Slazenger Hockey Club

Ben Rhydding

Report: 25-02-2012 – Mens 1st’s (6) vs. (4) Ben Rhydding 3rd’s

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Slazenger Mens 1st team continued on their push for promotion, with a 6-4 victory over Ben Rhydding 3rd’s. However, Slazenger were not going to make it easy for themselves, alowing Ben Rhydding to score a 2 goal headstart early on.

Ben Rhydding were a very well drilled side and deserved the lead. The deficit jerked slaz back into action, and they began the fightback, playing some of the best hockey of the season; defending well and moving the ball through midfield with speed and accuracy.

Slaz pulled 3 goals back to lead 3-2 with Richard Tuddenham finding form early on, and continuing to lead Slaz back to a 4-2 lead. Ben Rhydding were not going to take defeat easily and equalised after forcing errors from the visitors.

In the latter half of the match, Slaz piled on the pressure, wrapping the game up with 2 final goals. Richard Tuddenham got 4 goals; Jack Kitchen 1 and Paul Wiper bagged a great reverse shot to make 6.

Defender Adam Drake picked up man of the match for his work keeping the forward covered. The muscle man Isaac fisher on the wing had good game creating space on the left, and posing big man Dan Perry on the right wing had a great game making short work of defenders with his speed.

Report: 12-11-2011 – Mens 1st’s (1) vs. (2) Ben Rhydding 2nd’s

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Slaz began with drive to break the loosing streak, and put early pressure on Ben Rhydding.  Moving the ball well up the pitch down the left and right side.  Slaz we blocked by a strong defence and even Richard Tuddenham couldn’t find a gap for a strong shot.

The keeper covered the long short well.  Man of the Match Matthew Birkett kept the mixture of young and old attack at bay that continued to break down their right.

Ben Rhydding scored their two on the break.

Whilst Richard Tuddenham only managed one with all his good play.

Report: 30-10-2011 – Boys U10’s at Pocklington

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Slazenger Boys U10’s travelled to Pocklington School, newly promoted, and ready to make waves in division 2. In the end they proved more than a match. With most players well under 10 years old, they are becoming a force to be rekoned with!

Thirsk (1) v (0) Slazengers
Thirsk pressed straight away and got a short corner which was well defended by defenders Will Fealy and Niran Tejura, Thirsk got a shot off from the re-bound which was saved by Harry Buttery. Slaz then started to press Thirsk with some good play from Nat Gunning and shots from Owen Bland and rebounds off Will Gascoigne, however we were unlucky not to score as Thirsk made some good saves in defence. Thirsk scored after the only slight lack of concentration from the defence which allowed their attacker through to get a soft goal. Some good tackles from Gascoigne and Will Fealy kept the score line to just 1-0 against the strongest and most physical side in the division, who said that they were glad they played us first has thought we were the team that improved the most in the tournament!

Ben Rhydding (B) (0) v (0) Slazengers
Ben Rhyding started the game well and put lots of pressure on our side, however with some good saves from Harry Buttery and James Hayton’s strong tackling we absorbed the pressure well. A foot in the D led to a Ben Rhyding short Corner which was well defended by Will Fealy; now firmly in charge of his defence and growing with every game. Owen Bland then came back with a quick counter attack; which was called as a reverse stick shot. Great defending by Harry in Goal, and fantastic link up play and tackling by Gascoigne and Bland in midfield kept Ben Rhyding at bay and a well earned Draw.

Chapeltown (0) v (1) Slazengers
Our first win of the tournament and an evenly matched game against Chapeltown who started by putting us under a lot of pressure in Slaz’s D but Harry Buttery cleared well into the sides. The team was finally starting to play the ball wide, with slaz countering the Chapeltown pressure until a rebound from the opposition keeper hit Niran Tejura who had to be substituted for Lucas Smith. This seemed to bring a new vigour to the team as they started to counter the Chapeltown goal with a great tackle and run from Will Gascoigne who passed square to Smith who then linked up with Owen Bland on the 23. Owen driving the ball into the D and finally firing home into Goal with a great first shot.

Doncaster (1) v (1) Slazengers
Good defending from the start from early pressure from Doncaster which led to Will Gascoigne getting injured and a quick re shuffle of the squad. A quick drive and dribbling from Niran Tejura set up a square pass to Lucas Smith who just fired wide off the goal. The ball is quickly won back by Slazengers and neat pass from Owen Bland to Smith in the D saw the ball go into the goal at ‘snails pace’ and Slaz took the lead. Doncaster come back strongly, and a long ball to one of Doncaster’s front line lead to possibly the best goal in the tournament from the top of the D; with Harry diving to his left as the ball was driven past him.

Sheffield (1) v (1) Slazengers
Needing at least a Draw in order to stay in the division, Slaz put out their most experienced team. Immediately they were faced with a short corner after a foot in the “D”; by now Slaz had the confidence to handle any short corner as showed by how well it was cleared away. As soon as it was cleared. Slaz were back under pressure and this led to Will Fealy being injured, who still wanted to play despite not really being able to. This lead to Sheffield attacking whilst Slaz were still reorganising and again ‘keeper Harry Buttery was unlucky to stop the Goal. On their next attack Harry kicked the ball out wide which went straight to Lucas Smith. With some brilliant running and passing between Owen, Lucas and Niran, the equaliser was secured by Niran. Tejura. Slaz defended well for the next 3 mins, and a amazing stop of a lifted ball in the D by James Hayton gave us a well deserved Draw and Helped Us finish THIRD in a very competitive Division!

Man of the Tournament – Will Gascoigne (Finding his position and brilliant tackling in all the games!)

Most Improved Player – James Hayton (Growing with every game)

Report: 23-10-2011 – Boys U14’s Tournament at Ben Rhydding

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For the first fixtures of the season, Slaz travelled to Ben Rhydding to take on two home teams and Leeds/Adel.

Slazenger (0) vs. (1) Ben Rhydding A
Slazengers started very brightly, quickly taking command of the mid field area and keeping possession well. Both wingers (Matthew Smith & Alex King) mounted attacks and both Hannah Field & Tom Pitchforth saw their shots go just wide or saved by the keeper. The game remained evenly balanced throughout with Rhydding’s attacks being calmly dealt with by James Higgins and Jess Buttery at full back and keeper Ralph Toon.

With just over a minute left to play, Slaz lost possession just outside the 23 line. The attack that followed resulted in a shot which Ralph kicked clear. Unfortunately, the ball shot vertically upwards off a Ben Rhydding stick and the Ben Rhydding’s strikers were first to work out where it had gone, bungling the ball over the line. Despite the score, Slazengers had plenty to be proud of as they had made Ben Rhydding A look beatable for the first time in many years.

Slazenger (2) vs. (0) Ben Rhydding B
Again Slazengers started strongly playing almost all of the first 15 minutes inside the Ben Rhydding half. The pressure was rewarded after 5 minutes when Isaac Fisher’s shot from a short corner was turned in by Matthew Stacey, playing his first tournament for Slazengers. The occasional Ben Rhydding break was dealt with by the full backs and half backs, Matthew Feather, Mayank Gupta & Ben Stevenson who were also supporting wide attacks well. Fisher had been dominant in midfield throughout both games and his efforts were rewarded after 15 minutes when he weaved through a crowded area to slot home a goal.

The score could have been much higher with the forwards failing to latch onto a couple of crosses from Aidan Hopkinson on the right and Alex King just missing a tip in from a Matthew Stacey shot. In the last few minutes, Ben Rhydding did begin to mount some attacks and were awarded a couple of short corners which were defended well.

Slazenger (2) vs. (0) Leeds/Adel
Riding high from our defeat of Ben Rhydding B, Slazenger’s allowed Leeds to have too much possession and consequently found ourselves defending our own goal several times in the first few minutes. Slazengers were still dangerous on the break with Matthew Smith shooting high.

After 8 minutes, Aidan converted a short corner in to the bottom right corner of the goal. It was good to see Nick Caulderley coming in for the tip in should it have been necessary. The middle portion of the game became a little scrappy with both teams conceding possession too easily.

However, Slazenger found their shape again resulting in several scoring opportunities. Smith saw his tip-in go just wide. With only a couple of minutes remaining, Pitchforth kept a cool head to finish a move down the right wing involving Feather, Hopkinson and Field to put the game beyond Leeds.

Matthew Feather received the “Player of the Day” award, for a very assured performance at half back and Most Improved Player goes to Mayank Gupta who showed great effort and some excellent skills for a player so new to the game. Overall, Slazengers should be proud of their performances, they were a credit to the club on and off the field.

Slazenger U14’s will next play on Sunday 4th December at Harrogate HC

Squad: Aidan Hopkinson, Alex King, Isaac Fisher (Capt), James Higgins, Matthew Feather, Ralph Toon (GK), Tom Pitchforth, Matthew Stacey, Jack Garside, Mayank Gupta, Nick Caulderley, Ben Stevenson, Hannah Field & Jessica Buttery.

Matches Played on Sunday 23rd October 2011 at Ben Rhydding Hockey Club

Report: 16-10-2011 – Girls U12’s Tournament

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0-0 draw against Northallerton
2-0 win against Leeds
1-0 win against Halifax
3-0 loss against Ben Rhydding
2-0 loss against York

The U12s girls had a productive day with a goalless draw against Northallerton, getting the ball high and creating pressure on it. Most play was in the Northallerton D but Selby/Slazengers ran out of time to convert to a win. Second game saw a sweep goal from Emily Quantrell after nice wide passing from Carys on the right wing, and a similar one from Chloe Hall against Leeds for a 2-0 victory.

Further success was in a 1-0 win against Halifax with Hall as the scorer and Tavie Brown setting up the goal through a full pitch run down the left wing. Lily Nesbitt showed some growing abilities in the midfield and Nichola Duckitt had a stormer in the defence and mid, with low barriers and good tackle timing. She managed to get the ball well into the other half to keep pressure firmly on.

A lesson in small sided hockey then came from Ben Rhydding with a 3-0 loss but not without good efforts from Maisie in defence and Bethany Smith trying out the midfield. The final game against York finished 2-0 loss but with Kate Reader and Quantrell putting pressure on only to be dispossessed in the dying seconds, to have given York something to think about!

Player of the match was Rebecca in her keeper debut with some excellent kicking, forward thinking and a big smile on her face!