South Lakes 1 4-4 Fylde 1
North West Men's Division 3 North | England Hockey
After last week’s disappointing loss to Kendal, Fylde Mens 1’s set off again on a long journey to deepest Cumbria, this time to Ulverston to play South Lakes. Both teams were looking for the win and the vital 3 points which resulted in an open well fought game which swung both ways but ended in a 4-4 draw and a single point each.
South Lakes snatched an early opportunistic goal but Fylde hit back with a ball down the right wing into James Smith in the D, who calmly flicked the ball over the advancing keeper into the goal.
The home side went ahead, with a ball hit into the D, for an initial save from goalkeepr Danny Taylor, but it looped up with a strange bounce that the opposition striker better predicted and slotted past into the goal.
Fylde continued to play passing hockey and the returning captain Gaz Sym cuased the home team problems in the middle of the park, along with Adam Ball's dribbling into the D, which led to a series of short corners, however there were several misfires. Fylde were caught on a South Lakes counter attack, and although defended the initial threat, a free hit outside the D was played into a striker who got away a well struck reverse stick shot to take a 3-1 lead.
Fylde clawed one back when finally one of their short corners worked and Gaz Sym got off one of his trademark drag flicks into the corner of the goal.
3-2 down at half-time but feeling they were the better team, Fylde came out with energy at the start of the second half. Luke Hitchen-Hope crossed a ball into the D for James Smith to crash in his second goal. Minutes later, Gaz Sym scored another from a short corner, and suddenly Fylde were 4-3 in the lead and looking like they could score more.
South Lakes had other ideas, and fought back, and managed to win some short corners for themselves, after winning none in the whole of the first half. They scored from a well worked routine, slipping to the right and the striker deflecting into the goal, to bring the scores level at 4-4.
The remainder of the game was end to end, but Fylde looked the team most likely to score, however couldn't quite get the final touch, despite lots of pressure around the South Lakes D.
Final score 4-4, and although both sides will be disappointed not to take all 3 points, it was probably a better point for Fylde, away from home, and keeps them 4 points above South Lakes and Preston 4's in the relegation zone going into the Xmas break.
Formby 1 1-1 Fylde 2
North West Women's Division 1 | England Hockey
On Saturday December 3rd, the Fylde 2s set off on a lovely sunny day across the coastal roads to Formby. We were ready to come back strong, focusing on urgency, after last week’s narrow loss. Formby 1s came out strong showing that they were an extremely tough team. We were able to keep the ball in their half for a large part of the first half. However, Formby had numerous circle entrances, a short corner, and multiple near misses. Luckily, the defenders and Katie Barker did an incredible job of preventing these goals from going in.
At the start of the second half, a shot from Formby deflected off of Katie Barker and Jayne Wilson into the goal. The Fylde 2s did not give up and showed much improvement from the first half by communicating more, increasing the pressure, etc. After a short corner broke down, EJ Dunkerley amazingly and spectacularly won the ball back. She took the ball back into the circle, took a shot, which was then deflected on the right post by Emma Savage, making the score 1-1. Fylde had a few great opportunities in the last minutes, but their goalie made multiple vital saves. The rest of the second half was hard fought by both teams and the game ended as 1-1.
Fylde 3 1-0 Pendle Forest 2
North West Women's Division 2 North | England Hockey Initially, the match seemed quite close and tense. Our players appeared frightened of the ball as well as the opposition, despite this we still managed to pass the ball between ourselves well. In the second minute we were awarded a short corner, even though it was not successful, this upped our confidence. We fought for the ball harder, we pushed further up the pitch, we were more determined to get to the ball first or to win it back. This was necessary for us in order to win the match. However just after this in the 4th minute, the opposition were awarded a penalty short, because of our strong defending and pressurising they couldn’t get it through. Afterwards, we kept possession for the majority of the rest of the first half, only losing it when coming into contact with the opposition - who used aggression against us. This game did not bring out our most strategic elements, because of their scrappy and clumsy play. As a result, the opponents became increasingly frustrated at our pace and agility, it did however highlight our ability to work effectively as a team. Although we had many opportunities to take a strike, we were either out skilled before taking the shot, or they were saved. This was until Natalie Smith crossed the ball to Megan Coar, in the 21st minute of the match, where she successfully got the ball into the net. This brought us to 1:0 up. Lovely hockey was played across all areas of the pitch, though they eventually regained possession we were able to keep ourselves out of danger by surrounding them to get the ball back. Just before the end of the first half Victoria Latham was given a green card, we worked harder as a team to ensure they couldn’t get through us, even with a player down. Moving up and down the pitch, from the left and from the right, we continued to dominate. In the second half, almost immediately Pendle Forest were given a short corner, fortunately this went off the backline. We quickly got the ball out of the dangerous area and used our speed against them, in yet another attack up the pitch. We worked the ball between ourselves and around them many times throughout the match, while they sent many of our players to the ground. Unfortunately, we were unable to capitalise on our last-minute short corner. We deserved a higher final score, but ultimately we won the game. Everyone played excellently, but this week Natalie Smith stood out, and has been awarded Player of the Match.
Southport 1 3-0 Fylde 4
North West Women's Division 3 North (Central) | England Hockey Fylde 4’s travelled to sunny Southport to play alongside Royal Birkdale Golf Course at Greenbank High school. After a run round the car park we had a warm up on the pitch and the team were ready to go. Southport started strong attacking the game. Abigail Southern on her debut performance, made some excellent tackles in left defence- her anticipation and perception of play was fantastic. Southport had a few long balls through the middle and converted several chances. Despite being down 3-0 at half time Fylde never gave up. Southport tried to pass the ball round switching from side to side. Sophia Murray dominated the left hand side of the pitch and prevented many balls getting into the circle.
Eva made a couple of excellent saves during the second half. Fiona Quarmby ran forward onto the ball creating problems for their defence and great use of reverse stick. Beth Wolstenholme owned our defence today with excellent decision-making well timed passes. Everyone worked hard to get behind the ball preventing Southport from scoring again during the match. Final score 3-0 loss away to top of the table Southport. The result did not reflect the teams gritty and assertive performance. Southport commented after the match ‘Best competitive match we’ve had in ages!’ Player of the match Sophia Murray.
Fylde 5 3-1 Preston 3
North West Women's Division 4 North (Central) | England Hockey There was a shortage of players and keepers this week and the first achievement of the day was being able to field a team. Our heroes of the day were mother and daughter duo Heather Appleyard, who put on her son's keeper kit and went in goal for the start of the match, and Lauren Appleyard who offered to play to give us 11 we needed. Preston 3 had a strong team and were consistently linking up well and fighting hard for the ball. Fylde were well matched and in the first 10min of the first half it was anyone's game. Charlotte Lavin, Amelia Sharp (in her debut match for Fylde), Jessica Jennings and Rosie Leil made some serious attempts on goal which were defended well by Preston.
Then at one point, almost in slow motion, Rosie had a shot on goal which she mishit, the ball rolled slowly forward to the stick of Amelia who also had a shot and mishit and rolled to Debbie McClelland who managed to find the back of the net. It wasn’t the best goal ever scored but it put Fylde in the lead. Eva Earnshaw arrived after her match in Southport for Ladies 4s to the relief of Heather, this was just in time as Preston started some serious play on goal forcing Eva to the ground and Preston won 3 shorts in succession. There was no way the defence of Lauren Appleyard, Tiana Mosley and Summer Holroyd were letting in a goal!! Half time score 1-0.
Fylde didn’t need to be reminded to have fire in their bellies this week, the work rate and effort from everyone was amazing. Melisa Johnson-Parker and Eve Clarkson held a sold screen in midfield distributing the ball back up to the attackers time and time again when Preston tried to move through the middle. Jessica Jennings and Charlotte worked some brilliant balls up the lines. Charlotte made some excellent crosses into the D and Amelia found one of them and pull the ball in the back of the net for Fylde’s second goal.
The team didn’t let this lead make them complacent and repeatedly made strong plays in the D. Preston on the other came back more determined after the second goal and again won a short corner. Which they executed to perfection with a lovely deflection. Fylde understood the need to maintain a strong defence and flooded the D with white when Preston pushed up high. This made it impossible for Preston to score.
This didn’t stop the Fylde persistence to score again and they were quick to move high with attacking play Charlotte, Amelia, Rosie and Jessica worked well together and finally after a few attempts Charlotte made a perfect strike from the right and put Fylde firmly in the lead. The team were elated to be bringing home 3 points this week with a good win. As we always say, win as a team lose as a team. Final score Fylde 5s 3-1 Preston 3s.
Lancaster & Morecambe 3 0-1 Fylde 6
On a sunny but bitterly cold afternoon, Fylde 6 met with Lancaster & Morecambe 3 away. With a starting team of 10 and no goalie, Fylde knew they had a challenge ahead. Not perturbed they started the game with passion. Morecambe and Lancaster had quite a few drives for goal, and they flooded the D with players. Despite their efforts, the Fylde's dream defence (Dawn Perruzza, Megan Eccles, Lauren Perkin and Grace Lord) denied L&M any goals, time and again clearing the ball to the midfield players Liddy Eccles & Nikki Richmond. Midway into the first half Lola Huyton arrived to bolster the team to full numbers. Fylde broke for half time very happy with the 0-0 score line and feeling very positive about the state of play and effectiveness of the team as a whole. The second half started with continued determination with Aimee Perruzza in mid centre, Poppy Milligan and Lola Huyton out wide, they found Hollie Twose and Soraya Rigby up front who both made some strong attacks on the L&M goalie but without success. The play rebounded from end to end and both teams had several short corners. An on target shot at goal from L&M threatened to put them in the lead, but a dive on the line from Lauren Perkin saw her save it with the end of her stick. Eventually Fylde's relentless determination and nice passing succeeded in a hard shot on goal from Lola Huyton which rebounded off an L&M defender and into the goal. L&M continued to press the attack in the final part of the game but despite tiredness setting in, Fylde stood strong with some excellent defending from Grace Lord on the left and determined dribbling from Liddy Eccles. Fylde fought to the final whistle and were very pleased with the 1-0 win.
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