Men’s 1st’s (0) vs. (2) Leeds 4th’s
The first match back in the North East League for the Men’s first’s didn’t go our way, but it wasn’t a total write off…
After a grueling summer of fitness training it’s fair to say the squad looked primed and ready for it. From the start both teams had chances on goal; Leeds within seconds, Slazenger 15 minutes later when Birkett picked out Tuddenham in the Dee. However halftime arrived with the teams in deadlock at 0 – 0.
As the second half progressed Slazenger had several chances from short corners but were unable to convert. Leeds however were lucky to slip one passed the shiny new kickers of Loftus.
The First’s kept battling but early season ball control got the better of them as Leeds snuck in one more goal to put the game out of reach. Final score 0 – 2.
Men’s 2nd’s (9) vs. (2) Doncaster 4th’s
The mens 2nds got off to a strong start with a 9-2 victory on the road at Doncaster 4th’s. In what was anticipated to be a tough encounter after last seasons promotion, the team got off to a rapid start. Early pressure was converted with a trademark strike from Asad Baig, followed by a second off a cross from Ian Hedges. The team maintained the pressure, wth Baig netting another brace to put the visitors 4-0; with assists from Sam Haigh and Ben Graham in the middle. With the team ahead, the pressure dropped and Doncaster were awarded a penalty flick and a subsequent scrappy conversion from a penalty corner.
After the combined hairdryer treatment of both ex captain Ben Graham, and new captain Matt Green, the team came back out in force. The second half continued to be a strong showing for Slazenger. While Doncaster defended hard for 10 minutes, Isaac Fisher broke the deadlock picking up a pass from Amir Khalil to slot it past the keeper for the 5th. Damo Grieg followed on quickly with a 6th, and Baig completed an impressive 7 goal haul with a further hat trick.
In all a fantastic start to the league campaign, with the 2nd’s looking forward to their home encounter with City of York on Saturday.
Men’s 3rd’s (1) vs. (2) Brigg 3rd’s
On a hot day Slazenger’s third team trekked down to Brigg for their first game of the season. Slazenger’s started off strong dominating the first 20 minutes with Slazenger’s then taking the deserved lead through a nice goal started from the midfield and finished off by Tim Carr.
Brigg then started to come back into the game and it resulted with a nice individual goal from a Brigg player. Just before the half time whistle Tim scored again with a nice deflection but then for the umpire to disallow it as he ‘didn’t see the touch’.
With heads still high at half time Slazengers went out to the second half feeling confident and it was end to end until some sloppy marking cost slaz a goal. The rest of the game was in Slazenger’s momentum despite the goal and Slaz were really pushing for the equaliser. With just under 10 minutes left after some skills from Max, Tim found himself through on goal only to hit the post with a reverse stick shot. Slaz pushed forwards but just couldn’t score and they feel that they could have got something out of the game.
An unlucky 2-1 loss but Slaz hope to take three points next week at home to Barnsley. Well done to Joe and Matthew who both had great 3rd team debuts. MOM Max Godley.
Men’s 4th’s (7) vs. (1) Bradford 3rd’s
After the previous weeks disappointing result in a friendly against Leeds there was some trepidation heading into the fist league match. However a full strength squad at least gave us a chance to see what we could achieve. It was hot afternoon so fatigue was likely to be factor in a fast paced game. Starting with the same formation as previous weeks of 2 3 2 3 it was into the game Slaz marched forth.
Suffice to say it was a game of two halves both of which belonged to Slaz who dominated the play from the off. After the initial settling in period Slaz deftly slotted in their first goal within 10 minutes from Pete Gunning. This was followed soon after with a penalty flick being neatly tucked into the bottoms left corner by John Sykes. The confidence was growing as Slaz continued to move the ball around the field and allowing Bradford litre opportunities. However they soon gained that change when they were awarded a short corner. They had a clean strike which was partially stopped with his stick by Chris Flavell on left post but it deflected into his shin and Bradford subsequently put themselves on the score sheet with simple goal.
Undeterred Slaz maintained the pressure and before the end of the second half a further two goals had been added to the score line. Cofindence at a real high Slaz went into the second half ready to increase the score line and they didn’t disappoint increasing the score by a further 3 goals. That said it could have been far more though it would seem that some work needs to be done on injecting short corners as several attempts never made it out of the D, much to everyone’s amusement. However, By the end of the game the previous weeks loss was but a distant memory . Final score was 7-1 to Slaz
Scorers were Andy Birkett 1, John Sykes 2, Pete Gunning 1, Josh Hujwan 1, Scott Carruthers 1, Matt Smith 1
Man of the match went to Harry Buttery for his outstanding midfield efforts which have shown he is as much of force outfield as he has in net. Next weeks sees 4s travel to Halifax
Men’s 5th’s (0) vs. (4) Kingston-Upon-Hull 4th’s
The 5th team looked to start the season with a win but that wasn’t the case. We started positively with MOM Ian ‘Topper the Stopper’ Randle keeping scores level. Hull eventually broke the deadlock, despite a couple of off target chances for us, and continued to put 3 past us by the halfway point of the match.
The second half was much of the same with Hull continuing to attack. However only managing to put 1 goal past us in the second half, despite WOM Blocker Bailey giving away more and more short corners with his hacking tackling technique. We finished the second half with a couple of good attacks as Hulls older legs started to tire, but unfortunately with no reward! The game ended with a 4-0 loss. But still an improvement on last seasons 9-0 loss opener!
Ladies 1st’s (2) vs. (2) Kingston-Upon-Hull 1st’s
The ladies 1’s travelled east along the M62 to Hull on Saturday for their first league match of the season. Another scorcher of a day and a squad of 11 it was clear that everyone was going to dig deep if they were to gain anything from the tie. The first half saw Slaz match Hull for the most part, but a couple of breaks let Hull sneak a couple of goals in – the second on the stoke of half time.
The ladies 1’s travelled east along the m62 to Hull on Saturday for their first league match of the season. Another scorcher of a day and a squad of 11 it was clear that everyone was going to dig deep if they were to gain anything from the tie. The first half saw Slaz match Hull for the most part, but a couple of breaks let Hull sneak a couple of goals in – the second on the stoke of half time.
A rousing team talk from captain Tyrell and a couple of changes to positions saw a different team come out for the second half. The friendly banter from the home team soon disappeared as Slaz piled on the pressure. MVP Jones in defence helped thwart any chances Hull thought they might have of increasing their goal tally and kept the ball in Slaz’s attacking half. The pressure eventually paid off when Gilbert’s reverse shot rattled the backboard.
In the mid day sun and at 2:1 down Slaz could’ve been forgiven for slowing, but as temperatures soared along with some tempers Slaz determination grew and with 5 minutes to go Tyers slotted home the equaliser much to Hulls dismay. Despite their best efforts in the dying minutes, Hull were unable to break the Slaz defence and the final score ended 2:2.
All in all a fantastic team effort saw the Ladies gain their first and very welcome point of the season. A great confidence boost ahead of next weeks clash with Dewsbury – 12:30 push back at Hecmondwike Grammar school… be there or be square🤩
Ladies 2nd’s (2) vs. (3) Skipton 1st’s
Ladies 2nd’s hosted Skipton 1st’s. Goals came from Mia Davies and Sarah Cooper.
Leeds 3rd’s (1) vs. (2) Thirsk 2nd’s
The first league match of the season at Thirsk and it was “scorchio”. The first 10 minutes was evenly matched, but an injury to a Thirsk player disrupted play, having to leave the pitch, and we think a visit to A&E. Slaz moved the ball swiftly from the defense, including Jess L, Emma E and Jess D and H up to the midfield where Ellie ran tirelessly to create some excellent balls through to the forwards, Caitlin, Caro and Nat.
There were some chances for Slaz with great passing between Justine and Caitlin on the right, who passed to Caro in the D, who got a call from Nat but just missed turning the cross in. Caitlin, our youngest player turned out for 3s a little nervous, but she played brilliantly, getting into great positions on that right wing, and skillfully getting around the experienced Thirsk defenders, working well with Ellie, who had a shot at goal, but denied by the keeper.
Beth and Nat on the left worked well together. The Thirsk attackers had a few shots on goal in the first half also, with Lizzie taking charge and keeping a clean sheet in the first half. A through ball from Slaz defense to Ellie, then Nat, who passed a great ball to Caro, whereby she was battling it out with a couple of defenders and managed to get into the D, with a 1 on 1 with the keeper, and slotted it past her to secure a 1-0 lead.
The 2nd half saw Thirsk coming out all guns blazing, they were putting constant pressure on the Slaz midfield and defense, gaining short corners, of which their first goal came from a decent cross, that was simply deflected in off one of their sticks (bit of a fluke really). Slaz did have some further breaks, with Beth & Nat dominating the left side, allowing Caro to strike just wide of the post, but Thirsk persisted, and with their 2 subs, capitalised on a fatigued Slaz squad of only 11. It wasn’t long before they had another short corner, and secured a 2nd goal from the ball “double bouncing” over two Slaz sticks (again, a soft goal).
Slaz were disappointed with the 2nd half performance, and felt that a draw would have been a worthy result. Player of the match was Caitlin, with Ellie in 2nd place, both of whom had great matches.
Ladies 4th’s (0) vs. (4) Ben Rhydding 6th’s
The ladies 4th team faced Ben Rhydding 6th team this weekend at home – and what a glorious day to play hockey! Although the 4-0 defeat didn’t reflect the games effort.
Whilst Ben Rhydding netted 3 goals in the first half, keeper Maisie Royston saved many more and Slazenger’s were not without their chances. Di Jones’ shot fell just wide of the goal, Josie Hughes’ great effort was saved by the keeper and Lyn Wood just missed a deflection.
The second half saw the Slazenger ladies pull together defensively and prevented Ben Rhydding getting through much more effectively. Steph Clements worked tirelessly in defence, joined by Freja Wilson and Hannah Tunstall-Miller in midfield – both juniors moving up to play ladies hockey for the first time. An unlucky 4th goal for Ben Rhydding hit the post when the ball was deemed lost and was sneakily tapped in. Player – Emily Craven in midfield.
Girls Under 12’s
Sunday 22nd September saw the start of the U12 girls tournaments for this season at Adel. The opening match of the tournament saw Slazenger draw 0:0 with Northallerton, despite most of the action being in our attacking end, only great goalkeeping by the opposition kept the score equal.
There was some excellent passing and defending in this fast paced second match, seeing Courtney score an excellent goal. The final score saw Driffield beat Slazengers 2:1.
A short corner was well defended during this third match keeping the score 0:1 to Leeds Adel. The girls communicated well with each other to keep the ball moving.
Some great hockey was played in the last match of the tournament with lots more control of the ball. In a well balanced match Slazengers were unfortunate to concede two goals, leaving the final score, 0:2 to Halifax.
U12 Girls should be proud of their efforts today, with some great communication and teamwork both in attack and defence.
Player of the Tournament, voted for by the team, went to Millie – well done!
