Whitchurch ladies 1s 1 Deeside Ramblers ladies 3s 1

Whitchurch ladies 1s played Deeside Ramblers 3s at home this sunny Saturday. Having the same amount of points in their division Whitchurch knew it was going to be a close game.

From the start Whitchurch had control of the play, pushing into the Deeside 25 having plenty of opportunities.

Ellie Windsor, Grace Berry and Jessica Carruthers put plenty of pressure on the Deeside defence. As Whitchurch pushed higher, Deeside broke through Whitchurch defence and had a player waiting to receive and score.

Whitchurch settled back into play having a run of short corners but couldn’t seem to get through the Deeside defence.

Lisa Sullivan, Catherine Winter-Gresty and Hebe Dixon held the middle well passing the ball wide to get round the Deeside central defence. Some unnecessary stick tackles from Deeside allowed Whitchurch to keep the ball up in the Deeside half until half time.

Whitchurch ladies started the second half playing their own game, using the width and moving the ball around Deeside. Defence Emma Harper, Sophie ward and Millie Edwards worked hard to keep moving the ball wide and being there for depth. Whitchurch had plenty more shots on goal and finally Jessica Carruthers managed to get her stick on the ball to get an equalising goal. Spirits were high and time was running out as both teams wanted the win but the whistle went and Whitchurch had to settle for a draw 1-1.

Ladies 1s have a week off and return to play top of the league Wilmslow 3s away.

Whitchurch Men’s 1s  5 Brooklands Men’s 6s 2

Whitchurch Men’s first team continued their recent strengthening form with a solid 5-2 win against second-placed Brooklands on Saturday.

The visitors started strongly, using their confident and quick midfield to press Whitchurch, keeping possession for the first five minutes of the game and creating several threatening attacks.  But the home defence reacted in calm and well-disciplined fashion, setting the pattern for much of the rest of the game.  Dale Seymour and Danny Foulkes in central defence controlled the top of the dee, with Rob Chappell and Steve Kay tying up the attacking wingers.  As the Whitchurch midfield settled, counter-attacking chances started to come and the momentum switched to the home team.

The first goal came ten minutes in, from the first penalty corner of the game.  The routine saw the ball slipped left to Jack Barnes, and his shot was deflected back to Nick Cooper at the top of the dee, who calmly drove in and flicked past the keeper.

Whitchurch continued to press and were awarded two further penalty corners, Barnes putting his drag flick wide by inches from the second.  But they only had to wait another few minutes for the next goal, which came from great inter-play down the left hand side, with Fred Egerton and Joe Coburn combining to force Brooklands to clear their lines.  The resulting sideline ball came out to Alex Fry who played it square to Seymour and his first-time pass in to the Brooklands dee found Tom Forster on hand for a well-taken deflection past the goalkeeper.

A short-lived Brooklands rally then resulted in a couple of short corners at the other end of the pitch, which were well defended by the Reds under the command of goalkeeper Paul Leigh.  The resurgence was ended, just before the break, with Fry seizing an opportunity from a long corner to drive into the dee and strike cleanly past the keeper into the left hand corner for Whitchurch’s third goal.

The second half started as a repeat of the first, but this time Brooklands were able to convert their early dominance, scoring within five minutes of the start.  Again Whitchurch settled, reorganising with a number of substitutions, and once more starting to push back with Jon Chappell and Sam Conway now leading the attack, and Ben Kimberley providing linking support through the midfield.  However, it was Brooklands who scored again, against the run of play, converting a short corner from a shot deflected high into the top corner of the goal.

But Whitchurch continued to manage the game, creating most of the chances, and finally pulled away from the visitors, through two Jon Chappell strikes from open play, the last coming in the final minute from a misdirected clearance from the Brooklands keeper.

The result sees the Men’s 1s consolidate third place in the league, and looking forward to next week’s visit to Keele University.  The Men’s 2s game this week was called off by the opposition withdrawing, and they have no fixture next weekend.

Triton ladies 3s 5 Whitchurch ladies 3s 0

Whitchurch 3s played away at Triton in hot conditions this week. Within the first few minutes, Whitchurch were strong on the attack, keeping possession in the Triton half of the pitch, with Kate Buckeridge and Annie Buckeridge working hard on the left, making some promising runs up the wing. However, Triton were quick to score. After losing Victoria Corlett to a knee injury, Whitchurch were struggling and we were 3-0 down at half time.

In the second half, Caitlin Edwards and Holly Gilbert made some great attacks on goal, but unfortunately failed to score. Jan Teggin was strong in defence, fending off Triton’s strong attacks. Emily Lister stopped a goal sweeping the ball of the line, and Louise Cotterill stopped many good shots in goal. Tracy Tolhurst and Hayleigh Busby maintained Whitchurch’s attack right until the end, allowing Whitchurch some promising shots on goal. However, Triton managed to get 2 more goals in the second half, leaving the final score at 5-0 to Triton.

Tracy Tolhurst was awarded player of the match.