Staines Stop Polecats in their tracks
For the second week in a row Polecats met at the priory for an away match in the U14s Home Counties Developement league. Hopefully rested after half term and encouraged by the previous week's excellent team performance I was hopeful of another successful day.
Having had a full squad the week before, a couple of unavailabilities gave a chance for kate Sheriden and Issie Grant to gain some more experience in the U14s.
We needed the full hour to get to Staines as we took in what seemed like the whole of Surrey Trying to avoid the M25 Closure. We eventually arrived five minutes before the match start Time .
After a good warm up and our first match in the new kit everything seemed fine.
Polecats started well in the first half with Emma W working the ball out well from the back through both Vicky and Chas into the midfield and then up to Alice via Darcy on the right wing. Alice and Harriet Got round the back on numerous occasions crossing the ball for attempts on goal but the ball just wouldn't go in or narrowly missed a polecats stick..
A break away goal late in the half by a solid Staines side left Polecats Trailing for the first time this season .
With Darcy Grant and Laura Gent both having run in the national cross Country championships the previous day at Hampstead Heath and without the usual presence of lotte Riddick in midfield, the Polecats took on a slightly weary appearance and with a second Staines goal scored by a very good centre half, The Polecats struggled to regain their composure. Polecats started to give the ball away from the back far too many times and unerringly seemed to find the Staines Centre half stood in the middle of the pitch from 16 yd hit outs, heaping the pressure on themselves. TheGirls' basics also seemed to take a break with reverse stick-itis breaking out all over the pitch and the usually tight marking, vanishing.
However, the girls eventually regained their composure in the last ten minutes and Alice T, Harriet and Chas worked hard to create numerous chances to get some goals back ,but it just wasn't going to be.
Staines stretched their lead to 4-0 and made the most of their chances .
One more game to go against Epsom and hopefully we can regain our composure and go back to doing things we did so well in previous matches and indeed the first half of this match.
Polecats Chew Up Cheam
After the great start to Polecats U14s season with a 100% record before Christmas and showing signs off gelling well as a team, I looked forward to their next game after Christmas. Fortunately I am very patient as the extra cold winter wiped out most of our training and matches in January. So we came to February half term and the Annual Hockey Dedication Trial otherwise known as Skiing holidays came upon us. Having enjoyed the Sledging in Priory Park and a day off work I didn't feel too guilty in wishing that we had no further snow and the weather thankfully obliged. It was also soon apparent that most of our girls hadn't gone skiing and we set off for Cheam with a strong team on a beautiful sunny day.
The same couldn't be said for Cheam who'd lost half their team to a school Skiing trip. However rather than cancelling (Thanks Cheam) they gave an opportunity for some of their U13 s to play.
With the promise of being able to play in our new Polecats Shirts we arrived only to find that Cheams' Blue and Claret shirts clashed terribly with our new shirts and it just wasn't right to strain the girls fashion sensibilities, so we had to play in red. We did mange to get our first team photo in our new Shirts provided by Crease Clothing (thanks to John Strange for the photo and Wicksy for the shirts).
The match started well and gave Vicky Richardson her first game for the Polecats . Darcy Grant returned to fill the place of Immy Knibbs in midfield who had had a slight trampolining accident; breaking both her arms and injuring her nose in a fall. (Hope you get well soon and see you next season). The first half started promisingly as Laura Gent, Lotte Riddick and Darcy closed the opposition down in midfield and Annie Strange made some great interceptions in Midfield ,stifling most of the oppositions attacks. However, not too many chances were made early on at the Cheam end largely due to Polecats abandoning any sort of positional play and wandering about all over the pitch. However, the Half ended promisingly with a great short corner strike smashed into the goal by Emma Wishart from the top of the D. Buoyed by her success the coach was happy to note a fairly rare sight, as Emma then proceeded to jog up the pitch from the back for the next two short corners, no doubt confident that she could have a rest during the fast approaching halftime. Keep up the effort Emma !!
The 2-0 half time score was a fair reflection on the game.
In the second half however, as Cheam tired the Polecats turned on the stile and more pleasingly kept their shape passing the ball all over the pitch and creating some lovely goals attacking down the right with Chas Catton pushing up from the back allowing Alice Tierney and Harriet Mitchell to attack with confidence and creating space for lotte Riddick Issey Elsie and Abbey Bowden to move in to the far post to slot home some of the many crosses .
Polecats showed no signs of letting up in their best performance yet and the passing and moving kept going right to the end of the match which finally ended 7-0.
The concept of get your heads up and pass it had definitely sunk in, for this week at least.
Last but not least Emily in goal touched the ball twice but I'm sure she was the base upon which the team built its performance
Squad:
Emily Ruiz, Emma Wishart, Vicky Richardson, Charlotte Catton, Annie Strange, Darcy Grant, Laura Gent, Lotte Riddick, Issey Elsie, Abbie Bowden, Harriet Mitchell, Alice Tierney
Polecats Pounce on Surbiton
Priory polecats (girls u14) played their first ever match last Sunday against Surbiton wrens in the Home counties development League.
The girls didn't take long to live up to their new name being determined, fast and agile. I'm not sure if the girls knew what a Polecat was at the beginning of the match but they have a lot more character than a Piranha (their other suggested name). Straight from the start the girls contested well, tackling fiercely all over the pitch and moving the ball well out to both wings and chasing the Wrens down whenever they had the ball.
Good team goals finished off by Laura Gent and Lotte Riddick put the Polecats 2- 0 up ,but their two goal lead was only was preserved at half time by some fierce defence after the Wrens hit the Priory Post.
The half time whistle brought a well earned rest but also some confusion, with Immy Knibbs lining up with the opposition and doing a full circuit of the pitch before getting back to her Right wing position to start the second half , shortly followed by the highlight of the second half when the on looking crowd (still sheltering in the dug out form the earlier rain) were amazed to see (not as much as the coach) an amazing, skilful, incisive 20 m defence splitting run by Darcy Grant straight into the D.
Unfortunately Darcy ran the wrong way up the pitch and was only stopped by a last ditch tackle by the ever watchful Emma W at sweeper. We will never know if Darcy was going to roof the ball past Ellie into our own goal.
The match continued at a frenetic pace with the Wrens coming back scoring a good goal, but once the Polecats had recovered from their half time rest, they settled down and played some fast attacking hockey bringing some good saves from the Surbiton keeper and going close on several other occasions.
This was a great start considering 5 of the girls had not played in a match before and we look forward to our next game away against Teddington Chestnuts on 23rd November.
I look forward to seeing everyone at training on Tuesday nights 18:30-19:30 so we can continue to improve as a team.
Polecats Roast Chestnuts
Priory Polecats (girls u14) played their second match last Sunday against Teddington Chestnuts in the Home counties development League.
Encouraged by their win in their first match The Polecats and a few hardy followers met at the Priory for the first away meet of the season.
Clearly not put off by the early morning snow and not feeling the cold (judging by the lack of track suit tops and waterproof clothing ) we met in plenty of time for our estimated departure time of 10:30 . We eventually left at 10:45 owing to car park congestion after the boys U14 also arrived for their away meet.
A leisurely drive through the driving rain and spray followed by an extended Christmas shopper spotting exercise at Kinston bridge still saw us arrive with plenty of time before the match start . We didn't quite have enough time for Emma W's request to fit in some shopping though. We do try to offer a complete, well rounded hockey experience, but that's going too far.
Positive thinking , also seemed to ensure that on arrival at the pitch the Rain and wind stopped and the sun appeared, just for the length of the match as it happened. The girls got off to a great start after a good warm up and encouraged by the lack of arctic winds set about the Chestnuts. 5 new Polecats (Katie H, Becky B, Geo, Kate S and Becca M), fitted straight into the side and all ran hard from the start contributing to a strong 1st half performance. Gritty play from Lotte R ,flattened twice in the first 10 minutes, along with Laura G ,Abi B and Imi K helped supply the ball for both Alice and Katie to make strong runs down both wings and also to bag a goal each.
Alice obviously felt fairly confident by the end of the half and tried a new crossing technique from the wing. I think its called the blind self nutmeg reverse smash. I formed the opinion that it must be a very advanced skill as I've yet to see it in any coaching manuals that I've looked at and must have relied on some form of telepathy to be executed correctly. Not sure if it met the high % of success Test encouraged by the coach. A similar form of confidence spread to some of the other players with some exciting passing across the top of our own D .
A good fast counter attack by the chestnuts close to half time helped the Chestnuts back into the match with a well deserved goal.
The second half started with almost all our team on the pitch as the coach had taken too many off at half time (Thanks to the supporters for pointing that out). But at least those on the pitch were at the correct end. Changes to positions and a more determined Chestnuts side made for a really close end to end match in the second half, with the whole team having to play at their best to keep Teddington out. Notably Lotte Catton at right back stopped her player every time and Imi knibbs put in lot of effort after having been squashed flat by her charging chestnut (she got the ball though).
Polecats finally started to dominate with great runs through midfield and runs down the right wing with many crosses ending up at the far post one of which was neatly finished off by Kate S to give a 3-1 lead.
Teddington came back strongly and scored another good team goal breaking quickly down the right and a final flurry of shots kept Ele B busy in goal for the last few minutes. The final whistle went with a final score of 3-2 to the Polecats.
Roasted Chestnuts and the early snow could possibly have lead to thoughts of Christmas but our professionalism will not let our minds wander past the last game in early December, Home against Staines