Match reports 20-01-24

Ladies 1s game away to Runcorn was cancelled due to a frozen pitch.

Whitchurch ladies 3’s 4 Alderley Edge ladies Development 3

An excellent game to watch with two very evenly matched teams, the first half saw goals from Freya Kellett and Izzy Gilbert. With some excellent runs and accurate passes the 3’s were on good form for such a cold day.

The game saw many twists and turns with even possession of the ball on both teams. But Whitchurch played the ball wide beautifully and made some amazing passes.

In the second half there were goals from Sue Read and Rachel Chesters. Tracey Tolhurst found a new role backing up the keeper, sweeping not one but 2 balls from passing over the goal line, whilst keeper Phoebe Gregory was doing a fab job attacking incoming balls and players.

A very exciting match to watch, keep up the good work girls.

Alderley Edge Men’s 6s 6 Whitchurch Men’s 2s 0

Whitchurch travelled to Macclesfield on a cold Saturday after and played in a wind that felt sub-zero in temperature.

Never has a game of two half been so clearly demonstrated as this one. Whitchurch played poorly in the first half and Alderley took a five-goal lead into the break.

The half time break seemed to wake up the Whitchurch team and saw them attacking and creating chances. Will Edwards shot was scrambled around the post, Liam Pallet finding space and shots in the dee and Alfie Edwards storming forward from midfield to get on the end of crosses. At the back Martin Beecher, Archie Phews, Nik Moga and Adam Rance defended stoically thwarting the Alderley attacks leaving keeper Neil Jones with little to do.

Cian Hirst on his debut had an outstanding game interchanging with Oliver Edwards down the left-hand side of the pitch, while Craig Hockenhull and Charlie Edwards worked down the right.

As for so much of the season Whitchurch lacked composure in front of goal and were punished on the break as Alderley scored their sixth.

Whitchurch took heart from the second half performance and go into the next match looking for the same level of effort and more consistency.

 

Re-arranged game Sunday 22 January 24

Lymm ladies 3s 0 Whitchurch ladies 2s 0

 

Whitchurch ladies 2s travelled to Lymm on a very wet windy cold day, Whitchurch were keen to get the game started and dominated play from the start. The game was end to end for the whole match.

Lymm are second in the league and Whitchurch had them worried.  Whitchurch gave 100% with fantastic tackles, interceptions, running, pressing, shooting and great saves from the goalie.  Whitchurch deserved a win but on the final whistle the score was 0-0.  Onwards and upwards to next week Whitchurch take on Oswestry at home.

 

Match reports 15-01-24

Triton Men’s 3s 4 Whitchurch Men’s 2s 2

Whitchurch returned to action having not played since the 25th November and the rust showed in the early stages of the match as errors by the Whitchurch team gave opportunities to Triton who capitalised and took a two goal lead.

Whitchurch started the second half stronger and linked together periods of play resulting in Will Edwards scoring. Whitchurch had long periods of play but couldn’t string together the final pass in the Triton dee. Triton scored against the run of play but Whitchurch soon pulled back another goal thanks to Will Edwards.

The final Triton goal came from a penalty corner which bobbled through the Whitchurch defence and into the bottom corner.

Whitchurch ladies 1s 0 Chester ladies 2s 4

Whitchurch ladies 1s faced a top of the league side in their first game back into the second half of the season. The game started evenly with both teams attacking the opposing goal. After 10 minutes Chester showed their class and broke through Whitchurch’s strong defence to score their first goal.

Whitchurch did not give up, they continued to fight for the ball and put pressure on the opposition. Katie Laffey, Chloe Lloyd and goalkeeper Caz Wynn stopped Chester from increasing their lead through some amazing tackles and saves.

Unfortunately as Whitchurch were pushing for an equaliser Chester were able to break away to score their second goal. At this point, Whitchurch really upped their game and from a string of brilliant passes around the back from Hayley Kellett and Tilly James, Whitchurch were able to get the ball to Catherine Gresty who made an excellent run up the right wing and crossed the ball to Holly Edwards who was extremely close to scoring, only for it to go inches wide of the post.

At only 2-0 down at half time, Whitchurch started the second half strongly with Hayley Kellett making a run at Chester’s midfield. Jas Williams, Lisa Sullivan and Holly Edwards linked up beautifully in the middle of the pitch, making one twos to get around Chester’s players.

After some passes out wide, Poppy Huxley, Poppy Gilbert and Bella Spencer-Blow were able to make some great runs towards the Chester dee. However, Chester’s defence were experienced and strong, so Whitchurch were unable to get into the dee to score. Chester then dominated the end of the second half and applied a lot of pressure on Whitchurch resulting in 2 more quality goals. Whitchurch worked incredibly hard against a well drilled side and held their heads high after a great effort. Player of the match was awarded to Lisa Sullivan.

Whitchurch ladies 2s 0 Alderley Edge ladies 0

Whitchurch were eager to get on the pitch and found themselves playing a very young well put together Alderley edge team, but that didn’t faze them. Alderley Edge won the first pushback, but Whitchurch were straight on the ball.  Whitchurch had most of the possession in the first half and had numerous attempts on goal but unfortunately couldn’t get the ball to hit the back board. Alderley Edge seemed unsettled with Whitchurch’s great teamwork, excellent passing and communication.

The second half was very much the same as the first with Whitchurch not letting up on the pressure giving 110%.  Despite multiple penalty corners and a penalty flick the Alderley keeper kept them in the game. Whitchurch thought they had broken the deadlock in the final minutes as they beat the keeper and as the ball rolled towards the line it was scrambled away. Great match to start to the second half of the season. POM Freya Gresty

Lymm Men’s 2s 2 Whitchurch Men’s 1s 7

Whitchurch 1’s emerged victorious over Lymm 2’s with a commanding 7-2 win. Despite a slow start post-Christmas, Luke Beddow’s ignited the scoring for Whitchurch after 15 minutes. The momentum escalated with Beddow’s securing another goal, courtesy of a selfless pass from Tom Edwards, and Phil Handley netting two before halftime.

Lymm launched a strong comeback in the second half, but Phil Handley completed his hat trick, and a double by Joe Chester sealed the triumph for Whitchurch. A mixed performance from the team that showcased their resilience and attacking prowess, securing a well-deserved victory despite a month without any hockey

GB Hockey Live on BBC

Great Britain head to Oman (men) and Spain (women) for the Olympic Qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympics where both the men and women will play at Stade Yves-du-Manoir.

You can watch all the Great Britain matches LIVE on BBC Sport via their digital platforms. Add the fixtures to your calendar so you don’t forget.

Fixtures 

Women 

Valencia, Spain

13 Jan 2024 – Great Britain V Canada – 08:30 GMT

14 Jan 2024 – Spain V Great Britain – 10:45 GMT

16 Jan 2024 – Great Britain V Malaysia – 13:15 GMT

Men

Muscat, Oman

15 Jan 2024 – Great Britain V Pakistan – 16:45 GMT

16 Jan 2024 – Malaysia V Great Britain – 16:45 GMT

18 Jan 2024 – Great Britain V China – 14:30 GMT

Match Reports – 09-12-23

Whitchurch ladies 3’s 0 Runcorn ladies development 3

The match was a very evenly played game with free runs made by both sides but no goals scored from these. Runcorn scored 2 goals from short corners just flicking the ball into the back of the goal. The third came from a long corner and that crept past the goalie. There were lots of runs made but Runcorn’s defence kept our girls away from the goal. With only 11 players all were very tired by the end but continued to grow as a team. Some fancy footwork was shown from our player of the match Jan Teggin with a brilliant run down the wing. Some very accurate passes and skills were exhibited.

Whitchurch Ladies 2s 4 Wilmslow ladies 4s 2

Whitchurch had first pushback and started with some good passing across the middle  between Rachel Chesters , Bella Morris and Maisie Bennet. The ball was pushed up towards the forwards with a shot on goal by Heidi Groom, unfortunately missing the post.

Wilmslow made a quick recovery and pushed up into Whitchurch’s dee with some good defence by Hermonie Ball and Catherine Reece-Gresty. Wilmslow managed to score a goal. This made Whitchurch more determined so the play was pushed up towards the opposition dee with lots of pressure on by Lexi Morgan and Nipper leading to the second goal scored by Rachel Chesters. However Wilmslow made some shots on goal with some good saves by Phoebe Gregory, but they managed to get a goal off a short corner. This was the end of the second half.

After a motivational team talk by Emma Stubbs, the second half commenced. Nipper made some nice runs up the middle passing with Bella Morris. Whitchurch had a few shots on goal but were saved by the keeper. This led to a short corner for Whitchurch. This allowed for the goal to be scored by Nipper. Whitchurch remained a strong structure with good communication across the pitch. Heidi Groom had many good tackles leading to Whitchurch’s 4th goal scored by Freya . Whitchurch remained strong throughout and ended on 4-2 to Whitchurch. A great end to the season

Chester Ladies 3s 4 Whitchurch Ladies 1s 10

Whitchurch started off strong with the first pushback yet blinded by the bright sun. Centre forward Georgia Munro and centre mid Lisa Sullivan worked together to push the ball up the pitch towards Chester’s Dee. There was some excellent passing up front between Poppy Huxley, Poppy Gilbert leading Munro to score her first goal. Soon after, Chester had some lucky hits down the pitch and made way into our Dee scoring their first goal, but this didn’t stop Whitchurch. With goalie Caz Wynn shouting her famous new phrase “stop being a ball watcher”, this pushed everyone to get stuck in with defence India Freer Carmichael and Katie Laffey leading the way. Shortly after they cleared the ball to Georgia allowing her to score another goal. Hayley Kellet and Holly Edwards made some amazing runs and beautifully passed between each other to reach Chester’s Dee. This enabled Whitchurch to gain multiple short corners, which unfortunately weren’t successful. However, Whitchurch stayed strong with Sarah Kay pivoting the ball up to Jasmin Williams who scored our third goal. This pushed Whitchurch’s confidence allowing Poppy Gilbert to gain possession of the ball, passing to Poppy Huxley then to Jasmin Williams who drove into the Dee and scored just before half time. This made the score 4-1 at half time.

A quick start to the second half was made with Georgia Munro running the ball from the halfway line into the Dee and scoring another goal chipping it over the keeper’s head. Some beautiful transfers were carried out around the back by Katie, India, Hayley and Poppy meaning we could use both widths of the pitch to our advantage and wear the opposition out. The ball in Chester’s Dee again with a rebound from the goalie allowed Williams to score Whitchurch’s 6th goal. Chester continued to push up the pitch and managed to pass through the strong defence and score 2 more goals. This only made Whitchurch work even harder with passes from the mids allowing Munro to score again making the score 7-3. With a little distraction of Whitchurch receiving 2 green cards, we held the strong defence to prevent Chester entering the Dee. Lisa Sullivan gained possession of the ball and hit up to Munro who scored another brilliant goal. With everyone slowly tiring towards the end of the game, Chester scored a lucky 4th goal. But this didn’t phase Whitchurch, as goalie Wynn continued to make some amazing saves preventing Chester scoring any more goals. Finally, Munro and Williams scored two more goals making the final score 10-4. A well-deserved win for Whitchurch!