A full team in Thirsk!

Welcome back! After a summer off & lots of holidays (for some...Gail,Vicky…) we are back on it!

Our first match back was a biggy, we were really worried about the possibility that we wouldn’t be able to field a team. We were away at Thirsk, one of our furthest away matches. Last time we went to Thirsk, we could only get 9, you can read my really grumpy match report from that here.

It was soon clear that we didn’t need to worry at all, by Monday we had 15! 15!!!! A full team! Not only that but we had Janna standing by in case someone dropped! On the day 14 of us made the journey up to Thirsk, a fantastic turn out! We looked the business in our awesome new away kit.

The game started strong and fast, we we using the space well and getting the ball up to our forwards quickly. This initially caught Thirsk on the back foot and we were able to make some good strong attacks. Gail and Tina were working really well in the middle together. Our first GOAL of the game came from Gail taking advantage of a strong hit into the circle. (Opinions wanted here, I’m thinking of adopting the Olympic language, what's your thoughts?)

1-0 to Batley. We were definitely on a roll and continued to attack strongly. Jo took advantage of a scramble in the circle to fire the ball strongly into the back of the net 2-0 to Batley!

As halftime approached, Thirsk started to get to grips with our tactics and made a couple of attacks on goal. These were easily dealt with by Helen and our defence, even the time that Helen went to kick it, missed and completely confused the defender and attacker close by, meaning the ball rolled off for a 16. Nice work!

Halftime saw a 2-0 score line, we were pleased with the way we were playing. We knew that we had to keep up our energy, because there was a danger that we could concede if we lost focus.

With renewed energy, we started the second half. Midfield were working hard pushing the attack and keeping the ball up the field. We had lots of chances and eventually it was Ashleigh who was able to get the ball over the line for our third GOAL of the game, 3-0 to Batley.

We had got ourselves a few penalty corners, but not managed to score from any, we had gotten a few long corners out of them and almost always were able to keep up the attack. On the times that Thirsk broke, our defenders were ready and midfield were never far behind. Fretters was all over the field, and a real headache for Thirsk stopping every ball they tried to put through.

It was Vicky who got our fourth GOAL of the game, taking advantage of a missed strike in the circle and making it 4-0 to Batley!

Everyone was working really hard and keeping Thirsk from being able to make a dangerous attack, whilst continuing to break and look dangerous. Our final GOAL came in the last few minutes of the game when a strike from Tina was deflected in by a Thirsk defender.

The game ended 5-0 to Batley, a fantastic start to the season! MOM went to Fretters, but could have gone to any number of people today, the whole team played brilliantly!

Next week, we have Pickering at home and I need volunteers for the match report! (Not Vicky, she’s rubbish!)

#matchreport #hockey #win #batleyladieshc #batley