Clean sweep for the Men’s Section

3 Mar 2019 by Crewe Vagrants Hockey Club

A Rhyming Report from the M1s v Liverpool Sefton 4-3 Win

Crewe travelled away to Liverpool, the weather was slightly breezy but cool, some good early saves from Matt Greasby wasn’t enough as Crewe went behind which was cruel. As Jack Townsend capitalised on a defensive mistake, it made the Sefton player look a fool. Two break away goals for Sefton put Crewe 3-1 down. Ben Read pulled one back with a deflection from a Townsend cross which made the Crewe frowns turn upside down, as half time was blown. Crewe reacted better in the second half whilst Sefton were prone to the well worked counter attack, with Ben Read converting his second. Crewe took the lead for the first time, as Jack Townsend deflected off a short corner from the byline. Crewe 4, Sefton 3, as the umpires blew for full time.

A Limerick from the M2s v Sale 3-0 Win

There once was a team from the vagrants,
They started the game showing patience,
Tice scored first from inside the D,
Simon and Bruce soon made it three,
To give the supporters some entertainment.

Crewe 2s faced an unbeaten Sale side at home this week. Sale applied early pressure and looked the stronger side but Crewe regrouped and with a quick counter attack Andrew Ticehurst found space to get Crewes first. Crewe continued to push Sale back and a short corner before half time was converted by Simon Childs. At half time the message was keep up the hard work and Crewe did. Jon Minshall in goal had few saves to make in the first half and even less in the second which showed how dominant Crewe were. Another well worked short corner allowed Bruce Forster to slot home but unfortunately took a blow to the head in doing so and had to come off. Crewe battled through to the final whistle to secure a 3-0 win against the unbeaten league leaders. Man of the match: Sam Holloway for his work rate throughout the match

M3s v Wilmslow 4-0 Win

A vital game for the 3s today with Wilmslow holding one of the top 2 spots. Crewe went in with a fresh formation and fresh heads after a few dissapointing results. From the off Crewe controlled the game, very quickly finding several chances in the D but unable to convert. However this didn’t put a damper on Crewe, they played a calm and collected game. The first half saw Crewe running the game but struggling to find anything and Wilmslow struggled to get into the Crewe half. The second saw the pressure from Crewe intensify with short and long corners keeping Wilmslow locked down. A well struck ball gave Crewe a penalty flick with Dave Watson effortlessly setting it into the net. Now Crewe were on the board they couldn’t be stopped. Wilmslow rarely made it out of their half and saw Crewe’s 25 even less. Some excellent balls saw James Fearnie pick one up, quickly followed by Phil Meakin and then with 10s left on the clock Lewis Ward, was finally able to secure something for himself.
Crewe back on form with the most effective and well played game all season. Man of the match goes to the entire team for playing as such a well oiled machine with everyone putting in 110%.

L1s V Didsbury Greys 1s 3-2 Loss

After a tough few weeks, Crewe were ready to improve on their previous performances.
They started off strong utilising each and every player on the pitch, transferring the ball well from defence to midfield to the forwards.
Didsbury were awarded a disputed short corner which unfortunately was converted despite the great efforts from the defence.
Crewe were quick to react and with some great work around the D a ball was played in for Shez Marsden to get on the end of to slot past their keeper.
Didsbury scored their 2nd shortly after from open play. And again Crewe worked hard to get the ball back in their D to win a short corner. The ball was slipped left for Dionne Johnson to slap a hard ball into the D which Jenny Zwijnen converted at the back post.
Score at half time was 2-2.
After a short turn around due to the late start, both teams came out fighting with some great runs by player of the match Izzy Escott causing 2 of the Didsbury Greys players to crash into each other! The second half was end to end with didsbury gaining a break and despite the teams efforts to get back and defend they unfortunately scored the final goal of the game resulting in a very unfortunate 3-2 loss.

L2s v Bowdon 3s 9-0 Loss

The Ladies 2s travelled away to play 2nd in the league Bowdon 3s. As expected Bowdon were a class act and swiftly showed their skill and pace and took the lead after only 3 minutes with a cracking shot beating keeper Grace Leonard depsite her best efforts. Crewe found it hard to find their rhythm in this game and were outclassed by Bowdons speed and organisation. Crewe’s defensive line of Katie Gibbs-Blythe, Kate Humphrey & Erin Wray found valiantly to try and thwart Bowdons advances & some outstanding saves from Grace Leonard made it tough for Bowdon to find the back of the net. The midfield of Helen Glanville, Anna Bates, Mel Brooks and Morgan Zwijnen ran their socks off to try and keep up with the speed of Bowdons attacking midfield. The wings of Cate Whitehouse, Jennie Hewitt, April Roome showed some elements of attacking flare and gave Molly Pheasey, Shami Ahmed and Lucy Morriss some cracking passes which almost succeeded. This game was very much a learning experience and depsite the score line being 9-0 at the final whistle, Crewe will come back fighting next week. The highlights from this weekend were watching Team GB gold medalist Sam Quek play beforehand and also for Izzy Brooks to call Helen Glanville ‘Chief’!!! Again depsite the score, Bowdon were a great team to play against and Crewe can definitely learn a lot from this experience. Bring on next weekend where we take on Winnington Park.

L3s v Bowdon 5s 2-2 Draw

Crewe Vagrants 3s hosted to Bowdon 5ths at a earlier time of 2:30pm; with first push back Crewe were committed and composed to the game from the get go. Lovely passing was made between the team and great determination to win the ball back to control the game in the first quarter. Crewe pressed and linked together well with some precision passing all over the pitch. Bowdon reacted and took the opportunity to go 1-0 up from an unfortunate tackle in the D to slip the ball into the left corner. We were determined to not let the score bother our team spirit in the game and true to form a quick turnaround from the midfields picking the ball up to pass onto Lily Gorman to charge down the pitch and into the D to hit an unstoppable shot past the Bowdon keeper to level the score. There was some excitement in the first half when Bowdon were rewarded a flick but a composed Amanda Kimber confidently cleared it to keep the score 1-1 at half time. Going into the second half both teams had ample opportunities to score but both sides defended well putting in crucial tackles when required including Crewe’s player of the match Tanya Downs who made some crucial hit outs which cut through the defensive midfield opposition up to the forwards to create some great chances into the D. Crewe were unlucky to go 2-1 behind from a reverse strike from the Bowdon captain but with less than two minutes to go Nova Wallace got a goal from a short corner and Amanda Kimber saved a crucial goal attempt seconds after just before the final whistle; a great result and well deserved point from a tough game.

L4’s v Sale Ladies 3’s 1-0 Loss

With spectators aplenty and Storm Freya lurking, the atmosphere was electric.
From the off, the Sale ladies were keen to get on the score sheet but we fended them off with vigour. Lots of short corners tested our resolve and success prevailed; allowing us to take fast hit-outs, with the ball careering up the pitch onto the sticks of goal-driven forwards. A misfortune in the D led to an opportunity for a poised Sale attacker which yielded their first and only goal.

Player of the match, Grita Vilutyte was most instrumental in the midfield, stopping danger in its tracks and redistributing the ball. Numerous opportunities in the Sale D were explored but despite best efforts, no conversions were made. Lauren Berresford, who was having a stormer of a game, had an unfortunate incident with a ball to the head and was substituted for the rest of the game. Alison Kellett made her mark in the sweeper position and was a force with which to be reckoned!

Without doubt, our best game yet; reaffirming our positive and experiential journey this season. An outing to Wrexham next Saturday for our penultimate game of the season.