Slazenger Hockey Club

Bradford

Report: 05-12-2015 – Mens 5th’s (0) vs. (3) Bradford 5th’s

by

After going down 2-0 by half time with another new and young team, Slazengers fought back courageously to nearly get a goal or two back in the second half against a very skillful Bradford team.

Great work by the team with Jack Lee and Will Feally working hard and running hard to create chances and close the opposition down. Man of the Match Dan Cass was making his presence felt and Harry Buttery in goal pulled off a great performance.

However Bradford scored again the second half to make the final score 3-0.

Report: 01-12-2013 – Boys U16 Tournament

by

The latest tournament for the Slazenger U16 boys was held at Harrogate on 1st December. Once again, Slazenger were competing in the 1st division.

Slazenger 0 – 2 City of York
The opening game was against main rivals City of York. With the last meeting finishing in a tense 0-0 draw, it was the York team that took the early initiative, playing high tempo passing hockey and putting the Slazenger defence under pressure from the start. Slazenger struggled to find the kind of form that had proved so devastating in the EHB Cup a week earlier and only some goal line defending and outstanding saves by goal keeper Ralph Toon kept the score even. With York dominating the mid field, the Slazenger forwards had little to work with so it was no surprise when York opened the scoring after about 15 minutes, the first goal conceded by the Slazenger defence all season. York increased their lead after 20 minutes when Slazenger failed to fully clear a short corner. To make matter worse, Matthew Feather suffered a painful blow to his thumb preventing him from taking part in any more games.

Slazenger 1 – 1 Bradford
Facing a team that they had beaten 6 – 0 a week earlier, the Slazenger boys again appeared tense, making too many handling errors and misplaced passes. Despite this, Matthew Stacey opened the scoring after 15 minutes with a fine reverse hit. Slazenger began to settle and play some more positive hockey, which resulted in Jamie Young winning a short corner in his first outing with the team. A well executed short corner routine saw James Higgins’ short stopped on the line with a foot. Rowan Tejura missed the resulting penalty flick and with Slazenger unsettled by events surrounding the flick, Bradford took advantage to grab a equalising goal less than a minute from the final whistle.

Slazenger 2 – 0 Doncaster
With Doncaster having already beaten Bradford 3 – 0, it was essential that Slazenger took the full three points from the last game of the day to stay in Division 1. After much positive team building and encouragement from the coaching team and parents alike, the Slazenger boys started more strongly putting the Doncaster defence under pressure and making goal scoring opportunities. Doncaster, needing just a draw to stay up, posed a significant treat which tested the Slazenger full backs, James Higgins and Tom Pitchforth and kept Ralph busy in goal.

After 12 minutes, Slazenger made the first breakthrough when Matthew Stacey, having just switched to the left wing, deflected a fierce cross from Dan Atkinson into the Doncaster goal. Doncaster pressed to get back into the game but Slazenger, now playing with renewed spirit, worked hard to deny them an equaliser, none moreso than Dan Levitt and Alex King.

It was well into the last 5 minutes before Matthew Stacey found the net for the third time of the day, deflecting a well executed short corner into the goal.

Selecting a ‘man of the match’ was not easy with several players putting a lot if effort into all three games. Ralph Toon kept Slazenger in the game several times and Dan Levitt maintained his high work rate throughout but James Higgins gets the vote for his performance at full back. It was a tough tournament but a good learning opportunity for some of the less experienced boys. Most improved player goes to Alex King who continues to grow in confidence and skill with every game.

Report: 14-10-2012 – Boys U14’s

by

The under 14’s started brightly this season in their first encounter. The squad is a new one but the welcome addition of Dan Levitt and Matt Stacey made all the difference.

The back 4 consisted of Tom Atkinson, Ben Stevenson, Jacob Dennison and young Chris Gascoigne with Danny Alderson in goals. In midfield the team started with Dan Levitt, Alice Gascoigne, Captain Matthew Stacey and Nick Caldersley with Matthew Chilton and Harry Gunning leading the forward line. Hannah Chilton started as substitute.

Airedale           2 – 1      Slazengers (Stacey 23’)

The first game against Airedale saw some settling in nerves as Slaz hadn’t played together as a team and many hadn’t played on a full pitch before. The back 4 coped well wit early pressure and Stacey and Gunning lead a good attacking line up the pitch. Airedale however had their own good players and after a disallowed goal Slaz were caught on the hop a quick attack from two talented Airedale midfielders. Slaz responded with some great triangular paces between Stacey, Levitt and Gunning through the centre and it was Captain Stacey who took his goal well to bring parity. Both teams were playing at their optimum now with goal chances at both ends but it was Airedale who took their chance with Slaz left high up the pitch looking for a goal making up the hole left in midfield and scoring past Danny Alderson.

Slazengers       5 – 0     Pocklington (Levitt 5’, Stacey 7’ 12’, Calderley 22’, A. Gascoigne 25’)

The team performance had been good and switching around Harry Gunning to a more sweeping role whilst pushing forward Dan Levitt made the difference in the second game. Slaz were in charge against Pocklington. Dominating for 90% of the game Dan Levitt and Matt Stacey drove attack after attack onto the Pocklington keeper. Dan scored first with Matthew following with 2 in quick succession. Then the wingers started to show their in fluence with Matt and Stacey supporting Alice and Nick both to score giving Slaz a very healthy 5-0 win.

Bradford           0 – 3     Slazengers (Levitt 3’ 20’, M. Chilton 25’)

Dan Levitt wasn’t going to let Captain Stacey have the share of the goals so against a tougher Bradford side he pounced early to score against a sluggish defence. Bradford responded well but couldn’t get past Jacob Dennison or Chris Gascoinge at the back. A counter attack by Slaz gave Dan another goal and in the dying minutes the whole team combined in a flowing counter attack to push the ball to Hannah playing up front for her to scramble in a final goal.

A cracking start to the year with Matthew Stacey leading the line well as captain, however for her encouragement and vocalisation throughout the match the Coach’s Player of the Tournament was Alice Gascoigne. Well done everyone a superb U14 team performance.

Report: 04-12-2011 – U14 Boys triumph in Harrogate

by

We travelled to Harrogate for fixtures against local rivals, Wakefield, Bradford and Doncaster with a squad of 14 players. Although the weather was cold and windy, we were spared the rain/sleet that other squads and training at Slazenger encountered.

Squad:Aidan Hopkinson, Alex King, Isaac Fisher (Capt), James Higgins, Luke Gueli, Matthew Feather, Ralph Toon (GK), Robert Cann, Rowan Tejura, Tom Pitchforth, Matthew Stacey, Jack Garside, Mayank Gupta & Ben Stevenson

Slazenger (4) vs. (0) Wakefield
Wakefield had a large squad with some strong individual players, however, Slazenger quickly took control of the mid field with the effect that most of the game was played inside the Wakefield half. Early pressure was rewarded when Robert Cann, well positioned in the ‘D’, picked up a rebound from a Matthew Stacey cross to strike home. Five minutes later Isaac Fisher’s well struck shot came back off the post and was bungled away by the defence. Isaac also had a goal disallowed, being judged to be a high shot from a penalty corner.

The relentless Slazenger pressure was rewarded again after 16 minutes when Tom Pitchforth finished off a good passing move between Aidan Hopkinson & Isaac Fisher and again on 20 minutes when Luke recycled a half cleared penalty corner for Matthew Stacey to tip home.At 3 – 0 Wakefield did manage a couple of break away attacks which were dealt with by the full backs, Matthew Feather & James Higgins with the help of Ralph Toon in goal.

The final goal came in the last minute when Alex King, playing at inside left placed a very intelligent pass back out to Aidan Hopkinson on the top of the ‘D’, who had plenty of time to get a strong shot away through the mass of Wakefield defenders.A great start to the day, especially as the newer members of the squad were able to take part and contribute to the win.

Slazenger (2) vs. (0) Bradford
Bradford were short of players so borrowed from Wakefield, however, they had a number for JAC players in their team. However, Slazenger got the best possible start when their central midfielder showed too much off the ball to Isaac Fisher straight from the push back. Isaac won the ball just inside the Bradford half and carried it through the defence to score a great solo goal.Just a minute later Slazenger went two up with another Matthew Stacey goal.Bradford then managed to steady themselves and absorbed a lot of Slazenger pressure. We also took the opportunity to get our newer team members onto the pitch, allowing us to rest players for the Doncaster match immediately afterwards. We were even able to loan Mayank Gupta to play (rather too well!) for Bradford against his own team.With the sides now more evenly matched, the rest of the game saw several chances at both ends but no more goals.

Slazenger (2) vs. (0) Doncaster
Playing a strong Doncaster side who had also won twice on the day and without a break was not ideal, but our boys dug deep and really stepped up to the challenge. They also displayed some of the best team play that I have seen for many years, running into space and moving the ball easily. We did not have things all our own way as Doncaster mounted several strong attack, mostly straight down the middle and focused on a single HIPAC player which brought outstanding saves from Ralph Toon in goal.

After 10 minutes Slazenger mounted a strong attack down the left wing which was being defended well by Doncaster when the ball was passed back to Rowan Tejura at left half (90°) who passed the width of the field to pick out right half Luke Gueli in space. Luke kept his composure to drive into the ‘D’ and get a strong shot away which beat all the defenders and the keeper.The teams continued to be evenly matched and it was good to see Slazenger defending as a unit and mounting attacks down both flanks.

It was from one of these attacks on the right that Matthew Stacey’s cross from inside the ‘D’ was turned in his own goal by a Doncaster defender. The presence of Robert Cann on the defenders shoulder no doubt contributed to the goal. Slazenger could have scored a third when the second of three penalty corners after the final whistle was stopped despite Isaac Fisher being clear on the ball just 1.5 meters from the goal line.

Overall, a fantastic morning of hockey, complimenting similar good results from U16 Girls & U12 Boys. Slazenger played well as a team and improved as the day went on, mainly by passing earlier. The quality of our play was also recognized by two of the other team coaches.

Player of the Tournament was Ralph Toon who, despite long period of inactivity in the first two games was up to the challenge, making a couple of saves early in the last game which undoubtedly changed the course of the game.

Most Improved Player was Robert Cann, who worked hard at inside forward and was always well placed to receive a pass, even in a very crowded ‘D’. Thanks to our regular travelling army of supporters who could be heard above any other supporters and John Toon for umpiring and helping on the sidelines. Our next tournament is just 2 weeks away on 18th December.