Junior & Academy Match Reports from 14th April

Our boys and Girls U10s, 12s and 14s travelled down to Milton Keynes on Sunday 14th April to compete in an end of season tournament.
Results as follows:

1.    U10s – There were 6 sides in the U10s.  At the start they had just 5 players (and due to a glitch on my part, no shirts until their 3rd match!)  so we “borrowed” from the opposition, but they proved very strong and were in our defensive D for most of the time.  Not once did the girls give up though, and despite a bruising couple of games against Bedford and Southgate (that is a very LARGE club!), Aoife, Hannah, Isabel and Lilyanna are to be congratulated for keeping going, not letting this phase them.  When Charlie Dowse joined in (our super non permanent transfer from Welford) the attacks really got going and MK,  Amersham and Tring hockey clubs started to see what the team could really do.  A few goals scored in our attacking end were testament to some developing skills and they finished 4th of 6. 

2.    U12 Boys – Here we had exactly 7 boys, so no subs and this proved very tiring as they had a draw which saw them play 3 games back to back, the third of which was against a very fresh Southgate side, the eventual winners, who had some County players of exceptional skill.  That is not to say that we didn’t show quite a bit of talent ourselves:  Jack never stopped battling, running and tackling with great effect, Elliott moved the ball around and gave great passes, Andrew’s dribbling and possession was second to none – Mason once out of goalie kit showed he could harry the goalies at the other end and is a good game thinker.  Robbie Dowse from Welford proved how well his coaching showed through, with some excellent passing and spatial awareness, while Doug Ralston from Rugby also joined in superbly, building one-two passes and looking masterful on the ball.  A special mention should go to Charlie Dowse, who played in a few U10 games then came and played all U12 matches as well, and looked just as good as the boys 2 years older than him.  Leicester vs Southgate was the match of the day and those 2 teams battled for top of table, we actually were 1 point off being 3rd, but lost out just to be in 4th place, well ahead of the other 2 sides in the competition.

3.    U12 Girls – finished 3rd in their competition, and played some stonkingly good hockey.

4. The U14 Northampton Girls WON their League and came home champions….

5. The U14 boys came 2nd