Men’s 3rd’s Cup Final Winners!
Slazengers faced a tough encounter against Ben Rhydding in the Men’s League D Cup final at Harrogate. The Horbury side made the better start, despite playing into a strong headwind, they created several chances without ever really worrying the goalkeeper. The midfielders worked hard to close down space for the opposition and to free up the wingers Dan Levitt and Darren Buttery who made good progress along the flanks. Who both managed to get some crosses into strikers James Walker and Jack Mumford.
Ben Rhydding were limited in the main to speculative passes and were continually pressed back, on the few occasions they did pose a threat centre halves Tony Walker and Paul Johnson dealt with it with great composure. Slazengers finally capitalised on all their pressure when Jack Mumford broke through the opposition defence and slotted past the keeper. Despite further pressure the score remained 1-0 at half time.
The second half was a much closer affair with Slazengers not playing with their earlier fluidity, the opposition upping their energy levels and being a lot more competitive. Slazengers didn’t help themselves by playing straight down the middle and not marking players as closely as they should.It was no surprise when Ben Rhydding equalised from a penalty corner and put the cup final back in the balance for the remaining 20 mins. It was now that the Horbury team showed their character in what was becoming a tense and physical encounter. They dragged themselves back into the game with several swift counter attacks and with 5 minutes remaining forward Andy Birkett managed to sweep the ball home, whilst diving towards the goal on the ground after the opposition keeper had blocked the original shot – a shot which wouldn’t have looked out of place at the London Olympics!
It was just a matter of seeing out the few remaining minutes and taking the trophy. Final score 2-1 to Slazengers. (This could be the first piece of silverware for a decade!)
PHOTO – Back row (L to R): Andy Birkett, Dan Levitt, Alan Perry, Paul Johnson, Ralph Toon (GK), Mark Kitchen, Darren Buttery, Tony Walker, Ian Hedges
Front Row (L to R): Alex Calderley, Andy Fisher (Capt), Harry Buttery, James Walker, Ste Roberts, Jack Mumford
14th April 2013 – Boys U16’s
A sterling team effort saw Slazenger U16 Boys round out a winning season at the recent YYHL Playoffs. Having finished fourth on goal-difference in the league out of 18 teams, after a season curtailed by bad weather, they matched their seeding losing a closely-fought semi-final to the eventual winners on the day. Earlier, this young side, most of whom have at least one more year in this age-group, had had a further thrilling encounter with Doncaster – an older side with whom they had drawn and and who they beat earlier in the season.
This time luck ran against Slaz, who after a tense, tight game were beaten by a goal from a penalty corner awarded just seconds before the umpire blew for time. Slaz regrouped against a skillful York side, and quickly went 2-0 ahead, but the long season which had seen most of the boys graduate to Senior hockey took its toll and they were pegged back through two breakaways to draw 2-2. In the final game, Slaz needed to beat Thirsk by four clear goals to qualify. They managed a 3-0 win which saw them play some confident, fluid hockey, their best of the day, and which was enough to enter a tense penalty shoot-out versus York.
Two solid saves from HiPAC ‘keeper Ralph Toon and assured and confident penalties from Elliott Golding, Luke Gueli and James Higgins saw the boys through. The skill and tenacity shown by all the boys bodes very well for next season.”