Men’s 1st’s (0) vs. (5) Lindum 2nd’s
Lost 5-0 away to Lindum 2nd’s
Men’s 2nds (3) vs. (0) Worksop 1st’s
Opposition conceded. 3-0 awarded.
Men’s 3rd’s (1) vs. (1) Tadcaster Magnets 1st’s
Slazenger Men 3’s were after their first home win of the season. They started strong with great play in the midfield by Andy Fisher and Sam Haigh. They distributed the ball well out the the wings, to Lucas Smith and Joe Minchella. Slaz came close to taking the lead through Matthew Smith but his shot went over the goal. In defence Mark Swallow, Jack Lee and Mark Kitchen worked hard to limit the changes for Tadcaster. A brilliant goal line clearance of captain Simon Taylor kept the score down to 0-0. Lucas Smith temporarily forgot he was on the hockey pitch and got send for an early halftime after an excellent rugby tackle. Half time score 0-0.
A positive chat at half time saw Slaz continue to work the ball up the pitch well, through Alan Perry and Max Godley. And they were unlucky not to score through Tim Carr who just didn’t manage to get a touch to a cracking ball in from Max Godley. Tadcaster got stronger in the second half and increased the pressure on the Slaz defence. With just 10 minutes to go, Tadcaster were awarded a short corner which got deflected high into the back of the net. For a moment Slaz heads went down but they soon picked up their game. Tadcaster kept the pressure on but some excellent saves from Man of the Match, goal keeper Aidan Coughtrey kept Slaz in the game. Slaz kept pushing up which resulted in a short corner. A strike from Mark Swallow got them back level. Slaz kept pressing for that winning goal but had to settle for a draw.
Men’s 4th’s (1) vs. (4) City of York 8th’s
Slaz went to undefeated York looking to bounce back from last weeks defeat. The game started quite even in the opening exchanges as slaz created a few chances through John Sykes and Ian Hedges. It was the hosts who managed to score and take the lead. A quick fire double meant York led 2-0 at the break.
In the second half Slaz managed to open up pockets of the space on the wings and half backs Isaac Burrows and Danny Croxall looked to exploit that. York however scored another and led 3-0. John Sykes scored for Slaz to hopefully ignite a come back but York rounded off a good performance with another goal to complete a 4-1 win.
Man of the Match went to keeper James ‘Moog’ Walker for some great saves.
Men’s 5th’s (3) vs. (0) Chapeltown 4th’s
Slazenger awarded win after opposition conceded.
Men’s 6th’s (2) vs. (2) Airedale 4th’s
To say that the weather for this game was a little inclement would be an understatement. The development team took to the field complete with sticks and scuba gear for the push.
Slaz were immediately under pressure with the first few minutes being played in the Slaz half. Man of the match, Ollie Leonard playing at right back, with his partner in crime Bobby Brear at left back were up to the task in defence. But continued Airedale pressure forced Slaz to concede after 10 minutes following a scramble in defence and two good saves from keeper Charlotte Richardson.
Slaz got back into the game for the reminder of the half, with some good pressure through the mid field led by Amir Khalil and Keith Leonard to create chances for Curtis Jones and Luke Minchella, but the first half ended with Slaz trailing by the one goal.
The second half started well and Slaz soon equalised following some great runs from Luke Minchella, providing the pass for Eleanor Randle to neatly tuck the ball in the left corner, past a sprawling York keeper for Slaz’s first goal. It was deadlock for much of the half, with Airedale having a couple of chances and Elliott Booth going close on a couple of occasions at the other end. Dan Bailey was a rock in defence making some great tackles to keep Airedale out of the Slaz “D” and Turner Booth and Amar Khalil played some great hockey to get Slaz moving forward.
Airedale broke the deadlock 7 minutes from time with a well taken goal from a short corner that beat the Slaz defence to make the score 2-1. Desperate to avoid another defeat, Slaz dug deep and the whole team pressed into the Airedale half. A string of short corners and some great play from Amar Khalil and Luke Minchella, put Elliott Booth clear to score the equaliser right on the final whistle for the Dev’s to earn their first point of the season. Final score two all.
Ladies 1st’s (1) vs. (3) University of Leeds 2nd’s
Lost 3-1 to Leeds University. Goal from Hannah Field.
Ladies 2nd’s (0) vs. (0) Wakefield Wanderers
In Slazenger’s Ladies 2’s game against wakefield wanderers , it started with a strong attack from the slaz forwards with multiple shots and runs into the D but Slazenger’s failed to get a goal past the keeper. Wanderers had lots of runs and a couple shots on goal but slazenger’s strong defence shut them down. Despite having multiple shots on goal and many opportunities Slaz couldn’t get the ball in wanderers net. In the last few minutes Slazenger’s were awarded a few short corners but it was not our day and Slaz just couldn’t get past Wakefield’s solid defence. Player of the match again went to Cherry in left midfield who is really making that position her own and doing fantastically. The end score was 0-0.
Ladies 3rd’s (2) vs. (1) Otliensians 1st’s
After the last minute defeat in Sunday’s cup game, Slaz Ladies 3’s did not want to feel the blow against Otliensiens. Despite the early 1-0 goal scored by the opposition from a short corner, Slaz came back fighting. Emma, Caitlin, Justine and Nat had some great passing down the right hand side to our attacking D, resulting in a short corner goal scored by Caro.
1-1 at half time, Slaz did not want to lose, Linda Stacey held the middle battling throughout the game along with some great saves by Lizzie Tunstall. Otliensiens we’re very hungry for a second goal but Sarah, Jess and Emma stayed strong in defence, not letting any shots on goal pass them.
With a quick break from the back, Slaz managed to get the ball back up the pitch down the left hand side and Caitlin scored a cracking goal (her first for the 3’s) making the score 2-1.
It was a tough and wet game but Slaz 3’s held their own with another 3 points for the leaderboard!
Ladies 4th’s (0) vs. (4) University of Leeds 7th’s
The ladies 4th team thought they had it all this weekend – the rain stopped and there was hope of their first win – but whilst the rain did indeed stop, Leeds University 7th Team were stronger than expected opponents.
Leeds scored twice in each half but more importantly, Slazenger’s welcomed a new player onto the pitch – Angela Randal – the clubs well known hockey mum who played her first game in goal! And received the well deserved vote for player. A 4-0 loss it might have been but a momentous day for the club and one Angela and her family won’t forget.
Under 16 Boys
A last-gasp goal enabled Slazengers Under-16s to retain their place in Division Two of the Yorkshire Youth Hockey League.
Slaz fell 3-1 behind to Leeds Adel with just over a minute to go and at this stage they were heading for relegation. But the award of a short corner gave them hope and Will Gascoigne was able to score. This meant Slazengers stayed up by virtue of scoring one more goal than York, who became the side to go down instead after what had been a very tight tournament.
The Slaz boys had opened with a 1-0 defeat to Ben Rhydding, who scored from an early short corner. Rhys Hancock had a shot well saved by the Ben Rhydding keeper but an even game saw no further goals. Tommy Randle was particularly impressive, passing out from defence “like a god”, as one spectator was heard to say.
A 1-0 victory over York got Slaz back on track, as Gascoigne converted from a short corner after Max Godley had passed to set him up. Randle again displayed his wide range of passing skills but it needed Aidan Coughtrey to make two good saves in the Slaz goal, including from a last-minute short corner, to preserve the lead.
The tournament was so close that Slaz would have been promoted back to Division One had they beaten Adel by two clear goals in their final match. Unfortunately they fell 2-0 behind, from two more short corners, with just over five minutes remaining.
With the clock ticking down, Luke Minchella – who had just arrived after playing in an under-12 tournament – finished off a good move to make it 2-1 three minutes from time. Adel’s third goal put the pressure back on but Gascoigne’s late, late reply made it 3-2 and this was enough for Slaz to maintain their Division Two status.
The solid Slaz defence of Randle, Joe Minchella and Isaac Burrows conceded just one goal from open play all tournament, perhaps showing they are ready to play in higher-level teams in the club’s senior set-up.