Hockey: U11 Boys Regional Finals

After success in the County Championships earlier in the term and also a terrific day at IAPS last week winning their group, the U11 team looked to continue their progress this term at the Regional Finals held at Greshams School. First up was Town Close, who were a side we had not come across yet this term. After a very evenly contested first half the boys dug deep to find a goal which came midway through the first half after a brilliant break from Haydn Macaulay with Max Russell applying the finishing touch. The final score was 1-0 which got us off to the best possible start.

We were then straight back on against the team who came 2^nd in Essex; Edwards House.

It was a very even first half with chances at both ends and some great work from Hugo Lewis but it was the opposition who scored the two goals in the first half. Knowing that we needed to score the next goal to have a chance of getting a result the boys fought incredibly hard with some superb defending by Finn James and cracking saves from William Gladwell. As the second half progressed more players were pushed higher up the pitch, which created gaps in our defence. Edwards House unfortunately capitalised on this and score a third goal so leaving the final score at 3-0.

The boys then had a match off before their next game against Bedford B. We were looking to bounce back after our last defeat, and we did just that. Some great interplay between Theo Salsby, Freddy Heldreich and Max Russell saw us take a 3 goal lead at half time. The second half saw many chances being created that were unable to be converted, but James Hardy did some hard work to set up some of those chances. The score against Bedford B ended 4-1.

We were then straight on again against a St. Faith’s side that we had lost to in our first match in the IAPS the week before. Here it was St. Faiths who put us on the back foot by scoring first, just as they had done last week. What changed this time around is that everybody kept their heads up and still believed that they could come out on top. After a lot of play in the middle of the field the ball broke loose to Max Russell who converted quite brilliantly to equalise just before half time. Going into the second half it was clear to see that the momentum was with us and it was just a case of taking our chances. Midway through the second half some great interplay from Harry Williamson and Haydn Macaulay [who passed 2 defenders] meant that we were able to take the lead. We hung on to the victory (2-1) to the delight of the players, the parents and Mr. Wright.

After another break our final game was against a Bishop’s Stortford side who were IAPS champions from the week before.  It was therefore interesting to see how our boys reacted. Some great hockey was played by both sides with some end to end action and short corners for both sides. But, after a hard fought battle it ended scoreless.

We finished joint 2^nd in our table but just lost out on goal difference to Bishop’s Stortford to finish in a very respectable position.

Overall it was a fantastic day.  Well done to the boys for again continuing to progress and also a massive thanks to all of the parents who came to watch.  I think the support shown was incredible and meant a lot to Mr Wright, Mr Cutting and all of the participating children.