It was the fourth game of the season for L1’s as we headed to Culford to play Bury 1s, who had just been dropped from the prem division. The game started well with good defensive play, pressing the ball and stepping in front of the players. There was great play from Jess R with great speed running the right-hand side of the pitch. Jess B made cracking saves from the get-go, holding the goal line at 0-0 for a long time. We then hit trouble when they had a series of short corners for us to save. Tania made a cracking save on the line of the goal to prevent Bury from scoring a goal. Unfortunately, our luck ended when their first goal came from a short corner.
We kept our heads up and pressed on with the rest of the half. Faye was as class as ever, making some excellent passes up the pitch for Claire, Georgia and Di to get hold of. Laura also was making some perfect picks throughout, preventing Bury from making an attacking break. We had a short corner attempt in the first half, which was nearly scored. Their second goal, though, followed close to the end of the first half with a minor misjudgement from the backline defence.
With a team talk from Nigel at the start of the second half, we kept our heads up and continued playing. We held our own in the first part of the second half. With good runs and link-up play between CJ, Ellie, Lyds and Grace on the right-hand side. We managed to get the ball into their defensive circle, which was much improvement from the first half. Unfortunately, at several moments throughout the game, we were let down by some of the umpiring that occurred as their third goal was scored from outside the D, which baffled the whole squad how they deemed that a goal. Regardless of the score line of 3-0, the ladies put in a continuous good shift throughout the game, pushing and constantly defending with bodies on the line. Thank you to Rachael for helping our Ladies team when we lacked subs.
All credit to L2’s who travelled to Arthur Mellows School, Lea Davenport dusting off kit she hasn’t used in almost a year; a first appearance in L2 goal for Jo Wright, last year’s L3 secret weapon is still a strong defender in foam, making some great saves to keep the scoreline not too disheartening. The step up to Div 3 and an Unfortunate Series of Unavailabilities is making for some character building matches. Newmarket defended hard, calling on all players to learn fast and make a half court press in the end for the purposes of damage limitation. Bourne Deeping were well drilled in set plays and clinical in their centre field passes. L2 surprised them by playing the breakaway into their D and winning penalty corners but were unable to bring back the goal difference this week, ultimately losing the match 6-0.
L4D v Hunts 2 Dev 5-1 win
Meanwhile, Newmarket’s L4 Development team hosted fellow development team from Huntingdon Hockey Club on Sunday afternoon. The match was played in good spirits, using timed quarters (ooh we felt all International and Olympic) so that the experienced players had a chance to give verbal feedback off pitch as well as supporting play on pitch. Huntingdon unfortunately only had 10 so, in the spirit of development guidelines, Newmarket’s Vicky and Melly Benedikz donned black tops to make the numbers more even on both sides. It was a pleasure to see players of all ages and experiences play a full size, full length match with some great hockey from both teams: communication was fantastic from Huntingdon, Newmarket were a little quieter but offered great support to each other in triangles and switch play. Beth Lomas showed great marking and ball skills in defence. Goals came from Megan Wilson (2) with her fast-becoming-trademark-post positioning, from Cosi Booth (2) snatching rebounds and striking passes fed from midfield Francesca Griffiths, Amelia Jones and Elea Leveque. Lydia Evans finished the line up with a single goal. Final score was a 5-1 win for Newmarket!
Thanks go to Parents for bringing our future stars to the match, the umpires Georgia Atherton (initiation in whistle-bearing) and Jordan Newnes, the players who played a second match this weekend to facilitate the core of development and the supporters. All coaches who have been a part of this young team’s journey should feel very proud of the individuals and the hockey they are playing. Our best wishes also go to Huntingdon players for sorting out broken cars and possibly a broken goalie (not by our players I hasten to add).