Weekend Round Up 09/03/19 & 10/03/19

Written on 11 March 2019.

Saturday

LEICESTER WIN AWAY FROM HOME

Timperley currently sit bottom of the league so came into this game fighting for a result. Their high press and aggressive play was soon rewarded by a short corner just five minutes into the game. Leicester were able to hold them off to keep the score 0-0 and soon found their stride. Some nice attacking play down the left hand side ended in a short corner and subsequent goal from forward Lizzie Honarmand getting on the rebound and lifting the ball over the keeper in the 8th minute.

The game continued as ping-pong hockey with neither team being able to retain possession for any sustained period of time. The majority of hockey was being played between the two 25m lines until Timperley broke Leicester’s defence and a scramble in front of the goal line allowed Dana Bettany to level the score line making it 1-1 heading into half time.

Moving into the second half Leicester appeared to dominate with more possession which soon paid off when Anna Elson saw her first goal of the season. A good drive into the D from Anna saw her shot deflected into the back of the net off a Timperley defender: 2-1.

The final goal of the match came in the 64th minute when Rachel Mack’s strike from a short corner took the final score to 3-1.

Not the prettiest of hockey played by either team but well done to the Leicester girls for grinding out a good result.

2s
Report to follow. 3-1 loss to Birmingham University 2s

WINDY WIN FOR THREES

Saturday saw the 3s travel to Market Bosworth in the height of Hurricane season. We arrived to find pitch and changing rooms locked tight against the storm. We huddled in our cars watching the myriad of objects fly past in the storm; cats, dogs, trees and at one point a 1970s VW Golf. Just as the 'first' storm passed, the headmaster arrived in his teddy bear onesie to open up.
We had lost a number of players throughout Friday and Saturday morning. My inability to count to 14 also caused some problems but we had 11 and despite the wind and rain were still confident of winning.

The game pretty much went to plan...ish. We played into the wind in the first half, it was a struggle to walk up and down the sidelines, running into it with the ball I guess was harder. However, we dominated the opening 15 minutes. Could not score and then got caught on the break. It was the only way Ashby were likely to score, and they did. Isolating our defenders who may have been guilty of a few too many hail Mary tackles that left Cas exposed (it was really too cold for that) at the back. At 1 down the wind picked up, we stopped marking and struggled to control the game. Everything became a little too much like hard work. Probably not helped with the coach getting irate on the side line. It wasn’t all bad though, Ashby didn’t look like scoring, we defended haphazardly but for the most part effectively. 5 mins before the second half, we had climbed our way to the attacking part of the pitch. A short corner and a neat deflection from Jodie into the goal. We could have ended the half with another but may have missed out on a flick.

The second half was going to be much easier. Time to fly with the wind. We piled on the pressure in the second half and scored early. An absolute stormer from Kayleigh after injuring a defender (a friend apparently). Then hell arrived in the form of hail, wind, rain and stuff. We took a break in the game; a 10 minute pause for a cup of tea, some photos and a chin wag. Post break Kayleigh scored another and our final goal. Casey was now playing in a bag lady scarf, Sarah was playing with 5 layers on, Ellie and Emily were going blue and trying to huddle behind each other, Ross (non female stick thin fan) was hiding behind an unfurled umbrella and everyone else was glorying in Annie getting more and more frustrated. With the goal being moved along the back line in the wind, Annie could never quite find the net, fell over a lot and is now likely to fund a family break.

A huge effort from the 11 (Cas, Sarah, Casey, Ellie, Emily, Elsbeth, Annie, Jodie, Lauren, Caitlin and Kayleigh). Not an easy game to play in but all thoroughly deserved the 3-1 win.

A visit to Loughborough University bought a great performance from the 4’s squad on Saturday.

Leicester taking the game to their opponents through fast and skilful attacks from Sophie and Josie earning short corner opportunities but no goals. Eve and Anna C mopped up any counter attacks to win back possession again and again. The hard work of Tara, Lauren and Bella meant Loughborough always had to be aware at the back and were made to work hard to get the ball out.

The students eventually ran out 4-0 winners as they took their chances and we spurned ours but this young team should be proud of the performance they gave.

Highlight of the match was Anna C losing the bottom of her shoe and having to get running repairs from our spectators!

Next week we play Leicester University.

FIFTHS FALL TO HARBOROUGH TWOS

Leicester 5ths, fresh from a double win last weekend, faced high-flying Harborough 2nd team. We were missing several players but gave Harborough, strengthened by a couple of former first teamers, a very good game and were always in the match. Emily Burlison made her debut with Emily Smith and Poppy Page both playing just their second games for the team. Absences led to Coach Nash playing in defence and star goal-getter Lydia Cross dropping into midfield.
The game was fairly even to start with before we got a little stretched at the back allowing an unmarked player time to slot home. We began to counterattack and found ourselves outnumbered in defence to concede another tapped in goal. 2-0 down at half time we remained positive and keen to make chances count in the second half.

Quite early on we forced a few penalty corners and from one Nash played the ball back to injector Lydia who fired it over the goal line. Unfortunately, they came straight back, made ground along the baseline and fired a high shot at Poppy. When the ball dropped and Poppy lost her bearings it was Harborough who pounced to go 4-1 ahead.
Once again we bounced back, from another penalty corner Nash’s shot was saved but Tara Bahra was there to lift the rebound over the keeper. Harborough, however, were not to be denied and responded with a fast break and their player executed a good 180 degree spin before popping the ball beyond Poppy.

In the end, 5-2 perhaps flattered them but they certainly knew they had been in a game.

Squad: Poppy Page, Emma York, Gaynor Nash, Jane Cottrell, Anna Kellie, Alex Peet, Lydia Cross, Lauren Ellis, Tara Bahra, Joy York, Eleanor Partridge, Emily Smith, Emily Burlison.

CITY GRIND OUT AN UGLY WIN

A depleted City side took on Loughborough Town 6s at home. The away leg is one of only three losses for the side and they were determined not to be on the losing side this time around. Again Loughborough were without a Goalkeeper, this time no substitutes and not enough white shirts so with half the opposition in Leicester shirts the game got underway...

Loughborough started well with a 4 minute goal from sloppy Leicester marking. The game was a feisty one and Leicester struggled to get their usual hold on possession, instead the game was like tennis with turn overs in all areas of the pitch continual back and forth play. After a controversial quick free hit David Hill took hold of the game for Leicester finding himself relatively unopposed at the top of the D and finishing with a reverse slap.

The game broke down repeatedly with poor tackles flying in from both teams and neither managing to find any momentum. A couple of chances went begging for David Magill and Ethan holding high in the Loughborough half with some good defensive play from Loughborough. Unfortunately Loughborough scored from a short corner on the stroke of half time taking them 2-1 up into the half time break.

Leicester came out in the second half more positively, moving the ball well and bringing the defensive unit into the attacking game working the ball forward well. A long hit and hope ball into the D from near the half way line was chased down by Ethan and a Loughborough defender and just when we thought it has disappeared off the backline Ethan won the foot race to tap the ball in on the back post- no one has ever seen him move so fast...

With the scores neck and neck the game became increasingly physical with tackles more closely resembling the Scotland vs Wales 6 Nations game being played at the same time and both umpires starting to show cards. Leicester took the initiative from the player overlap with Boycie workeing the ball up the line feeding a strong ball across the face of goal for an unmarked Dan to slap into goal for his second goal in three games.

Leicester ground out the game to finish 3-2 winners, not pretty but a win. Special mention to Boycie who was agreed as player of the match working hard across defence and midfield to mop up Loughborough attacks and create good attacking opportunities and possession. All players worked hard in a really tough physical encounter and proved themselves worthy of a hard fought win.

Squad: Jason Clothier (GK), Dan Fathers, Daryl Boyce, David Hill, David Magill, Declan Shepherd, Ethan Pittham, Henry Young, Jonathan Robinson, Luke Hardy, Mark Baggott, Paul Lineham, Ross Harrison

Leicester's next game is away vs Burton 5s 4pm pushback

Sunday

THREES KNOCKED OUT OF CUP COMPETITION

We turned up, got outplayed by a superior opposition and lost.

Realistically we were never at the races playing against a mixed bag of Loughborough students. We worked hard but at 3 down after 10 minutes I felt a cricket score was likely. However, we battled a bit, found our feet and Cas had a good game in goal. 6-0 at half time, 7 at the end with a flick awarded and scored on the final whistle.

Thanks Chris for stepping in and coaching

Squad: Cas Evans, Annie Sibson, Anna Kendall, Caitlin Pittham, Casey Humphreys, Elise Atkinson, Ellie Lineham, Elsbeth Woodgate, Emily Kendall, India Norwood, Jess Duffy, Jodie Masser, Kayleigh Glover, Lauren Clough, Maisie Robinson

U12 1sts DOMINATE AT THE COUNTY TOURNAMENT

We put two U12 sides into the county tournament and it was the 1sts that came out on top winning their games against Coalville and Harborough by big score lines before winning their key match against Ashby. We then played our own seconds who proved the sternest opposition of the day before the 1sts triumphed.
All 17 players who pulled on a Leicester shirt represented the club well but the 2nd string just came up short. They drew with Harborough, beat Coalville but losses to both Ashby and our 1sts put them down into 3rd place. Most are still a year young so will have another crack at this next year.
The 1st team will go on to the regional tournament in Wolverhampton at the end of April.

Squads:

1sts - Amelia, Gracie, Mishka, Claudia (C), Alice, Grace, Katie, Jemima, Lyla
2nds - Edie, Shonali, Issy, Anna-Maria, Olivia, Amber, Emily and Darcey.

U10s

Great day for our U10’s teams at the County tournament, with both teams making it to the podium!
1st Leicester 2
2nd Ashby
3rd Leicester 1

Results:

Leicester 1 0-0 Market Harborough
Leicester 1 0-3 Ashby
Leicester 1 0-4 Leicester 2
Leicester 2 5 -0 Market Harborough Goals: Anna 2, Megan 1 and Georgia 2
Leicester 2 1- 0 Ashby goal: Georgia
Leicester 2 4- 0 Leicester Goals : Anna 1, Lucia 1 and Georgia 2

Excellent job by both our Keeper/captains Annabel and Rose. Let’s keep it up and congratulations everyone! Let’s get ready for the Regionals!