Whitchurch mens 1s 9 – Neston South Wirral 7s 0

Whitchurch went into their final game before the Christmas break looking to continue their return to form, but were contained well by young Neston team marking the first of the season’s return fixtures. As with the first game of the season, Neston held the ball well and were able to withstand everything Whitchurch could throw at them, despite some fine work from Whitchurch who were doing the basics well from the start. It was near the end of the first half when the deadlock was broken by Jack Barnes slotting in from a short corner routine to mark the end of a very evenly balanced contest.

The second half continued with the same crisp passing, good positioning and strong marking that Whitchurch had used so far and, as time passed, experience showed with Whitchurch able to turn on the style. Felix Jeffries had moved up from left half to left wing and was able to scythe his way through the Neston defence to score a lovely goal, and as Neston heads dropped, Whitchurch laid on the pressure with Tom Leonard added to his tally with another strong strike. This was followed quickly by Martin Beecher’s tidy finish before Jeffries again turned on the speed and the style to get his second.

At the back, Sturge was solid in goal and Whitchurch were able to move the ball quickly across the defence to set up attacks. Jake Wood, Ryan Murtagh, James Partington and Ben Fry provided the stability to build from, and Joel Leese controlled the centre, releasing well to Jeffries and Ben Kimberley who was able then to pass to Leese for his first goal. As Neston heads dropped, tempers worsened, but after a reset, Whitchurch focussed on skills and played some beautiful hockey to allow Beecher and Leese to get a second goal each, and the game was finished with some excellent work and goal by Ben Fry to leave Whitchurch top of the table by three points with much-improved goal difference.

Matches restart on the 14th of January, with Whitchurch playing Bebington at home.

Oxton ladies 2s 1 Whitchurch Ladies 1s 2

Whitchurch ladies 1s played away this week at Oxton. Throughout the whole match Whitchurch controlled the game passing the ball around the Oxton players.

The Oxton defence were strong and for a while held Whitchurch off. Oxton had plenty of shorts corner chances but Whitchurch keeper Maddy Sugden was on form and made some amazing saves. Whitchurch players pushed up high wanting the goal and this allowed Oxton a gap to break and score.

Some great zigzag passes up the pitch from Lisa Sullivan, Lucy Rattcliffe and Ellie Windsor allowed Grace Berry a strike towards the goal and Sue Read a touch to score Whitchurch’s first goal.

After half time Oxton came attacking but Catherine Reece-Gresty and Clare Fitzgerald held strong in defence passing the ball back up the pitch to Charlotte Lawder and Emma Harper who scored the second for Whitchurch. The final whistle went and Whitchurch were very happy with their well-deserved 2-1 win.

Chester Mens 6s 4 Whitchurch Mens 2s 0

Whitchurch 2s travelled to Chester for the last game before the mid-season break. Christmas commitments and illnesses meant that the 2s travelled with a very inexperienced team of 10 players for this match and having lost 4-0 to Chester earlier in the season, things weren’t looking great for Whitchurch even before the game started.

Making the most of their numerical advantage, Chester immediately lay siege to the Whitchurch goal and opened the scoring within the first few minutes of the game from a well struck short corner.

Chester continued to press forward. Matt Brooks and Richard Leigh in the centre of the Whitchurch defence were under constant pressure, but with help from Doug Buckeridge and Aaron Shackleton, playing as wing-backs, and Tom Forster and Aaron Llewellyn dropping back from midfield, Whitchurch were restricting Chester to half-chances around the edge of the dee.

Wiley play from the Chester players led to a succession of short corners, but the defenders forced Chester to rush their shots and anything on target was brilliantly stopped or cleared by Neil Jones in goal.

As the half wore on, Whitchurch were able to make more progress towards the Chester goal. Forster and Llewellyn were able to play higher up the pitch and feed passes to Aaron Swain and Airon Jones playing on the flanks. With support from Buckeridge and Shackleton as well, eventually Whitchurch found some possession around the Chester dee, but were unable to get to manufacture any shooting positions for James Wise.

When Whitchurch attacks broke down at the edge of the attacking dee there was always the risk of being caught on the counter-attack by Chester. But the hard work of Whitchurch players continued to frustrate Chester and the score remained 1-0 until half-time.

Chester began the second half on the front foot and forced Whitchurch to defend much deeper than in the first half. This led to a flurry of short corners, which were defended manfully by Leigh, Brooks, Llewellyn and Buckeridge, but with Chester loading the dee for each short corner, keeper Jones was forced into more saves and clearances.

Eventually however the Whitchurch defence was breached twice in quick succession. Although the initial short corner routines were defended, the sheer number of Chester players in the dee resulted in chances that were fired past the helpless Jones.

With Whitchurch trying to respond to the two quick Chester goals they were caught on the counter-attack and Chester were able to sweep forward and add a fourth goal.

But Whitchurch dug deep and tried to come back into the game. Two surging, diagonal runs from right back by Aaron Shackleton lead to chances for Aaron Swain and James Wise, but Whitchurch were unable to apply the finishing touch to Shackleton’s good work.

Despite the 4-0 defeat, the Whitchurch players can be rightly proud of their efforts in this game, and the experienced Chester players were gracious enough to acknowledge this after the game. James Wise ploughed a lone furrow up front and Aaron Swain and Airon Jones worked hard at both ends of the pitch. Aaron Llewellyn and Tom Forster had excellent games in midfield despite being outnumbered for most of the game. Doug Buckeridge and Aaron Shackleton covered a lot of ground trying to support attacks and assist the defence, and Matt Brookes and Richard Leigh were superb in breaking up wave after wave of Chester attacks. Once again Neil Jones was excellent in goal and had no chance with any of the four goals Chester scored.

Whitchurch 2s remain in 7^th position in the table. The team returns to action with a home game against Llandudno on 21^st January 2017.

The ladies 1s game was cancelled due to frozen pitch.

The ladies 2s were credited on 3-0 win after Wilmslow ladies 4s conceded the game.

Whitchurch Mens 2s 0 Runcorn Mens 3s 0

Whitchurch 2s welcomed Runcorn 3s with fog and freezing temperatures at SJT.

Runcorn started the brighter with their experienced midfield trio immediately taking control of the centre of the pitch. However they were unable to make any progress into the Whitchurch dee thanks to strong defending from Iain Bones and Mark Sugden. When Runcorn tried to attack using the width of the pitch, they were unable to find any way past Richard Leigh and Aaron Shackleton.

Whitchurch tried to mount their own attacks but they continually ran into Runcorn defenders and were unable to make any real progress towards the Runcorn goal. James Wise was isolated up front despite the willing running of Ellis Hickson and Airon Jones trying to offer support.

Runcorn managed to force a brief flurry of short corners midway through the first half, but these were well defended by Whitchurch and their goal was never really threatened. This prompted Craig Hockenhull to come into midfield as a substitute, which gave Whitchurch a bit more drive and control in the centre of the pitch and enabled them to start creating some chances in the Runcorn dee.

A swift passing move started by Sam Conway provided Aaron Swain with a chance that was well stopped by the Runcorn keeper, and Aaron had another chance just before half-time, which he fired just wide after a melee in the Runcorn dee.

With the fog thickening and temperatures dropping, the second half followed a similar pattern to the first. Despite the hard work of Marcus Conway, Tom Forster and Josh Parry to try and contain Runcorn’s midfield, they were struggling against their more experienced counterparts and Runcorn continued to enjoy more of the possession and territory. But the Whitchurch defence remained strong and Runcorn were still unable to create any clear cut chances to score.

It was late in the second half when the best chances arrived. Whitchurch went close when Craig Hockenhull fired into the dee and James Wise’s deflection wrong-footed the Runcorn keeper, but flew wide of the goal. Runcorn responded and brought an excellent save from Whitchurch keeper Neil Jones. And then with the final play of the game, Iain Bones charged into the Runcorn dee and fired across goal but neither Ellis Hickson or James Wise were able to deflect the ball in at the far post.

This was a hard-fought 0-0 draw with a team that were pushing for promotion last season. The draw ends Whitchurch 2s run of defeats and moves the team up to 7th place in the league. Next week the 2s travel to Deeside Ramblers 7s.

A special mention for Jess Kimberley who stepped in at the last minute to umpire her first men’s game. Jess had an excellent game and drew praise from both teams for her performance.
Whitchurch Mens 1s 5-0 Wrexham Mens 2s

Whitchurch 1s made a return to winning form with a comfortable, but competitive, victory against a strong Wrexham team.

The Reds started brightly, moving the ball around quickly and keeping possession well, but it took 15 minutes for this to be rewarded with a first goal.  After failing to score with their first penalty corner, the next was also broken down by a fast Wrexham defence, but only cleared as far as the 23m line, with the ball slipped back into Joel Leese to score low to the keeper’s left.  Within a few minutes this was followed by another from open play – Ben Fry squaring the ball from the right, followed by a through ball to Ben Kimberley who finished confidently – and another followed within five minutes, again started by Fry as he picked out a free player in the opposition D who squared the ball to Kimberley for his second.

The second half saw a second short corner converted, this time collected and put away by Steve Lloyd as the ball rebounded from an initial shot by Tom Leonard.  The fifth was a classic striker’s effort from Martin Beecher, collecting a through ball in front of goal before moving away, turning and finding the back of the goal with a well-struck shot.  Wrexham gained more control of the game in the final twenty minutes, but the Whitchurch defence managed to keep out a succession of short corners to maintain a rare clean sheet.

Timperley Ladies 4s 0 Whitchurch ladies 1s 2

Timperley started off at the stronger of the two team as Whitchurch struggled to find their feet.

Whitchurch settled into the game and Lucy Rattliffe passed the ball to Sue Reed who tapped in the opening goal. Timperley had many chances on to equalise but goal keeper Maddy Sugden defended them off and to keep the score Whitchurch in the lead.

Emily Hilton, Emma Harper, Clare Fitzgerald and Charlotte Lawder worked well defending at the back and feeding the ball up to Catherine Winter-Gresty, Phoebe Jones, Laura Workman and Lucy Ratliffe.

In the second half Whitchurch applied the pressure straight away, after gaining a short corner Whitchurch scored from a strike of the top of the dee from Lucy Ratcliffe and securing the points.

Whitchurch ladies 1s will be at home playing against Wimslow 2s

Whitchurch Men’s 1st 4 – Deeside Ramblers Men’s 6s 1

Whitchurch had a much calmer game than last week’s thirteen-goal thriller, but were able to ensure a solid win against an experienced Deeside team. A strong turn-out with a number of substitutes meant that they could apply constant pressure on a Deeside team which combined experience at the back with speed and skill up front. Tom Leonard started the scoring after being put through by Alex Fry with a strong strike on goal, whilst Ryan Murtagh, Tom Forster, Matt Brooks and Ben Fry were able to keep the Deeside attack at bay and clear the ball quickly and accurately, and Aaron Swain in goal made an excellent stick save to keep Deeside from getting off the mark.

More pressure from Whitchurch paid off with a goal from Martin Beecher during a period where Deeside had lost a player to the sin bin, giving them a comfortable 2-0 lead at half time. The half-time talk centred on getting the basics right, sharpening up ball control and passing, but this was a much better performance than last week in general and Whitchurch started to put together the smooth passing game which has given them so much success, with Joel Leese, Ben Kimberley and Steve Lloyd combining well in the middle of the field, and Martin Beecher and Jake Wood providing width in attack.

In reply, Deeside started putting on pressure in the Whitchurch half, leading to a number of short corners, finally leading to a goal to make it 2-1, but this inspired Whitchurch to regroup and counter, and Tom Leonard was able to grab his second with a flick lifted over the diving Deeside keeper very shortly after. A number of shots went just wide, and the Deeside keeper made a number of critical saves, but eventually Whitchurch got their one and only short corner of the game, and Jack Barnes was able to fire a shot through the legs of the Deeside keeper to make it 4-1. The last few minutes were then spent defending with James Partington and Ryan Murtagh each getting critical saves in, before the final whistle gave Whitchurch their 6th win of the season to stay top of the division.

Whitchurch Ladies 2s 21 Bebington Ladies 2s 0

The Whitchurch team were raring to go after a 2-week short break. They needed a big win to put them back at the top of the league as they sat second at the start of the match on goal difference. Before any of the action began both teams participated in a 1 minute silence to remember those who have fallen in conflict.

Whitchurch were straight out from the get go with Hayleigh Busby slotting the ball away in the first couple of minutes. Soon after Ashleigh Heath pushed two more goals past the keeper. This was followed by great passing and tactical play which allowed Tracy Tolhurst to fire away another two goals. Another chance came for the growing in confident team with a short corner in which Becky Brookfield slapped in her first goal for the club. Olivia Edgerton scooped up the next goal, followed closely by Millie Edwards who in her first senior game placed a further two more goals away in the net, with Ashleigh Heath and Tracy Tolhurst both scoring to finish their hat tricks. At half time Whitchurch had a lead of 11-0 but they still weren’t finished.

Many short corner chances came for the team and with new routines there was much success. Again, Whitchurch came and again Whitchurch scored with Emily Vernon picking up two goals, Ashleigh Heath adding two more goals to the tally, Becky Brookfield pushing the ball through the legs of the keeper. Millie Edwards also adding four more goals to her total. The teamwork allowed Edwards to drive the ball down the right wing and into the dee with Busby getting the final tap into the goal.

The final score of 21-0 was down to the whole performance of the team with excellent passing and defending from all players.

A jubilant 2s will face Alderley Edge 7s next week.

Lymm Ladies 3s 3 Whitchurch Ladies 1s 1

Whitchurch pushed hard in the first half with most of the possession but Lymm made the most of their opportunities scoring from two lucky breaks. Despite some great saves from goalkeeper Maddy Sugden Lymm had a run of shorts from which they managed to score a third. Whitchurch kept their heads held high and continued to pressure the Lymm defence but could not make it count until a great dribble into the dee from Lisa Sullivan and a small pass to Captain Catherine Winter-Gresty to tap past the Lymm keeper.

After a good half time team talk the 2nd half was looking good for Whitchurch, they settled down and had a string of shorts but unfortunately Lymm’s defence was very strong. There was some great midfield work by Lisa Sullivan, Helen Machin and Ellie Windsor and supported by some skilful runs from Emily Hilton and Ellie Windsor. The Whitchurch defence Clare Fitzgerald and Catherine Reece-Gresty did a fantastic job not allowing Lymm another goal, but time ran out for Whitchurch to leave the final score 3-1 to Lymm.

Whitchurch Mens 1s 7 – Bebington Mens 4s 6

Whitchurch Mens 1s travelled to Bebington this week to play a team whose league position belies their strength and ability. A very high scoring game followed, ebbing and flowing as each team scored and then were beaten on the counter attack. Whitchurch scored first, with Ben Kimberley picking up an aerial clearance from James Partington that got past all the Bebington players, taking it into the dee and right round the keeper for a fine goal; the first of his brace. A minute later, and Whitchurch had scored again and assumed that that had set the tone for the afternoon, only for Bebington to counter strongly and score a quick goal. One more from Whitchurch led to two more from Bebington, and the pressure showed as Whitchurch started to miss passes and the defence let Bebington through far too easily. Much of the rest of the first half was spent on the back foot as Whitchurch struggled to get the basics right, and they went into the half-time break a goal down.

As is becoming the pattern for Whitchurch this season, the half-time talk from Captain Alex Fry was key to identifying where the game was slipping away and what needed improving, and the last five minutes were again critical. The second half started much as the first had finished, with end-to-end play: Whitchurch put some good moves together and were able to score, but Bebington put numbers forward as well as getting back en masse and were able to pressure Whitchurch into making mistakes, and then taking the subsequent free hits quickly and with numbers.

With five minutes to go, at 6-5 down, Whitchurch once again had to dig deep to get something out of the game. Tom Leonard, was able to score his fourth to bring the game level, and then with just over two minutes to go, Jack Barnes was able to get a shot away to give Whitchurch a fortunate win against a very capable team.

Whitchurch play at home next week against Deeside Ramblers 6s.

Whitchurch Mens 2s 0 Chester Mens 6s 4

The Men’s 2s returned to action against Chester after a two-week lay off. The score didn’t reflect the game but more that Chester took their chances where Whitchurch didn’t.

The first half saw both teams creating chances but struggling to make them complete as they got back into playing after the break in games. It was not until the last minute of the half that Chester scrambled home the ball to give them a lead at the break.

Whitchurch were happy with the way they were playing and encouraged to carry on with the same efforts in the second half. It says much of Whitchurch’s current run of form that when Chester got touches in the dee they created chances and Whitchurch shots fell into space or to the Chester defence.

Chester neatly converted a penalty flick awarded as the ball bounced around the dee and hit the Whitchurch defender on the line and finished the game with two well-worked penalty corner routines to secure the points.

Whitchurch have another free weekend next week before a run of games up to the end of the year where they hope to find some winning form.