Ladies 1st XI Mid Season Report

Ladies 1st XI mid season report.

Having now reached the ½ way point in our return to the Midlands Hockey Regional League I wanted to share with everyone my own feelings, recollections and expectations for the rest of the season.

To Date

Some would say our record on paper isn’t the best and I have to agree, but if you look closely at our results we have only been beaten by 1 of the top 4 teams in the league.

However those that have been at our games would without question confirm that we have certainly not had any luck at all so far.

Our performances have seen us dominate so many games and come away with only a draw or worse still a defeat.

Good examples of this have to be Loughborough away, where due to the long pile surface, a simple cross field push pass fell short of its intended target and this saw the Loughborough Fwd intercept the ball and score the only goal of the game, despite our 40 ‘D’ penetrations and 16 penalty corners.

Kettering where we again dominated the match only to find the Kettering keeper in sparkling form and our luck went from bad to worse as we lost Lisa with Knee ligament damage. With 8 mins left Zoe went in goal and following a weak shot with 5 mins to go the ball trickled over her stick on the line for a 1-0 defeat.

Leicester 2 weeks ago, when if we had been 6-0 up at ½ time it would have been about right, but despite our taking a 2-0 lead early in the 2nd half we ended drawing 2-2 with Leicester only having 3 shots all day.

We can’t leave this section without reminding ourselves of this weekends game v Players. I can’t comment on the officiating but we had 2 goals disallowed which everyone including the coaching and playing staff of Players agreed were perfectly good goals and into the final minute with a 2-1 lead, a dubious penalty corner was awarded against us for a tackle outside the ‘D’.As the final whistle blew, Players took the PC and guess what……….. 2-2 and absolute heartbreak.

Some may feel this is just grasping at straws for excuses as to why we are where we are, but it’s been an unbelievable run of poor luck, ask my players.

Players commitment

The passion shown by the girls has been remarkable. But one thing that saddens me somewhat is having to console players after too many games this half as they leave the pitch in anger and frustration; and unfortunately on some occasions tears!

This is a team game, we win together, lose together, draw too many together and take total collective responsibility for every result and I include myself in that. This is a team of the most focussed determined players it has ever been my pleasure to work with – could do without the grey hair though!

Positive Development

This season has seen several positive aspects brought into the team. I believe the most influential one as being the acquisition of Laura Skaife from Ashby who has shone through in every game played. But it doesn’t end there.

So many players have improved there game in order to compete at this level. Taran has stepped up and shown just how dangerous she is with constant driving runs teffirying the defences we have come across, Kelly’s fitness is back and she is now showing just what a dangerous attacking back she is, I could go on.

Ali, Marie, Kath and lately Lisa have all fibbed to me constantly about being fit enough to play despite carrying injuries or being ill ( I too used to do the same, anything to play, and I would still do it today if given the chance!!) such commitment shown is commendable but honesty is certainly the best policy!

Sad losses.

Zoe has decided to venture to pastures new regarding Hockey. I want to take this opportunity to clarify the situation regarding this as whispers can be quite damaging at times. Following honest and frank conversations with myself I told her she couldn’t be guaranteed a starting place within the 1st XI team, but was an integral part of the club set up, I did hope that she would stay with the club but we cannot stand in the way of an individuals ambitions. I think this just shows how we have progressed as only 12 months ago Zoe was a starting name on the team sheet, she will be missed by the club and we wish her well.

The other huge loss was mascot TIGGER who never recovered from his injuries sustained on the away trip to Ashby. A broken tail and a huge gaping rip to his neck saw his sad demise – shame on you Miss Wibberly! He will be sadly missed.

Back to the on field bit…..

I think our best game of the season was the remarkable fixture in the cup at Towcester. 5 goals scored against the Midlands div 1 leaders and lost but an unbelievable performance (see previous match report for full details).

The Future

Moving forward we currently stand in 7th place but watch this space. There may be some changes imminent to the league tables, which could see us just 1 goal from the safety zone of 5th.

The New Year will see us with 3 weekends before the league re-starts. We will be having 1 session of fitness / skills on a Saturday in order for the full squad to be in attendance, this will be followed by 2 friendly fixtures TBA.

Training

In regards to training I know that some of you have commitments outside our Tuesday night sessions but I do need as many of you to make the effort to attend as possible. One of the hardest issues I have to address is the Saturdays when we need to make changes and put into practice plays we have rehearsed at training sessions with a portion of the team who don’t attend training not understanding what we are doing. Please make the effort in the New Year.

Summary

I honestly believe that we are more than in the frame for staying up this year, with a little more luck going our way we could easily win 6 out of 9 games next ½ season.

We have no team to fear. Even Belper with the National league players and international goalkeeper against us could not break us down and that would have been unheard of last season, they would have put us to the sword by at least 5 goals. That’s just how good my players are now.

I finally just want to quosh another rumour that is going around. Yes it is true that I have been approached by two separate clubs during this season to coach them but both have received the same answer. Thanks but No Thanks. I am not going anywhere!

Please please please look after yourselves during the celebratory season, enjoy the booze and food to the full and be prepared to hit the ground running in January and ensure that next season we are still playing Midlands Hockey.

YOU - sorry - WE DESERVE IT.

Coach Taylor