Girls' 2nd XI v Cheltenham

Date: Saturday 14th November - Depart at 11.40am

Venue: Cheltenham College - 2.15pm start

Team: Dunford, Lawrence, Jacques, Watson, Smale, Lamb, Barker, Brook, Cope, Burn, Parkinson, Davies (Unavailable - Matthews and Rauf)

Result: Won 4 - 0

Scorers: Barker (3), Davies

Match Report:  Conditions were not ideal - wet and very windy - and after a long journey it could have been expected that the Repton players would take time to settle into the match. Thankfully, as soon as the whistle went Repton played as well as usual and showed that they would give Cheltenham College a good game. Both sides played positive, attacking hockey and the battle of the midfield was just as important as it was against Uppingham on Tuesday. Repton scored within the the first ten minutes of the match, through Hannah Barker from a short corner, which helped to settle nerves. Cheltenham College continued to threaten and it was only when a very well worked passage of play resulted in Sophie Davies scoring an excellent goal that things were more calm! Leading 2-0 at half-time, the main priorities were to press the opposition better; man mark more effectively at the back and clear our lines quickly to avoid un-necessary risk - putting the pressure firmly on Cheltenham College. As it turned out, excellent defensive work created more opportunities for Repton on the counter-attack as the opposition tired. Hannah Barker scored two more goals - the first as a result of sustained attacking pressure and the other from another short corner routine, which was the last play of the match.

There were some great individual performances - Charlotte Jacques and Sophie Davies putting in their best performances of the term, whilst the Hannah's Parkinson and Barker were once again pivotal to the result. Alex Brook and Lucy Cope were assured in midfield, whilst Lucy Watson was very secure in defence. Overall though, this was an excellent team performance and this set of players continue to make really pleasing progress. Above all, it is their willingness to work hard for each other and implement ideas that are introduced in training that is especially satisying. Very well done!