Ladies 3rd XI 6-0 Towcester 3rd XI

Goals: Hannah Richards, Alice Kilner, Rosie Barnes, Annie Howard, Laura Thomas

The pressure was on before the game as they knew 3 points were required to regain 2nd place, as their nearest challengers Kettering had claimed 3 points earlier in the day. Thankfully the ladies 3s  stepped up to the plate and secured a superb win against Towcester. By half-time they were 3 goals up as Rosie Barnes, Laura Thomas and Hannah Richards got on the score sheet. The first goal in particular deserves special mention as the ball was passed around at pace with most of the team getting a touch before they split open the Towcester defence allowing a 3 on 1 which Saints duly took advantage of.

The second half saw the one-way traffic continue as further goals were scored by Laura Thomas, Alice Kilner and Annie Howard. Credit must also go to Emma Brennan and her defence as they held firm for all the game and constantly held off the pressure of the Towcester forwards.

MOTM- Annie Howard for strong midfield play and a great goal

DOTD- SarahTelford for falling over with no ball and no player close to her

 

Ladies 1stXI 0-10 Beeston 1stXI

 

Fog threatened the fixture with Beeston, but cleared enough before push back for the game to be played.

 The Sunday fixture attracted a sizeable crowd of supporters who were rewarded with some skilful hockey and a plethora of with goals which crept into double figures; sadly the goals were all scored by the visitors.

Saints conceded their first goal within minutes of the start and continued to defend for the remainder of the first half.  The home side appeared to need more energy and urgency in their play and while they welcomed Amie Hone back to the midfield, who had been absent for three weeks with an ankle injury, they were still unable to capitalise on opportunities to score. Saints Amy Tuffs and Lisa Coe received green and yellow cards respectively, which for a period of time found Saints battling it out with a meagre nine players.(Amusingly, Tuffs’ card coincided with her substitution, which initially went unnoticed, and the home side played on with a full team for a further minute).

Saints struggled to retain possession awarding their opponents various chances which Beeston duly converted in both open play and penalty short corners.

The hosts came alive in the final ten minutes repeatedly making the attacking D but sadly the whistle called time before a scoring opportunity arose. The final score declared Saints ten goals down to top of table Beeston.

 

 

Ladies 2ndXI 2-2 Newark

Goals: Lucy Ann Chacksfield (2)

This top of the table clash proved to really be a game of 2 halves. Newark took the first half bragging rights as they scored two soft goals as Saints defence were turned over twice in quick succession. This was perhaps a slightly harsh score-line for Saints as they had played a fairly solid if unspectacular half in general.

However the second half Saints returned to playing their hockey, their way as they brought the game back to 2-2.  The first goal was from open play through the midfield of Caz Whitehouse and Clare Noble leading to Lucy Ann Chacksfield scoring a peachy goal past a stumbling Newark defence. This silenced the baying crowd and Saints then turned the screw on a fading Newark as they won a succession of penalty corners. From one of these Chacksfield scored from a direct hit into the bottom left corner of the goal. With time still left Saints should have finished Newark off as they wasted 2 gilt edged chances. However the winning goal was lacking for either side so it finished 2-2.

MOTM: Caz Whitehouse

DOTD: Lucy Ann Chacksfield (that sat nav told me to do it)

 

Men’s 1stXI 2-2 West Bridgford

Goals: Ben Scott, Gareth Parker

 

Saints hosted Bridgford in what was expected to be a tight game given previous fixtures between these two teams. Saints started very brightly and controlled form the start and within two minutes won their first short corner after good work from Alex Press and Dave Sanders. A perfect injection from Grant Carlin enabled Ben Scott to drag flick home and give the home side the perfect start. Saints continued to have the majority of possession and although Bridgford pressured Saints midway through the half they never really threatened. Saints scored their second after a very good move down the left. Saunders, Kopka and Press all combining to leave Gareth Parker with a tap in at the far post. 2-0 half time.

 The second half way started evenly with both sides enjoying breakaways. After ten minutes Bridgford scored from their second short corner of the game. A clean straight strike beating Paul Madeley down his left hand side. After this Bridgford piled on the pressure and Saints had to defend frantically for ten minutes. Every time Saints cleared their lines Bridgford broke back as the home sides forwards were unable to keep the ball. Eventually Bridgford’s pressure told and they equalised. A mistake in the Saints midfield gave possession away and from the resulting cross a Bridgford player beat the Saints defence to the ball to deflect past Madeley.

 Although Saints had just been pegged back they showed great character to gather themselves and create further chances to win the game. A couple of three on one chances were wasted by the home side as well as two misplaced shots which could have stolen all three points. All in all a disappointing end but a fair result.

 

Next week Saints travel to Stourport for their last game before Christmas

 

Lichfield 4th XI 1-1 Men’s 4th XI

 

Scorer; Ross McLean

 

Piranha Preen Sees of the Firing Squad

 

Fired up after last week’s win, Saints started this game in positive style. Good job too, as Lichfield’s lowly league position belied a strong passing team who would have threatened to take the visitors apart had they not fielded a strong side.

 

With Gary “Wing Commander” Patterson’s pace slowed down by the extra drag created by his ginger mo’, Saints did well to withstand the early pressure, and it was the home team who were peppering the goal. Luckily Phil “Piranha” Preen had been dropped to the fours and was able to keep out a string of efforts crying, “Stop firing that ball at me!” as shot after shot pinged off his scaly body armour.

 

The turning point came mid-way through the first half as Preen saved a penalty flick given away by James Ruse. From then on, the home team got more and more riled by Saints dogged resistance and some questionable decisions by their own umpires.

 

Lichfield took the lead later in the half with an opportunistic flick but Saints soon equalised with a no-nonsense strike from Ross “Snake” McLean.

 

The second half turned into a bit of a tennis match as Lichfield’s game broke down, despite Ruse’s attempts to let them in by falling over a lot. Saints surely would have won the game if it were not for a disappointing lack of scoring opportunities created up front. Jim Phipps later went on record as saying, “We’ve turned the corner!”

 

MOM: Will Gamble(cheery disposition)

DOD: James Ruse (ice skating)

 

Squad: Phil Preen, James Ruse (c), Jim Phipps, Anthony Richardson, Ant Czaicki, Gary Patterson, Joe Cliffe, Lewis Moran, Will Gamble, Greg Summers, Krish Jasinaranchi, Ant Condon, Chris Godman, Ross McLean

 

 

Men’s 3rdXI 3-4 West Bridgford

Goals: Hillier (2pc) Knibbs, Rose

 

Classy Goals, Messy Game

 

Saints played the new leaders of the East Midlands Prem, knowing the challenge ahead, after West Bridgford had scored 24 goals just last week. The start seemed ominous too, with some slick passing leading to their first goal of the match. Five minutes later Saints gained a short corner, and Hillier left the opposition in no doubt that Saints meant business, 1-1. The game started to settle down and it to a magical reverse from Ally Rose to give Saints the lead. Once again Bridgford struck back, the defence hoping for a whistle allowing the striker to pop the ball home. West Bridford started to exert their game once again and their 3rdgoal soon came along. Both teams were fired up to take control, and a moment of over exuberance saw Rowlands and an opposition player see yellow. Saints once again pegged West Bridford back, with James Knibbs seemingly passing the whole team before another fine reverse shot in to the bottom corner.

 

The second half saw no further action from Spencer-Brown who was seemingly struck down with illness. Both teams saw a standard of play much lower than desired and despite retaking the lead, West Bridford’s ill discipline saw 2 further yellows during the course of the second half. Despite this Saints failed to capitalize, including Dale’s Aerial’s more often than not hitting the first defender, and it was West Bridford who increased their lead thanks to a penalty corner. Simon Thompson, made some crucial saves as Saints looked like giving up for loss, but with 7 minutes remaining Hillier struck inch perfect from another penalty corner setting up a tense final few minutes. Despite gaining to further penalty corners, Saints could not find the equalizer. In fairness the best team won, but Saints knew a draw was within their grasp.

 

MOTM: Simon Thompson for some excellent saves at crucial moments

DOTD: Jon Hunter for not knowing the score after the match

 

Squad: Marcus Spencer-Brown, Sam Bigley, Luke Pibworth, James Knibbs, Chris Rowlands, Simon Thompson (gk), Andy Dale (c), Jason Hillier, Ally Rose, Nigel Down, George Roberts, Ian Mcilwaine, James Miller, Jon Hunter

 

 

 

Men’s 5th XI 0-3 West Bridgford 6th XI

 

Great Disappointment !!!

Saints 5th team at home again welcomed the West Bridgford 6th team listed on the bottom of the league. 13 players turned up this week on the pitch giving the Saints 5th team an advantage of having 2 subs on the bench. As usual every player was showing a great fighting spirit from the first minute.

David Henry the captain decided to change the team formation slightly moving Gareth Voss (centre midfielder) to the defensive line, Tom Dysko (centre midfielder) to the right mid wing, Hugo Day landed in a centre midfield and Luke Howard was moved to the left wing.

The first half started as normal, Saints were pressing and trying to make a use of Dysko on the right wing as agreed before the match. This strategic idea did not really work due to the difficulties in passing the ball accurately. However Dysko managed to do a couple of one-hand runs trying to bring the ball into the D.

The opponents were breaking Saints defence line a number of times and one such move resulted in a  penalty flick, which seemed a little bit harsh at the time. West Bridgford converted this to take a 1 goal lead. Shortly before half-time and against the run of play, Saints lost another goal as a result of Gareth Voss playing the ball across the D.

The second saw numerous chances for Saints to get back into the game, however time and time again the ball kept passing the wrong side of the post . With time running out and Saints pushing forward, West Bridgford got an undeserved third goal to seal the victory.

Lesson to be learned: Rob Tee needs to find out how long the hockey match lasts and he should not use the feet out of the D when he plays in the goal.

MOTM: Jeremy Wan for his good skill in looking for the gaps for a pass.

DOTD: Ed Arnold for his bad passing skills.                                              

Squad: Rob Tee (GK), Steve Morris, Jeremy Wan, Harry Stobart, Luke Howard, Tom Dysko, Rob Cary, Ed Arnold, Matt Kerr, Hugo Day, Gareth Voss, David Henry (capt), Adam Shepherd

 

 

Boys U18s 6-2 Northampton University

Goals: Will Gamble, Andy Smith (2), Ed Holt, Max Heaphy, Tom Wightman

In this battle of boys against men, the boys came out the victors against the University Men’s team.

The heavy rain before and during the first half added a bit of zip to the ball meaning the game started off at a frantic pace with both teams intent on attacking and moving the ball around at speed. The game slowly started to calm down as Saints got a stronghold on things. As they camped themselves in the University’s half, it came as no surprise when Saints took the lead, with Will Gamble finishing off a some good interchange of passing from the midfield. Saints then proceeded to take their foot off the gas as the rest of the first half just faded out.

With some stern words said at half time, the U18s came out all guns blazing. Minutes into the second half they scored the goal of the game, as Charlie Cox played a clever lobbed pass down the right to Max Heaphy, who in turn played a brilliant cross-field ball that split the Uni defence and found Andy Smith who ran it into the D, turned his marker and struck the ball into the roof of the net. Minutes later it was the turn of keeper come centre forward, Ed Holt to get in on the act as he scored from the top of the D. Saints then made it 4 as Max “somebody vote for me” Heaphy scored.

The Uni then pulled one back from a penalty corner, however not to be outdone, Saints came back to score again through forward Andy Smith.

With this becoming an end to end encounter, it was no surprise when the Uni pulled another one back, following some slack marking at the back by Saints.

However the final say was had by Saints One Direction look-a-like, Tom Wightman as he dribbled through a sea of defenders to tuck the ball past the keeper.

 

MOTM: Charlie Cox for the hard work

 

DOTD:  Ed Holt for sliding tackle and scoring!

 

Squad: Jake Bennett (GK), Adam Shepherd, Charlie Cox, Greg Summers, Tom Wightman, Max Heaphy, Ally Rose, Will Gamble, Sean Henry, George Roberts, Ben Reynolds, Andy Smith.

 

 

 

Moulton Mixed Hockey Academy 1stXI  4 – 1 Loughborough College

Goals: David Marriott (3), James Knibb

 

The game started brightly for Moulton with a chance very early on involving Ant Condon and David Marriott.  The play was completed dominated by Moulton for the first 20 minutes but without finding that opportunity to score.  Chances came and went and against the run of play, Loughborough scored first.  Moulton managed to draw level with David Marriott’s first of the afternoon, pouncing on a bobbling shot deflecting the ball passed the flailing keeper.

A positive half time talk, reinforcing everything the team had done well, did the trick and David Marriott was on the score sheet again.  This time the tireless work of Ella Dagnall paying off to dispossess Loughborough’s playmaker as he tried to advance up the pitch, making a 3 on 2 in to goal, making the game 2:1 but far from over. Fittingly a great team goal made the game 3:1 and a little more comfortable, with the defence working hard to regain the ball and a super quick counter break allowed Abi Dalton to pass to Ant Condon who made David Marriott’s Hat-trick easy by slipping it to him back post for an tap in.  James Knibb then made it 4:1 with a good solo run getting the ball on to his strong reverse stick leaving the keeper with no chance.  Loughborough then had their strong phase of the game and Moulton did well to dig deep, putting bodies on the line to prevent them from getting back in to the game.