Round up of all the scores and reports from the weekends rescheduled fixtures.
| Ladies | Mens |
|---|---|
| 2’s v Sudbury – 3-2 W 4’s v Broxbourne – 0-3 L 5’s v Cheshunt – 1-0 W 6’s v Colne – 5-1 W 7.s v Broxbourne – 1-2 L 8’s v Blueharts 2-0 W | 1’s v Blueharts – 1-3 L 2’s v Hertford – 4-0 W 3’s V Royston – 1-0 W 5’s v St Albans – 1-2 L 6’s v Shefford & Sandy – 0-1 L 7’s v Southgate Adelaide – 4-0 W |
Ladies
2’s v Sudbury 1’s (away)
3-2
Stortford got the year off to a winning start as they ended Sudbury’s unbeaten home record with a 3-2 away win thanks to a masterclass in finishing by hat trick hero Fiona Mulder. The win came at a cost though as they lost two key players to injuries.
Stortford were rocked early on as they lost Rowena Rickett in the opening minutes to a nasty facial injury. After a lengthy stoppage, the game restarted, Stortford had to reshuffle and found themselves behind early when a thunderous shot from Sudbury took a wicked deflection off a defenders stick, wrong footing the keeper and ending up in the top corner.
Stortford soon pulled one back, a lovely flowing move down the right hand side saw Nicky Bareham pull the ball back to Lucy Robinson, who laid it off for Fiona Mulder to slot home. A second followed, Mulder again, this time deflecting in after a superb run, beating two defenders, from Millie Andrews.
Sudbury were next to score, equalising through another defensive deflection ,again leaving the keeper stranded. Stortford lost another player to injury just before half time, defender Alexis Oakley turning her ankle.
Early in the second half saw keeper Lianne Warnell make a point blank save from Sudbury to keep the scores level, from then on the game was all Stortford. A short corner was cleared off the line by Sudbury before Mulder hit her hat trick, her short corner strike taking a deflection into the top corner. Excellent game management from Stortford saw them see out the final minutes and secure all three points, leapfrogging Sudbury into fourth place.
Special mention to player of the match Pilar Montu who put in an impressive performance in midfield.
4’s v Broxbourne 2’s
0-3
The ladies 4s had a disappointing start to January with a 3-0 loss to Broxbourne 2s in their rescheduled game. With the two sides battling to avpid relegation, Stortford put up a valiant fight but Broxbourne were far more hungry for the win and took all three points to move themselves up the table.
5’s v Cheshunt 1’s
1-0
It was a hard fought game by both sides looking to start the year strong. Cheshunt made a fast start to the game, Olivia Brierley stepping in to gain possession back allowing Stortford to take control of the game. Cheshunt had a few short corners through the first half, but Catherine Clune, Nadia El-Zanfaly and Charlotte Petit were solid defensively and allowed us to break quickly once they’d regained possession. The girls continued to battle well through the first half of the game, going into the half equal at 0-0.
Starting the second half strong, Alice Lowe and Eva Sanderson gave great width and attacking opportunities by driving down the wings. This lead to Jess Ashford-Green running the ball along the baseline and passing it through the area to Eva, who struck home 4 minutes into the 2nd half to give Stortford a 1-0 lead. Stortford stayed strong through the second half, applying more attacking pressure with Cheshunt unable to break through Stortfords defence
A well deserved win by Bishops Stortford 5’s winning 1-0 with PoM awarded to Olivia Brierley
6’s v Colne
5-1
A bright and chilly Saturday morning greeted the 6’s on their return after the Christmas break for their postponed match against Colne, placed 8th in the table. Colne came out with an attacking start and a 5 up front formation, giving them a very strong start. But Stortford soon settled into the swing of the game and with some great passing play reaped their reward with a cracking strike from Jo Newman at the 20th minute. Firmly in the groove, stortford continued to take the lead with a goal from Amelia Leach off a short corner in the 25th and another in the 27th after a super drive up the left wing from Amelia to provide her 2nd of the match The second half started with stortford still firmly in control and a screaming shot from Jo Newman which pinged off the post. Not to be put off, stortford continued to play their game and another short corner followed with a conversion from Jo Newman. Vicky Cox completed the scoring, Colne pulled one back towards the end of the match. The final scoreline was 5-1
7’s v Broxbourne 4’s
1-2
It was a cold Sunday 3 pm pushback for Bishop Stortford 7s versus Broxbourne 4s a postponed game from before Christmas. Stortford won the toss and took the pushback and despite an early attacking run Broxbourne counter-attacked and with two players behind the defence converted a strike into a lead in the first four minutes of the match. The second quick break from Broxbourne after the restart was cleared by Mel Dummet however immediate pressure back in the D resulted in a short corner ably saved by player of the match goalie Lis Foote.
First subs rotation at 8 minutes kept Stortford working hard to thwart Broxbourne attacks with Denise Clark and Naomi Holloway clearing the ball time and again trying to create Stortford counter-attacks.. Sarah Tough and Lilly Mobbs worked together down the right with attacking mid Scout Neville making fantastic runs down the middle Stortford kept trying to equalise but to no avail. Constant busy action in the D eventually resulted in a couple of Stortford attacking short corners but at half-time the score remained 1-0.
Ladies club captain Lori Morrison who was supporting the bench gave a hearty half-time talk encouraging the team to communicate more, use the width, keep working in triangles, and praised the one strike shots that had been taken. The team went out thinking positively and looking to work hard to get the game back in Stortford’s favour.The second half continued much is the first with play moving from end to end quite regularly with attacks and counter-attacks. Kim Foster worked hard on the left channelling Broxbourne players along the line and into the corner and Martha Trist and Laura Batchelor, sharing the defensive mid position, closed down attacks and sent the ball back up for Stortford challenges. Savannah Taylor worked hard up front making some great run which just missed connection for conversion into goals.Eventually constant pressure in the Broxbourne D resulted in a saved shot by Emily Wood ricocheting to Mary Sanders who popped it in behind the goalie for the equaliser to Stortford. It took to 58 minutes but it was 1-1. Could Stortford hang on til the final whistle?
It looked even better – Stortford were delighted to think that they got a second goal when Mary Sanders quickly managed to cross the line again after the restart. Sadly the ball had hit a foot at the top of the D and the award of a goal was quickly over turned once the umpires had aligned.
Stortford continued to look to hang on for the last 10 minutes however a break by Broxbourne at around 64 minutes resulted in a second goal despite numerous clearances from Kim Durbin, Denise Clark and Lis Foote. The ball eventually found it’s way behind the keeper to cross the line having glanced off the far post. With two minutes to go the chance to even the score was limited and the game closed 2-1 to Broxbourne.
8’s v Blueharts 6’s
2-0
Ladies 8s played home at Hockerill hosting ladies Blueharts 6s who sat just one place above in East Ladies 6SW league.
The away team came out strong, dictating play and placing the ladies 8s defence team immediately under pressure. The away team continued to dictate play for the first 20 minutes of the match, causing BSHC L8s to become reactive in their game. Finally finding their feet, ladies 8s were able to push ahead and had a number of attempts at goal which didn’t quite make their mark The first half ended with a goalless draw.
BS8’s came out in the second half refocused. A fantastic and near impossible save on goal, by Lis Foote saved L8s from falling behind. This only regrouped the team, with two further attempts at goal from Blueharts stopped by Amy Stiles and Amy Duffy
With amazing team effort, a goal at 38 mins was awarded to Jemima Osmond. Riding high with confidence, play was immediately picked up and with some strong sweeps utilising the pitch BS8’s scored the second goal, again from Jemima.
POM was awarded jointly to Jemima Osmond and Lis Foote.
Mens
1’s v Blueharts 1’s
1-3
Looking for a better start to the year than Churchill’s death in 1965, Stortford set out to put a stamp on the league and get the second half of their campaign off to a flyer
They started off in the same rich vain of form that landed them in the top half of the table over Christmas. With more than 5 attempts at goal in the first 10 minutes, it seemed if the blues were able to convert, it would lead to a convincing victory.
Unfortunately, the hockey brains had been left behind and replaced with memories of Bucks Fizz and Christmas Lunch.
Albeit dominating the first half, a common theme began to embed itself into the afternoon – lazy tackling. Getting away fairly lightly with only one green card in the first half, we went into the break 0-0. Much to the disgust of all 15 players and 2 coaches.
But a stern telling off didn’t seem to rally the troops as desired and more poor tackling lead to the opposition winning (Stortford giving away) short corner after short corner, almost inviting the opposition to score. After a few spectacular saves from Oliver Foot in goal, the inevitable happened – “thud”, as the ball dissected Footy and Wheaton, clattering into the backboard.
1-0 Blue Herts it was – and on a day where The Blues weren’t firing in all cylinders, it was going to take some work to turn things around.
That goal did seem to light a small fire under the boys and lead to more focussed hockey and more clinical hockey with regard to shots on target and winning corners in the final third.
Stortford too had their flurry of corners and then it was back to the good old days, with Wheaton finding the bottom corner as he is accustomed to. Sparking a roar from 15 men, 2 coaches and hundreds of fans on the side lines.
However, for some reason, Stortford took their foot off the gas again which lead to more pressure in the final third from Blue Herts and, as a result, more penalty corners.
One of which fundamentally summed up their tactics for the game – act like footballers and try to manufacture as many fouls as possible by throwing themselves on the floor and whining. Craig Smith made a strong but good tackle on the top of the D, of which the umpire whose nose it was under, gave another corner. Hey ho, could have gone either way.
What followed was awfully confusing… the other umpire, who was at least 67 meters away on the other side of the field, decided to hobble down to the action end and hold a conference. As what he “saw” was very different. After a minute of confusion, apologies from the opposition for diving and stubbornness from said umpire, the decision was made to award a penalty flick, much to the bemusement of the entirety of Hertfordshire! The formalities take place and that side of Hertfordshire lead 2-1.
Stortford let it get the better of them and heads dropped all over the park. Frustration continued to set in and cards continued to follow. Leading to much of the final 20 minutes being played with 10 men.
Pressure mounted and eventually lead to the final nail in the coffin – a third goal, this time from open play and well deserved.
A hard loss to take for the boys but with half the league potentially getting relegated at the end of the season, they need to jump back on the horse and prepare to show Letchworth what they’re made of next week.
2’s v Hertford 2’s
4-0
Scorers – Jeff Dummett, Tom Nash, Sam Bampton, Aaron Watts.
Stortford Mens 2s kicked off 2024 with a win away at Hertford. Starting brightly it wasn’t long until the visitors won a penalty corner, converted by Jeff Dummett to take an early lead. The second goal came on the break, after a deft touch from Sam Bampton released Tom Nash, who expertly worked around the keeper to send Stortford into the break 2-0 up.
The second half saw more of the same from Stortford, with strong passing moves up the pitch. A penalty corner strike from Sam Bampton brought the third goal. Hertford had real attacking threat with pace up front, but Ryan Cruwys managed every chance. The final goal came from Aaron Watts, utilising his indoor prowess at a penalty stroke, sending a rocket high into the roof of the net.
