Weekend Round Up 12/01/19
ONES FRIENDLY
3-2 win vs Southgate
LEICESTER 2S 1 NORTH NOTTS 0
Following a draw with Rugby last weekend Leicester 2s hosted league rivals in anther friendly to help prepare themselves for the second half of the season.
It was Leicester who started the stronger of the two teams dominating possession but with little return. Fluid play between the midfield and defensive unit ensure the home side retained possession and progressed up the pitch. For all the possession Leicester struggled to create any clear opportunities in the final third and on their rare foray forward it was North Notts who looked the more likely to score.
The second quarter flipped the game on its head with North Notts beginning to dominate possession and territory. After a series of Leicester defensive errors North Notts won a barrage of penalty corners but with Jenna on form the away side failed to capitalise on their second quarter dominance.
Going into half time North Notts had the clearer opportunities but the score remained 0-0.
The third quarter saw the game flip on its head again with Leicester being the dominate size and creating a number of opportunities around the goal from which they failed to capitalise. Despite having the better of the territory it was a swift counter attack that gave Leicester the lead. A combination Etta, Carys and Sandy worked together to win the ball back before setting Etta free deep inside her own half. Etta carried forward and played a defence splitting pass for Roshni to race beyond the North Notts defence and slip the ball beyond the stranded goalkeeper for the easiest of tap-ins for O.
The fourth quarter followed the previous pattern and it was North Notts who dominated. Again failing to create many clear goal scoring opportunities but winning a huge number of corners. However Jenna and her penalty corner defensive unit tidied up what North Notts had to offer.
The game finished 1-0 to Leciester.
THREES OVERWHELM ROUNDHILL IN THE CUP
The biggest challenge of my weekend is trying to remember who scored on Saturday. An 11-0 cup win was a great start to the new year, some great poaching and reaction goalscoring. Yes we missed a lot but creating chances is the most important thing.
Now who scored? No idea. Lets start with those who didn’t. Firstly, and most disappointingly. Cas, showed a serious lack of desire to get on the score sheet. At no point did our goalkeeper break from the goal and put pressure on Roundhill’s circle. The defensive unit showed good maturity, attacked when they could and marshalled the defensive effort. All young players which was great – Anna, Josie and Katie – none of them scored either.
Elsbeth missed a flick, Nat never scores. So that leaves everyone else Sarah 1, Lauren 1, Emma 3, Kayleigh 2, Casey 1, Annie 1, Caitlin 2
Squad: Cas Evans (GK), Anna Kendall, Annie Sibson, Caitlin Pittham, Casey Humphreys, Elsbeth Woodgate, Emma Sleeman, Josie Rule, Katie Evans-Puttick, Kayleigh Glover, Lauren Clough, Nat Gear, Sarah Robinson
HALF CENTURY TOO CLINICAL FOR 5THS
A Cup game against higher League opposition was always going to be a tough ask for the 5ths after a long gap with no games or training. That task was made harder just minutes into the game when HC took the lead. We turned over the ball too easily and a sharp counter saw their excellent striker lash the ball past a helpless Aleena Moti in goal.
We steadied the ship a little but a good piece of play saw the ball crossed along the back line. We should have dealt with it but when it came off the foot of the far post it was HC that reacted to score. They added to their tally with a well taken reverse sweep and we were on the ropes. When we got the ball forward we looked dangerous with youngsters Lauren Ellis, Sophie Levy and Tara Bahra running hard at their defence. Joy York was rolling back the years putting defenders under pressure but when HC broke they added a clinical fourth. Fighting back we worked the ball into their D and captain Lydia Cross showed huge determination in forcing the ball past their keeper and a player on the line, even if she did describe it later as ‘slow motion’.
4-1 down at half time we tried to focus on the positives of the half and go out in the second with renewed purpose. Unfortunately they notched a fifth and we were really finding their best striker hard to handle. In attack, we tended to run onto flat sticks a little and the ball kept coming back at our defence. A great outward rush by Aleena prevented a 6th and we then had a good spell in which our youngsters matched their old heads. However, the last fifteen minutes saw them score 3 more whilst we struggled to get our own shots away. Credit should go to 13 year old Isabella Wilkinson who put in a great stint on her official debut
We now head into the Plate to play another side that lost in this round. We hope to learn lessons from this match, train hard and be ready for our next opponents.
Squad: Aleena Moti, Sophie Vincent, Rosemary Jacques, Jane Worlding, Emma York, Alex Peet, Catherine Smith, Sarah Levy, Sophie Levy, Tara Bahra, Isabella Wilkinson, Lauren Ellis, Joy York, Eleanor Partridge and Lydia Cross
CITY RUN AWAY WINNERS AGAINST DERBY
Leicester City finally managed to find an opposition willing to travel to play hockey on Saturday- the last two fixtures conceded, Leicester had so far only faced one fixture at home.
Derby started positively winning a short corner in the first two minutes but were unable to convert. In turn City sent the ball high quickly from the 16 for David Magill to get in behind the defence and cross the ball for Karl on full reach to tap in on the back post- this was to be the start of many.
Despite a feisty game with cards given and ice packs used Leicester were able to maintain fluidity across the pitch transitioning well from midfield to attack and creating numerous opportunities in the D. All that was left to decide is who would have the last touch before the ball crossed the line 13 times (one attempt disallowed for Karl on a short corner).
Nic and Paul took elbow and ball to the face respectively resulting in bruising and ice packs. David H found his opponent to tussle with in midfield, eventually helping him onto the bench with a couple of cards. Paul left just after half time for coaching duties and Declan took up the mantle at centre back, a change from his usual midfield or forward position. David M achieved his usual Bambi status spending much of his time in front of the keeper on the floor and Luke followed him performing a backwards roll towards the backpost whilst defending. Jason was forced to make a handful of saves in the game one of which we took to the other end of the pitch and and immediately scored, thanks for coming.
Positives for a coach were the variety of goals scored- strikes, flicks, tap ins, deflections, down the middle, in the corners and in the net- now to work on short corners as a number again went begging. With an overload of forwards the majority of substitutions occured up front with the midfield and defence shuffling around and mopping up ably playing out of their usual positions.
Final score 12-0, goals for Karl (5), Jamie (2), JB (2), Mark (2), David M (1)
Squad: Jason Clothier (GK), David Hill, David Magill, Declan Shepherd, Ehren Chapman, Ethan Pittham, Henry Young, Jamie Sinclair, Jasraj Bhatia (JB), Karl Taitt, Luke Hardy, Mark Baggott, Nic White, Paul Lineham, Ross Harrison
