A useful U11A v U11B warm up practice match gets our teams organised before Oakham's arrival ...
S.Anselm's U11A 6-1 Oakham School U12B
A purple patch at the start of the second half when S.Anselm's scored four goals within five minutes decided this fixture which saw S.Anselm's on top for 85% of the time, only for Oakham to break away and trouble our defence and goalkeeper where Hugo R had to be secure with his clearances - nothing to do for 10 minutes, then a number of important saves … Whilst the score stood at 0-0 and 1-0, this was crucial to the outcome of the match. Oakham popped one in at the end when, perhaps, Hugo ought to have simply stopped the ball with his left foot instead of trying to clear it with his right as the ball slipped inside the left hand post …
What impressed me so much today was that fact that you all demonstrated that you are 'play-makers' when on the ball … i.e. you all have good control over the ball and show good stickwork. All of you can take part in an attack and William H and Elliott W did just that. Defenders who are skillful as well make a team: the names might not mean much to the boys but two of my favourite footballers, Bixente Lizarazu (France) and Cafu (Brazil) did just this ever so well for their respective countries and contributed so much to their team's success.
Jack H had a marvellous day. The quality of the passing from him and a number of the team was outstanding on such a muddy pitch. Don't rely too much, however, on the reverse stick 'lift' pass you use to good effect on the grass pitch as this won't be so effective on an astro. What also impressed me so much is that you were always back at the heart of the defence when needed which our wingers didn't always manage.
It took S.Anselm's a while to open their account. The very large and capable Oakham goalkeeper kept us at bay and with us pressurising the opposition goal so much, there were a lot of bodies in the 'D' and the breakthrough didn't come until Freddie H was strong in battling past a couple of defenders having received a pass to score. Unfortunately Charlie H had, by this time, already received a blow to the head from a stick, resulting in a nasty cut and a visit to hospital after he'd started well … Edward S was called for from the 'B' team match and, it must be said, his presence in attack made a big difference.
The second half started with a wonderful move down the left wing involving Jack H, Jack M-M and Edward S whose deft touch set up Freddie H to tap in for our second goal. It was the champagne moment of the match! I'll say again, I was ever so impressed with the way that all six of our outfield players worked so well with each other - you really did read both the game situation and what each other was thinking ever so well. I was most impressed! That said, Freddie H and Jack M-M just needed to work back a little more to help out the defence …
Jack M-M scored two goals as S.Anselm's took an unassailable lead and Edward Salisbury added the sixth before the Oakham consolation goal. 'If your boys can play like this on grass, they must be outstanding on astro' said a voice from Oakham : well, this person didn't see our struggle against Pownall … we're at Buxton on Friday, on their astro, time to impress … we played their U11's last term and won, we're now playing their U12's. Our only U11 boys hockey defeat in the last three years came last year 1-3, when we played the Buxton U12 team. 'Outstanding on astro?' … well there's the challenge for Friday … First of all, however, well done today, I was very satisfied with this performance!
JMHF
S.Anselm's U11B 4-1 Oakham School U12C
This was a fantastic afternoon's action against the Oakham U12C team. Captain Ben E led the players into the assault and S.Anselm's made early head way with a string of intelligent passes to penetrate the Oakham defence and allow Charlie L to place the ball firmly against the backboard. There then followed a second opportunity on goal from Alex W who with some deft stickwork was able to put the ball away.
Other goals were scored by Charles A and a second for Charlie L completed the quartet. Deep into the second half of the game Oakham managed to pull a goal back with a cracking shot which just defied William W at full stretch allowing them to finish with heads held high. The final result of 4-1 was reflective of an excellent combination of inspiring forward play. Target for next time is to focus on the marking goal side during defensive play. Well done today!
PJB
S.Anselm's U11C 5-0 Oakham School U11A
This proved to be an extremely exciting match and our U11 boys appeared to be on top of their game from the outset. Some excellent passes and powerful hits enabled us to be on the attack throughout most of the first half, with Lewis H and Henry F both scoring two goals!
We worked exceptionally well as a team and our strong defence skilfully intercepted any loose balls, distributing play out to the wings. Oakham did step up the pace in the second half but S.Anselm's fought back hard and Lewis H managed to finish off yet another superb set move from our boys.
Well played to all the team, and a special mention must go to Kevin H who captained the team so professionally.
LRF
(Many thanks to Mr. Berry and Miss. Flack for looking after our U11B and U11C teams this afternoon and to Mrs. Wildgoose for taking the photographs!)
JMHF
Posted on
Wed, January 28, 2009
by admin