Slazenger Hockey Club

Airedale

Report: 2009-12-06 – Boys U10’s at Pocklington

by

The Team: Emillie Ritchey (GK); Katie Minchella; Harry Buttery; Nick Calderley; Sebastian Lister; Ryan Denton.

Slaz 2 v Airedale B 2
We got off to a shakey start when we conceded 2 goals quickly in the first half despite 2 good chances by Ryan and Nick.  The defence just couldn’t make it back and Emillie was left to defend 2 attackers.  However the guys settled into their positions in the second half and seemed to stay more in position and use the space well.  A long corner from Nick in towards the D was collected and converted by Harry with a super slapshot. There were a couple of scarey 16s where the attack managed to intercept and get into our D but Ryan, Nick and Sebastian made some great tackles, Emillie made a some lovely saves and the ball was played back up towards Airedale’s D.  The width of the pitch was utilised very well by Katie, Sebastian and Nick and another good pass to Harry on the edge of the D beat Airedale’s keeper.

Chapeltown A 0 v Slaz 3
The team kept their form in the second game and again used the space well.  The guys played more self passes in this game as their confidence built up. After a bit of a mess in Chapeltown’s D we were awarded our first short.  Pushed in by Harry to Nick the defence were on it and the ball left the area.  However Ryan picked it up in midfield and got it back towards the D to Sebastian.  Some great teamwork between Katie and Seb scored us our first.  Everyone worked really hard in midfield to keep the ball in Chapeltown’s half.  The ball was played through on one occasion to an attacker and Emillie made a great one on one save sending the ball back towards midfield.  Sebastian took the ball to the edge of the D and showed great awareness in his pass to Harry who was waiting to slap in another past the keeper.  Harry definately knew where his position was by this time and picked up another lovely pass from Nick to score the third.

Slazenger 2 v York B 3
We knew this game would be tough as York had won their previous games 3-0 and 6-0.  In the first half we seemed to lose the structure a little bit with the defence and midfield chasing the ball again.  York played with at least one attacker up front all of the time and he was free to score 2 past Emillie despite her efforts.  Again great work in midfield passing the ball out wide to Katie and Nick and then in to the D again to Harry who powered in the first. The second half was better and Ryan stuck to that attacker like glue so as not to give him another clear shot at goal.  York had to work hard against us for their 3rd goal and Ryan, Seb, Nick and Emillie all battled hard in our D but eventually York’s 3rd crossed the line.  From the restart Nick took the ball towards the D there were some great passes out wide again to Katie and strong tackles by all of the team on the way up and eventually the ball found its way to Harry in the D who took the shot. It was saved by the keeper but he followed up the rebound and beat the keeper.  Great defending by Ryan, Nick and Seb and another great save by Emillie torwards full time kept the score 3-2 to York.

Overall a great day all round.  Can I just say how impressed I was with the team today.  It seems like such a long time ago since we played our first tournament at Halifax in October where we lost every game and only scored one goal.  The kids seem to have improved so much since then and their confidence is coming thick and fast.  Considering they haven’t all played together since October they got along really well and played brilliantly together.  Ryan who has only been playing at Slaz for a month or so settled in great, it was like he’d been playing with them for ever.  It was such a joy to be with them and watch them today.

Special thanks to Dean Michella and Mark Calderley today for helping me out.

from Sarah-Jane Ritchey

Report: 05-03-2006 – Boys U10 Tournament

by

A strong Slazenger U10 Boys line-up blitzed all-comers to claim a morale-boosting quartet of wins in the latest Yorkshire Youth Hockey League series of tournament fixtures at York’s Huntington School.

Hero of the hour was player-of-the-tournament Jenson Brook, who plundered a superb nine goals in a virtuoso showing.

After a decent set of results in the Janaury tournament, Slaz were unfortunate to be relegated to the third league for the penultimate tournament of the season on goal difference and with the chance of a trophy gone, the club were able to take a larger than normal squad.

Their impressive victory roll started with a 2-0 success over Chapeltown A, ahead of a 4-0 thumping of their B side.

Further emphatic wins were notched against Wakefield, vanquished 4-0 in a one-sided derby and Airedale, beaten 4-1.

Star of the show was Brook, with his best goal coming against Chapeltown B, when he netted a well-struck angled shot after a fine solo run.

The industrious James Bennett also found the net twice, while Isaac Fisher claimed a hat-trick of goals.

Ralph Toon was beaten only once in an eye-catching showing.

Report: 08-01-2005 – Mens 2nd’s (1) vs (2) Airedale 1st’s

by

Slazenger’s seconds suffered a disappointing loss at the hands of Airdale I, a result which leaves them in a precarious position at the bottom of the table. The game started well with Slazenger’s dominating early on and creating a number of chances, with Rich Hutchins giving Slazenger’s the lead midway through the half with a great top corner strike.

Slazenger’s continued to play well but failed to convert any more chances. However they still went in at the end of the first half, one nil up. As has happened so many times this year, though, Slazenger let the lead slip. Airdale drawing level with a well worked short corner routine and then taking the lead midway through the second half.

Slazenger’s continued to press but lacked shape and struggled to make a breakthrough. Airdale eventually wrapping the game up with a break away goal late on.

Slazenger’s have now lost after being ahead at half time on five occasions this season, something that they need to work on if they are to avoid relegation.

Report: 04-12-2004 – Mens 5th’s (6) vs (0) Airedale 2nd’s

by

A good win for Slazenger even though it should have been 7 – 0 as Richard Hutchings was robbed of his second goal.

Slazenger started off well pushing up the field to the goal. A good link up from Richard and Jermane Cockerill saw Cockerill put 1 goal away. Airedale came back, but Slazenger’s strong defence kept them out. Excellent teamwork between midfield Hutchins and Cockerill kept the team going and spirits high, with a half time score of 4-0 to Slazenger.

Slazenger came out strong in the second half with goalie Lee Secker making some excellent saves to keep a clean sheet for Slazenger.

The final score was 6-0, with the goal scorers being, 2 from Cockerill, 1 each from Hutchins, Veteran Dave Smyth, young Chris Wood and the final from Andy Auty.

All in all, this was one very good match to watch with end-to-end play and good input from all 11 players on the field.

Report: 10-01-2004 – Mens 2nd’s (4) vs (4) Airedale 1st’s

by

Slazenger seconds restarted their league campaign after the Christmas break and will be disappointed to have only come away with a draw against Airedale’s first string.Things should have been very different after Slaz’ raced into a two goal lead with barely five minutes on the clock.

Andy Foreman fired great strike into the roof of the net and Rich Hutchins finished off a neat move after the keeper had made a good stave.

Slaz’ seemed to relax, probably thinking it was going to be easy but Airedale soon changed their minds with some good hockey and two goals, the teams going into the break all square.

Both teams started the second half well but it was the home side that broke the deadlock, Tim Carr deceiving the keeper with a subtle finish.

Again Slaz’ seemed to step off the gas and allow Airedale back into the game and mid way through the second half found themselves on the wrong side of a 4-3 scoreline.

Slaz’ now began to create chance after chance and were eventually awarded a penalty flick after repeated offences by the Airedale defence, a flick which Hutchens duly converted.

Next week Slazenger travel to promoted rivalry York University looking to avenge the 4-1 defeat in the first half of the season