Whitchurch Ladies 1s 5 Macclesfield Ladies 2s 0
Whitchurch ladies 1s played against Macclesfield 2s this weekend, coming onto the pitch with the hot weather they knew it was going to be a hard game.
Whitchurch started off strong but with Macclesfield’s strong defence in the dee it was hard to find the gaps and score the first goal. The midfield players Molly Fry, Lisa Sullivan and Mollie Bell worked their way up to the dee and with a shot on goal bouncing off the goalie Valerie Fabery de Jonge pushed the ball into the goal.
With the first goal scored Whitchurch had their confidence back. Macclesfield fought back with counter attacks from the back, hitting the balls to their fast midfield players.
Chloe Lloyd and Hayleigh busby in defence picked up the balls through the middle and it was hard for them to get into Whitchurch’s dee. There were some great passes from Jasmine Williams down the line to Mollie Bell who would then pass multiple players with her skills and pass it on to Poppy Huxley who made some great lead runs.
The second goal followed shortly after the first with a great pass from Lisa Sullivan in midfield to Valerie Fabery who was on the top of the dee and shot it in with her reverse in the bottom right corner.
Before the end of the first half Whitchurch started another attack, Cath Gresty running into the dee along the baseline and passing it to Molly Bell who was positioned perfectly and scored the third goal of the game.
During half time Whitchurch got their energy back and started the second half with the drive to keep going.
With Hermione Ball in the back stopping Macclesfield’s attackers, Whitchurch started to attack again. The ball got intercepted by Macclesfield’s defence, but Valerie Fabery got the ball back and ran past the other defenders and scored the fourth goal.
Out of nowhere the sun disappeared and it started raining and Whitchurch lost their vision for a little bit and Macclesfield tried to make their way through the pitch with some counter attacks, but when the rain stopped Whitchurch got back on track and in the last 10 minutes of the game had a great attack starting in the back with Hayleigh Busby, passing it onto Molly Bell who ran into the dee and by passing it through the legs of the defender Valerie Fabery received it and shot it into the goal which made the 5th goal of the game.
Until the last-minute Whitchurch had everyone on the team fighting for the ball and everyone in the team especially Chloe Lloyd, Cath Gresty and Lisa Sullivan had some great interceptions stopping Macclesfield entering the Whitchurch dee.
A fantastic game for Whitchurch overall.
Whitchurch Mens 1s 0 – Crewe Vagrants 2s 4
Whitchurch lost this week to league leaders – and now champions – Crewe Vagrants 2s in a game that Crewe had been preparing for three weeks, and that preparation paid off with a goal in the first couple of minutes to put the Reds on the back foot. Whitchurch regrouped and the game levelled off with both sides having good chances to score – the Reds had a number of opportunities which were either blocked by the Crewe keeper or defence at the last second, despite some excellent work up the pitch from dee to dee, or just lacked that final touch.
Crewe picked up their second with a penalty stroke, and a third before the break as Whitchurch’s marking – which had been good for long periods of the match – faded and Crewe players were able to get free and break away. At half-time, the talk was about playing their game, improving the marking, and having better ball control despite the heavens opening, and the second half was again an even affair with both sides having chances. As play went on, more and more umpiring decisions were getting questioned by both teams until cards were shown to try to regain control. This shifted the balance of play again, and each side took advantage where they could until Crewe got to the top of the dee and unleashed a fine reverse hit that went through the crowd and past the keeper to claim their fourth.
The game continued to ebb and flow until the final whistle – both sides could have found more goals – but Crewe ended worthy winners, and celebrated winning the league in what has been a challenging season.
Whitchurch ladies 3s 1 Triton ladies 2s 8
In a league with such a range of abilities Whitchurch entertained on strong Triton team.
For much of the game Triton controlled the game and took their chances well in the Whitchurch dee to keep the score ticking over.
Whitchurch showed glimpses of their future potential, when Wendy Cooper cut out a Triton pass and passed it to Mabel Hazelhurst who dribbled the ball and passed it to Erin Harden in the dee. Sue Read made an amazing run and won a short corner from which she picked out Arabella Clarke on the post to slot it past the keeper to bring the score to 2-1.
After a strong first half, Whitchurch carried on with a positive attitude chasing and pressuring Triton at every opportunity. Jan Teggin picked out Abi Ashley on the right who then slipped it to Maisie Bennett who made an amazing pass to Grace Haynes who was upfront ready for the ball. Despite all their efforts Triton were the stronger team on the day and despite many tackles from Mel Reid in defence and brilliant saves from keeper Phoebe Gregory Triton ended the match with a 9:1 finish.
Bella Clarke got Whitchurch’s players player.
Whitchurch will be at home again this week against Sandbach 2s.
Knutsford Men’s 2s 11 Whitchurch Men’s 2s 3
Knutsford have become a boggy team for Whitchurch in recent years and this match was no exception. In a game which saw to evenly match teams Knutsford took their chances in front of goal and Whitchurch didn’t.
Knutsford took the lead in the first minute of the game as they pushed forward from the whistle into the Whitchurch dee, won a penalty corner and scored.
Whitchurch were left reeling and Knutsford took full advantage to score another two goals and go three up after 10 minutes.
Whitchurch then began to settle and string together some possession and won a penalty corner, a Joe Chester’s shot bounced off the keepers pads to the feet of Will Edwards who tapped into the goal.
The game continued to be very open with both teams having opportunities, Knutsford scoring another before Will Edwards latched onto a pass from Tom Edwards to get Whitchurch a second goal. Knutsford then scored another before the break.
Whitchurch’s team talk focussed around keeping up the effort and cutting out the unforced errors.
Whitchurch started the stronger team in the second half and soon pulled another goal back as Danny Foulkes scored from a well worked short corner routine. Joe Chesters’s then forced the Knutsford keeper into an excellent save with a reverse stick shot.
Knutsford continued to press forward and despite Whitchurch’s best efforts every mistake or misplaced pass seem to end up back in their dee with nothing keeper Neil Jones could do to prevent the inevitable.
Crewe ladies 2s 0 Whitchurch ladies 2s 1
Whitchurch 2s team played Crewe 2s. The game started with a lot of good passing around the pitch. Which lead to Eleanor Beecher passing the ball across the pitch to Sophie Jones who passed it back out onto the wing to Heidi Groom who took a shot on goal. However, it was deflected from a Crewe players foot and back to Sophie Jones who hit it into the goal leading to a 1:0 advantage to Whitchurch.
Throughout the rest of the game there was strong a defence from Emma Stubbs, Lucy Hearn and Cath Reece-Gresty which lead to most of Crewe attempts on goal being unsuccessful as well as a lot of amazing saves from Holly Edwards.
There was also great passes around the pitch from Bella Morris as well as Heidi Carr. Freya Gresty and Poppy Gilbert both made good runs down the wings stopping Crewe players and bringing the ball to our attacking end. All together we managed to stop any other attempts on goal from Crewe securing the win