Men’s 1st’s (3) vs. (4) Huddersfield 1st’s
The Men’s first travelled the short journey to Lockwood Park to hosts and local rivals Huddersfield 1st’s. In a fast paced game, it was Slaz who looked stronger, with fast attacking and flowing movement. However, Huddersfield were more clinical on the break. The home side took advantage of this and netted 4 goals to the visitors 3. Ben Jackson scored, and Danny Perry took a brace, but to no avail.
Men’s 2nd’s (6) vs. (1) Bradford 2nds
Slazenger seconds hosted Bradford seconds in the latest round of their league campaign. The team were looking to correct performances which had cost heavily in recent weeks.
The team took to the pitch with intent, and pressed from the off. It was a quick goal from Richard Tuddenham who started to scoring with a well struck short corner. Tuddenham went on to net a second. Ian Hedges scored 2 from the left wing, followed with goals from Amir Khalil and Asad Baig.
While Bradford side was not the strongest in the league, the home side pressed throughout the game and put in as creditable performance. The team take a rest week before traveling to Acomb for their next fixture.
Thanks to Rob Whawell and Steve Wood for Umpiring the game.
Men’s 3rd’s (2) vs. (4) Ben Rhydding 4th’s
Mens 3rd’s lost 4-2 on the road to Ben Rhydding. Keith Leonard and Pete Gunning scored. However the hosts were stronger in finishing, scoring 2 in the final minutes to put the game beyond doubt.
Men’s 4th’s (9) vs. (2) Ben Rhydding 5th’s
After a disappointing loss the week before the team were eager to put things right! The travelling Ben Rhydding team had some late Covid dropouts with one of the parents stepping in as Gk in a borrowed Slaz Kit.
The first 10 minutes the game stayed 0-0 with the teams feeling each other out. It was then the goals started rolling in. Slaz opened the scoring with a well worked goal up the pitch. But Ben Rhydding weren’t about to go down without a fight they put some good pressure on and won some short corners causing the GK and defenders to be aware including a goal line stop. Ben Rhydding finally popped through on a quick break beating the CB and GK to slot a goal home.
Slaz we’re not deterred by this and proceeded to put in 3 more goals before half time through short corners and open play.
The second half started brightly for Slaz with a lot of the play been in the Ben Rhydding half of the pitch. Marshall Tebutt (MoM) finally got his hat trick after a few missed efforts at the back post. Keith Stevenson slotted 2 goals home, one a flick from short range, before replicating a Ronaldo celebration to earn him the WoM award. Ben Rhydding continued applying pressure and came away with another goal.
Final score 9-2.
Thanks to Matt Green and Ben Graham for umpiring the game.
Men’s 5th’s
No Game
Mens 6th’s (0) vs. (1) Ben Rhydding 9th’s
This week, the development team travelled to Ben Rhydding. Short on players and without a keeper, this was anticipated to be a challenging game, but a fine performance by all ensured a close contest throughout. A strong midfield performance from Julie Bailey, Frankie Tyrell and May Bailey producedsome first-half scoring chances for Seth Hoole and Connor Browett, whilst solid defence from Jack Sanderson, Damien Greig, Josh Green and Richard Coughtrey ensured a scoreless first half.
The second half was equally competitive. Some good interplay between player of the match Owen Coughtrey and Bobby Bear created problems down the left for Ben Rhydding, whilst Aleks Thompson made some good runs down the right wing to keep Ben Rhydding on the back foot. However, the lack of players eventually told as Ben Rhydding pressed into the Slazenger half and a speculative shot towards goal rebounded off the post with the Slaz defence being beaten to the ball by an alert Ben Rhydding forward who had a tap-in to score the winning goal.
This was an impressive performance from the young development team despite the result, who showed great spirit and teamwork.
Ladies 1st’s (4) vs. (1) University of Leeds 1st’s
The team was feeling positive after recent wins and headed into this weeks game against Leeds Uni feeling optimistic and raring to go! There was change to last weeks team as Nicci Swinden was out injured and Alice Gascoigne returned from her trip. Slazenger Ladies 1s started the game strong, there were some solid passes throughout midfield and Hannah Field capitalised by scoring an early goal (with a bit of help from her foot!). The opposition equalised within two minutes and when Hannah’s second goal was disallowed, Slaz heads went down.
The score at half time was 1-1 but after an inspiring half time talk from our captain, Jessica Rudge, Slaz started the half strong. The defence consisted of Lisa Minchella, Ashleigh Jones and Andrea Wallace who were solid at the back and new keeper Erin Haigh made some excellent saves. There was some slick passing from the defence through midfield to the forwards and Jessica Rudge scored an open stick goal which is her first open stick goal in five years. This gave the team the confidence needed to continue pushing forward and many chances were given to Sarah Sykes who failed to deliver.
However the Slaz captain showed everyone how it should be done and that her first goal wasn’t a fluke as she netted another open stick goal. The team were now playing full of confidence and continued to push forward with Melissa Lambert showing off her skills down the wing. Hannah Field, who is hoping to achieve top goal scorer this season, realised she needed another goal to stop the captain from running away with the trophy so soon in the season so scored her second goal at the tail end of the game.
No game next week as Slazenger Ladies 1/2s have a bye in the cup but we head into our next game away at Ben Rhydding on a high.
Thanks to Lisa GK and Keith for umpiring.
Ladies 2nd’s
No game
Ladies 3rd’s (0) vs. (4) Wakefield 4th’s
Ladies 3rd’s lost 4-0 to Wakefield 4th’s. Ladies 3’s played Wakefield away. In a hard fought local derby Slaz could not beat the home keeper who saved numerous efforts and although the Slaz team defended valiantly they could not prevent Wakefield coming out on top. This is a new team combing experience and youth and can play some really nice passing hockey. The best is yet to come.
Ladies 4
No Game – Halifax 5th’s have withdrawn from the league
U16 GIrls
U16 girls fought back from 2-0 down against Wakefield to secure a well deserved 2-2 draw. The girls showed massive heart conceeding 2 early goals but showing true Yorkshire grit grew steadily into the game. Annalise netted the first at the far post, before Eleanor made a strong run down the right wing into the D before firing past the home keeper to bring the scores level. Everyone played their part with Tori in goals pulling off a fine save in the last minute to ensure Slaz got the result they richly deserved.
