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.

Whitchurch ladies 1s 2  Oxton ladies 2s 3

Whitchurch started strong this week with some great passing allowing them to dominate the first 20 minutes of the game. A great move by Laura Workman crossing to Becks Morrissey in the centre narrowly missed the goal early on.

Whitchurch continued with strong passes from Jess Kimberley being picked up by Millie Edwards who was unlucky not to get a shot in.  Then captain Catherine Winter-Gresty passed to Grace Berry in the box who managed to cross it for Sue Read to tap in for a 1-0 lead.

This seemed to energise Oxton who then came back strong and Whitchurch endured 15 minutes of pressure, with Catherine Reece-Gresty, Vicky Price and Helen Machin in defence having to work hard alongside goalie Gwyn Thomas-Rees.

After half time Oxton continued to push hard and shortly after the break equalised from a short corner. Whitchurch then re-grouped and with Charlotte Lawder pushing up and passing to Sue Read in the box who got the second goal.

After that, Oxton fought back and again equalised. The play continued end to end with both sides wanting the win, unfortunately Oxton managed to grab another goal near the end. Whitchurch were unlucky not to score again in the last few minutes, but the score finished 2-3 to the visitors.

 

Whitchurch Men’s 1s 2 – Brooklands MU 6s 3

Whitchurch Men’s 1s slipped to another frustrating 3-2 defeat this season at home to the Brooklands 6s, who are outplaying their own 5s team this season and showed great skill across the board, and especially from their younger players.

 

Whitchurch started strongly, and Tom Leonard added to his tally for the season with some good passing around the dee from Ben Kimberley and Jon Chappell (on his return to the team after several years) leading to a pass to Leonard which was buried into the Brooklands goal. However, Brooklands struck back almost immediately, putting together a number of strong attacks down the wing and driving the by-line to claim a number of short corners, and a strong route-one strike snuck into the corner of the goal to level the scores. Jake Wood, Tom Forster, Ryan Murtagh and James Partington rotated around the defence, but were stretched by the quick runs and movement of the Brooklands forwards who broke their marking too easily and a second scramble in the dee with players running free let the Brooklands striker lift the ball over Sturge in goal.

 

The pressure was relentless on the Whitchurch defence, and another strike was deflected over the bar by an excellent save from Murtagh, but finally another goal frustratingly slipped through the closing feet of keeper Sturge to make the scores 3-1 at half time.

 

The second half was much stronger from Whitchurch, with the defence marking the Brooklands forwards better, making it much more difficult for them to launch attacks. The midfield of Alex Fry, Ben Fry, Rob Chappell and Jack Barnes worked the ball through the middle with more time on the ball and good runs from Kimberley and Wood spread the play out in the Brooklands 23.

 

This led to Whitchurch’s second goal, when the keeper ran out strongly to block an attack, but was then out of position as the ball was recycled it via Rob Chappell to Jon Chappell who calmly slotted away his first goal in his first game back.

 

The rest of the second half was end to end, with last ditch efforts from Murtagh, Forster and Partington, and a diving save from a one-on-one by keeper Sturge ensured no further goals were scored, and the game ended 3-2.

 

Lymm Mens 3s 3 Whitchurch Mens 2s 1

 

Whitchurch 2s travelled north on Saturday to face a Lymm 3s. With a number of senior players unavailable, the Reds were only able to field 11 players and the team were ultimately undone by their youth and inexperience.

 

Whitchurch started well and other than a dangerous Lymm attack in the first minute, they dominated the early stages of the first half. Craig Hockenhull was winning the ball in midfield and driving the play forward, Euan Morris and Locki Price were interchanging well on the right and Fred Egerton was a constant threat on the left. Josh Parry continued his good work up front and although unable to get his own shots away, his presence and hold up play created chances for his teammates.

 

Eventually, after a number of missed chances, the deadlock was broken midway through the half when Egerton broke into the D from the left and squared the ball for Morris to fire home from a tight angle.

 

Whitchurch continued to push forward looking for goals, but with a lack of substitutes available, the younger players began to tire as the half wore on. The Whitchurch defence was becoming more exposed and increasingly outnumbered as Lymm grew into the game and counterattacked more frequently.

 

After a couple of near misses from open play and short corners, Lymm finally found an equaliser. Very soon after they took the lead when again the Whitchurch defence was left badly exposed.

 

The 2s seemed shaken by the quick turnaround and with tired legs struggled to get back into the first half.

 

Lymm made some tactical adjustments in the second half and began to swamp midfield. Craig Hockenhull was denied any space and the Whitchurch wide players and Josh Parry upfront struggled to get into the game at all.

 

The defence of Doug Buckeridge, Wyn Morris, Matt Brooks and Iain Bones were constantly fending off Lymm attacks and with Craig constantly coming back to help, Whitchurch were pinned in their own half and struggled to get possession of the ball higher up the pitch.

 

The defence fought a very committed rear guard action during the second half and restricted Lymm to very few shots on goal. However they were undone when a hit from the top of their own D went wrong and they were caught on the counter attack. Keeper Neil Jones had no chance as the ball crept in off the far post.

 

Whitchurch frustrations boiled over as the second half wore on. Airan Jones was green carded for a number of miss-timed tackles and then Iain Bones was yellow carded for a clumsy challenge in midfield.

 

For the periods with 10 men the remaining defenders, assisted by Hockenhull dropping even deeper did exceptionally well to snuff out the eager Lymm attacks.

 

Ultimately Lymm thoroughly deserved their 3-1 victory.

 

Alderley Edge ladies 4’s 10  Whitchurch ladies 3’s 1

 

Whitchurch travelled over an hour to the very nice suburb of Wilmslow playing a predominantly young 4th Alderley Edge ladies hockey team. The weather was calm and sunny but the pitch felt very different to our home turf. Unusually, we started with 14 players this week which were rolled on and off very fairly by Kate Goodwin our captain.

 

Whitchurch started well but were quickly overwhelmed by the attacks led down the left wing. It was clear we were up against a much coached and well organised team and they had the better of us throughout the first half.

 

We were grateful to have Mel Reid back in defence and Maddy Sugden our goal keeper was awesome as usual, saving many short corners and frustrating Alderley’s frequent attacks. Our defence battled hard with Emily Lister, Annie Buckeridge, Edina Jones, Holly Gilbert and Ellie McEvoy tracking back well and facing some hard hit shots into the D.

 

Towards the end of the first half a well-executed wing movement by our star player Millie Caruthers resulted in a short corner which led to our one and only goal scored by the superb Becky Brookfield leaving us 1-6 down at the whistle.

In the second half, we were shooting into the sun but managed to battle hard and only let a further four goals in with Victoria Corlett, Evie Whatmough, Kate Goodwin, Kate Buckeridge and Caitlin Shaw desperately trying the break ahead to give our defence a much needed break from the onslaught.

 

Maddy Sugden was the player of the match and in one memorable moment, despite being laid out on the ground, continued the keep the ball out with her outstretched arm and stick. Without her and the valiant efforts of Ellie McEvoy who also took a good dive across the side line earlier in the match we would have been at least 30 goals down.

Despite being well beaten we all had fun and were treated to a much needed tomato and basil soup plus fries and sandwiches at the Alderley Edge hockey club afterwards.

 

Crewe ladies 4s 1 Whitchurch ladies 2s 2

This weekend, Whitchurch Ladies 2 travelled away to Crewe Ladies 4. After observing a minutes silence at the start of the match, Whitchurch started out strong. Good passing between Izzy Huxley and Holly Jepson on the right wing, created many chances in the D, but Crewe’s goalie managed to hold off all attempts. However, after a sideline hit taken by Phoebe Jones, the ball found Amy Fry in the D and she passed to Jepson on the post, who scored the first goal on her debut. Unfortunately, after a few minutes Crewe equalised to end the half 1-1.

 

The second half started much like the first, where Whitchurch had many unlucky misses. After about 15 minutes, the ball ended up in Crewe’s D, and a pass from Jones to Fry resulted in Whitchurch’s second goal. After that, Crewe came back hard, but good defending from Gayle Ladd and Martha Teggin, and more attacking play led by Hebe Dixon, held off any more goals. The match ended 2-1 to Whitchurch and Dixon was awarded player of the match.

 

Wilmslow Men’s 3s 3 – Whitchurch Men’s 1s 2

Whitchurch travelled to Wilmslow this week to face the top-of-the-league side in a match that could have narrowed the gap in the table considerably, but went down to a narrow defeat from a last minute goal. The game opened brightly, but it was to be Wilmslow to get on the score sheet first – their constant pressure down the right wing eventually paid off with a strike into the Whitchurch dee deflecting off Alex Fry’s fine block, and a Wilmslow striker managed to get enough on it that Paul Leigh’s excellent parry looped up and struck the crossbar – but unfortunately the underneath, so it bounced back down and landed only an inch over the line.

The Wilmslow pressure continued, and Whitchurch struggled to get the ball up the pitch enough to trouble the Wilmslow defence, but eventually the ball was fired up field and Ben Kimberley latched on to it and went one-on-one with the keeper, slotting the ball away to add to his total for the season. Tom Forster, James Partington and Ryan Murtagh were able to mark the Wilmslow attack more ably after the game had settled and the opposition were more on the back foot, and the half ended 1-1.

The second half started with more strong pressure from Wilmslow, and Whitchurch were caught waiting for a whistle that never came for a foul, and the Wilmslow attack drove into the dee and got their second. Frustration showed, and green cards were shown to both teams, but Whitchurch came back to control the game more, with Rob Chappell, Jack Barnes and Ben Fry holding the middle with Alex Fry, and the passing game was much improved, spreading out well to Kimberley and Jake Wood on the wings who then caused the Wilmslow defence some real problems with Tom Leonard’s strikes kept out only through the excellent work of their goalkeeper who was brave in coming out and athletic in ability.

The Reds managed to get their second with some good link-up play: an aerial clearance from Partington found Kimberley, whose shot was deflected wide. The resultant corner was quickly taken by Fry, who got it to Kimberley who passed to Leonard who put it away.

However, in the dying minutes, Wilmslow again drove down the right and across the baseline, and managed to get it to the top of the dee where an onrushing striker put away a good shot to take the game 3-2. Whitchurch play Brooklands MU 6s at home next week, and will look to make amends and get back to winning ways.

 

Whitchurch Men’s 2s 3 Llandudno Men’s 2s 1

Whitchurch 2s entertained Llandudno 2s on a sunny Saturday afternoon at SJT. With the Welsh side struggling for form and only able to field 10 players, the Reds were looking to build on their entertaining draw with Neston the previous weekend.

Whitchurch took control of the early stages. They moved the ball sensibly around the pitch to exploit their numerical advantage. Their play was erring on the side of caution however and didn’t really trouble the Llandudno dee.

When the Welsh side did gain possession of the ball, their attacks were broken up by good work from the Whitchurch defence of Doug Buckeridge, Danny Foulkes, Rupert Yeoward and Matt Brooks.

As the half wore on, the young Whitchurch players became more adventurous and pushed Llandudno back towards their own goal. With Craig Hockenhull’s driving runs through the centre of midfield a constant threat and good interplay on the left between Fred Egerton and Josh Parry, the Reds looked most likely to open the scoring. However, from a rare foray forward the Welsh side won a short corner that was beautifully flicked into the top corner of the Whitchurch goal.

The Whitchurch response was immediate. As Llandudno messed up a restart from the top of their dee, Josh Parry was alive to the lose ball, driving the ball back into the dee before feeding a neat pass to Fred Egerton, who fired in the equaliser.

Whitchurch continued to push forward as the half drew to a close, but were unable to convert any further chances, including a number of short corners.

In the second half, Llandudno changed their shape and pushed two players upfront and put an extra player in midfield. The changes led to a much more open game of hockey. Whilst Whitchurch were able to find more space going forward, the Welsh side were also able to push more players onto the Whitchurch defence and create chances of their own.

Keeper Neil Jones made a number of good saves during the second period and the Whitchurch back four were resolute in their defensive duties, ably assisted by the midfield tracking their runners, including James Page who diligently followed the Welsh right winger up and down the pitch.

At the other end of the pitch, Euan Morris and Joe Coburn followed up their excellent performances in the morning for the under 14s with some great interplay down the left and Airan Jones was a constant threat on the right with his pacy runs.

Midway through the second half, Whitchurch took the lead when Craig Hockenhull drove in fiercely from the edge of the D after good work from Fred Egerton. This was quickly followed by a goal by Euan Morris, who poked home after a melee in the Llandudno D.

Whitchurch continued to push forward but missed chances from short corners, the Llandudno keeper made a number of good saves and Whitchurch failed to convert a penalty flick late in the game, but ultimately the Reds were well worth the 3-1 win.

This was a good win for this young Whitchurch side. At times they moved the ball well and they worked hard tracking back, when required, to help snuff out the Llandudno attacks. Again the opposition were full of praised for the younger players after the game. The win moves the 2s up to 7th in the table.

A special mention to umpire Jess Kimberley who was excellent throughout and had to deal with a couple of feisty moments in the second-half, when her decisions were questioned a little too vehemently.

Whitchurch 2s travel north to Lymm 3s next weekend.

 

Whitchurch ladies 3s 0 Golborne ladies 3s 0

This week Whitchurch 3’s were pleased to be not playing in the pouring rain and thrilled to keep a clean sheet.

The team started well having grown in confidence from past matches and now becoming more familiar with their positions. Evie Whatmough, Annie Buckeridge, Amelie Morris led the attack with Whitchurch keeping most of the possession in the first half and making many runs into the Golborne dee.

Kate Buckeridge and Izzy Huxley supported on the left and right wing respectively and tracked back to help in midfield both showing some stick skills learnt from Wednesdays training session. Huxley was very accurate with her feeding to Whatmough at short corners and Annie Buckeridge and Morris demonstrated some good driving runs into the attacking half.

The few times Golborne did break they were quickly broken down by Helen Apperley and Emily Lister in defence who quickly sent the ball back to midfield and also took some accurate hit outs.

Holly Jepson had an excellent debut bossing the centre of the pitch and drove forward to support the attack. She had a few narrow misses on goal and ran tirelessly back to help the defence.

Despite having no subs and down to 10 men in the second half, Whitchurch showed that they have improved their fitness by maintaining their dominant possession. We made many more attacking runs into the dee and won a couple more short corners, which we sadly failed to convert.

For once, our brilliant goalkeeper Maddy Sugden didn’t have much to do but saved some key goals when they caught us on the break and saved a vital penalty flick in the second half.

 

Wilmslow ladies 3s 1 Whitchurch ladies 1s 0

Whitchurch ladies 1s played away against Wilmslow 3’s. From the start Whitchurch had most of the possession and control of the game. It was fast and Whitchurch had the pace to keep Wilmslow on their toes having lots of opportunities. Wilmslow’s runs were broken down by Helen Machin and Millie Edwards passing the ball back up the pitch to Laura Workman and Hayleigh Busby. Every attempt for Whitchurch seemed to just slightly miss the goal.

Wilmslow were awarded a shot corner and scored. Whitchurch kept their heads high and kept pushing up with some great runs from Charlotte Lawder and Grace Berry. Whitchurch worked together with some fantastic passes into the Dee from captain Catherine Winter-Gresty and Laura Workman. The Wilmslow keeper covered their goal well and saved every shot.

After the half time whistle Whitchurch kept the pressure on Wilmslow wanting a goal to equalise. Defence Hebe Dixon and Catherine Reece-Gresty pushed up the pitch to help the team but as Wilmslow wanted to hold onto their lead all their players held back in defence. Many more chances were there for Whitchurch but time ran out. Player of the match was awarded to the captain.

Ladies 1s play Oxton 2s next week at home.

 

Whitchurch ladies 2s 1 Neston ladies 4s 4

Whitchurch ladies 2s entertained Neston ladies 4s this weekend. Whitchurch knew that they had to try and redeem themselves after the previous weeks score.

Whitchurch started off the stronger of the two teams by applying pressure from the off, Tracy Tolhurst passed the ball to Emily Vernon who just slotted the ball wide of the goal. Despite having many short corners Whitchurch were unable get the critical touch. Neston then broke through the Whitchurch midfield but the strengths of Captain Emma Clarke, Jess Kimberley, Martha Teggin and Natasha Foster stopped Neston in their tracks but despite all of their efforts Neston slotted the ball past goalkeeper Shola Bailey and brought the score up to 0-1.

During half time Whitchurch had a positive talk which boosted everyone back up. A run from Phoebe Jones and Helen Hocknell picked out Stephanie Stanton who then slotted the ball past the advancing Neston goalkeeper to bring the score to 1-1. Neston then broke through the tired and unfocused Whitchurch team and scored a further three goals. Whitchurch had many opportunities but could not convert into any more goals.

Whitchurch will be travelling away to play against Crewe ladies 4’s at 16:30.

Helen Hocknell was awarded players player.