Whitchurch Men’s 1s 5 – Oxton Men’s 4s 0

Whitchurch’s second home game of the season was a chance for them to consolidate their early successes and start to make their positive, selfless play the bedrock for the rest of the year. They came up against an Oxton side who had a number of younger players which gave the Reds a chance to let their greater experience show. Too many Oxton attacks tried to go through players instead of around, and Rob Chappell and Dale Seymour were able to block attack after attack before they got anywhere near to the Reds’ goal.

Given the confidence on the ball, Whitchurch were able to put together some lovely passages of play, starting with width across the defence from Danny Foulkes at sixteens to move the ball out wide to Pip Jones and James Partington, or back across for an attack up the other side of the pitch, as well as coming back with the ball time and again instead of always driving forward. This gave the team a solid platform to work from, with options on both sides from Joel Leese and Marcus Conway who could then drive the ball up, but they had options in all directions.

Seymour and Chappell in the midfield, with Tom Forster just behind, were able to control the centre of the field and lay the ball off to each other, as well as going through the young Oxton players if needed. Up front Nick Cooper and Jack Barnes, playing higher up the pitch this week, attacked the Oxton dee with good stick skills and sharp passing to keep the pressure on.

The first goal came from a short corner routine; the first few short corners hadn’t quite got the rewards they deserved, so a switch in plan had the pass out returned as a sharp satellite beam pass through players to injector Foulkes who was able to crack it past the keeper at the near post.

A second followed soon after, with more selfless play in front of goal: Cooper’s run into the dee drew the keeper, but rather than take the shot, he slipped it to Barnes who went for goal and, despite a tackle on the goal line, forced it in. A third was a goalmouth scramble, with Cooper tapping in just in front of Airan Jones who would otherwise have taken the prize for the shortest time ever between coming on as a substitute and scoring!

The second half came with a scare for Whitchurch as an Oxton attack into the dee was awarded a penalty stroke. Thankfully the right post dealt with it, although keeper Paul “Sturge” Leigh was on hand. Sturge also made a number of significant blocks as the Oxton attack started to make more of their high player who spent most of his time now in the Reds’ dee. At the other end though Whitchurch were putting together some lovely hockey. Attacks started from the sixteens were moving from player to player as they let the ball do the work – but only because players were running for their teammates, making sure they were in the right places to make it easy for the passes to get through.

Cooper picked up his second goal as Barnes put in a strong drive into the Oxton dee followed by more unselfish play in front of goal to lay it off for Cooper to slap it into the open goal. Several more goals could have come, but the Oxton keeper was their best player and made a number of significant saves. One final goal was scored though, this time by Leese whose strike was initially blocked but came straight back out to him, and there was no chance the second shot would miss.

It was another solid performance by a developing team, which leaves them top of the league for another week. Player of the match was Joel Leese for his consistently solid performance. Whitchurch are away next week to Alderley Edge 5s.

Whitchurch Ladies 1s 2 Timperley Ladies 3s 3

Whitchurch ladies 1s entertained an unbeaten Timperley 3s this Saturday. For the first five minutes Whitchurch ladies took control, but Timperley had a strong defence, powering the ball back giving Emma Harper and Catherine Reece-Gresty a hard time in defence. Tiring quickly as the game was fast and back and forth Timperley scored two goals in the first half.

Midfielders Lisa Sullivan, captain Catherine Winter-Gresty and Anna Latham worked together giving Whitchurch a few shots on goal but couldn’t they could not find the gap. Millie Edwards and Sophie Ward made some strong runs up the lines but Timperley were holding tight.

Whitchurch had a firm team talk and came out fighting. Whitchurch raised their work rate and started to ask questions of Timperley. Kessie Hutching’s and Izzy Huxley passed well up the wing and Whitchurch started having more shots on goal with Sarah Field and Stephanie Stanton finding more space in the dee.

A goal came when Lisa Sullivan set free captain Catherine Winter-Gresty who used her speed to run the ball up the pitch and fire into the dee where Anna Latham touched in on the back post.

Heads went up for the Whitchurch ladies and the play improved, with time ticking Whitchurch had to score again and shortly after Anna Latham got her second from an Ellie Windsor cross.

Timperley quickly pulled themselves back in the game with a great shot from a short corner.

Despite numerous chances Whitchurch unfortunately could not get the much deserved equaliser. Whitchurch played the last 5 mins with everything they had to try and get a draw but time ran out.

Players player was awarded to Lisa Sullivan.

Sale Ladies 3s 1 Whitchurch Ladies 2s 7

Whitchurch ladies 2s travelled away to a late game against Sale ladies 3s.

Whitchurch started out the stronger of the two teams as they pressured the Sale defence. After some amazing runs from Grace Berry, Jessica Carruthers and Amelie Morris Whitchurch passed the ball around the Sale defence for Morris to slot the ball home. After fighting hard Sale earnt a short corner but from all the strong defending Sale slotted the ball past the advancing Whitchurch keeper Meghan Nicholson.

The reds regrouped and went on fighting with some interlinking play between Edina Jones, Berry and Molly Fry. Berry then completed her hattrick with two goals in quick succession.

Whitchurch were then awarded with a flick which Jess Kimberley slotted past the Sale keeper. Before the halftime whistle a quick interchange of passing between Holly Gilbert, Molly Fry and Jessica Carruthers resulted in Phoebe Jones tapping in a fifth goal.

Whitchurch continued after the break with some strong runs and defending from Chloe Lloyd and Martha Teggin driving forward the Whitchurch attacks circle. As Whitchurch started to create space the ball came across to Louise Whitley who scored her first goal for the club

As Sale started to push themselves back into the game Captain Emma Clarke calmed the team and controlled play stepping into action to break down and clear the Sale attacks. The tireless efforts of Caitlin Edwards and Nicola Forster continued to frustrate the Sale side and setup Whitchurch with more goal scoring opportunities and when the ball fell to Berry in the dee she and slapped the ball into the net bringing the final score to 7-1.

Whitchurch ladies 2s will be entertaining Oxton Ladies 4s at home.

Oxton Men’s 5s 5 Whitchurch Men’s 2s 0

Whitchurch Men’s 2s’ good start to the season came to an abrupt halt when they came up against an excellent Oxton 5s side. The Wirral-based team were in with a promotion shout last season before a significant points deduction scuppered their chances, but they handed Whitchurch heavy defeats in both games something the Reds were keen to avoid this time out.

Oxton immediately took control of the game on Saturday and Whitchurch found themselves pinned in their own half for much of the first period. Oxton were moving the ball around quickly and confidently, and their powerful running through the middle of the pitch was too much for the young Whitchurch players to deal with.

Brendan Coburn and Wyn Morris were being forced to defend in their own dee and clearances were coming straight back at them as Whitchurch were unable to string their passing combinations together. Some rest bite was coming from Alex Leigh running the ball out of defence, but the 2s were finding it difficult to get the ball out of their own half and the front players were unable to get into the game.

With the Reds defending within their own dee it was inevitable that Oxton were going to win short corners. The Wirral side demonstrated in both games last season how ruthless they could be from shorts and early on the warning signs were there. Whitchurch defended the set-pieces well, with good defensive clearances and some excellent stops from keeper Neil Jones, and twice the home side had goals ruled out from short corners for the strike being too high. Eventually however the home side got it right, firing in from the edge of the dee.

Whitchurch could feel a little fortunate to get to half-time only one goal behind and the team talk at the break stressed the need to calm down and pass the ball with more care. The team took this on board and started the second half well. Richard Leigh, Doug Buckeridge and Joe Coburn were winning the ball higher up the pitch and the short passes were finding teammates, enabling the side to make progress towards the Oxton dee.

Ethan Gresty and Jacob Buckeridge were linking up well from the wings and Euan Morris started to see the ball in attacking positions. Doug Buckeridge had a good chance to equalise from a Euan Morris cut-back, but his shot was just too close to the Oxton keeper.

Oxton’s excellent second goal came completely against the run of play. One of the home side’s young players picked up the ball near the halfway line and drove straight down the pitch, into the dee, finishing on the back stick past keeper Jones. This knocked Whitchurch out of their stride and boosted the Wirral side. Oxton quickly raced into a 4-0 lead, with Whitchurch again struggling to hold onto possession and being unable to get out of their own half. It was manful defending by Gareth Teggin and Will Snaith supporting Wyn Morris and Brendan Coburn and some good stops from keeper Jones that kept the score respectable.

After their 10-minute wobble, Whitchurch finished the game strongly. Oxton were always a threat and did add a fifth goal from a short corner just before the end of the game, but Whitchurch threatened to get on the score sheet themselves. Joe Coburn, Luke Beddow and Dave Brunyard were driving forward through the centre of the pitch and linking well with Joe Faithfull and Will Gilbert on the wings. But the 2s were unable to fashion any clear-cut chances, although the Oxton keeper had to kick away several speculative efforts.

Oxton were well worth their 5-0 win. They have an excellent side, with several talented young players, ably supported by some experienced and equally talented adults. Their hitting power was always a threat at short corners, and they now sit top of the table with three wins from three games, with eighteen goals scored and none conceded.

For the Whitchurch 2s this was a learning experience. The team did well to recover from a chastening first half to dominate the early stages of the second period and almost fashion an equaliser, and then to recover from a wobble in the middle of the second half to come strong again at the end. Alex Leigh had another good game in defence and Ethan Gresty had an excellent second half, providing an important link between midfield and Euan Morris up front.

With a few things to work on in training, the Men’s 2s will entertain Clwb Hoci Eirias 3s at 1:30pm on Saturday 12^th October at SJT.

Whitchurch Men’s 2s 3 Golborne 3s 1

Whitchurch welcomed Golborne 3s to SJT for the early afternoon pushback on Saturday. With the Warrington side coming off the back of a big win from the previous weekend, this was going to be a big test for the Reds. With a trio of young lads moving up to play for the 1s this weekend, it was pleasing to draw on the experience of Alex Fry and Craig Hockenhull for their first games of the season.

The away side shaded the early exchanges. Whitchurch struggled to make much headway into the Golborne half, but equally were resolute at the back and Golborne were finding it difficult to get into the home dee. Most of Golborne’s most dangerous moments came as a result of Whitchurch’s own mistakes, but the home goal wasn’t under serious threat as Wyn Morris and Brendan Coburn cleared everything that came near them.

As the half progressed, Whitchurch started to string passes together and make progress up the pitch. Ethan Gresty, Will Gilbert and Jacob Buckeridge were all finding more space in wide areas and creating danger by driving towards the Golborne dee. Euan Morris was linking with the wingers and several dangerous crosses flashed across the face of the Golborne goal, with Ethan particularly unlucky not to get his stick on one such cross.

With Alex Fry and Craig Hockenhull providing calm and assurance in midfield, Whitchurch began to take control of the game. Will Gilbert had a shot at goal which sailed wide before nice interplay between Doug Buckeridge, Alex Fry and Jacob Buckeridge saw David Brunyard brilliantly divert a cross through the narrowest of gaps to give the Reds a half-time lead.

Whitchurch continued to shade the early exchanges of the second half. Gareth Teggin was growing into the game on the right side of defence and combining well with Will Snaith who drove the ball through the middle of the pitch.

An incisive passing move through the centre of the pitch saw the ball played through to Euan Morris in the dee. From the narrowest of angles, Euan smashed the ball low, across the Golborne keeper to double Whitchurch’s lead.

Despite Golborne’s efforts, Whitchurch looked relatively comfortable, with Richard Leigh and David Brunyard breaking up lay in the middle of the pitch and feeding the ball forward to the willing runners up front. And then out of the blue, Whitchurch made a mess of clearing their lines and conceded a short corner. This was duly converted by Golborne, with a fine strike from the edge of the dee, hard and low into the Whitchurch goal.

Golborne sensed a chance and Whitchurch looked a little ragged for a few minutes. But the team dug deep and restored their lead when they quickly moved the ball from back to front, via the excellent Alex Leigh. He found Craig Hockenhull whose defence-splitting pass to Euan Morris was again smashed across the Golborne keeper into the far corner of the goal.

Golborne came back hard at Whitchurch in the final stages of the game, forcing keeper Neil Jones into a couple of smart saves, but the home side battled away and saw out the 3-1 win.

This was another fine performance by the young Whitchurch players. They continue to grow and improve They’re brave on and off the ball, as demonstrated by Jacob Buckeridge, who responded to being flattened in the first half, by duly flattening Golborne’s biggest player in the second period. Once again Wyn Morris was outstanding in defence with absolutely everything being cleared away from the Whitchurch dee. Dave Brunyard had a great game and deserved his goal, but Euan Morris stole the plaudits with two stunning goals in the second half.

Next up, the 2s face a tough away trip to play Oxton 5s on 5th October.

Deeside ladies 3s 2 Whitchurch ladies 1s 8

Whitchurch ladies 1s travelled to their first away match of the season this Saturday to play Deeside 3s.

From the start Whitchurch took control of the match, with accurate passing through mid-players Lisa Sullivan, Hebe Dixon and captain Catherine Winter-Gresty. Forwards Ellie Windsor and Izzy Huxley collected the ball and picked out Sarah Field who tapped it past the keeper scoring the first of the match.

Deeside fought back putting pressure on the Whitchurch defence Emma harper and Cath Reece-Gresty, but they held strong passing the ball back up the pitch. Whitchurch were awarded a flick which Hebe Dixon put it into the net. 2-0 up and Whitchurch relaxed a little too much and allowed Deeside to break and they scored.

Whitchurch ladies came back hard attacking the ball, making strong accurate passes getting the ball into the Deeside Dee where Ellie Windsor was waiting on the post who tapped into the goal corner. 3-1 to Whitchurch and the half time near, Lisa Sullivan was on fire and dribbled the ball from a long corner into the Dee and struck the ball into the inside of the net.

4-1 at half time and after a quick well-earned break Whitchurch started the second half like the first. Great passing up the pitch and excellent defending by Anna Latham and Kezzie Hutching allowing players to push up, with plenty of play in the Deeside Dee Whitchurch had a run of short corners and Hebe Dixon slotted the ball onto the back board.

Deeside worked and fought hard and with fast young legs were able to break away, keeper Maddy Sugden had made some great saves, but this attack took her to the floor and Deeside were able to score their second.

Not fazed, Whitchurch continued to attack having majority of the play in the Deeside half. Captain Cath Winter-Gresty collected the ball outside the Dee and shot across the goal where Sarah Field got a touch and tapped in their 6th.

With so much play in the Deeside 25 the game was fast, Izzy Huxley held the ball and slotted past the keeper to make it 7.

Deeside didn’t give up as they continued to have breaks, but were quickly picked up by Millie Edwards who passed back up the pitch quickly. With minutes to go, Whitchurch had time for 1 more as Stephanie Stanton had a great shot into the top of the net. Whitchurch were delighted with their well-earned 8-2 win.

Ladies 1s play Timperley at home next week.

Stockport Bramhall Men’s 2s 1  Whitchurch Men’s 1s 3

Whitchurch went to Stockport this week hoping to improve on last season’s poor away record, and faced a strong Stockport team who had a good win last week against Sale. The Reds were missing a number of regular players so it was an opportunity for Joe Coburn, Joe Faithfull and Luke Beddow to step up from the 2s – and step up they did, putting in very accomplished performances. Whitchurch started brightly, with good confident passing, and players old and new moving well for each other and providing plenty of opportunities early on. Rob Chappell continued the strength in midfield from last week, and moved the ball off to Tom Forster and Dale Seymour time and again, giving Stockport plenty of work to do. Coburn and Faithfull provided width, and Ben Kimberley and Nick Cooper again combined well up front to put pressure on the Stockport defence.

It was, however, Stockport who almost took the lead first, with a goal disallowed for height and distance travelled, and that was the inspiration the Reds needed to turn their dee into Area 51 and prevent any further intrusion. A surge up field ended with Beddow scoring his first goal for the 1s, slapping in a ball across the dee past the Stockport keeper. Whitchurch held strong for the rest of the half, keeping the attacks from Stockport to a minimum with Danny Foulkes and Airan Jones again solid in defence, and Paul “Sturge” Leigh in goal mopping up any balls that did get through.

The second half started well with Whitchurch looking to attack early, using their substitutes to ensure maximum impact and recovery for key players. The second goal came from some lovely hockey: an aerial ball from James Partington bounced past the defender to Cooper who shifted the ball to Seymour who was unselfish in front of goal, slipping a dummy shot sideways to Kimberley for a simple tap-in. This was an excellent example of the game discipline the team and club is working towards – no longer the hit-and-hope rocket at the keeper, but the intelligence and composure to get the ball to the open teammate. The rest of the half was evenly balanced as Whitchurch continued to mark well and get their tackles in, but Stockport were able to mount some incisive attacks and were unlucky not to score, until finally a long ball through was half-stopped by Foulkes, but the ball slid to a Stockport attacker who flicked it over a diving Sturge. This spurred them on to further attacks which were unlucky not to go in, but a third Whitchurch goal followed shortly after as a ball in the Stockport dee was fired towards goal and was chipped over the keeper by a defender, with Cooper poised to strike.

It was another solid performance from Whitchurch to go top of the league after two games. The performances from the new players – including Luke Beddow being named player of the match – was very encouraging and bodes well for the future, and helped the entire team put in another solid game. Whitchurch are home next week against Oxton Men’s 4s.

Whitchurch Ladies 3s 3 Neston Ladies 5s 11

The second match of the season started with gusto as the Neston attack sprung immediately into action. The passing was slick and caught Whitchurch off guard with some early attacks into the dee.  Our defence of Sally Pearce, Jan Teggin and Emma Stubbs battled hard to keep them out with some excellent hit outs to our waiting halves of Annie Leigh on the left, Chloe Lloyd on the right and captain Wendy Cooper in the middle. Some excellent kicks from our keeper Louise Cottrell kept them at bay for the first 5 minutes but soon the superb skills of the Neston centre forward resulted in the first conceded goal.

Undeterred Whitchurch kept battling and started to put in a few more attacks of their own led by Amelie Morris and Kate Buckeridge on the left and Jasmine Williams and Caitlin Edwards on the right. Emily Lister covered well at right half, chasing back in defence and linking well with Jasmine and Caitlin. It was a tough first half for Whitchurch ending 0 – 5 but many lessons were learnt and the team rallied after a team talk. Despite Neston scoring again, Whitchurch showed great courage by not giving up and created a few slick passes of their own leading to a goal from Amelie Morris.

Neston responded with a couple more goals but Whitchurch seemed to have a new lease of life and Jasmine and Catlin started making some good runs on the right hand side feeding through to Annie Buckeridge in the middle. Annie Leigh showed more aggression on the left and made some superb tackles allowing Kate to run up the left wing and support Amelie. Lots of passes into the dee from supporting halves Wendy and Emily eventually resulted in a pass to Annie who used her reverse stick skills to score our 2nd goal.

Neston responded with a couple more goals despite good tackling from Sally and Jan in the dee but another drive down the left wing by Amelie and Kate led to a 3rd goal for Whitchurch.

Whitchurch defence starting cutting off more of the Neston attacks with Chloe, Jasmine and Emma reading the ball much better and preventing the Neston onslaught. Louise was relentless in goal despite being flattened in the last 5 minutes. She was dusted off and glued back together by Wendy and Whitchurch battled on to a final score off 3-11. Players player was Kate Buckeridge.

Whitchurch Ladies 2s 1 Deeside Ramblers Ladies 4’s 6

Whitchurch started the match in high spirits, despite the unfortunate defeat in last week’s game. Immediately they made some strong attacks, with Louise Whitley and Phoebe Jones working together to pressurise Deeside’s defence. However, Deeside fought back, and managed to score their first goal only minutes in. But Whitchurch persevered, with Beth Wright making some incredible saves in goal to bail the team out, and Edina Jones and Ellie Pearson continuing to make advances into Deeside’s dee. This drew the first half of the match to a close.

The team came back onto the pitch with the same determination seen in the first half. Although Jess Kimberley and Emma Clarke held strong in defence, Deeside managed to score their second goal early on, and their third soon after. Whitchurch kept going, winning a series of short corners, and creating some threatening attacks on goal from Katie Leicester and Nicki Forster. Holly Edwards managed to pull one back for Whitchurch, thanks to a beautiful cross in from Holly Gilbert. Hermione Ball played wonderfully in defence, channelling players down the side of the pitch, and blocking Deeside’s attacks. Tracy Tolhurst from the sideline encouraging and lifting the Whitchurch players, but in spite of this, Deeside managed to score three more, as the final whistle blew, they were 6-1 winners. Molly Fry was awarded Whitchurch player of the match by Deeside.