4th VII v Trent

Date: Saturday 16th January

Venue: HOME: 2.00pm start

Team:

A Cartlidge
J Stewart
L Clague
S Griffiths
H Merritt
H Burn 
Sophie Moorcroft    
Wiebke Green 

Result: L27-9

Match Report:

In common with many Repton VIIs today, we were not only facing our first fixture of the term, following minimal training owing to the disruptive weather, we also were lucky to get a team out at all – at 11:00 today we only had five players – so I should like to record my gratitude here to Wiebke Green and Sophie Moorcroft for stepping into the breach at such short notice.

Undeterred by this potentially unsettling background to the game, we started positively, with some quick passing leading to the first goal being scored by Repton. Trent soon started to dominate, however, as their tall and increasingly metronomic GS and GA found their stride, and their defence made it very hard for us to get close to the basket; the first quarter ended 5-3 to Trent, and I’m afraid that that was as close as we managed to get to them throughout the game. There were many positives: we never let our heads drop, showing the ability to move the ball quickly up the court; Jess Stewart, Alex Cartlidge and Wiebke Green all made some important and impressive interceptions in the middle third to keep us in the game; Sophie Moorcroft and Sophie Griffiths showed much potential in front of the net; Hannah Merritt, stepping in at GK, won warm praise from Trent’s coach. Finally, and perhaps most tellingly, having conceded 19 goals in the middle quarters, steely determination, teamwork and focus kept Trent down to three in the last.

Trent were an efficient, quick and vertically gifted team, and did not make unforced errors on which for us to capitalise, and this was one of the those occasions when one has to recognise that we were up against a superior side; we do, however, need to work on several areas, primarily keeping possession. Too often we were panicked into making passes too quickly, too long or to players who were marked, giving the ball away when other options – and more time – had been available. We also felt pressured into shooting from range, as our incursions into Trent’s D became more limited, and need to work the ball around the edge of the D more to put the GS and GA into stronger positions from which to shoot, to increase our percentages.

All of this can be achieved, however, and the spirit showed today strongly suggests that the team has the character and ability to work on these areas to maximise their potential: let’s really go for it this week!