Whitchurch 3rds v Gowerton – Captain’s Report

Posted on by gowertonhockey

A well deserved win this week for the ladies. All thanks to their outstanding play. 

Losing the toss, the ladies were put on the back foot with Whitchurch attacking from the start. However, this week the ladies clicked from the start and showed no mercy. Through excellent communication and amazing team work, the girls managed to hold Whitchurch off and turn the game in their favour fairly quickly. The ladies worked the ball through the defence and midfield through text book 1-2 passes feeding the ball up front to the forwards. From this the ladies were able to secure themselves a short corner. Despite a solid strike from Hannah Preuss a goal wasn’t to be. However due to the fault of Whitchurch the ladies gained another short corner. Still no goal. Not long after another short was awarded and from the rebound of the initial strike Jessica Williams secured the ladies their first goal. We were 1-0 up and spirits were high. 

Due to continued outstanding play, man marking and effective communication the ladies continued to show impeccable play. Despite Whitchurch’s attempts within the D and short corners they were unable to equalise with the ladies before the half time whistle.

After fairly light hearted half time talk, focusing on the positives the ladies were ready for action again. The ladies just kept going from strength to strength maintaining to put Whitchurch under pressure and put them on the back foot. However, Whitchurch came out determined from the start and gave the ladies a greater challenge. After some effective open play and a break down the line Whitchurch secured themselves an equaliser. The ladies took this on the chin and continued to attack hard. Continuing to demonstrate solid teamwork and constructive passing the ladies remained strong. With a run down the line from Hannah Preuss was able to to give  Jessica Williams a great assist for her second goal putting the ladies 2-1 up.  

The ladies were eager to hold onto this lead and through the remaining strong, that they did. Not only did they hold on to it, they smashed it! Jessica Williams was on fire, not happy with just her two goals she decided she would gain another two both from open play. Must have been all that birthday cake she demolished from celebrating her birthday on Thursday. 
All the girls played well on Saturday and deserved the win. However there was one player that really stood out for me this week. This player gave her all and put Whitchurch under pressure and made some awesome plays and passes throughout the game. Her tackling was strong along with her work ethic. My captain’s player this week goes to Paige Hobbs.
I would also like to thank Kelly Melbourne for helping us out massively and stepping in goal for the first time.



Final score Gowerton 4-1 Whitchurch  

Gowerton vs Cardiff Medics – Captain’s Report

Posted on by gowertonhockey

 The ladies started off stronger during this match. Communication and defence were strong, despite Cardiff Medics efforts they were unable to secure a goal early on into the match, and this was due to the tight man marking that the ladies demonstrated and strong clears from defence. Also the world class save from Megan James on the line. 

 The ladies were able to put pressure on the medics up front but despite their efforts Nicola Tucker and Ria Cannon were unable to secure a lead goal. The Medics remained strong and did not fold despite the pressure the ladies put on them, their persistence paid off and they were able to secure themselves two goals before the half time whistle. 

There was nothing but praise between the ladies during the half time talk as everyone felt play was good between the team. This helped the ladies go into the second half strong and determined to put the ball in the back of the goal. 

During the second half the ladies still demonstrated excellent play, switching the ball well across the back, impeccable marking in the defensive circle and constructive communication throughout. Despite these efforts the ladies began to show signs of fatigue which enabled the Medics to put more pressure on. The Medics were able to get a number of shots on goal but Amy remained strong. During the second half the medics were able to secure themselves three more goals taking the full time score to Gowerton 0- 5 Medics. 

My Captain’s player for this match goes to Megan James for her consistent efforts in defence and her outstanding save on the line. Megan just came out of nowhere slid along the goal line and managed to stop the ball going into goal at the very last second. Gowerton and the Medics were both astonished by this save. Megan despite taking several hits to the legs she still kept up her rate of play. Well done Megan  

Gowerton v Dinefwr – Captain’s Report

Posted on by gowertonhockey

Not the best of starts for the ladies this weekend. From the start Dinefwr came out strong putting us straight on the back foot and under pressure. Despite the efforts to pull it together the ladies were unsettled and played a very defensive game. Dinefwr ran at us strong not giving the ladies much chance to turn the ball over.

However the ladies did demonstrate some good plays and were able to put some pressure in Dinefwr’s defensive half, despite this effort and a few short corners awarded the ladies were unable to secure a goal. Dinefwr kept up their good fight and were able to secure themselves two tactical goals with one coming off a reverse stick hit. 

At half time the girls discussed what needed to be improved and tactics of how to put more pressure on Dinefwr. This talk gave the girls encouragement and they came out in the second half more positive.

The girls started the second half well. They were more settled, communication improved which had a positive effect on play. The girls were now putting more pressure on Dinefwr and demonstrating sharper passing and constructive play. Mid fields worked well working the ball up to the forwards and holding Dinefwr off. 

Nicola and Jess up front made some good runs into space receiving through balls from midfield. Defence marked well and worked constructively with midfield playing the ball back and switching away from high areas of pressure, this improvement in play increased pressure on Dinefwr. However they still came at the ladies hard. After must fight and good saves from Amy Dinefwr were awarded a short corner which game them their third goal from an unstoppable strike. 

Gowerton didn’t give up they kept up their fight and were determined to get a goal. Despite strikes from both Jess and Nicola the ladies were unable to secure and goal. As play went on Dinefwr were able to secure themselves another goal making the final score Gowerton 0-4 Dinefwr. 

My captains player this week goes to Amy Hansen for her efforts and saves made during the game. The goals that Dinefwr scored were outstanding and unstoppable and would have been difficult for anyone to save. This didn’t get to Amy as she kept up her fight and saved a number of goals throughout the whole game. Well done Amy. 

Gowerton v Brecon – Captain’s Report

Posted on by gowertonhockey

Wow! What a win for the ladies this Saturday. 

The first half the girls started out strong, showing lovely one two passing, triangles and switching round the back. I felt the girls went into the game with confidence but also remained relaxed which showed in the way in which they played. After dominating the game from the start it wasn’t long before the first goal came. This boosted the girls even further making them eager to get another goal, which came shortly after. There were times in which Brecon put us under pressure but awesome man marking, communication and control within defence prevent Brecon from scoring. More pressure on Brecon defence meant that the ladies were able to score another 3 goals, taking the half time score to 5-0. 

This awesome goal lead took the pressure of the girls going into the second half, but they were still aware that they needed to put in the work in order to hold Brecon off. During the second half the girls’ standard of play remained solid. They continued to use short sharp passes, passing into space for Jessica Williams and Nicola Tucker to run onto up front and tight man marking eliminating the possible passes for Brecon. Excellent communication within our defensive half helped maintain this standard in terms of man marking and clearing the ball up the pitch. Both Jessica Williams and Nicola Tucker continued to put the Brecon defence and keeper under pressure securing another 4 goals for Gowerton. The ladies secured themselves a short corner in the second half in which Cath Fuge was able to secure the ladies another goal. During the whole match the goal scorers were Jessica Williams with 5 goals Nicola Tucker with 4 goals and Cath Fuge with 1 goal. 

This week I felt all the girls played very well making my decision for Captain’s player difficult. However I would like to give my Captain’s player to Kelly Melbourne for her awesome effort I goal and keeping a clean sheet. I felt Kelly played well making some awesome saves even though she hasn’t had any practice in goal. Well done Kelly. 

Final score Gowerton 10 – 0 Brecon 

Captain’s Report – Penarth 2nds v Gowerton

Posted on by gowertonhockey

This week it was so nice to actually play hockey without getting soaked by the rain. Going up with 11 and a half players (Rhi was only available first half) and no goal keeper the odds were against us. But that never stopped the ladies drive and determination. Thankfully Ria Cannon stepped up to the plate and went in goals, despite her nerves she smashed it! 

The first half was very frustrating as we just seemed all over the place. Penarth played the middle well meaning the midfield had their work cut out. Despite opportunities and short corners in our attacking area we were unable to secure a lead goal. Not long into the first half penarth took their chances and secured themselves a 1-0 lead over the ladies. This didn’t drop our spirits but made us more determined to get one back. 

After a good half time talk led by Ffion Morgans the girls came out striving for the win. After much battling Jess Williams took the ball into our attacking circle and into the back of the goal making the score 1-1. The ladies demonstrated some lovely one twos thought the whole game and defended well when needed, frustrating penarth as they were unable to achieve the win. 

This week my captains player was a no brainer. It takes a lot of courage to get that goalie kit on and step into goal having not done it before or even had a training session to help. I felt Ria took the responsibility on well and gave it her best shot. Well done Ria you literally saved us.

Final score Gowerton 1-1 penarth 2nds