Winnington Park Men’s 2s 5 Whitchurch Men’s 1s 2

Whitchurch lost this week to a team hunting promotion, and who were better on the day, but they still showed some of the improvements from recent weeks. The game was played in grim conditions, with persistent cold rain making ball control difficult on a pitch that offered spin and bounce, and this may have formed the basis for the Winnington Park gameplan: their play was based in large part around aerial balls. On other days, this could have seemed one-dimensional, but it was done well by players with strong skills, and almost every sixteen clearance was through the air and the conditions made interceptions difficult – but the pressure was immediately on, with the ball having bypassed the Reds’ midfield already.

It would have been yet more effective, had Winnington Park not been their own worst enemies: much of the first half was marred by their poor discipline and arguing with the officials, and that gave Whitchurch opportunities. A foul on the line gave the Reds a penalty stroke, which captain Jack Barnes put away with aplomb, and Will Edwards scored a second by sheer force of will, driving through defenders before putting the ball away. A second stroke was awarded, but the keeper made an excellent save to deny Barnes another.

However, Winnington Park found their discipline enough to score two goals before the break, despite Paul ‘Sturge’ Leighs continued excellence in goal, with short corner routines being particularly effective. Going in a two-all at half time gave Whitchurch hope that a second half would see more of the same, and allow them to take advantage of any further cards, but it wasn’t to be. Winnington came out in the second half with much-improved discipline and put it to good use. Continued aerial balls, especially on the right wing to lift it over James Partington at left back to give them multiple opportunities to get into the dee, and eventually the dam broke with several short corners piling the pressure up, as well as a breakaway goal which Sturge originally stopped well, but the rebound was dinked over his diving block.

A frustrating day for the Reds, despite many good performances throughout the team, but a few small mistakes against a stronger team on the day were punished. A home game next week against top-of-the-table Crewe will provide another good challenge.

Whitchurch ladies 1s 5 Triton ladies 1s 2

Whitchurch Ladies 1s entertained Triton 1s at home this week, after their last meet, they know it was going to be a tough game.

Whitchurch played strongly, using all their players to move the ball forward with many attempts in the first 10 minutes but Triton had a strong defence.

Lisa Sullivan and Molly Fry worked the ball up to Valerie Fabery who started the scoring off with a beautiful reverse shot into left corner.

Now they had that goal Whitchurch settled in and it wasn’t long before Georgia Munro took on the keeper to slip in the second.

Triton fought back and used their fast forwards to keep taking Whitchurch by surprise, but the defence Catherine Reece-Gresty and Hayleigh Busby worked tirelessly to keep Triton out and Whitchurch keeper Holly Edwards made some great saves from Tritons penalty corners.

Mollie Bell made a run into the top of the dee and slapped home Whitchurch’s third goal. Lots of opportunities from Captain Cath Gresty and Lisa Sullivan, but Triton held tight in their dee. Comfortably in the lead unfortunately Triton didn’t give up and had a lucky break to score.

Half time 3 -1 up for Whitchurch, after a quick break Whitchurch set up like the start, but obviously Triton had picked out a weak spot in Whitchurch and managed to score another.

3-2, a little close for Whitchurch.

Valerie Fabery picked up the ball from pushback and drove her way through all of Triton players and scored her second. Sarah Kay and Poppy Huxley held their half positions keeping Triton from reaching the dee.

Play became a lot faster and Whitchurch picked up their game, triangular passes up the right from Jasmin Williams, Cath Gresty and Molly Fry, gave Fabery another opportunity to score her hattrick and make the final score 5-2.

Fantastic position for Whitchurch ladies 1s with promotion looking definite. They play away to Lymm ladies next week.

Lymm ladies 4s 2 Whitchurch ladies 2s 6

Whitchurch won the toss and had pushback, they started confidenty and with some strong passes from Bella Morris the wing to Poppy Gilbert, Sophie Jones and Hayley Kellet gave Whitchurch’s  Heidi Groom an opportunity to score the first goal using great dribbling skills around the Lymm defence.

Bella Morris kept the ball up Whitchurch’s’ attacking end giving Whitchurch lots of shots on goal, but they couldn’t convert due to Lymm’s strong defence. Lucy Hearn, Lydia Jones and Lucy Chadwick worked hard on the left switching the ball to the right and moving it forward to create many chances for Whitchurch to score.

The second goal was scored by Sophie Jones from a short corner. Jones injecting the ball out to Kellet who passed  it back to Jones who neatly slipped it past Lymm’s keeper. There was continuous subbing throughout the match with Eleanor Beecher and Maisie Bennett which helped keep the pressure on Lymm defence.

At the beginning of the second half Lymm started to gain more possession but with strong defence by Emma Stubbs and Hermione Ball Lymm struggled to get many shots on goal and any that did get through were saved by Whitchurch goalie Megan Nicholson. Lymm were awarded a number of short corners and finally managed to score their first goal.

Whitchurch more determined and very quickly moved the ball up the field to Heidi Groom who out skilled all the Lymm’s defence and scored another goal for Whitchurch. Lucy Chadwick then scored by running the ball down the left wing before cutting towards centre of the dee and hitting it into the goal.

Half way through the second half Lymm got another goal meaning the  score was now 4-2. Whitchurch started with the ball which quickly got to the dee and with a shot taken by Poppy Gilbert was deflected by Lymm’s goal keeper to Eleanor Beecher who was waiting to pop it into the goal .

Towards the end of the match and Lymm started to tire and Hayley Kellett went in for a strong tackle winning the ball and finding Bella Morris who passed to Maisie Bennett who found Sophie Jones on the post for another goal.

Whitchurch’s’ player of the match was Heidi Groom due to her movement with the ball and being able to create chances for Whitchurch throughout the game. Lymm also commented on Megan Nicholson goal keeping skills.

Crewe ladies 4s 2 Whitchurch ladies 3s 3

Whitchurch travelled away this weekend to Crewe vagrants.
Whitchurch knew that this was going to be tough game as the home fixture was extremely close with Whitchurch snatching a 1-0 victory.

Whitchurch went out the strongest of the two teams applying pressure via Sue Read and Freya Gresty up front, with Abi Ashely and Bella Clarke supporting from the midfield.

It wasn’t long before Gresty scored past the Crewe keeper to bring the score line to 1-0. This gave Whitchurch the boost that they needed.
Crewe pushed forward and brought a string of saves and tackles from keeper Phoebe Gregory and Ursula Stoddart. Whitchurch kept possession of the ball and a string of passes between Rachel Chester’s, Elsie Cottrell, Erin Harden and Olivia Higazi ended picking out Sue Read in the dee to slot the ball past the keeper.

Crewe were then awarded a penalty corner and managed to pick out the bottom corner of the Whitchurch goal giving Whitchurch the lead at the break.

Whitchurch had a positive half time talk and went back out fighting with Mel Reid and Jan Teggin working together to hold the middle of the pitch, again Gresty picked up the ball and drove all the way to the Crewe dee to picking out Read who fired home her second and Whitchurch some comfort

Within the last few minutes of the game Crewe converted a penalty corner but Whitchurch still won a well-deserved 3 points.

Whitchurch ladies 3s travel away to Macclesfield next week.

Winnington Park Men’s 3s 0 Whitchurch Men’s 2s 2

Whitchurch travelled with a young and inexperienced team and it was the work rate and efforts of these players that ultimately led to the win.

From the start Whitchurch pressured the Winnington Park defence causing them to make to make many last gasp tackles as the speed of Joe Chester’s and the experience of Paul ‘Sturge’ Leigh up front caused the Winnington defensive problems.

Whitchurch won two early short corners and scored two quick goals, the first came as Danny Foulkes shot rebounded from the keepers pads and Craig Hockenhull fired past the keeper. The second came from a shot and a diving Will Edwards deflected home on the back post.

Whitchurch didn’t have it all their own way as Winnington launched their own attacks but Charlie Edwards, Lucas Hill and Thomas Wyndham-Lewis were again excellent in defence taking ball after ball from the Winnington attackers and minimising the work of keeper Neil Jones in goal.

The second half continued in much the same effort with Oliver Hayward and Nikodem Moga driving down the right wings and causing the Winnington defence numerous issues and at the other end Richard Leigh marshalled the Whitchurch defence to frustrate Winnington Park.

As Whitchurch started to tire Airan Jones held strong in the midfield, running non-stop from the start to the end and making countless tackles and supporting the team in both attack and defence.

Winnington had a run of penalty corners towards the end of the game but were frustrated as the routines didn’t work as planned and Whitchurch defended well.

Another three points for the Men’s 2s has lifted them further up the league with a well-deserved victory.

Alderley Edge Men’s 4s 2 Whitchurch Men’s 1s 6

Whitchurch put together two halves of great hockey this week away to a strong Alderley Edge team, finally bringing together all of the positive points of the recent second halves into one game to bring back all three points from a tough encounter.

Alderley Edge were strong in the previous fixture, so the Reds knew they had to play well to win and captain Jack Barnes re-employed the three-at-the-back formation that had worked well in the previous game, and it was again a solid base for the whole game. Along with 2s keeper Neil Jones in goal covering for Sturge, it could have been a weakness with less familiarity, but instead of was a strength as Jones was on fine form making multiple critical saves, and Sam Conway controlled the centre of defence, with Will Snaith on the right and James Partington on the left. Between them, they had significant periods with the ball, just transferring it left and right, taking time to choose a good ball out rather than rushing.

That then let the midfield, with Barnes supported by Jon Gilbert, Joe Coburn and Phil Handley, have time to get into good positions which then meant the balls out were effective and productive, and that gave Martin Beecher up front, with Tom Forster and Ethan Gresty on the wings time to go on runs that put the Alderley Edge players under pressure. With Tom Edwards and Joe Chesters continuing to do great work stepping up to the 1s, the team had energy, confidence and control on a good pitch which let their talents shine.

The first Reds goal came from a short corner where the ball was switched back to Forster who’d injected it, and he was able to put it through the keeper’s legs. Another short corner had the wide drag out go to Gilbert who squared it to Barnes who put it away confidently, and let the Reds go in to half time two-nil up. The half-time talk this week was just “more of the same, please!”, and so it was to be: Forster, clearly going for Goal of the Season, scored a blinder in the top left roof of the goal from the right-hand side of the dee, completing a move that started at the back from Conway passing to Gilbert who fired it to Coburn who drove the line before crossing to Forster. Forster scored again, with a far less showy, far more bouncy shot a few minutes later to have Alderley Edge reeling at four down.

However, this Alderley Edge team was good: skilful players who worked well as a team and had been unlucky on several occasions not to complete moves or score. Rather than let their heads drop, they started putting two men high to pressure the Whitchurch defence, and it proved effective as they picked up two goals from short corners in quick succession. They could have had a couple more, with an overload failing with the last touch as Jones rushed out to pressurise the attacker, and more short corners which the Reds did well to keep out.

Whitchurch regrouped and looked to find the confident control and passing from earlier in the game and it worked, with a short corner being put away by Barnes with a shot from the right deflecting off a defender’s stick, before Forster scooped up his fourth of the day with Edwards firing a ball across the goal for him to slap in.

The Reds could have had more – Beecher was unlucky with a couple of shots which would also have been in the mix for season awards had they been a few inches the other way – but the game ended 6-2 to Whitchurch which was a great reflection of the quality effort put in by the whole team. They have a bye week next week but will look to repeat the whole-game quality going into their remaining games of the season.

Alderley Edge Ladies 5s 0 Whitchurch Ladies 1s 6

Whitchurch Ladies 1 travelled away to play a very young Alderley Edge 5s team.

Five minutes in and Whitchurch had taken strong possession with several attacks on goal for them to win a penalty corner. A straight strike from Captain Cath Gresty was deflected from an Edge player up over the keeper, into the net.

Spirits high, the play was smooth from Whitchurch, passing up the middle from Lisa Sullivan, Molly Fry and Mollie Bell, waiting in the dee was Valerie Fabery to receive for a reverse shot into the net.

2-0 up for Whitchurch and they calmed the play, allowing Edge to move up the pitch but defence Hayleigh Busby and Jasmin Williams fought off their attacks passing out wide to Tilly James and Poppy Huxley. It wasn’t long before the midfield players again picked out Georgia Munro in the dee to slip to Gresty to push past the keeper.

A run of penalty corners came for Whitchurch, Edge held Whitchurch off for a few, but then Fabery got the ball to make it 4-0 at half time.

A quick turnaround as it was cold and Whitchurch wanted to get back to the game. As at the start Whitchurch passed around well but Alderley Edge were putting plenty of pressure on and looked keen to get on the match sheet, a couple of penalty corners for Edge but were defended strongly with keeper Holly Edwards clearing the ball out wide.

Whitchurch picked up the pace again and Sullivan picked out Gresty alone in the dee to strike onto the back board.

Lovely play up the wing from Bell and Munro found Valerie Fabery waiting on the edge of the dee to make a beautiful reverse shot to make it 6-0. All the play seemed to be in the Edge half now, Whitchurch hungry to make the next goal as it would be their 100th of the season, but time wasn’t on their side and whistle went.

Another good 6-0 result for Whitchurch, playing at home to see who can score first next week!

Winnington Park Ladies 2s Whitchurch Ladies 2s 1

Whitchurch entertained a strong Winnington Team looking for promotion. Despite the efforts of the ladies Winnington continued to score as the game went on and took a deserved victory. Whitchurch scored a consolation goal in the final minutes from a Poppy Gilbert strike.