Whitchurch Men’s 1s 8 – Oxton Men’s 5’s 3

Whitchurch returned to winning ways with a good win against Oxton this week. Whitchurch started well, with immediate pressure on the Oxton goal, but Oxton put together an excellent counter-attack and went 1-0 up very quickly. The Reds settled, and started to put their own game plan into action, with some fluid passing ending in Tom Leonard laying the ball off to Jon Chappell who put it past the keeper. Ben Kimberley then scored a goal with a reverse flick over the keeper to go 2-1 up.

The game then settled down into a rhythm, with Oxton launching a number of attacks down both wings, and Ryan Murtagh, James Partington and Jake Wood fought hard to keep with their players. They were supported by Alex Fry and Rob Chappell in the centre, who were able to control the play and start new attacks for the Reds. The play was evenly balanced at this point, until a run through the centre by Oxton ended in a strike that Rob Chappell was unfortunate to tip past a diving Sturge in goal. Fired up by this, Whitchurch went back up the other end of the pitch and more goals from Kimberley and Jon Chappell had the score at 4-2 at half time.

The second half started brightly, and Whitchurch were putting together good flowing hockey, but several shots went just wide – including two off the posts – and the strikes from the edge of the dee weren’t finding their target so well. The Reds regrouped and started to play their passing game better, with Ben Fry doing excellent work on the right wing, and the returning Peter Scales making strong runs down the left. Better, more-aware passing and movement in the Oxton dee led to Leonard claiming his first goal of the game. Ben Fry was able to make runs directly through the midfield into the dee, and this constant pressure showed on the Oxton defence as one of several short corners led to Rob Chappell scoring from a great shot, and Jon Chappell claiming a third from more unselfish passing.

As the game neared its end, another scramble in the Oxton dee gave Leonard his second of the game, before a short corner in the Whitchurch dee was upgraded to a penalty stroke, which the Oxton striker put away well. The final score was 8-3 which showed good application from the Reds, and bodes well for their game away at Keele University next week.

 

Brooklands ladies 3s 3 Whitchurch ladies 1s 0

Whitchurch travelled away to play Brooklands 3’s this Saturday.

Both teams came out hard, eager for the win. Whitchurch came out on top early in the first half having most of the possession but not being able to score. A very close call made Brooklands pick up their game and they scored a scrappy goal midway through the first half from a short corner.

 

Brooklands heads went up and they continued to fight, taking several more shots and gaining more short corners. Whitchurch defence fought on, keeping the goals out and making some great saves.

 

Half time saw a good team talk and Whitchurch started the second half with heads up feeling positive. Brooklands continued to break through, forcing Whitchurch to drop back. There were some good runs up the pitch by the Whitchurch midfield, through to the forwards, but Whitchurch were still unable to score a goal.

 

Brooklands had a further string of short corners, which eventually resulted in a good goal from a straight strike at the top of the Dee, making the score 2-0. Whitchurch upped their game, gaining more chances but not converting. Brooklands gained a green card, putting them down to 10 players, but this did not disheartened them, and they got the ball up the pitch quickly, scoring a further goal to make the score 3-0. It was a friendly game, enjoyed by all.

Player of the match went to goalkeeper Gwyn Thomas-Rees

 

Runcorn Men’s 3s 1 Whitchurch Men’s 2s 2

Whitchurch took the game to Runcorn from the start of the match and from the first minute quick passing between Euan Morris and Martin Beecher created Whitchurch’s first opportunity.

Despite maintaining pressure Whitchurch failed to convert their chances and Runcorn took the lead as goalkeeper Neil Jones was beaten by a wicked deflection.

Whitchurch continued to move the ball quickly with Locki Price, Fred Egerton, James Page and Joseph Coburn leading the attacks and causing many problems for the Runcorn midfield this resulted in Craig Hockenhull shooting and another wicked deflection looped over the stranded Runcorn goalkeeper to leave the scores level at half time.

Whitchurch continued the second half with the same level of effort that they had put in the first. Matt Brookes, Wyn Morris and Airan Jones swept up in the Whitchurch defence giving Runcorn no opportunities to build on their lead.

As the half progressed Fred Egerton hit the post and Martin Beecher had a shot bounce of the crossbar and Whitchurch began to wonder if it was not there day. A serious of penalty corners saw Whitchurch again fail to convert.

In the final minutes of the game Whitchurch were awarded a penalty corner and Tom Forster capped a fine performance in the midfield when he fired into the bottom corner much to the relief of the Whitchurch team.

Runcorn rallied in the final minutes with a series of penalty corners but Whitchurch defended and took a valuable three points.

 

 

 

Whitchurch ladies 2s 4 Brooklands ladies 4s 2

In the first two minutes Whitchurch 2’s player Holly Jepson scored a cracking goal to start off the match. After this, players Tracy Tolhurst, Phoebe Jones and Ellie Windsor provided a strong attack that scored another goal as Stephanie Stanton sent the ball through Brooklands goal keepers legs. Mid players, Kate Goodwin, Becky Brookfield, Ellie McEvoy and Emily Vernon kept Brooklands from reaching the defence and played exceptionally throughout the game.

Towards the end of the first half Brooklands fought hard against the Whitchurch team however, a cracking defence short corner from Martha Teggin, Jessica Kimberley, Natasha Foster, Jessica Carruthers and goalkeeper Shola Bailey kept the score at 2-0 at the end of the first half.

The second half started with another goal for Holly Jepson. The team carried on fighting for more goals and soon Jess Kimberley scored another fantastic goal as she sent it soaring from a short corner. Unfortunately, Brooklands started to fight back harder this time and bagged two goals against Whitchurch.

At the end of the game the score was 4-2 to Whitchurch. Player of the match went to Stephanie Stanton concluding an amazing match.