Slazenger Hockey Club

News

Report: 03-03-2012 – Mens 4th’s (Dev) (2) vs. (0) Airedale 3rd’s

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Slazenger 4’s game against Airedale turned, rather surprisingly, into a fractious affair with several flash points throughout the game.

The home team started brightly, fielding just the one adult outfield player at the start of the match and once again quickly got into their stride, passing the ball around, retaining possession reasonably well and creating several goalscoring chances, that with a little composure should have been converted into goals.

Aidan Hopkinson and Tom Pitchforth once again linked up well in midfield with Matthew Smith out wide on the left and Matthew Stacey taking his position on the right wing.

Airedale whilst physically bigger lacked the team play to cause many problems initially, but midway through the first half they started to build some momentum and tried to be physically imposing against the younger players. This wasn’t going to happen against the home team despite some agricultural tackles flying in and with some composed interceptions from Matthew Feather in defence who took the ball calmly out of defence and set up several attacks.

Even though Robert Cann was nearly cut in half by one robust challenge he continued to take the attack to the opposition which served to inspire all the team. Half-time score was 0-0.

The second half continued much the same as the first with some poor tackling, the opposition arguing with one another if they made a mistake and this frustration increased when Tom Pitchforth had a shot on goal kicked over the goal line by the Airedale keeper.

Slazengers now scented victory and started to make better use of the wings and succeeded in getting behind the Airedale defence and created more goalscoring opportunities, whilst still being vulnerable to breakaway attacks from the opposition midfield.

The game was won when Matthew Stacey was found in space at the top of the goalmouth and cooly converted Slaz’s second goal.

Final score 2-0. Slazenger 4’s next game is at home to Bradford.Slazenger 4’s game against Airedale turned, rather surprisingly, into a fractious affair with several flash points throughout the game.

The home team started brightly, fielding just the one adult outfield player at the start of the match and once again quickly got into their stride, passing the ball around, retaining possession reasonably well and creating several goalscoring chances, that with a little composure should have been converted into goals.

Aidan Hopkinson and Tom Pitchforth once again linked up well in midfield with Matthew Smith out wide on the left and Matthew Stacey taking his position on the right wing.

Airedale whilst physically bigger lacked the team play to cause many problems initially, but midway through the first half they started to build some momentum and tried to be physically imposing against the younger players. This wasn’t going to happen against the home team despite some agricultural tackles flying in and with some composed interceptions from Matthew Feather in defence who took the ball calmly out of defence and set up several attacks.

Even though Robert Cann was nearly cut in half by one robust challenge he continued to take the attack to the opposition which served to inspire all the team.

Half-time score was 0-0.

The second half continued much the same as the first with some poor tackling, the opposition arguing with one another if they made a mistake and this frustration increased when Tom Pitchforth had a shot on goal kicked over the goal line by the Airedale keeper.

Slazengers now scented victory and started to make better use of the wings and succeeded in getting behind the Airedale defence and created more goalscoring opportunities, whilst still being vulnerable to breakaway attacks from the opposition midfield.

The game was won when Matthew Stacey was found in space at the top of the goalmouth and cooly converted Slaz’s second goal.

Final score 2-0. Slazenger 4’s next game is at home to Bradford.

Report: 03-03-2012 – Ladies 1st’s (3) vs. (3) Driffield 1st’s

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After the 3-3 draw last week Slaz were looking for a win and repeat of their 4-1 success in the Driffield away fixture earlier this season. Unfortunately due to players being unavailable/injured Slaz only had 11 players from their normal squad and were forced to rely on the goodwill of the 3rd team for the subs bench. Katie, Alex and Hannah are to be congratulated for performing admirably given the step up in the level of hockey they had to face.
 
The home side again started strongly after some worldly wise words from the injured Amanda Sowerby (definitely not a sapper) and once again were the first on the scoresheet when a strong strike from Sarah Cooper was tipped in (allegedly) by Jessica Rudge.

Slaz continued to attack with a high amount of possession with some superb driving runs by Sarah Hobbs and Driffield’s attempts to attack were thwarted by the defence. Driffield were denied an equaliser as Heather Bates made an excellent save on the line. Slaz then went 2-0 up as Ailish Hendry fired an unstoppable shot from the edge of the D but allowed Driffield to come back and score before the half time break to bring it to 2-1.
 
The second half started strongly again but Driffield were determined to pull back their defecit and soon narrowed the gap to 2-2. A period of frantic end to end play saw Sarah Cooper put Slaz ahead with 10 minutes to go but unfortunately some minutes later Driffield were awarded a flick.  Goalie Eleanor Townend who was recently selected for England Masters Team, disappointed the opposition by going the right way to make the save. However when play continued, Driffied took advantage of some defensive confusion and levelled the scores once more. Despite Slaz sterling final efforts the game ended 3-3 but the plus side was that this is enough to take Slaz to 6th place in the table. Man of the match was jointly awarded to Claire Mills and Eleanor Townend.
 
Slaz now look forward to a double header against Roseberry and Newcastle and much welcome the return of Hayley Wood to the line up.

Report: 03-03-2012 – Ladies 2nds (3) vs. (2) Bingley Bees 2nd’s

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Slazenger Ladies 2nds continue to in their race to the top, after a close encounter away at Bingley Bees. The team overcame high temperatures and driving rain in addition to the official opposition, coming out 3-2 up.

Slaz were quick to start, and applied some strong pressure to the home side. However, a fast break from the Bingley side gave them the advantage, with an opportunist goal. Slaz fought back, with Sue Hope bagging the equaliser. This was swiftly followed up by a further goal from Elle Poskett, putting them ahead.

Bingley Bees contined to be dangerous, equalising in short order. However, with 2 minutes left on the clock, a well worked short corner was dispatched by Lisa Minchella, giving them the win.

Report: 04-03-2012 – Boys U14’s Tournament at Harrogate

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In my match report after our last trip to Harrogate in December, I noted that our next tournament was just 2 weeks away. How wrong could I be? With three successive cancelled tournaments, Slazenger travelled to Harrogate 3 months later with 16 boys including two boys on their first tournament; Elliot Golding & Lee Stringer.

The only player missing was Jack Garside who was taken ill the day before. Prior to the tournament, we had arranged to loan players to Huddersfield and Bridlington. However, Bridlington pulled out at short notice as they could field only 4 players, conceding their games 3 – 0 as per league rules.

On our previous visit to Harrogate, we experienced “cold weather but were spared rain or sleet”. This time we were not so lucky with the weather playing a major part in the tournament.Squad: Aidan Hopkinson, Alex King, Ben Stevenson, Elliott Golding, Isaac Fisher (Capt), James Higgins, Lee Stringer, Luke Gueli, Matthew Feather, Matthew Stacey, Mayank Gupta, Nick Calderley, Ralph Toon (GK), Robert Cann, Rowan Tejura & Tom Pitchforth

The first game between Huddersfield and Harrogate was played in freezing rain and was won 2 – 0 by Harrogate, with both Elliot & Nick acquitting themselves well for Huddersfield, particularly Elliot, who made some well timed runs at centre forward which were not picked out by the other Huddersfield players.

Slazenger (5) vs. (1) Huddersfield
Slazenger were quick to take control of the mid field, stringing together passes well and creating scoring opportunities right from the start, We quickly moved into a 2 – 0 lead within the first 5 minutes thanks to goals from Isaac and Matthew Stacey which raised a small smile as he scored against his old club. As the cold rain turn to sleet, Slazenger continued to push hard for another goal, working play towards the left to bring Lee & Ben into play. Pushing so hard for another goal left us open to counter attack and we played the price when Huddersfield managed to ‘bungle’ the ball over the line on about 10 minutes.The team reacted well, without panicking and continued to play good passing hockey which resulted in 3 goals in quick succession from Isaac, Robert and Tom to win the game convincingly.

Slazenger (2) vs. (1) Harrogate
While Slazenger were taking on Huddersfield in freezing rain and sleet, Harrogate were sheltering and resting in the warm club house. This advantage showed as Slazenger started a little slower than in their previous game coming under pressure, particularly down the Harrogate left. It was from one of these attacks that Slazenger failed to clear the ball fully leaving a Harrogate player with space and time at the top of the circle to score.

Again Slazenger did not panic, passing the ball and threatening down both flanks as well as down the middle of the pitch but as the sleet turned to snow, Slazenger clearly had the upper hand. Several shots were saved or missed by very little and Harrogate attacks became less frequent and less likely to score. However, it was not until 8 minutes from the end that a passing move through mid field led to the ball being played wide on the right where Matthew Stacey and Luke worked the ball around behind the defence before Luke laid it back for Isaac to finish almost unchallenged to equalise.

Straight from the restart, Slazenger pressed hard, with Aidan winning the ball well inside the Harrogate half leading to a string of short corners one of which Isaac slotted away convincingly to give Slazenger the lead. Harrogate then pressed hard in the last few minutes with Slazenger defending in numbers to record a deserved win.

It is worth noting that most of the Harrogate parents/supporters stayed in the warmth of the club house while the hardy Slazenger parents braved the elements (under the covered stand) to cheer on their team which might well have been the deciding factor.In the circumstances, the friendly that had been arranged between Harrogate and Slazenger in order to give some of the less experienced players in both squads more pitch time was called off so that everyone could get dried out and warm.

Player of the Tournament was Isaac Fisher who not only scored 4 goals but also controlled the midfield superbly and passed the ball around.

Most Improved Player was Alex King who is growing in confidence and skill to match his determination to win the ball, particularly against Harrogate.Thanks to John Toon who umpired three matches in succession.

I umpired just the first match so can appreciate how cold he must have been.Slazenger U14 boys finished 2nd in the YYH league, securing a second successive place in the playoffs which will take place on 29th April at Halifax HC. Congratulations to the team! Please keep this date free in your diaries!

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.