Girls' U16 County Hockey Tournament, Lost

Date:
Thursday 8th October

Venue:
Repton. Tournament starts at 1.30pm.

Team:
P.Whittome, H.Celerier, K.Benn, M.Kelly, D.Croson, C.Graham, R.Cordingley, E.Gray, L.Clague, E.Renshaw, E.Clark, E.Gething Lewis, N.Brook

Result:
3rd Overall (Highfield 1-2, Lady Manners 6-2, Trent 1-5)

Match Report:
There were a number of hard lessons to be learned from the U16 County tournament. Repton made a characteristically slow start against a good Highfields side in the first game. Highfields made one early mistake in the first half, which gifted Rosie Cordingley with a goal but our opposition were quick to put this behind them and gradually increased the pressure on the Repton team. Rather than trying to capitalise on their lead, the Repton side backed off, letting the Highfields players have a clear run through the middle of the pitch. Without the Repton midfield and attack working back in support, the Repton defence were out-numbered on a number of occasions. Kate Benn’s work rate at Right Back was tremendous throughout the game but unfortunately even she was eventually beaten, allowing Highfields to go two goals ahead before the final whistle. After a disappointing first game, it looked worryingly like the rest of the tournament might follow the same pattern. Against Lady Manners, Repton once again started the scoring with a goal from Emily Gething Lewis at the left hand post. Concentration and work rate then dropped, allowing Lady Manners to deservedly fight their way back into the match and take the initiative with two goals in quick succession. The possibility of potentially losing every game in this tournament then finally spurred the Repton side into playing the sort of hockey we know they are capable of. Charlotte Graham switched into central midfield, generating some much needed pace, whilst Rosie Cordingley fed the ball effectively up to forwards Emily Renshaw and Emily Gething Lewis, allowing them both to score. Harriet Celerier continued to distribute the ball wide from centre back, which created better space to move the ball forwards and put pressure on the opposition’s D. Charlotte Graham scored twice, including a particularly strong shot from the edge of the D and Emily Renshaw completed the game with an impressive reverse stick hit into the top of the goal. Against an incredibly strong Trent side, Repton made a much more positive start, and despite going several goals down in the first ten minutes, their willingness to support each other and work as a defensive unit forced the opposition to work hard for their goals. Phoebe Whittome was resilient in defence, protecting the line to goal and refusing to be daunted by Trent’s neat passing and skilful individual play. Repton were five goals down at half time but came out in the second half determined to prevent the opposition scoring further. Hard tackles from Maddie Kelly and Kate Benn helped Repton bring the ball back out of their half and allowed Emily Gething Lewis to make a determined run on the break from which she found the corner of the goal. Repton kept a clean sheet in the second half of the Trent match, a worthy achievement given the strength and depth of this Trent side and a more positive note upon which to conclude the tournament. However, Repton must increase their work rate on the pitch and play as a single unit, both in attack and in defense, if they are to be successful in some tough fixtures ahead.