Ladies
1’s v Spencer 2-4
2’s v Bedford 0-0
3’s v Stevenage 3-0
4’s v Berko & Hemel 5-0
5’s v Stevenage 3-0
6’s v Witham 9-2
7’s v Bedford 6-0
8’s v 9’s 6-5
Mens
1’s v Blueharts 3-3
2’s v St Alban’s 0-10
3’s v Bedford 4-2
4’s v Luton Town 3-1
5’s v West Herts 0-4
6’s v Rickmansworth 4-0
1’s v Spencer
Newly promoted Stortford Ladies have found the going very tough in the Vitality National League, and once again experienced disappointment failing to hold a lead and convert a promising position into a victory.
In many games this season Stortford have started brightly but playing with a new look formation the team took time to settle and it was only some last ditch defending by Kate Robinson and good work from ‘keeper, Alison Martyn, again on top form, that kept the game goalless.
Then against the run of play a swift move involving Gracie Cowan created an opportunity that Abbie Barrett converted. Moments later Stortford produced a brilliant move that led to one of the goals of the season. Alexis Oakley with an incisive cross-field pass picked out Pearl Mason-Smith who made rapid progress down the left before finding Barrett on the edge of the circle and her acute pass fed Sally Powell who showed great composure to round the diving keeper and slot home for Stortfords second.
Spencer were stunned but responsed with two goals of their own to leave the sides locked 2-2 at half time. In the second period the visitors enjoyed much more possession and their sustained pressure saw them take the lead mid-way through the half. Stortford did not provide their usual threat but Martha Hoult, (Player of the Day) combined well with two youngsters, the impressive Gracie Cowan and Rori Fletcher, opening up the visitors’ defence and forcing a short corner but the Spencer defence held firm. In the final minute Spencer sealed their victory with a well taken goal.
Coach Nick Prowse can draw comfort from the fact his team has been ahead in five of their nine fixtures but there is much work to do, when the season resumes at the start of February, if they are to turn their season around.
2’s v Bedford 3’s
Stortfords winning streak came to an end, but they remain unbeaten following an entertaining 0-0 draw away at second placed Bedford.
The hosts provided a much tougher opposition than Stortford have faced over recent weeks with the game flowing from end to end. Both sides enjoying their share of possession but Bedford having the better chances. Player of the match Swanny put in some crucial tackles in defence and a goal line clearance, whilst keeper Lianne Warnell was kept busy. Stortfords best chances of the game came from Lucy Robinson and Nicky Bareham, both shooting narrowly over the bar. Two green cards in quick succession saw Stortford have to ride out a spell with 10 players, but strong defensive work from Beans and Malli kept Bedford at bay. Both teams had chances to nick the tie, but the clock ran down and the match finished 0-0. Donkey of the match going to Ro for picking out an aerial and directing it straight into her head. The point means this weeks opponents have narrowed the gap on Stortford to five points, another hugely important match for Stortford this season.
3’s v Stevenage 2’s
An important win for the ladies 3s to keep them in 2nd place in the table (3SW). The home side dominated the game from start to finish. Jen Pearce opened the scoring from a short corner when Lizzie Motson pushed out a fast and accurate ball for Jen to strike beautifully into the corner. Not complacent Stortford opened the 2nd half with energy & vigour and it was not long before Issy Hatfield made a beautiful run, making a pinpoint pass to the penalty spot where Jen Pearce was waiting to put away goal number 2. The home side barely left Stevenage’s end in the 2nd half and the Stevenage keeper made numerous excellent saves to keep them in the game. Issy Hatfield however sealed the victory with a cracking goal with about 5 minutes to go. Excellent team work again this week and a beautiful 3-0 win to put 3 more points on the board.
Archdeaconesses (4’s) v Berkhamsted & Hemel
The Archdeaconesses travelled to Berkhampstead for an early game. Unfortunately, without a keeper, the ADs had eleven on-field players. They were a little phased by this at the start of the game when Berkhampstead pressured early. However, Berkampstead were unable to penetrate through the ADs heroic defence.
The ADs regrouped and it wasn’t long before they were on top with a cracking deflection into goal from Zoe Barford, after the ball was blasted into the D by Paula Frenzel.
Berkampstead soon realised that the ADs wouldn’t be a push over without a keeper when Lisa Woodrow scored the second goal off a rebound from Zoe Barfords initial shot.
2-0 at half time and the ADs were buoyant going into the second half. Berkhampstead came out strong and made a few D entries. However, the ADs great defence line of Ros Brown, Helen Perry, Kess Levy, Rachael Hickman and Lori McLeish kept them at bay – even making a couple of on-the-line saves from short corners.
Three more goals followed in the second half – one from Pilar Montu in open play, one from Paula Frenzel – a brilliant strike from top D off a short corner – and finally Hannah Wynne smashed the ball in the goal, from a pass in from Rachael Hickman from beyond the 25.
Another great team effort, and convincing win, and the ADs remain 4 points clear at the top of the table.
5’s v Stevenage
Ladies 5 vs Stevenage 4 was a home match today. Stevanage were currently 3rd so we were set up ready for a challenging match. Everyone played an excellent game and worked well as a team. We played very hard and despite some aggression from the other team we managed to keep the ball up at their D for the majority of the game. Three amazing goals scored by Amelia, Charlotte and Zoe, two goals were scored in the first half and one in the second. It was a 3-0 win to us! The player of the match was given to Alana however there were many votes across the team given to Nadia, Zoe, Charlotte, Alice, Livvy, Lis, Elizabeth and Laura all for great play and enthusiasm. Well done to everyone!
Acolytes v Witham
It was a home match this weekend for the Acolytes with the sun shining and positive vibes from all the players. The ladies were ready for it. As the whistle went for the start of play the girls were off to a good start seeing the ball in the attacking D. It was only 4 mins into the game where we saw the first goal, Witham had a very lucky break into the D and the Acolytes were 0-1 down. Lis went into do an amazing save but was unlucky and the ball went in. She gave the team some positive coaching from the goal and gave the Acolytes more energy to go and win it back.
It wasn’t long before the first converted short corner. Jo N received a strong injection from Beth to make the game 1-1. Now the Acolytes had to step up their game and win it back. Witham got the ball and put pressure on in our defensive half and with a lucky break down their right and a sneaky slip into the D they won their first short corner. This built up a tense moment for the defence as they knew it had to be cleared to keep the score to a draw….. The acolytes cleared from the top of the D and the ball was quickly back in the possession of the Acolytes where they went in with a hard attack with Marni taking the next goal to make it 2-1 to Acolytes..
3 Minutes later Witham had scored to make it 2-2. Lis used her hand pad to knock the lifted ball down but they were lucky to get it in.
Some beautiful hockey passes down the pitch saw Jo S and Marni in the D putting pressure on their goalie and 3 mins later saw Jo S score a beauty and then 5 mins before the end of the first half Savannah got her first goal of the season for us..
As the whistle blew for half time we were ahead 4-2 with goals from Jo N, Marni, Jo S, Savannah.
We went into the second half as if it was 0-0. Within 7 mins Marni found the back of the net for her brace. A lovely pass from Eliza crossed the D to Jo N who collected it and with a 1 touch scored again. During the match there were some amazing drives down to the base line where the forwards had so many chances – the Witham goalkeeper was out and defending the goal brilliantly (earning herself their PoM). With the goalie almost lying on the ball an over enthusiastic Acolytes player was so engrossed to get another goal she was given a green card and 2 minutes on the bench. A goal scoring opportunity from a short corner was prevented by a Witham chin leading to the award of a penalty flick to Stortford. After a quick discussion Jo N stepped up to the spot and she went on to successfully convert it. Well done. 6-2. Whilst the team carried on with just 10 players, the forwards put a lot of pressure on Witham defence scooping up many of the 16s with great passes from Lea, Beth, Eliza and Charlie The final 3 goals being scored by Jo N for her hat-trick, and not to be left out a final brace for Kim Foster. As the final whistle was blown the Acolytes had won 9-2
It was a lovely passing game and a great team effort which was seen in the POM annotations – 5 players all receiving 2 votes with Captain Naomi having to do a casting vote for the player – Jo Sullivan. Well done to Beth,Catherine, Eliza, and Savannah, and the rest of the Acolytes: thank you for playing some lovely hockey today. Well done to you all.
Ladies 7’s v Bedford
Another fantastic 6-0 win at Bedford HC for Stortford ladies 7s who are riding the top of their table and are 6 points clear of their closest opposition.
The 7s got off to a sluggish start, the first goal came in the 17th minute from midfielder Emma Jaymes, with forward Alice Taylor scoring in the 23rd minute. The 7s were then in their stride and Bedford couldn’t breach our defences, the next great goal came from forward Jo Thompson in the 30th minute leaving the 7s 3-0 up at half-time. The second half started with the 7s taking control of the game again and with a 2nd goal from Jo Thompson in the 44th minute and another by forward Kate Barham in the 47th minute. The Bedford home team had their tails between their legs, but resisted further attacks until a blinding goal was scored by forward Caz Greenall in the 68th minute
Men’s
1’s v Blueharts
Bishops Stortford Men’s 1s returned to the fortress fresh from a rest week for a game against Blueharts 2s, which ended in a 3-3 draw.
Stortford began with an aggressive press and set the tone for the game creating goal scoring opportunities and rarely allowing the Blueharts team to leave their own half in possession.
From these attacking plays Stortford’s goals were scored, with two from Jon Taylor and one by Ali Charlton who beat their men in the D with some tidy skills to get shots away.
In response the Blueharts team were able to get a short corner after a deflection from a cross into the D. This narrowed the scoreline with the Stortford still holding the lead.
In the second half Stortford went down to 10 men with a 15 minute yellow for Craig Smith. This caused Blueharts to ramp up the pressure, but Stortford responded well with a high energy half court press. Ultimately after a second yellow card was awarded to Ollie Plummer for a clean sliding tackle Blueharts were able to break through the Stortford defenses and equalised to bring the scores level.
3’s v Bedford 4’s
A quickfire brace from Toby Warnes helped Stortford to a collectors item of a win away at Bedford on Saturday. Both teams started a little sloppily and it was Bedford that went ahead on 10 minutes after some statuesque marking from Stortford allowed a player free at the far post to score. This shocked Stortford into life and they started to dominate possession and territory and were level on 20 minutes after a superb crash ball from Aidan McMahon was deflected into the roof of the net by Paul Tomlin on his reverse and the half finished level. The second half became a more open affair with both teams attacking and trying to counter on each other, but it was Stortford who looked the more dangerous from these exchanges utilising their pace on the counter. Soon they were ahead when Toby Warnes broke at pace and rounded the keeper to make it 2:1 and then followed this up with an almost identical break 5 minutes later to make it 3:1. Bedford battled back and forced a short corner which they scored at the second attempt after the initial strike was well blocked. Before any nerves could start to jangle though, Stortford broke away again and sored a 4th through Luke Farmer. Despite a late gaping miss from Bedford at a short corner Stortford managed the final minutes comfortably to see out a rare victory at Bedford which leaves the 3’s clear in 3rd in the table
6’s v Rickmansworth
Bishop Stortford took on third in the table Rickmansworth at Hockerill, knowing that they were in a tough contest. Thanks to a strong press and high energy, they dominated the first half scoring from a short corner through Marcus Taylor.
Into the second half they regrouped and despite new vigour from the Ricky team, Stortford pressed and developed an excellent passing game with Charlie Tucker once again, providing penetration on the right.
But Marcus Taylor received the player of the match award for his solid defence, distribution and scoring his second goal from a short corner.
Goals from Joe Clune and Theo Schmidt took the game beyond Rickmansworth’s reach. Stortford are starting to work together to push for the upper end of the league.
