Ladies 4s Match reports

The 4s went into today with a lot of excitement tinged with sadness. We were all so stoked to be playing as a team again but sad that it’ll be our team’s last league outing of the season due to numbers across the ladies section. 

However, we went into it with our usual mindset ramped up to 100%, there was dancing to cheesy songs the warm up with lots of laughs and smiles. Sadly Char is still unable to play so we couldn’t wind her up with them though 😝 

This led into a great game of hockey, Katy B kindly stepped into play goalie, and the rest of us set up in a very familiar fashion in front of her. Freya at sweeper, had a daft moment about telling Denise what to do 😂 But her and Denise were a solid central pairing at the back as always, with Jackie and Izzy either side putting in a shift! 

I found myself in CM unsurprisingly, with Charli on my right and Lila on my left; the runs forward and passes those two young ladies made were brilliant. We then had our classic family upfront trio of Jess, Sophie and Leanne to round off our side. The positioning and runs (in both directions) from these 3 were gorgeous and gave us lots of opportunities. With Beth and Hoppo subbing on all over the field, we looked like a cohesive team that was running and fighting hard for each other. 

All of this paid off for us when a run through from me opened up some space, with Sophie in the most perfect position to pass to and then slot it past their goalie in style!!

Apparently they scored 2 but we weren’t there to win, we were there to play a game we love with what our juniors affectionately call “their hockey family”🥰

We had a few moments that you can’t help but laugh at; Charli was set so solidly that she managed to “take out” 3 of the opposition on 3 separate occasions… I think they thought she’d move and she didn’t 😂 Leanne was in all the right places but managed to miss the ball a few times 😝 I was so focused on not swearing that some passes went wonky 🫣 and I’m sure we forgot a few times that Nat had kindly made the opposition up to 11, as we sent the ball directly to her a few times 🙈

I think I can speak for all the adults in the ladies 4s who have watched Charli, Sophie, Jess, Lila and Freya play over the last season and a bit, when I say proud doesn’t cover it 💜 They have grown into formidable players, and have huge promising hockey futures ahead of them, we all cannot wait to see them grow further in the ladies 2s and 3s. Some of the compliments I heard about the girls and the team today made me smile so wide 😁

Thank you to Twigg and Steph for umpiring 🙏🏼 fingers crossed for next season when we plan to be back even quirkier 😜

Walkover

Walkover

So Saturday marked the first game back of the season for everyone, but it was a bit of an unusual start for the Ladies 4s as they were against the Ladies 3s 🙃

Both teams were a little short for numbers but muddled through as everyone was just excited to be back on the pitch! 

We set up against an experienced 3s team with a rotating family trio as our front line, Leanne was definitely being told what to do by Sophie and Jess but they worked together beautifully!! So much so Jess made a gorgeous run through and slipped a beautiful pass to Sophie who slipped it in for the 4s goal of the game!! 

Lila and Charli played their parts down the right and left in the midfield; making determined runs forward and solid defensive plays as well. In the middle Siân muddled through, still perfecting the role and have big shoes to fill from Mrs Denise Gray, who is now our solid centre back leaving the team less lost. Alongside her at the back there was Jackie and Freya. Who you can tell have been playing together at the back for over a season now, as the 3 of them had a brilliant game with fluidity between them putting in a great defensive performance. 

To tie our team performance together, Hoppo our fearless leader, was our super sub, playing in whatever position was needed. Playing in multiple positions, she led with confidence, making sure we all knew what we were doing and throwing us back into the season with her signature hits!

A great start to the season, regardless of the score, and our juniors are looking as keen as ever to get stuck in. Great game ladies!