Ladies’ 5s run rings round Aylesbury 2s

Hawks women’s 5s were delighted to be on home turf at fortress BRN against mid-table Aylesbury 2s this Saturday. Hawks 5s made the most of the exhibition (near) pitch and thrilled the crowd with a 6-0 victory over their opponents.

Thank you to our excellent umpires Jacqui and Charlie, and to Deborah for her videography skills, and our many spectators human and canine!

First half:

The Hawks team was a mixture of youth and experience which proved a perfect combination against the opposition. Best not to calculate our average age, especially on the forward line! Hawks opened with a strong run of play (“we don’t usually start as strongly as that” was the consensus on the side-line. More of this, please!) but were unlucky to miss a couple of opportunities to score in the first quarter.

Captain Susan set us the goal of playing a passing game, and using the width, and Hawks settled early into lovely flowy hockey with lots of quick passes in triangles. Sherene opened the scoring at 13 minutes (in her lucky 13 shirt!) with a speedy sweep from the left-hand post, followed by another left-post finish from Kim a few minutes later.

The Hawks defence countered everything Aylesbury threw at them with lots of great channeling and persistence, with great block tackles from Claire and enough breaks to keep Linda on her toes in goal. Phoebe denied the opposition the chance to run the ball up their right, and Jane was always on hand to clear the ball back to the Hawks midfield.  Hawks conceded a number of short corners but denied Aylesbury at every turn (we like to keep it interesting for the spectators).

The tireless work of Chloe and Masha in turning over the ball in midfield meant Hawks had plenty of confidence and opportunities in the D. Sherene and Kim made it another double at 23 and 24 minutes by finishing superbly-built team goals that started way back in the Hawks half, taking Hawks to 4-0 at half time.

Second half:

Aylesbury came back strongly and pressed Hawks effectively as the second half began, giving Monica plenty to do in the middle and stretching the game end to end. Chloe, Jemima, and Masha were relentless on the inner line, with Chloe’s determination to win the ball creating lots of turnover that allowed the Hawks team to keep the pressure on. Lydia was instrumental in getting the ball so consistently into the opposition’s D. Bea added some welcome pace up front and was denied a couple of great shots by the Aylesbury keeper. Rebecca delivered formidable passes into the D from the right and was unlucky not to score from a well-timed lead on to the right post.

The Hawks side’s confidence was rewarded with a series of short corners which resulted in Sherene’s third goal 18 minutes into the second half, and Bea pounced on a slick cross to earn a well-deserved goal and take the final score to 6-0.

Here’s the chat GPT bit: But the Hawks were far from satisfied. Their hunger for victory intensified. With each pass, they carved through Aylesbury’s defence. The forwards danced around defenders, their sticks whispering promises of goals.

Whispers indeed… no more goals were forthcoming, but Hawks still had plenty of work to do to keep a clean sheet, and the defence showed their versatility with both Susan and Jane storming up the pitch to support our attacking play. Kim was gifted a beautiful ball in the D and had a last attempt to up the scoreline, but Aylesbury’s keeper made a great save above her head to tip the shot over the top of the crossbar.

The final result was 6-0 and a very happy Hawks team.

Player of the Match:

Several players received nominations for their work rate, but POM went to Chloe Poulter who worked her socks off on the inner line and made massive contributions to both the Hawks attack and our defensive play. Well done Chloe!