Whitchurch ladies 1s 2 Crewe ladies 1s 4

Whitchurch ladies 1s faced top of the league side Crewe at home. After a reminder about formation from stand-in captain Lisa Sullivan, the ladies came out in force; passing and moving up the pitch and working as a team. After 10 minutes of applying pressure on Crewe, Whitchurch’s efforts paid off after India Freer-Carmichael picked out Georgia Munro from a fantastic pass from a free hit. Georgia then drove into the dee and made a cross to Bella Spencer-Blow who converted her first goal for ladies 1s this season.

Crewe then fought back and after countless shots saved by Gwyn Thomas-Rees in goal, they managed to break through and converted 2 goals to go into half time 2-1 up.

After half time, Whitchurch repeated their first half performance and came out strong with Munro making another outstanding run and scoring a second goal. Defenders Katie Laffey and Tilly James held Crewe off from the back and gave some great opportunities for Poppy Gilbert, Sarah Kay and Jasmine Williams to make some great passing phases of play in the middle of the pitch.

Player of the match Holly Edwards worked tirelessly up and down the pitch making crucial passes into the dee and defending from the front. In the end Crewe were able to break free and score from a well worked short corner. Whitchurch then dominated the game and at 3-2 looked as though they may break even after a series of shots on goal and short corners, one in which Hayleigh Busby nearly scored after a fantastic shot on goal was saved off the line.

Unfortunately, minutes from the end of the game Crewe hit the ball to an unmarked attacker up front against the run of play and scored their fourth goal leaving Whitchurch disappointed but proud of the fighting effort they put in to make it such a close game.

Northern Men’s 2s 1 Whitchurch Men’s 2s 2

Whitchurch travelled for a late start in Liverpool hoping to capitalise on the previous week’s victory. Whitchurch started on the front foot and raced into a two-goal lead with a brace from Martin Beecher.

Whitchurch should have made the game comfortable, but a number of excellent saves frustrated both Beecher and Will Edwards.

As the game started to settle it became very even with both sides pressing forward but for some excellent defending from James Partington, Adam Rance, Archie Phews and some timely saves from goalkeeper Neil Jones and some luck as a deflected shot looped just over the crossbar Northern would have been back in the game.

The second half continued in similar fashion to the first with neither team managing to take control, Alfie Edwards flying down the wing caused the Northern defence numerous issues and Liam Pallet was unlucky not to connect on the back post from a fierce cross.

With 10 minutes to go Northern scored, Whitchurch fended off a series of attacks with the midfield of Craig Hockenhull, Airan Jones and Nik Moga taking control to the final whistle and another victory.

Whitchurch Men’s 1s 3 Winnington Park Men’s 2s 2

In a thrilling encounter, Whitchurch 1’s emerged victorious over Winnington Park 2’s with a 3-2 win. The intensity soared when Jack Barnes expertly converted a penalty flick, punishing a defender’s foot block on the goal line to give Whitchurch the lead. Felix Jeffrey’s added to the excitement, flicking the rebound from a short corner into the net, defying protests from Winnington Park players. Despite Sturge’s stellar saves, Winnington Park found a breakthrough, early in the second half, narrowing the gap with a well-placed shot.

The game reached a crescendo as Winnington Park levelled the score with their second goal, putting immense pressure on Whitchurch. Despite creating numerous opportunities, Whitchurch faced a resilient Winnington Park goalkeeper and steadfast defence, thwarting their attempts. In a pivotal moment, the Winnington Park centre back received a yellow card for a reckless challenge on Joel Leese, giving Whitchurch a numerical advantage.

Seizing the opportunity, Whitchurch earned their second penalty flick, skilfully converted by Jack Barnes once again. With a man advantage, Whitchurch navigated the final minutes with composure, securing the three points. The hard-fought victory showcased Whitchurch’s resilience and strategic prowess in a heated exchange on the pitch.

The Mens 1s had a bye this week.

Clwb Hoci Eirias Ladies 1s 7 Whitchurch ladies 1s 2

Ladies 1s travelled away to Eirias Park to play second in the league. Expecting it to be a tough game, the ladies were pleasantly surprised to dominate the first 20 minutes of play. Unfortunately, after a string of short corners with no avail, Eirias were able to break away down the pitch and score a goal against the run of play. Within the next 10 minutes Whitchurch’s strong defence was put to the test and it resulted in more goals in quick succession. Player of the match Georgia Munro managed to get a great goal minutes before half time from a brilliant weaving run through the defence.

Whitchurch came out strong after half time and were awarded a short corner which Hayleigh Busby expertly converted to come back to 4-2. However once again Whitchurch’s tireless efforts and great team play did not result in those much-needed goals to get even. Eirias Park then capitalised on a tiring Whitchurch team and scored 3 more goals before one of their players took a nasty injury 5 minutes before the end of the game. Due to the nature of the injury the game ended early. Whitchurch had a lot of positives to take from this game and some areas to work on before facing top of the league Crewe at home next weekend.

Whitchurch ladies 2s 5 Alderley Edge ladies 5s 2

Saturday’s game versus Alderley Edge 5s at Whitchurch started slowly whilst the team adapted to this week’s positioning. Despite good defending from Cath Reece-Gresty and excellent tackles from Rachel Chester’s two goals were quite quickly conceded . Immediately, Whitchurch began to pressurise Alderley Edge’s defence and on numerous occasions shots were taken with Julie Parsons hitting the post and Jane Laffey’s shot being saved by the keeper. At 24 minutes, Heidi Groom finally broke the deadlock with a beautiful goal slipped by the keeper.

The second half started with Whitchurch totally in control passing the ball around between Lexi Morgan and Maisie Bennett as well as excellent runs up the right wing by Poppy Gilbert. Great teamwork ensued enabling several corners to be drawn and at 36 minutes, Gilbert injected the ball to Laffey who slipped to the left allowing Groom to score the equaliser. Further corners awarded saw numerous saves by the opposition’s keeper and a very close call from Eleanor Beecher on the right post.

Excellent passing by Maisie Bennett, Lucy Hearn and Bella Morris in midfield saw the ball soon transferred up the pitch where it was taken by Laffey at the front of goal and slipped sideways to Lucy Hearn who scored the 3rd Whitchurch goal.(39 mins) With lovely stick work in front of the keeper Eleanor managed to score a fourth.

Unfortunately, following on from this the game became a little heated and Beecher received a yellow card at 40 minutes after colliding with a player and Morris received a green card at 46 minutes for encroaching when a free pass was awarded to the opposition. Despite this, the team managed to keep their shape and this enabled Groom to score a final goal in the 56 minute making the score 5-2.

After a final late attack on the Whitchurch goal Gwyn Rees-Thomas made an excellent save from a short corner. All in all the team came away with an excellent 5 to 2 win.
Poppy Gilbert was awarded player of the match following her superb runs up the right wing throughout the match.

Whitchurch ladies 3s 1 Macclesfield ladies 4s 2

The 3’s came out this week very eager with lots of young legs on the pitch, some great runs were made by the forwards Izzy Gilbert, Esme Mackreth , Lois Ebben and Freya Kellett with Tracey Tolhurst up front ready to receive. Gilbert scored a goal halfway through the first half (her first in the 3’s) and the sideline roared. Many more opportunities were created but no more goals for us. The defence worked hard this week with some amazing tackles and injections to the forwards. Mel Reid, Isla Gregory, Mabel Hazelhurst, Erin Harnden, Alice Page and Ella Goodfellow.

Alice Snaith made some fab saves in goal but unfortunately two slipped passed her. The 3’s continue week on week improving to work well as a team with passes being more accurate and confidences growing every week. Continue with the good work and look forward to next week.

Player of the match Freya Kellett

Whitchurch Men’s 2s 7 Winnington Park Men’s 3s 0

After so many weeks of creating chances and failing to convert, Whitchurch took the game from the first minute and controlled throughout.

Martin Beecher scored a hattrick during the game as chances came thick and fast. Will Edwards caused the Winnington opposition many problems and grabbed himself a brace.

Captain Neil Jones was a spectator in goal for most of the match as the few chances created by Winnington were swept up by James Partington, Adam Rance and Lucas Hill in defence.

Whitchurch dominated the midfield with Airan Jones, Liam Pallet and Thomas Wyndam-Lewis putting up a midfield barricade freeing Charlie Edwards and Archie Phews to drive the ball down the wings.

Craig Hockenhull got in on the action as a ball came back from a penalty corner and he fired into the bottom corner. Oliver Edwards then received the ball on the run and neatly rounded the keeper for Whitchurch’s sixth.

The scoring was completed from another blistering strike by Hockenhull leaving the keeper no chance.

Whitchurch travel away to Northern next week hoping to capitalise on this well-deserved victory.