Slazenger Hockey Club

News

Report: 18-02-2012 – Ladies 2nds (1) vs. (0) Harrogate 5th’s

by

The ladies 2nds were engaged in league competition against Harrogate 5th’s.

Their discisive 1-0 victory over Harrogate 5th’s, moves the team back into 2nd position and promotion spot. With 6 games left, its likely to be a photo finish for the league title.

[singlepic=1350,450,300,,center]

Slazenger started out with a high tempo, passing the ball swiftly and attacking the visitors from both wings. For large spells of the first half the home side had control of the pitch, with keeper Lisa Chappell having little to do. However, as time went on, Harrogate challenged on multiple occasions, breaking fast and making moves towards the home goal. However, some strong tackling from Karen Bates prevented them getting through.

[singlepic=1365,450,300,,center]

After several chances went close; from Zoe Bacon, Captain Nez Rollinson, and Sue Hope, it was Daisy Gee-Sanders who bagged the winner, picking up a through-ball from Stacey Binns, and slotting it past the keeper.

Though Slaz had further opportunities during the game, though it was the only goal of the game.

 

Report: 18-02-2012 – Ladies 3rd’s (1) vs (5) Pickering 1st’s

by

Slazenger travelled to Pickering for a tough encounter against strong 3rd place Pickering’s 1st team.

The horbury side’s younger side had some good posession and created several opportunities, however the strong Pickering team attacked multiple times, forcing some hard fought defending from the visitors.

Slaz struggled to penetrate the Pickering defence and were unable to capitalise on the opportunities they created.

At the other end, Pickering wore down the defence, finding the net 4 times.

Slazenger did have limited success, with Donna Wood netting 1 in response.

The visitors fought hard, but unfortunately the scoreline ended 4-1 to the home side.

Report: 18-02-2012 – Mens 1st’s (4) vs. (3) Chapeltown 2nd’s

by

Slazenger Mens 1st’s got off to a flying start, even with the 10:30 push back away at Chapeltown. Within 10 minutes, the team had secured the first goal, in what turned out to be a fast pivoting scoreline; with Slaz and Chapeltown fighinting for the upperhand. Slaz was unable to put in many of the good chances it created in the first half, with Chapeltown coming back strong to put two past the Slaz keeper, leaveing slaz to wondering what had happened.

However, with the pressure on Slaz raised their game, creating further chances with some interittent return of their fast flowing hockey. A goal later, Slaz were level, and looking for an third.

With only 15 minutes remaining, Slaz continued to pile on the pressure, with hard working Man of the Match Dan Perry on the right wing slicing the home defence to pieces. Two goals in the dying minutes secured the win for Slazenger, with Issac Fisher claiming the fourth; a deflection from a thunderous cross by Richard Tuddenham.

Chapeltown still pressed on and scored a third, but there wasn’t enough time to score any further, with Slaz dominant on the pitch.

The win keeps the team in second place in the league and promotion position.

Report: 11-02-2012 – Mens 1st’s (5) vs. (3) Lincoln Roses 2nd’s

by

After doubt whether the pitch would be fit to play, the sun had thawed it by lunch time, and the game was on. Slazenger had a good start and had several early chances against the Lincoln side, but Lincoln had come for a win. Pushing hard, it was the visitors who secured an early.

Slaz fought back and drove at the Lincoln defence, putting 2 goals in within the following 5 minutes. The home team continued to have a strong first half, settling into the game with some great movement and distribution, netting a third before the break. Lincoln were demoralised and never seemed to fully recover after missing some really good chances that would have kept them neck and neck.

The second half was wrapped up with the score line of a 5-3 win. Slaz could have capitalised further, but the temptation to dribble replaced the flowing, passing hockey from the first half.

Man of the match was Isaac Fisher with another involved and consistent game, but excelled at getting stuck in for some goal stealing. Andy Fisher created some good play in the second half, to give slaz some nice movement and keep Lincoln at bay.

Goal scores were Isaac Fisher 2, Richard Tuddenham 2, Dan Perry 1. Slaz continue their promotion battle with an away encounter at Chapeltown 2nd’s next week.

Report: 11-02-2012 – Ladies 1st’s (0) vs. (7) Rotherham 1st’s

by

Slazenger had been monitoring the snow situation on the Rotherham pitch on the Friday and it looked like the game was going to be cancelled. Despite the Rotherham website confirming the cancellation on the Saturday the match went ahead. Slazenger unfortunately had several of their key players missing due to injury (Smithy and Rudgey), availability (Hayles) and unforseen circumstances (Hobbsie) – this seemed to upset the team dynamics and Rotherham were allowed to start quite strongly and settle into their formation, playing some very attacking hockey. The Slaz defence managed to prevent Rotherham from scoring until midway through the first half but it was only a matter of time. A further Rotherham goal followed to see the half time score as 2-0 and to be honest could have been higher. It was clear that Slaz also missed the settling influence of Steve Wood and struggled to see what to do in order to change things for the better.

The second half fared no better for Slaz who continued to be affected by several of the Umpires’ decisions and allowed Rotherham to continue to score goals. An unfortunate incident with joint player of the match Kelly Whittam clashing heads with a Rotherham player saw Sarah Cooper also having to depart the game with 20 minutes to go in order to take her to A&E. The team were clearly a bit shaken by this and continued to conceed more goals, bleeding away our positive goal difference to zero. Despite complaints about the Umpires ruining the game (and us thinking it was only 6-0) there is no getting away from the fact that this was not a good Slaz team performance with individuals not playing as well as normal for whatever reason. On a positive note, only one of the Rotherham goals came from a short corner, despite the fact that they had so many. Finally, our thanks go to Lisa Minchella and Charlotte Gunn from the Second team who stepped up admirably and both put in good solid performances.