Men’s 1st’s (2) vs, (2) Adel 2nd’s
The Men’s Firsts were back at the fortress last Saturday so should have been keen to inject some pride into their performance after a scuttling in Hull. However in this reporters opinion Slazenger seemed happy to hand the first fifteen minutes of the game to a very average Adel team. Luckily for slack-Slaz Loftus pulled off a couple of unusually top notch saves to minimise the damage caused by Adel throughout this phase of the game.
By halftime an on-form Perry had managed to bag one at the other end to keep Slazenger in the running, but coach Wiper clearly had a few things to say in the break…
The second half brought a little more light from Slazenger; forwards Perry & Smith in particular were now taking the game on. Perry dazzled the home fans with stick skills geppetto would be proud of, ultimately winning a short corner for Slazenger. In true Tuddenham fashion, after a game of little impact, he fired in the short corner to level the score line at two a piece with five minutes left on the clock.
Final score Slazenger 2 Adel 2
Men’s 2nd’s (4) vs. (0) Ben Rhydding 3rd’s
The mens seconds trip to Ben rhydding really was a game of two half; demonstrating in equal measure the best and worst which the team had to offer.
The team made the long trip up to Ilkley to face another weaker side on paper. However, a lack of umpires saw the game start late, and 30 minutes sat in the clubhouse with a cuppa obviously had not had the desired effect. A lethargic team looked far from the top of the league place they had earned. Far from the stronger side, the game was equally weighted for the first half, as the team struggled to find any form of good hockey.
At the break it was Ben Graham who stepped up to give the hairdryer treatment and a refreshed side restarted. An early short corner gave Asad Baig the first of his 4 goal haul and after that the team looked different again. Amir Khalil set up a second for Baig and Ian Hedges cross field through ball put Baig on for his hat trick. At the back Man of the Match Robin Brearton cleaned up well and although reasonably quiet, Daz Buttery made a couple of crucial saves to keep a clean sheet. All that remained was a final goal in the last 10 minutes to put the game well and truly beyond doubt with a final Baig strike.
The seconds host Worksop 1st’s at the weekend in a 1st vs. 2nd place encounter.
Men’s 3rd’s (4) vs. (5) Boston Spa 2nd’s
Still searching for their first win of the season the three’s travelled to Boston Spa. Straight from push back Boston Spa won the ball and they were 1-0 up within the first minute. Slaz fought back and equalised through another Dave hit from a short corner after good hold up play from Tim to win the short. However Boston then re took the lead. Godley scored to level up the scores through a nice goal after taking it past 3 defenders and then went off injured.
At half time Slaz were feeling confident and were thinking that they could go on to win the game. Despite this Boston went on to score another. After some good work in midfield a pass to Joe Minchella saw him score with a nice finish at the back post. It then became 4-3 to Boston as they scored another goal due to sloppiness from Slaz. They then scored another in quick succession to take a 2 goal lead. Tim then scored a deflection after a hit into the D from Godley from the 25, but it was initially disallowed as ‘he didn’t touch it’. But after persuading the umpire and honesty from the Boston Spa defence he gave the goal. Unfortunately Slaz couldn’t find an equaliser and lost 5-4. Slaz knew it was an easy three points lost and they conceded three goals due to easy possession losses. MOM Godley.
Men’s 4th’s (1) vs. (3) Wakefield 6th’s
Slazenger’s travelled the short distance to College Grove for the first of the local derby matches against Wakefield’s 6 th team. Confidence was at a high following 4 consecutive victories so expectations were high. For the first 20 mins of the match, Slazenger’s had the measure of Wakefield and they drove forward, pressed hard and whilst converting the passes into the D had up to now not resulted in a goal it looked like only a matter of time before we converted. With 3 subs providing ample recovery time for the forwards and midfield things looked like we could have a positive result from the match.
Sadly, someone forgot to bring 50p for the meter and during the last 15 mins of the first half, Slazenger’s seemed to have run out of something because the game rapidly switched into Wakefield’s favour and they capitalised quickly with 2 goals netted before the half time whistle. Half time team talk was a mix of frustration and bemusement at what had gone wrong when we had started so well. Especially when they had free hits the marking and channel blocking was giving them limited options and we intercepted the ball constantly.
With renewed vigour, the second half didn’t get off quite to plan either, with Wakefield nearly capitalising within the first 30 second of play and it was Slaz’s pushback! And it didn’t take them long before they did indeed net that 3 rd goal from a short corner, smack into the right corner passed the stick of a frustrated post man. Un-deterred Slaz battled on and were finally rewarded some hope in the form of a penalty flick that was easily slotted in by team stalwart Andy (Roo) Birkett. Around 16 mons remained for Slaz to regain some composure and at least aim for a draw but the remaining minutes of the game ticked away with neither side increasing their scoreline any further. It was therefore a disappointing end to a great run of form. Lots of lessons learnt and plenty to take forward through the rest of the season.
Men’s 5th’s (0) vs. (15) Sheffield University Bankers 6th’s
Question:
What happens when a group made up of mostly middle aged not very fit men play hockey against a team of young enthusiastic fit students?
Answer:
15 – 0 defeat
Such was the manor of the game, star striker Seasick Steve knew exactly how many times he touched the ball, 16 in total he took every pushback.
To be fair nobodies heads dropped and everybody put a shift in, however at the post match debrief it was decided to call it a day and try our hand at tiddlywinks.
M.O.M. Topper the Stopper……..what concedes 15
W.OM. Young Josh Green for reasons best kept amongst his team mates
Move of the match
Keeper boots ball straight into Blocker Baileys gentleman parts which then rebounds 5 metres to Bankers striker who scores whilst keeper lies prone on the ground in hysterics.
Men’s 6th’s (0) vs. (4) City of York 10th’s
From “famine to feast” was the story of this week’s team selection for the first home match of the Dev’s season. Last week we only had 8 juniors to choose from, but this week we had too many available players and some tough selection choices had to be made. York had similar issues, but chose to bring enough players to make two teams. Slaz started brightly, but were soon one goal down, with York scoring with a firm shot from a short corner, despite Jack Hancock’s best efforts in goal. Slaz showed some promise with good play in mid- field, led by Ben Jackson and Dene Minchella, creating chances for Elliott Booth and Harry Ashford.
York then made their first round of substitutions and brought on their “A” team. For the rest of the half, Slaz were put under pressure, which was compounded by an injury to starting keeper Jack Hancock, who had been observing Ian Randle’s goal keeping technique from the preceding game. This saw the quickest kit change ever seen on a hockey pitch for joint player of the match Will Parish who moved from midfield to assume the goal keeping duties. Strong defence from, Bobby Brear, Josh Bennett and Richard Coughtrey however, kept the half time score line to two nil.
The start of the second half saw Slaz regain control and had the majority of the possession and field position for a 10 minute purple (green) patch. Some good chances were created for Curtis Jones and joint player of the match, Eleanor Randle, with good running and passing from Harry Ashford, Luke Minchella and Zach Parkinson on his debut, but the York keeper could not be beaten. Once again, the York subs turned the game and despite some good defending from Ollie Leonard and Dan Bailey, two more goals were scored to make the final score four nil to York. We were defeated but not downhearted and our inexperienced squad is playing some good hockey, improving each week, and enjoying their time on the pitch.
Ladies 1st’s (3) vs. (2) Huddersfield Dragons 1st’s
Huddersfield dragons ladies 1’s came to Horbury this weekend looking for their first points of the season – Slaz on the other hand were determined to regain their winning ways after last weekends surprise defeat at Halifax.
Slaz started strong, putting pressure on the dragons defence eventually seeing Field slam home a first strike from a well executed short corner.
Dragons hit back and managed to level the score and more worryingly take the lead just before half time.
Far from letting their heads drop, slaz came out from the break more determined. They dominated the second half with Field scoring her second and then Paige tapping in the winner from mini minch’s reverse strike across the D.
A nail biting final 5 saw the dragons desperately looking for the equaliser but the slaz defence stayed strong – final score 3:2
Ladies 2nds (2) vs. (3) Colne Valley 1st’s
Slazengers Ladies 2’s game against Colne Valley started off with the opposition’s push back, Slaz was straight on them. Battling through, Tuscany managed to score the first goal of the game through a deflection which hit the back of the net from an excellent hit from Nicci. Colne Valley responded quickly scoring an equaliser. Slazenger’s defence battled through short corner after short corner, managing to send the ball to their forwards. There were some great last man tackles from Jules and fantastic saves from Tracy which kept Slaz in the game.
Tuscany Mellor scored our second goal through a mid air rebound. At the half time whistle Slaz was winning 2-1, however as the whistle signalled the start of the second half, Colne Valley was straight on them. Through passes around Slaz’s defence they scored their second goal. Despite amazing passes from midfield, including excellent tracking back and tackling from Cherry, who was voted player of the match jointly with Naomi for her good distribution and tireless efforts in midfield, Colne Valley scored their winning goal. Leaving the end score 3-2 to Colne Valley. Next week sees us at home to Wakefield Wanderers.
Ladies 3rd’s (2) vs. (0) Huddersfield 1st’s
Following a defeat last week, Slazenger’s ladies 3s were very determined to fight back and secure 3 points this week. They started very strongly, dominating the play and spending the majority of the first half in Huddersfield’s end, with excellent communication and passing between forwards Nat, Julie and Caro.
After multiple unsuccessful attempts on goal, the luck came our way allowing Julie to secure our first goal through a great pass from Caro. Multiple more frustrating chances were attempted by Slazenger’s, with the Huddersfield keeper saving each time.
Huddersfield tried their hardest on the break to fight back and equalise, even gaining a few short corners, but with a strong defensive line of Sarah, Jess, Emily and Emma, and keeper Lizzie, by half time the score remained 1-0 to Slazenger’s.
The second half started the way we wanted it to, and after a team talk based on defending the middle more effectively, Huddersfield struggled making accurate passes and Slazenger’s worked more closely as a team, with some excellent passes down the wing from Justine, H and Lauren to Nat and Caro.
A final push awarded Slazenger’s a 2-0 lead thanks to a superb ball in from Linda accompanied by Justine, allowing Caro to hit the back board for one final time.
Player of the match joint between both center midfield players Emily and Linda
Ladies 3rd’s (2) vs. (4) Hull Hawks 1st’s (CUP)
Sunday 20th October saw the first round of the Womens Yvonne Horner Shield and Slazengers Ladies 3rd team welcomed division 3 side Hull Hawks 1 in what turned out to be a very close match.
Slazengers started strongly attacking from the off, Caro driving the ball down the centre of the field. But Hull countered quickly with strong running, and quick passing and very soon found themselves in the Slaz D. A solid Slazenger defence holding strong and Sarah Ritchie clearing the ball to the other side of the pitch. Slazengers continued their attack and a determined Caro managed to beat the keeper only to be stopped on the line, by the foot of a Hull defender, penalty flick awarded Sarah Ritchie stepped up and with a confident strike Slazengers took the lead 1-0.
A relatively evenly matched ensued with both teams having chances to score, some quick runs from Caitlyn driving the ball down the right, placing fantastic crosses through the D, were unsuccessful but it was certainly not for a lack of trying. Some lovely passing also between Lauren, Nat & Jules attacking equally hard on the left.
But a relentless Hull fought to the very last minutes of the game and their effort was finally rewarded with a short corner, unfortunately deflecting off a Slazenger foot twice, resulting in a further two short corners, it was third time lucky for Hull as a scrappy battle resulted in the ball just crossing the line. Full time score Slazengers 1 – Hull 1.
Cup rules applied, the game went straight to flicks, from which Hull won 3-1, special mention to Lauren for scoring our flick.
Under 12 Girls
Sunday the 20th October saw the U12 girls return to Adel for their second tournament.
The opening match against Harrogate saw the girls get off to a confident start with a 2 -0 win dominating play and working well together. The girls showed good communication in the second game against Northallerton, with lots of opportunities to score but never quite finding the goal. Northallerton got lucky and scored midway through the game. Bella and Courtney worked well together to stop then scoring again. It finished 0-1 to Northallerton.
The game against Thirsk started well with 2 goals scored in quick succession by Millie and again the girls dominated play. Thirsk then scored but slazengers replied with a third goal from Evie. However, the girls were getting tired and didn’t defend as well as they could have, allowing Thirsk to score twice. Play picked up pace with Annalise marking and tackling well but sadly Thirsk scored a fourth to win the game. Final score 4 -3 to Thirsk.
The fourth game saw the girls bounce back and Millie played a fantastic game scoring a hat trick. Again, the girls worked hard and dominated play, with superb passing from Courtney. The game was won 3-0.
Our final game against Bingley Bees saw lovely play between Bella Evie and Millie set Charlotte up to score a great goal putting us 1 -0 up. Bingley finally got some action near our goal and unluckily an own goal levelled the score. Lots of chances came our way but the girls didn’t manage to score again so drew 1-1.
U12 girls should be proud of their achievements and how much their game has improved – two wins and lots of goals scored as well as better communication. Millie was again voted player of the tournament.
