Goals Galore for the Mens section, as the Ladies continue to battle

20 Jan 2019 by Crewe Vagrants Hockey Club

Ladies 4s v Neston Ladies 4s 3-0 loss

Our energy & enthusiasm seemed to take the young Neston side by surprise; we took control and made the necessary short passes to travel up the pitch. Plenty of activity ensued in their D but we were kept at bay by their strong defence. Having found a gap, their first goal, from open play was unspectacular and did not deter us. Alison Kellett put in some great tackles and followed through with confident dribbling. Becks Eaves impressively whippet-like & frequently won the ball. It was 1-0 at half time and there was every chance we could win the match.

We defended a few short corners & were unlucky to concede a second goal, which having been confidentially saved by Jayne Sharpe, was converted from a deflection. It was her first time in the sweeper position for Lauren Griffiths who was impressive and omnipresent. For their third goal, Neston broke us down & managed to score. Laura Holman was calm & collected in the midfield, breaking down play and passing to her teammates. For the whole match, Crewe gave their utmost effort as well as calm, well timed & positive guidance proffered to teammates. Thank you to Claire Duncan, a familiar face in the 3’s who received a worthy player of the match.

Physicality was in abundance & no doubt there will be plenty of bruises appearing on the Crewe ladies. Luckily, nothing too serious to affect our home game next week against Bowden Ladies 6s.

Men’s 1s v Urmston 1s Win 7-1

This week the mens 1’s hosted top of the table Urmston. This fixture always brings goals and today was no different. Both teams showed no sign of the Christmas break with attacking play at both ends. Crewe struck first through a Chris Regan short corner, then came a 15 minute onslaught from Urmston which was weathered thanks to Matt Greasby in goal and the Crewe defence, on the half time whistle Crewe converted their 2nd short corner through Chris Regan to lead 2-0 at the break. In the 2nd half Crewe got the crucial 3rd game in the goal through Jack Townsend who rounded the keeper from a Mark Bateman pass. 3 became 4 through Tom Howard who fired low in to the corner, the 5th Crewe goal came from a short corner which was saved but Nathan Watson managed to react first and tuck away a smart finish. The 6th goal was the pick of the goals with Nathan Watson crashing a ball to James Capper who managed to put the ball high in to the net. Urmston finally managed to beat keeper Greasby late on but with the last hit of the game Chris Regan helped himself to his hat trick to leave the final score Crewe 7 Urmston 1.

Ladies 3s v Alderley Edges 4s 4-0 Loss

Ladies 3s were away to Alderley Edge 4ths this week and Crewe were fully focused; especially with 11 players we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We were playing some lovely hockey & pressing hard from Alderley Edges first push back. We were unlucky as into the first quarter the home side got 3 quick goals, they took the opportunity from a quick press to execute the scoreline to their advantage. From then on we reset & played well taking every opportunity we could and focused into the rest of the first half to keep the scoreline 3-0 at half time.
Crewe battled on following a positive half time talk against a slick passing Alderley Edge. Crewe were under constant pressure and defended well keeping the goals at bay. Crewe maintained their team spirit throughout the entire game with continuous support and encouragement for each other & missed some quality opportunities in the attacking end. The solid Crewe defence cooly defended many a penalty corner and were unfortunate to see the only goal from the second half come from an unlucky deflection that was scrambled in at the far post. The score for Alderley Edge could have been much higher; keeper Amanda saved many attempts to keep Crewe’s positivity in the game. A hard fought match against a well drilled team on the day! MOM went to Anna Bates with some crucial tackles and interceptions in midfield!

Mens 3s v Alderley Edge 7s Loss 3-2

Men’s 3s travelled away to Alderley Edge to kick of the second half of their season. From the outset it was going to be a tough game with a lot of quick players on the opposition. Crewe had lots of early pressure & with a few chances but not able to find anything early on. Alderley responded with two quick goals that Crewe held off the initial shots but the second and thirds just proved too much pressure. Nick Marshall was able to secure Crewes first with a solid strike to back post. Alderley however were not to be put down and quickly followed up with their third. There was a lot of back and forth with Crewe turning the screws until a combination of Nick Marshall & Neil Gibbons were able to find the second goal. With time running out Crewe kept the pressure up, but we’re just unable to find an equaliser. Final result 3-2. MotM Phil Meakin for his solid right wing plays not letting the opposition go easy. Two home games next weekend with Bowdon on Saturday and Macclesfield on Sunday

Men’s 2s v Timperley 5s Win 2-0

Crewe 2s faced Timperley mens 5s in a tough and hard fought contest. Timperley started the strongest and controlled the tempo of the first half of the game but were unable to capitalise on their advantage due to the resilient defense of Keith Jackson, Dan Read, Mark Frost and Gareth Pask. In the second half Crewe threw off the shackles, some crisp passing through midfield found Greg Marshall with time in the D to square the ball to Matt Hodgson for Crewes opener. Minutes later Iain Ford had a shot on goal clearly blocked with a body and a penalty stroke was awarded. Gareth Pask calmly stepped up and converted. Crewe continued to create chances but failed to convert again and the game finished 2:0. Men of the match, Gareth Pask and Jamie Allen

Ladies 1s v Wilmslow 1s

The ladies 1’s made the trip up the M6 to top of the table Wilmslow where it was so cold that our chief spectator had to upgrade his fedora to a woolly hat.  
Crewe came under strong & early pressure as they attacked in numbers with some well drilled routines, however, team “Hadrian” (as in the wall) provided exceptional defence with Gilly Gibbs-Blythe, Emma Bostock & Georgie Brown making great interceptions, pick and reading plays & with Alison Smith diving & sliding to keep the ball out of the net.  
After 15 mins Crewe absorbed and then re-channelled the defensive pressure in to attacking pressure. A break from the right by Isabella Escott (aka Miss Macarena), passed to Marianne Hunter high right who crossed to Sheridan Marsden who released an excellent shot which was brilliantly saved by the Wilmslow keeper deflecting to the back of the D where Zoe Franklin who was quickest to react & who had obviously had 3 Shredded Wheat that morning melted the ball high & left into the net, Crewe 1-0 up!
The lead was short lived as Wilmslow came back quickly with plenty of pressure & short corners eventually resulting in a goal for Wilmslow. Now it was 1-1 and not long to half time but there was enough time for Wilmslow to take a fluky deflection goal from their striker half time & it was 2-1 to Wilmslow.
After half time, Crewe still had to soak the pressure from the whistle, which resulted in more great defensive work with Smith making more great saves & now Emily Ford providing goal line saves and defensive work as well. As the half progressed, Crewe got more space and time to play the ball with Hunter & Jenny Zwijnen in the midfield getting the ball moved out with some clinical passes. The forwards, Marsden & Becky Burndred were able to create time and space enabling Hunter & Escott to make some excellent passes to transfer the ball to the left and Lisa Holland won a short corner. Brown took the strike and it just went wide left of the upright, sooooo close.
With 10 mins to go, Wilmslow managed to scramble an ugly goal to make it 3-1, which was not truly reflective of the work that was being put in by the players. Player of the match was awarded to Ali Smith.
As mentioned at the beginning of the report, it was very cold, so much so, some of the team decided it was warmer on the pitch than the changing room so they decided to get changed on the side of the pitch, much to the delight of the Wilmslow M1 team, I don’t think they have ever enjoyed a warm up like that before!

Ladies 2s v Macclesfield 1s Loss 3-0

Having drawn previously with 4th placed Macclesfield we knew it was going to be a tough and feisty match.

Macclesfield scored an early goal following continued pressure on the Crewe defence in open play, this was followed up by another despite some amazing diving saves from MOM Goal Keeper Grace Leonard. Heads did not go down when Crewe almost got one back from a short corner on the half time whistle when Captain Laura MacLeod fired just wide of the post, from Natalie Stevenson’s precision injection.

The second half saw both teams tire although Crewe had several chances, it was Macclesfield that broke again and a concluded the game with a final goal. The ladies fought to the end with lots of positives and a stronger game than the previous encounter, despite the 3-0 scoreline. Away at Chester next week.

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