitchurch were still ecstatic and raring to go. Whitchurch started strong with lots of passing between Amy Fry, Phoebe Jones and Grace Berry. Grace started of the goals with a strike from the top of the Dee. After this goal Whitchurch began to pass the ball around the Alderley Edge defence to pick out Berry to complete a further 5 goals.

Whitchurch had earned two penalty corners but the Alderley goalkeeper saved them. After receiving the third Whitchurch mixed it up and Tracy Tolhurst ejected the ball out to Jess Kimberley who fired the ball straight through the keeper giving Whitchurch a 7-0 lead by half time.

During the halftime talk Whitchurch had a positive talk and to carry on passing around the players.

In the second half Edge came out stronger and after not having many chances Shola Bailey cleared the ball away from the Dee and up to Helen Machin who picked out Berry to score her 6th goal.

Whitchurch received a long corner and Becky Brookfield picked out Kimberley on the top of the Dee who fired home making the score 9-0 to Whitchurch.

After another penalty corner Brookfield slapped the ball home giving Whitchurch a comfortable lead.

Amy Fry scored her four within minutes each confusing the keeper and bringing the score to 12-0 but Whitchurch didn’t end there. Wendy Cooper and defender Emma Clarke picked out Laura Workman and Berry who fired home rounding up her tally of 7 goals.

Kimberley drove the ball through the Edge defence and picked out Phoebe who was on the post and tapped it in leaving the score at 14-0 but within the last 10 seconds Whitchurch had tired and the Edge team passed around the defence and slipped the ball pass Shola leaving the score at 15-1.

Grace Berry received player of the match. Whitchurch will be entertaining Wilmslow ladies 4s at home.

 

Whitchurch Men’s 1s 1 – Liverpool Sefton Men’s 3s 3

Whitchurch’s winning streak finally came to an end this week against a Sefton side full of speed, strength, skill and substitutes. In the most challenging game of the season, Whitchurch survived the first ten minutes in which Sefton started brightly and put immediate pressure on the back four. As the game settled in, the defence picked up their marking with Ryan Murtagh helping to nullify their strike, and Ben Fry and Matt Brooks were able to start to push up down the wings and release the ball to the midfield who started putting together some good passing moves. However, the Sefton defence was very strong, and their keeper pulled off some excellent saves to keep the score line quiet.

Sefton started to break down the wings and threw numbers into the dee and pressure eventually resulted in a goal. Whitchurch didn’t lose concentration and continued to fight, including a clearance from the on goal line as keeper Aaron Swain excellently kept out another attack. Swain continued to provide a solid safety net included a very calm clearance kick to the sideline when one-on-one with the Sefton striker.

1-0 down at half-time continued the trend for Whitchurch this season as the higher level of competition showed, and the second half started with Whitchurch more of the same tight marking at the back, and Joel Leese and Alex Fry holding the centre, but eventually Sefton broke through and nicked a second goal to go 2-0 up. This inspired a fight back, with Felix Jeffries making several runs, linking up with Jake Wood on the left wing and Ben Kimberley on the right who had very strong games and finally the ball was crossed to Tom Leonard who continued his excellent season to score with a crisp strike from the edge of the dee.

Sefton poured on the pressure after this, and James Partington had to make three critical interceptions to prevent more goals, but finally a ball in the dee looped up in the air and the Sefton winger hit the sweetest cover drive on the volley to belt the ball into the back of the Whitchurch net and the game was done. Whitchurch played possibly the best they have all season, but on the day the opposition was better; Whitchurch stay top of the table just above Sefton.

 

Whitchurch ladies 1s 1 Wilmslow ladies 2s 2

Whitchurch ladies 1s played at home this weekend, knowing it was going to be a tough game as they were playing top of the division.

Whitchurch pushed hard into Wilmslow’s half and within the first 10 minutes a lovely dribble into the dee by Lucy Ratcliffe, a short pass to Captain Catherine Winter-Gresty fired into the keeper which allowed Sue Read to score from the rebound. Whitchurch spirits rose but not for long as Wilmslow were awarded a short corner and scored.

Whitchurch defence Catherine Reece-Gresty and Clare Fitzgerald had plenty of work to do. Gayle Ladd and Jane Williamson passed balls up to Lisa Sullivan and Emma Harper allowing plenty of chances for Whitchurch to gain a lead. Forwards Ellie Windsor and Aisla Cairn battled through Wilmslow defence but couldn’t quite make it count. There were some great shots into the dee by Lisa Sullivan, Catherine Winter-Gresty and Emma Harper but Wilmslow keeper was covering the goal well.

It was a close game but Wilmslow scored again from a short corner just before half time.
Whitchurch were determined not to concede any more goals, keeper Maddy Sugden made some amazing saves in the second half and managed to keep out Wilmslow. Whitchurch held well and worked hard until the final whistle. Player of the match went to Gayle Ladd.

Whitchurch are away next week at Northop Hall.

 

Whitchurch Mens 2s 1 University of Chester Mens 1s 3

After a weekend off, Whitchurch 2s were looking to register their first win since the opening weekend of the season when they entertained University of Chester 1s.

The opening exchanges were fairly even. The Whitchurch midfield moved the ball up the pitch nicely through Josh Parry and Marcus Conway to Martin Beecher and Tom Forster in the forward positions, but the Chester defence remained steadfast and opportunities to shoot at goal were restricted to a couple of half chances.

Chester were also able to move forward through some good phases of play, but Steve Kay, acting as the screening player in front of the defence, was able to snuff out any attacks coming through the middle of the pitch, and Richard Leigh and James Nicholson coped well with any moves coming from Chester’s wide players.

Whitchurch’s best opportunities were coming from swift counter-attacks with long balls looking for Martin Beecher and Tom Forster. Mid-way through the first half one of these long passes found Martin Beecher free in the dee and he duly fired past the Chester keeper to give Whitchurch the lead.

Chester looked to press forward, but excellent defending from Iain Bones and Mark Sugden prevented Chester from having any meaningful chances. And on the break Whitchurch were still a threat to the Chester goal and had a great chance to double their lead when Marcus Conway found himself free in the dee but hammered his shot over the bar.

As the first half wore on, the youth and fitness of the Chester players began to show and keeper Neil Jones was forced into a good save before a dangerous run down the wing and cross across the face of goal was unluckily deflected into the goal by a Whitchurch foot for the Chester equaliser. This was quickly followed by another goal, from a short corner, which gave Chester Uni a 2-1 lead at half time.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first. The opening stages were very even. Chester looked to press Whitchurch back, whilst Whitchurch were always a threat on the counter attack through Aaron Shackleton and Airon Jones on the wings and Tom and Martin through the middle. Sadly for Whitchurch they couldn’t quite fashion a good enough chance to get a meaningful strike at goal.

Ultimately the Chester pressure resulted in them extending their lead, midway through the second half, through another short corner routine.

As with the first half, Chester were able to finish the half stronger but the Whitchurch defence brilliantly snuffed out the Chester attacks and during a final flurry of Chester short corners just before the end of the game, Neil Jones made a fantastic save to his right.

The 3-1 defeat felt a bit harsh on Whitchurch, who played well for large periods of the game, but were ultimately undone by the opposition’s youth and fitness. However, this result leaves Whitchurch 2s in 8th place in the league.

Next week the 2s entertain Runcorn 3s.