West Clubs Women’s Hockey League

Berkeley Division 1

Wotton-under-Edge Ladies 1st XI… 0

Clifton IV… 1

THE first league game of the year, and not the result that Wotton planned for.

However, the home team were firmly on top for the game, and it was simply a scrabbly goal to Clifton against the run of play that made the result.

Wotton spent the beginning of the game in Clifton’s half, and a series of short corners were unlucky not to be converted.

Elodie Sparrow made fabulous interceptions and running off the ball, feeding the forward line.

Millie Meyer was unlucky on many occasions not to score, but the Clifton ‘keeper was outstanding. Lauren Leyland was indefatigable, putting pressure on the defence and winning every 50:50 ball, and Tarragon Newcombe’s pace and movement off the ball gave Wotton a very effective attack.

The second half began with Wotton sure to score, with creditable shots from Natalie Groome, Lauren Jones, Sparrow, Meyer, Leyland and Izzy Grimes, but every time found the ‘keepers pads.

Player of the match Myra Patterson controlled the centre, while also making many creative runs off the ball, with support from Grimes, Olivia Green and Hannah Cox.

Rhiannon Holt played good distributive hockey, while Alaina Herbert made some promising runs from the defence. Kathleen Burden made a spectacular goal line save, and Jo York made some crucial saves on the rare occasions that Clifton broke away.

Mens GoCrea8 Hockey League The Marches 1

Wotton-under-Edge Men's 3rd XI (B)… 4

Cardiff and Met… 1

A great performance to carry on from before the break, pushing Wotton to second in the league.

A slightly weak start from Wotton led to a hard press from Cardiff.

With this pressure came a goal. Wotton kept their heads and played through.

A strong line of defence (Jonny Glover, James Bull, John Shovelton, Richard Goodwin, Kieran Latimer and Charlie Thomas) allowed for play to build up, advancing forward with the wing backs helping the attack.

Short corners were won, and Wotton’s first goal came from a strong, low and hard hit by Marcus Smith. Wotton held the game at 1-1 for the first half.

Into the second half, Wotton remained switched on and fought hard.

The wing backs were still playing high as a long corner was fed to Latimer on the left side, back to goal, spun and left everyone confused as the ball went in.

The high intensity played on with Hayden Brewer and Seb Culpepper running through as many players as they wished.

A third goal came from Culpepper getting hacked but still holding the ball, and providing the set up for a typical Chris Price spin into the backboard.

The final goal came from a great run down the baseline from Pat Carr, the ball bounced up in front of Smith, two yards out smashing it home.

England Hockey Championship Cup Match

Wotton-under-Edge Men's 2nd XI (A)… 4

City of Bath… 0

Wotton travelled to Bath for their re-arranged cup match against City of Bath HC in slightly warmer weather conditions than we experienced first time around.

Fresh from a win on Saturday, captain James Bull decided that we would shake things up a bit and opted for a more attacking formation than usual.

Wotton started strongly and were soon making scything attacks into the opposition’s 25.

However, a strong core in the Bath team held Wotton at bay and delivered some good long balls straight into the Wotton 25.

But Wotton’s solid back three marshalled by keeper Charlie Thomas kept the Bath attacks contained.

Wotton’s break came from a strong strike from Ben Butter who slammed the ball into the Bath backboard.

Gaining confidence from this, Wotton continued to press hard with Seb Culpepper and Hayden Brewer feeding balls forward to the front line.

Steven Midex rounded out the half with a typically cool goal from the back post.

Building on a successful first half, Wotton pressed the Bath defence hard.

Sometimes a little too hard as Thomas was called on to produce some excellent work smothering some loose Bath players in the Wotton circle.

Wotton’s 3rd goal was assisted by a reverse hit thing from the skipper that was saved by the Bath Keeper, only for it to fall to William Cave for him to play into the goal.

Wotton were then awarded a series of shorts and were eventually able to convert one. Bull deftly spotted a gap between the keeper’s legs and with a characteristically minimum weighting of his shot, slotted the ball home.

Despite significant pressure for the whole of the second half, Wotton were unable to convert any of the rest of their chances.

However, it was not for want of skill or work rate and the team should be pleased with the result.