Men’s 1st’s (1) vs. (1) City of York 2nd’s
Men’s 1st’s travelled away to City of York for a competitive fixture at the Huntington. While York were the stronger on paper, they struggled to break through a defensive wall of Drake, Gascoigne and Birkett. At the other end it was Tuddenham who snatched a well taken strike to take a share of the points. In a fiesty encounter, it will be Slazenger who will feel they took the win, and York disappointed to be held to a 1-1 draw.
Men’s 2nds (5) vs. (2) Harrogate 4th’s
Slaz 2’s hosted Harrogate 4th’s in a bid to get back to winning ways after last weeks poor performance at Leeds. In the end, they shouldn’t have worried with a well earned 5-2 victory. Slazenger started on the front foot, and looked dangerous from the outset. It was a trademark Asad Baig strike which struck top corner, to open the scoring. A follow-up strike doubled the tally, and gave slaz some breathing space.
However Harrogate were not so easily dissuaded, netting a pair of goals to draw level. As the game went on, it was Slaz who got the upper hand. Ian Hedges deftly beat the defence, and slotted the ball past the keeper, before playing a cross pitch ball for Ben Graham to deflect in at the back post. Baig finished off the scoring with a final strike to put the result beyond doubt.
Joe Minchella took the man-of-the-match award after a second impressive appearance for the 2nds.
Men’s 3rd’s (1) vs. (3) Sheffield Bankers 6th’s
Lost 3-1 to a visiting Sheffield Bankers 6th’s side. Goal came from Tim Carr.
Men’s 4th’s (4) vs. (1) Harrogate 6th’s
On any other occasion visiting Harrogate would generally be considered a pleasurable experience with such delights such as Betty’s Team Rooms or the Turkish Spa. On the hockey pitch however, it was a whole different matter. Questionable umpiring, at least 4 ringers from much higher teams and most of the players without a number on their shirt, it can be best described as a fractious encounter.
The match started later than planned due to over running games and things started relatively well, good movement and passing with Slaz getting the early chances high up the field. However, Harrogate were quick on the break and it was evident from some of the speed and skills displayed that not everyone was playing at the appropriate level. Harrogate, opened up their balance sheet relatively early in the game with a quick strike to the back of the net. Slaz re-set and pressed on and again, several good balls were slung forward and across the D but to no avail. It was off the back of one of these chances that Harrogate again broke and scored.
Slaz defence also took a knock quite literally, when Tom Bastow was temporarily side lined with a hit to the nose which required some minor treatment and kiss to make it better. After brief pause for one of the more questionable “safe play” decisions to be questioned by the captain with umpire, play resumed with Damian Grieg determined to redress the balance in the scoreline. This was achieved with great affect with all of his skills on the line to get that ball into the D. It was only a matter of time before Slaz put their own marker on the board before the half time. After jelly babies and a half time “discussion” Slaz came out all guns blazing and put on a show of strength that left Harrogate under no illusions that they would have to fight for the win. Slaz didn’t disappoint, with Isaac Burrows continually frustrating the Harrogate midfielders with his defensive prowess and Damian Greig, Pete Gunning and Tom delivering a continual barrage of balls into the D.
Slaz maintained a strong press on the Harrogate 16’s and free hits allowing them to turn the ball over and also break into the Harrogate D. By the end of the match centre forward legend Andy Birkett who was back from a few weeks away made his mark felt by slotting in 2 goals, Damo delivered a powerful short corner strike and to finish the day off Harry Buttery got in on the action with a goal (to make up for his green card offence for asking the umpire if we could start the game).
Overall it was a solid 4 -1 win, but a frustrating match for a variety of reasons. Man of the match went to Adam Garside who had returned to help the side out and had made several excellent skilful saves when the pressure was on. Wally of the week in the end went to Harry Buttery for his green card and at the rate he is going at we will end up re-naming this the “Harry of the Week”. There were also special mentions for the umpires and Tom for breaking an eyelash Slaz 4’s maintained their 3 rd spot in the division at the end of the day and next week host a travelling Driffield side.
Men’s 5th’s (7) vs. (5) Rotherham 4th’s
Men’s 5ths hosted travelling Rotherham 4th’s in an end to end game, where Slaz ultimately came out on top. Early goals came from Matt Smith, Daz Buttery and a well taken strike from Will Fealy. However, Rotherham were equally effective, breaking through to match every Slazenger score with one of their own. Adam Searle, Luke Boxall and Matt Smith linked up well to keep the visitor defence on the run. Aaron Hunter netted two more, but once again, Rotherham equalised.
Things looked to have taken a turn for the worst, when stand in goalie Aiden Coughtrey took a blow to the head and had to be replaced. Buttery kitted up, saving a penalty flick to prevent Rotherham taking control of the game. Slaz went back into the game bouyed; Ian Hedges beating the keeper on his reverse. A final well worked team goal finished by Luke Boxall put the game beyond doubt.
Men’s 6th’s vs. Huddersfield Dragons 4th’s
The men’s development team were raring to go this week after having a week off from the league last week and took to the field with enthusiasm ahead of the push. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the Huddersfield umpire and a five minute delay ensued whilst he was found. When the game finally got underway, Slaz had the best of the early pressure, spending the majority of the first quarter in the Huddersfield half, with Ben Jackson and Luke Minchella leading the way in midfield, ably assisted by Amar Khalil and Josh Bennett. Slaz had a number of chances on goal from Ruby Rodgers and Eleanor Randle, but the Huddersfield keeper was up to the challenge to deny Slaz.
The Huddersfield attack finally kicked into gear in the second quarter, hitting Slaz on the counter attack on a number of occasions, but the back line of Dan Bailey, Dene Minchella, Ollie Leonard and Richard Coughtrey combined with a terrific save from stand in keeper Harry Ashford, which would ultimately earn him the man of the match, were able to nullify their attack to reach half time with no score.
The second half started in the same way as the first half had, with Slaz piling on the pressure. Some great runs in midfield from Zach Parkinson and Luke Minchella, provided scoring opportunities for Eleanor Randle and Owen Coughtrey, but once again the Huddersfield keeper kept Huddersfield in the game. The Huddersfield counter attack had been dealt with during the half time team talk and was much less effective in the second half, with only a couple of scoring chances coming their way during the half. Ruby Rodgers, who had now moved to left back to cover for the injured Ollie Leonard, showed some good defence and a great block from Dene Minchella right on the whistle made sure that Slaz got the hard earned draw.
Overall a great performance from the whole team who were unlucky not to get the win. The Dev’s squad are now starting to play very well as a team and are having some great fun in the process.
Ladies 1st’s (6) vs (2) Selby 1st’s
After last weeks defeat at Abbeydale the Ladies 1’s we’re determined to regain their winning ways and maintain their unbeaten home run.
It was Selby’s turn to visit Horbury this week and after an even start to the game with both teams threatening to take the lead it was the visitors that managed to hit the target first. Their lead however, was short lived with Slaz hitting back within minutes of the re start courtesy of Gilbert. With the score level at 1:1 selby must’ve felt cheated when both posts played their part in preventing them gaining a lead before half time.
It’s fair to say that Slaz dominated the second half, going 2 goals ahead within 10 minutes allowing Paige and Sykes to get their names on the score sheet. Sykes played her part in the 4th managing a close range tap in past the keeper.
To Selbys credit they found form again and managed to put the pressure back on the Slaz defence. A well worked free hit allowed them to get one back but Field soon cancelled it out with a straight strike at a short corner hitting the backboard. A number of chances went begging before Field took the last touch of the game – a shot which bobbled over the keepers pads and into the net.
Final score 6:2
Thanks to Mr Stevenson for donning the headset to umpire the game 😊
Ladies 2nd’s (1) vs. (7) Thirsk 2nd’s
In Slazenger’s Ladies 2’s game against Thirsk, the game started off equally matched. However Thirsk did some excellent runs and despite amazing saves from Slazenger’s keeper and defence, they managed to score goal after goal. Slaz had some good passes around the back and to the attack, unfortunately they couldn’t get the ball into the net. The score being 4-0.
As the whistle blew for the second half Slazenger with renewed vigour made some excellent passes which allowed Nicci to smash the ball into the back of Thirsk’s net. Thirsk managed to get past Slaz’s hard-working defence to score another 3 goals. As the second half drew to an end Slazenger was awarded a short corner however they couldn’t get past the opposition’s goal keeper. The end score being 7-1, despite it being a quite evenly matched game. Player of the match was a three way tie between Nicci Swinden, Jess Downing and Nicole Fillingham.
Ladies 3rd’s (1) vs. (0) Northallerton 2nd’s
Ladies 3s started out strong from the off, and driving the ball straight into the Northallerton D with numerous shots of goal. Northallerton attemped a counter attack but this was stopped by the Slazengers defence of Emma Eley, Helen Ramshaw, Sarah Ritchie and jess Lloyd. The ball was quickly passed through the mid field of Ellie McWilliams, Lauren Fealey and Beth Asquith up to Caro Schofield. A scrap in the D saw the ball bouncing around between Caitlin McGrath, Natalie Beech and Linda Stacey managed to get passed the Northallerton keeper to score.
Half time score Slazengers 1-0 Northallerton
The second half saw Northallerton hi grey for a goal. How ever Slazengers defence made sure that this did not happen. Slazengers kept up the pressure on Northallerton but where denied another goal.
Final score Slazengers 1-0 Northallerton
Player went to Linda Stacey
Ladies 4th’s (0) vs. (6) Leeds 5th’s
Lost 6-0 to Leeds 5th’s
Under 12 Girls
Sunday the 17th of November saw the U12 girls team play for the first time at Silcoates school. The girls showed just how far they’ve come this season with a fantastic morning’s hockey. Their first game against City of York got off to a slow start but two great goals from Millie fired them up and only saw the opposition score once. The second game against Doncaster had lots of opportunities to score and only good defending from the opposition kept the score down. A good solid performance and a great goal scored by Evie saw them win 1 – 0.
The game against Ben Rhydding had some great passing from Courtney and some fantastic defending from Bella. Again the girls created lots of opportunities and it was Millie who scored twice to finish 2 – 0 to slazengers.
The game against Kingston upon Hull was the first real test of goalkeeper Tori but she stayed focussed and made some superb saves. Excellent teamwork kept the game at 0 – 0.
The final game against Northallerton saw Slazengers dominate play. Charlotte and Evie both scored to finish 2 – 0. Jessica played her first tournament and worked hard in every game, earning herself player of the tournament.
Under 16 Boys
Slazengers Under-16s took a huge step towards qualifying from the Yorkshire section of the English Hockey Cup by winning both their opening matches in Halifax.
The Slaz boys beat Wakefield 6-3 and York 7-1, which means they need only a draw from their final group game against Hull in February to advance to the Northern competition. Wakefield appeared strong in the early stages of the first match but Slazengers’ defence of Tommy Randle, Isaac Burrows, Joe Minchella and Josh Bennett stood firm to protect stand-in goalkeeper Lucas Smith, who proved an able deputy for the injured Aidan Coughtrey.
It was perhaps against the run of play when George Bentley opened the scoring after ten minutes with a neat reverse flick, although Wakefield equalised almost immediately from a swift break. Yet Slazengers dominated the rest of the first half with some impressive teamwork to take a 4-1 lead through two excellent goals by Will Gascoigne and one from Pieter Aben, after Alex Stacey’s visionary pass, while Luke Boxall shackled Wakefield’s best player with some excellent tackling. Bentley made it 5-1 with a reverse-stick shot early in the second half and although Wakefield pulled a couple back towards the end, Slazengers had the final say when Matthew Smith neatly diverted Max Godley’s ball into the D past the Wakefield keeper.
Slazengers took a little while to get into their stride against York but took the lead after ten minutes through a Gascoigne reverse-stick effort, before again turning up the heat with their accurate passing. They went on to lead 4-0 by the interval with two Bentley goals, both from short corners, and one from Rhys Hancock, who finished well after Matthew Smith’s initial shot had been saved. Aaron Hunter diverted Bentley’s ball across the D into the net to make it 5-0, Gascoigne added the sixth with a dribble and shot, then Stacey converted a flick, awarded for a deliberate foul. Unfortunately York scored in the last minute to deny Lucas Smith and his outstanding defence a clean sheet, but Slazengers were well worth their two victories.
