Girls' Hockey: u11 v St. Mary's
Belhaven 5 - 1 St Mary’s
My goodness what a game the girls played this afternoon. At a rather blustery Hallhill, the girls shot some balls at Hester to warm her up ready for the match. Lucy captained the team and having lost the toss, she opted for the Belhaven team to shoot towards the wind! Was this a new tactic I didn’t know about? Play began and the girls were keen to dominate their home ground. Their aim for this match was to pass out wide and look before making a pass with the ball. Play was even for the first ten minutes with both teams having shots at goal. This kept Hester nice and busy as she made superb saves for Poppy to then clear from the shooting circle. Grace’s defence was on great form today, going for every St Mary’s attacker and clearing away the ball. Lucy and Alice R worked at full speed in the midfield whilst Eliza and Alexandra took on the St Mary’s defence. A super break from the midfield and a pass into the circle saw Eliza score first. St Mary’s were keen for one back but Alice T out on the wing defended one of their attacking players so well that the only option was to hit it out of play for Belhaven free hit – well defended Alice. By half time Belhaven were one goal up and in need of oranges and water.
A quick reminder to the girls that if they wanted a win and to stay ahead of the opposition, they needed to play like they wanted to win. My goodness they did just that! A well rehearsed pass back saw the girls play the ball wide and forwards to the shooting circle where Alexandra was just in position for the second goal of the match. But it didn’t stop there. Alice R used one of our recent drills of running the ball into the circle and shooting as soon as possible only for it to be saved and then for Eliza to score! Three goals up and the girls were on a roll. Further great saves from Hester and defending from Grace and Poppy denied St Mary’s the goal they were looking for. Lucy and Alice T once more marked their players well, going for interceptions and then passing forwards to the Belhaven attack. Eliza went for the hat-trick this match whilst Alexandra settled for her second of the match. St Mary’s hard work in attack paid off as they scored a goal in the final few minutes.
What a super display of hockey – 100% teamwork and determination. It was nice to see you using your skills we have been working on and finally spacing out on the pitch. What made the match more special were the kind words Mrs Bell from St Mary’s said about your performance “the whole team wanted to win and that was evident from the start”. Great stuff girls!
