In2Hockey Cheshire Tournament 2018 U12 Girls Team 1 Match Report

Injury and a sports clash left Team 1 with 7 players – Ella, Francesca, Imogen, Kate, Katy, Mabel and Rachel.

After a season of playing against U13 Girls teams, the U12 Girls team were keen to use this experience in the 2018 U12 In2Hockey Cheshire Tournament. The 14 teams were split into two sections of 7, with the top 2 progressing to the semi-finals. Team 1 were placed in the first section against Alderley Edge’s 1st and 3rd teams, Bowdon 2nd, Brooklands, Chester 1st and Oxton. A tough group that included the eventual winners Chester 1st and Runners Up Alderley Edge.

The first match was against Alderley Edge 3rd Team. Using the experience gained in the GMJHL, we played 2 up front and put pressure on AE from their pushback, with except for 30 seconds the entire 10 minutes played in AE’s half. The pressure resulted in a massive 6 short corners, but despite the pressure, AE continued to throw enough bodies behind the ball to keep the final score to 0-0. Special thanks to Hannah for being an emergency sub in this game.

Next up were local rivals Brooklands, and the game panned out the same as match 1, with nearly all the play in their half, and 4 short corners this time. Unfortunately, we again failed to turn pressure into goals, and the game finished 0-0.

Chester – eventual winners – were next. A fine save from Francesca resulted from their only attempt at goal, the rest turned into a midfield battle with Katy, Rachel and Imogen having the slight upper hand, with Imogen’s runs down the right creating three chances. The game ended in a 0-0 scoreline again, but a third game we should/could have won!

Oxton were next, and the theme continued, they managed two attacks, the rest of the time we held the upper hand. Ella continued to be commanding at the back, and for the fourth game we did not concede a goal. Unfortunately, we also failed to score again, 0-0 the final scoreline!!

For the next match against Bowdon, we swapped Ella into midfield and Rachel back to be the sole defender. The strong defensive organisational performance continued, and a fifth clean sheet was kept. However, for the umpteenth time Imogen rampaged down the right but this time as the ball came across Katy coming in off the left wing swept the ball into the back of the net. Moments later we had a short corner, the initial shot was saved, but came out to Katy who fired it in to give us a victory at last, 2-0 being the final scoreline.

Alderley Edge 1st applied the pressure game we had been employing and took an early lead. We continued to push for the equaliser, but fatigue eventually started to kick in and AE scored two late goals to win 0-3.

In the end the failure to score cost us, with our five clean sheets and a win leading to a fourth-place position. Well done girls for a great effort, you were really unlucky not to win more.