Fylde 2 3-0 Lymm 1
Fylde 2s had their second match of the season against Lymm, however this time it was at Mill Farm. It was always going to be a physical match but the team was determined and ready despite the dreary conditions.
The game started off well with Fylde dominating the possession in all areas of the pitch. There were displays of quick, accurate passes as well as an excellent press by the forwards. It wasn’t long before Olivia Merrick fired an amazing shot in from a short corner only for it to be disappointingly disallowed due to the initial pass not leaving the D.
Although frustrating, this didn’t stop Fylde who continued to work well together to create an abundance of chances in their opposition’s D. Beth Risdale, Olivia John-Haslam, Lisa Perry and Valerie Versterre were working brilliantly together in midfield to feed in strong passes to the forwards and dribbling at speed past Lymm’s defence. Soon Fylde’s hard work was rewarded with an excellent goal slotted into the corner by Emma Savidge.
Lymm were getting frustrated and tensions were running high across the pitch, but a level-headed, solid display from Fylde’s defensive line of Jayne Wilson, Laura Knowles, Sally Livesey and Olivia Merrick gave Lymm no room to threaten the score line. In fact, Fylde were able to capitalise all opportunities presented to them and just before the half time whistle Hannah Callagher was able to slot another goal in after battling with the Lymm goalkeeper. This left the half time score: 2-0 to Fylde.
Feeling positive and happy with their performance so far, Fylde came out ready to extend their lead further in the second half.
Naturally, when two top of the league teams meet there are going to be heated moments on the pitch and this saw a series of green cards handed out - one for Lymm and two for Fylde. With Lisa Perry and Beth Risdale temporarily off the pitch, Fylde were down to nine players and still Lymm were unable to break through; Katie Barker made sure of this with a display of outstanding saves.
Grace Tomlinson, Jessica Addy and Frankie Margerison were continually injecting pace down both sides of the pitch which unsettled Lymm’s team further. Fylde increased their lead with a beautifully timed short corner pass back to injector Sally Livesey who had no problem slotting the ball in the back of the goal making it 3-0 to Fylde.
As the minutes ticked by, the game was getting more and more physical yet it seemed that nothing was going to stop this Fylde team - not even a lifted ball to Lisa Perry’s leg or Jayne Wilson being shoved onto the ground! Pure grit and determination kept the score at 3-0 right until the final whistle was blown.
A superb team effort meant Fylde deservedly came out on top in this match. Pace, determination and strength was shown throughout the 70 minutes by all players as requested by Brownie, who is very proud of everyone for taking on board the pre-match prep and for working together as one, to win as one. Well done Fylde, the race for promotion is well and truly on. Let’s do this!!
Preston 1 5-1 Fylde 3
Fylde 3s travelled to play top of the league Preston 1s, with a lot of the 3rd team being unable to play due to school hockey some 4 team players stepped up. We got to Preston knowing a hard game was ahead of us, Sophia and Esther joined us after just playing a school game the full team was here ready and listening to Martin's pre-match talk. Jess Egan stepping up to be captain gave the team a good talk telling everyone to be strong, focusing on playing as a team, good communication and positivity all around.
With Preston pressing strong the Fylde defence was worked hard, but as a team we stayed strong and stopped a lot of the attack. Most of Preston’s goals were conceded from short corners, the only way they could break through Fylde's impenetrable defence. Emma Doernemann played a fantastic game in goal, communicating and directing the girls on where to be and what to do.
With the first half ending Preston 3-0 the girls had a reassuring talk from Martin and came back with fire, shortly after Amy Carter made an excellent pass to debut player Fiona Quarmby who found the back of net resulting in Fylde's first goal and the ladies exclaimed with excitement. Fylde Ladies really gave it their all throughout the match and never gave up, the score didn’t reflect the play as Fylde really put up a fight.
Player of the Match: Emma Doernemann
Fylde 4 2-3 Lytham St Annes 2
Saturday 27th of January played in mizzle at Mill Farm. (Dictated by Lindsey Tait match day captain - several corrections required as due to her Scottish accent, otherwise we’d be known as Filed)
A nervous start for the Fylde 4th team as they took time to get used to each other. Fylde conceded in the first 10 minutes of the game, following a lot of pressure from Lytham. Charlotte Lavin scored a screamer from the top right hand side of the D into the top of the net. Clare and Zoe demonstrated excellent support play for a pass to the left slip if needed.
Lytham took the lead again to make the score 2-1. There was excellent pressure from Fylde, the game could have gone any way, there were thunderous tackles and speedy runs all over the pitch. However, Fylde equalised again with a replica, Charlotte Lavin screaming shot that went to the left hand side of the goal from the right hand side of the pitch once again plenty of support play behind.
The game proceeded to go from end to end with Dani making some international standard saves keeping Fylde in the game. Everyone worked once again with 100% effort and total dedication.
Lytham had an exceptional short corner routine and scored the third goal within the last 10 minutes of the game. Despite continued pressure from Fylde attacking and playing their socks off and lots of excitement and encouragement from the bench, we didn’t manage to equalise.
Final score Lytham 3 Fylde 2. Shout out to Lois Westall who has returned to hockey after university. Player of match Lindsey Tait. All into the busy clubhouse for hot food and a natter. Well done everybody!
Garstang 3 5-0 Fylde 5
This week, Fylde’s 5th team played a very strong side, Garstang 3rd team. Garstang started out strong, putting pressure on Fylde, passing the ball round and trying to break through, but Fylde maintained strong defensive play. Garstang were determined to find the back of the net with a lifted ball which was brilliantly saved by centre back, Dawn Perruzza. Garstang gained multiple short corners which saw some fantastic saves by Fran Loffler-Thompson. Unfortunately one of the short corners lead to a penalty flick, which Garstang scored.
Jessica Jennings, Amelia Sharpe, and Soraya Rigby made some great passes between them, trying to get a shot on goal, but Garstang’s defence quickly put on pressure. Garstang gained possession once again, Fylde tried to win the ball back but Garstang managed to break through, scoring their second goal. Fylde struggled to find the back of the net but made some excellent attempt to break through. Just before the half time whistle, Garstang won a short corner and scored from an unlucky deflection from the solid Fylde defence.
As the half time whistle went Fylde gathered round for a team talk, they carried positivity and ‘fire in their bellies’ into the second half. Although Fylde gave it their all, Garstang managed to succeed in another shot on goal making the score line 4-0 in the first few minutes. Fylde passed the ball around from Debbie McClelland to Soraya Rigby, who ‘ran the pitch like a whippet’ but again couldn’t quite finish off a goal.
Garstang won possession but Abbie Southern intercepted carrying the ball and releasing to Aimee Perruzza who sent the ball onto Melissa Johnson Parker who amazingly ran down the side line keeping the ball on the end of her stick. Garstang still looking for another goal, used skills to take on the defence scoring their fifth goal. Lauren Perkin played exceptionally in defence stopping some strong hits and making play up the pitch working with Sophie Rawlinson. Kayt Coathup and Rosie Leil worked together trying to get the ball in Garstang’s D.
The final whistle blew leaving Garstang a 5-0 victory, although a disappointing result, Fylde had a lot to take away from the game, the work rate, grit and determination yet again made captain Debbie McClelland very proud. They joined Garstang team in the pub afterwards for some well deserved hotdogs and chips.
Final score Garstang 5-0 Fylde
Win as a team, lose as a team.
Fylde 6 2-4 Garstang 4
A chilly home game for the 6th team this week but delighted to have goal keeper Felicity Flood on side and 2 subs on the bench. We knew Garstang would bring a strong challenge and with first pushback, they were straight on the attack. Fylde defended well, with Heather Appleyard at the back supported by Ellie Hope on her debut and Grace Lord. The game felt fairly even in the first half but Garstang were able to break a number of times through the middle and scored 3 from very short plays. Fylde continued to press with strong skills from Issy Gut, Evie Finnegan and Lucy Whiteside. We spent time in Garstang’s circle but not able to find the net. That is until, Evie Finnegan stunned us all with an incredible reverse hit at the top of the circle which landed Fylde their first goal. The expression on her face said it all as she insisted during the warm up that she “couldn’t believe she got her first Fylde goal in the previous game”.
The second half saw the sun go down and the temperature with it but Fylde continued to show strength with a new structure and were not intimidated by Garstang’s clear experience and assertiveness. Another debut this week, Niamh Smith supported by subbing into different positions and finding her feet. Sophie Wareing, Holly Whiteside and Katie Sloan worked hard at the front to attack the circle, we certainly started to frustrate Garstang with our unrelenting efforts. So much so, that Tilly Tomlinson attracted an aggressive tackle which resulted in a yellow card for the Garstang player. Undeterred, Tilly dominated the middle, carrying the ball through Garstang’s defence. After a determined effort to flood their defence, Evie Finnegan managed to find the goal again for Fylde.
Garstang made it through one final time to score again but were certainly hindered by the strong defensive skills of Grace Lord.
The final score was 4-2 to Garstang but a fantastic performance by Fylde once again and thanks to Phil Hope for the side-line coaching.
Preston 3 7-3 Fylde 1
Fylde travelled to local rivals Preston, a fixture which has been spoken about for much of the season so far, not for the reasons you think, but for the push back time, 6:30 pm!
Fylde arrived at Preston and it was a case of seeing who would turn up, a game played earlier in the day left the Men’s 1s with a player short due to an earlier injury and 1 hobbling. The warm up was spent booing and taunting the lads who had recently left the club for Preston, I’m sure all we'll say it was a warm up well spent.
Game time and Fylde settled quickly, finding space through the Preston midfield and blocking any counters well. 10 minutes in and Fylde had managed to keep Preston at bay, a team that prior to the start had scored 60+ goals in 10 games. A quick break and Fylde found themselves on the attack and in the Preston circle, a shot (on or off target, nobody knows) managed to find its way in the back of the Preston goal with a little help from ex-Fylde coach Chris Banks… Cheers Banksy, 1-0 Fylde.
Preston at this point didn’t seem to be finding the spaces they are probably used to and the Fylde lads managed to keep them at bay until a bit of fancy footwork from a Preston winger went unnoticed by the umpires taking him past the Fylde defence and shipping the ball on to a high forward in the Fylde circle, Danny Taylor now 1:1 with the forward tried a new tactic of going through the forward to get to the ball, one decision neither the umpires or the Preston players agreed with. Yellow card for the GK and a flick awarded to the home side. Captain Gareth Sym stepped up to try and stop the flick armed with a helmet and a stick, the flick was executed and the game now at 1:1.
With 10 outfield players and no GK for 10 minutes Fylde had their work cut out. Preston now having the upper hand started to press hard and getting around the back of Fylde managed to secure a second goal 2:1. A few more minutes passed and stand in forward Martin Hayes made a huge tackle in the middle of the park, the type of tackle a lumberjack would have been proud of and finding himself joining Danny for a 2 minute sit down, Fylde down to 9!
Fylde managed to keep the damage to a minimum, with Preston attempting to fire balls in to the Fylde circle but only finding the end of Sym’s stick who then found a gap and played the ball back to Preston for a 16 hit, a tactic which worked well on this occasion and Preston unable to capitalise. Both Danny and Martin returning to the pitch before Preston found a 3rd before half time.
The first 10minutes of the second half were a bit of a blur but went something like this. Fylde push back, Preston won the ball and scored a goal, this happened until Preston reached 6:2 before Fylde managed to settle back in to the game and stop Preston from peppering our goal. Somewhere in the chaos Steve Whitley managed to score Fylde's second goal.
A couple of late goals came from legs tiring from Fylde and it was clear that the tactics were now to limit the amount of goals Preston were going to score. At 7:2 Fylde managed to secure a penalty corner and the shot resulted in the award of a flick. Sym stepped up and showed vice-captain Jay, how to put a flick in the back of the goal.
Final score 7-3 as Fylde and the umpires had it scored, however Preston unable to keep a tally on the amount of goals they score seem to have this result down as 8–3.
Fylde 2 1-1 Keswick 3
Whilst Fylde cursed another early game with a meeting time of 9.45, and only just managing to pick 11 players with most of the school-age kids unavailable, the real sympathy should have been with the Keswick team who had a 7.30am start in Cockermouth.
Fylde took control from the start of the game, pinning Keswick in their half. Attack and attack came from Phil Hope, Richard Clarke, Luke Hitchen, James Smith amongst others. It took however near to ten minutes before the first goal was scored, after a solo dribble from Luke Hitchen across the top of the D and then a sweetly struck reverse stick strike.
At this point it felt like Fylde would score several more, however a couple of injuries and the lack of subs made a difference. Firstly James Smith was struck on the foot by the ball and had a few minutes off the pitch, and then soon afterwards Richard Clarke was similarly struck on the foot but more severely and he went off for the remainder of the half leaving Fylde with just 10 players.
Keswick began to get back into the game and into Fylde’s half, although the defence held firm. However with only 10 players, Fylde’s attacks became less often and the half ended at 1-0.
Keswick grew in confidence as the second half progressed with longer periods of possession but no real threat. Fylde had plenty of their own possession but couldn’t seem to find a second goal, with numerous half-chances. Richard Clarke limped back on the pitch midway through the half which helped the shape of the team, and even though he didn’t have full mobility, he was involved in a move which led to defender Pete Latimer having a reverse stick shot at goal, which frustratingly hit the post. Phil Hope went close with a shot at a short corner.
With less than five minutes left Keswick won their first short corner, after a Craig Nutter clearance kick unluckily hit one of his own defenders in the D. While nervous about conceding an equaliser, the corner was successfully defended. However Keswick’s spirits were up and won back the ball, continued to attack, and with missed tackles the ball criss-crossed the D and somehow a Keswick player was free to shoot at close range. The equalising goal, Keswick were jubilant, Fylde were cursing in frustration.
As Fylde restarted the game the final whistle was blown, and Fylde had effectively blown the clear opportunity to win. However, in the bottom division, the main objective is to have a good game and enjoy playing and this game achieved those aimed, played in a friendly and competitive atmosphere. Man of the Match was awarded to Pete Latimer for his attacking out of the defence and trying to join the race for top scorer.