Winchester Hockey Club Oracle Edition 44
Goalkeeper Training
Goalkeeper training is back up and running after the half term break! These are fantastic sessions run by top professional keeper coach Hems Davis.
U18 Girls
After two league wins, a couple of tougher games have followed. The EH cup match against Woking on the 30th October saw the opposition starting strongly and scoring early on from a quick piece of open play. The girls worked hard to try and counter the run of play but Woking pressed again during the second half, scoring their second goal. We had several short corners and eventually Esther slotted in a goal minutes from the end.
The league game against Maidenhead was always going to be tough with only 11 players and a long journey. The opposition were well-organised and confident, scoring within the first five minutes of the game. Winchester defended several short corners well but Maidenhead eventually scored from one just before half-time. The team forced several short corners during the second half but couldn’t score. Chloe made some excellent saves including a spectacular drive at the ball and the team kept trying until the last whistle but ultimately lost 5-0.
U14 Boys
A’s vs Trojans - 1-5
Scorer: Rory
Make no mistake, despite the scoreline, this was a tremendous performance by the Winchester U14 boys. Trojans now progress to the Regional Supra League as South Central champions, so we will see in time how good they are, but certainly strong enough to make this a real test for the boys.
In the early stages Winchester matched Trojans in a well fought, highly skilled encounter, but it always felt like Trojans had the edge. Their well organised defence repelled several Winchester attacks, mostly created by the trio of Tom, Rory and Bertie. When our attacks broke down, Trojans were quick to counter attack, and it took the intervention of Matthew and Henry, and some decent saves by Harrison, to keep the game goalless as we approached half time. It was from another counter-attack that Trojans eventually broke the deadlock with one too many attacking runners for the Winchester defence to cope with, and a back-post tap which Harrison could do nothing about. A short corner goal followed and it was 2-0 at half time.
The second half started in a similar vein, with Winchester moving the ball nicely to create some chances, but they couldn't be taken. The misses were punished by two more Trojans breakaways and another short corner goal. Rory pulled one back with a super individual goal, and Winchester had a couple more chances to reduce the deficit.
The score line was perhaps a little harsh, but no one disputed that Trojans deserved the victory. Still, another useful step in the development of the boys individually and as a team.
B’s vs Hamble - 1-11
Scorer: Ollie M
It was not just the weather that was against the U14 boys B side on Sunday as heavy rain fell just at the start of this game but with a Winchester goalkeeper kit-malfunction, the visitors swept into an early 3-0 lead until Hugo was able to take his position in goal. Needless to say, he was soon very busy holding off the Hamble attack whilst the rest of the team readjusted into more familiar playing positions. Hamble had a physically bigger set of players - mostly Yr 9 who are also playing each week in Saturday men’s hockey - and thus were somewhat out of balance with several young Yr 7 and 8 Winchester boys, many playing in their first ever 11-a-side game!
The rain relented during the start of the second half but the Hamble attack certainly did not, as goals were scored at regular intervals despite some terrific holding play by Max, Archie, Monty, Aedan and Ollie G supporting Hugo. Many, very wet players by then, were feeling the cold from the rain and were unable to roll on and off to play in the match to share the workload, but thankfully the sun did start to shine as the game progressed. The Winchester boys fought hard with some heart with Tom, Will, Nat and Lawrence working extremely hard in mid-field and occasionally managing to get some shots in on goal. In the last few moments of the game they won a penalty corner, and after three rebounded shots the ball fell to Ollie M to score with a rising shot into the top of the Hamble net!
Indoor Hockey
The U14 boys are taking part in weekly indoor hockey sessions. This week saw a quick fire round robin of matches - lots of fun and learning loads!