A three goal flourish from the home team in the final seven minutes of this game allowed S.Anselm’s to recover from 1-2 down to win this exciting fixture 4-2. Doing so meant a lot to me as we haven’t lost a home U11 boys hockey fixture on grass in my 18 years taking the team! (Two home matches to go …!). The early morning frost hadn’t really melted at all as the match began, and the overall skill level suffered as a result. That said S.Anselm’s opened brightly and there seemed little to worry about as Edward S, about to be tackled, found Lewis H in space on the right wing only to receive the ball back from a superb cross by Lewis and net a well taken goal from the textbook! Derby Grammar equalised when they took a corner and the taker dribbled the ball into the ‘D’ and a goal resulted … these new rules aren’t easy to follow: all I know is that in my league match against Loughborough University tomorrow this wouldn’t have been allowed! (as the ball hadn’t travelled 5 metres).
I thought a positive few words at half time would seal the victory and we started well again and Charlie S had the chance to equalize but tried to blast the ball at goal from 10 feet instead of placing it into the corner. From the ‘dangerous sticks’ free hit, Derby Grammar hit a long ball forward and took the lead. Nick P was again excellent in goal in this game but just left his goal a little early for the 1-on-1. We’d hitherto just about defended well enough. Harvey W had a very promising U11 debut. It reminded me of 2001 and Richard Lawrence’s first match for S.Anselm’s (praise indeed: Richard went on to captain S.Anselm’s in 2004 and Repton in 2009). Harvey was so good at the minimal backlift and beating players, through their legs. You just pushed up a little too much at times, over-committing yourself. Ollie R had a good day too, but Isaac S added extra solidity at the back with his excellent positional sense and important clearances. It set us up for the final 10 minutes. Edward S finally found the equalizer whereupon Isaac S himself picked up the loose ball at a short corner to give us the lead! Alex W, the best midfielder at tracking back to help out the defence, settled the issue as Derby Grammar failed to track back themselves and defend. Charlie S was very important at winning the 50-50 balls in midfield throughout the game and you covered a lot of ground today. Well done! It might have been a struggle at times, but we achieved the result in the end! We welcome Grosvenor next, just before half term.
Posted on
Sat, January 30, 2010
by MAC