It was a case of mixed fortunes for Holcombe’s hockey sides over the weekend.
13/11/16 12.30pm
Investec Women’s National Premier League
Bowdon Hightown HC 3-3 Holcombe HC
Scorers: Bowdon Hightown HC: Lily Wolstenholme, Lisa Garbutt (x2)
Holcombe HC: Sarah Jones (x2), Ellie Watton
Bowdon HC, Bowdon
After securing their fifth win of the season at Holcombe Park last week, Holcombe women made the long trip north to Bowdon Hightown on the weekend, looking to keep the pressure on early pace-setters Surbiton.
Perennial Premier League outfit Bowdon have had a difficult start to their campaign; winning just one of their opening 7 fixtures.
With Holcombe claiming maximum points in the fixture last season with a strong team performance, Coach Kevin Johnson was looking for a repeat of last week’s goal-scoring rush.
Early in the contest, it appeared that his side had listened to his requests. A blistering opening period saw the visitors take an early two goal lead courtesy of two open play goals from the talismanic Sarah Jones.
Some fantastic link play from Jones and Flor Zapulla down the right channel released Jones in the circle to fire into the bottom left corner of the goal to give Holcombe an early advantage.
Shortly after, the lead was doubled through similar circumstances.
Great small unit play from the Kent side again found Jones with space in the Bowdon circle to calmly guide the ball into the bottom right corner.
As the half wore on, Bowdon began to grow into the contest and some bad challenges saw the game escalate with cards being shown to both sides.
With such a ferocious end to the first period, the second half exploded into life with the hosts utilising an aggressive press to force a series of turnovers in the Holcombe ranks. The Kent side maintained the majority of possession but looking to force the ball through contact gave Bowdon a series of opportunities as they wrestled back the momentum.
Holcombe struggled to cover the loss of Sarah Jones, who was side-lined for the entire second half with a hamstring injury and it wasn’t long until the hosts took full advantage. A brilliant individual effort from youngster Lily Wolstenholme saw her carry the ball forward at pace before lifting over the on-rushing Aurora Mears in the Holcombe goal.
Bowdon continued to pressure and it wasn’t until the final 10 minutes that the game was thrown wide open with 3 goals in 5 minutes.
A cross from the left wing for the hosts saw Lisa Garbutt get the finishing touch to level the scores seven minutes from time.
Two minutes late, Holcombe regained the advantage with Ellie Watton providing the finishing touch to a well worked penalty corner routine from captain Steph Elliott, only for the hosts to immediately respond with another crashed ball form the right wing for Garbutt to apply the finishing touches again to level the scores at an incredible 3-3.
Speaking after the game, side-lined Emma Trunks of Holcombe said; “Due to injuries, a lot of players were utilised in a position they weren’t accustomed to. We need to make sure our preparation is spot on for games like these and it just shows how competitive this league is with a 2 goal cushion never being safe.”
Next week, Holcombe entertain the University of Birmingham at Holcombe Park in a 12pm fixture on Saturday.
12/11/16 1.30pm
NOW:Pensions Men’s National Premier League
Brooklands MU HC 0-6 Holcombe HC
Scorers; Brooklands MU HC:
Holcombe HC: Sam Ward, Gareth Andrew, Robert Field, Aaron Cheema, Iain Lewers, Jonty Robinson
Brooklands HC, Cheshire.
Holcombe began their long away double-header this weekend with a trip north to Manchester to face Brooklands MU.
Brooklands, having pushed for a play-off spot right up until the end of the last campaign, have struggled at the start of this season.
Early losses left the hosts rooted to the foot of the table before consecutive wins against Loughborough and Canterbury has harboured valuable points and confidence before their clash with the current league leaders.
Holcombe, struggling with unavailability, saw them go into the fixture with just 15 players as they faced a demanding two games inside 24 hours.
The game started at a frenetic pace as Brooklands looked to assert their physical brand of hockey on Holcombe. A lively crowd looked to unsettle the visitors and it took all of 20 minutes for Holcombe to break them down.
A lightning fast break from Nick Bandurak and Sam Ward saw them go end-to-end with Sam Ward supplying the finishing touch to put the visitors ahead.
Shortly after and Holcombe had doubled their advantage as Gareth Andrew converted from close range. A well taken penalty corner from Robert Field was slotted home low to Chris Scott’s left to put the visitors in a commanding position at the break.
The second half saw Brooklands look to attack the Kent side in an attempt to find a way back into the game. With George Pinner remaining quiet in the Holcombe goal, counter attack opportunities opened up which Holcombe duly despatched.
Some aggressive tackling and play from the hosts looked to negate Holcombe’s attacking prowess but the league leaders’ brand of aggressive attacking play proved too much for the Manchester side to handle.
Chances from Iain Lewers and Bandurak were cleared off the line before a quick transfer high up the pitch saw Aaron Cheema receive the ball on the right with just one man to beat. He duly obliged before finishing on his reverse stick low to Scott’s left for his first National Premier League goal.
Iain Lewers converted a penalty stroke high into the top left corner three minutes later after Sam Ward’s penalty corner strike hit a defender on the line to secure Holcombe’s fifth.
With time running out, Jonty Robinson waltzed down the middle of the pitch, eliminating two Brooklands defenders before unleashing an unstoppable reverse stick strike high into the top right corner to add the finishing touch to a dominant away performance.
The result sees the Kent outfit retain top-spot in the National Premier League, opening up a 3-point gap to second placed Wimbledon.
Holcombe didn’t concede a penalty corner in another commanding defensive display and speaking after the game, Tom O’Keefe was pleased with their brand of attacking hockey; “They looked to push the tempo from the early minutes but in doing so opened up the game for us to do what we do best in transition. Add on some really good finishes from the lads and we walked away feeling very good to have got a win from what has always been a tough away fixture.”
Next weekend, Holcombe return to league action with another away trip to Nottingham-based Beeston HC on Sunday, who currently sit third in the league.
13/11/16 12.30pm
The Hockey Association Challenge Cup; Round 3
Beeston HC 3-3 Holcombe HC
(Beeston win 4-3 APS)
Scorers; Beeston HC: Mark Gleghorne, Oli Willars, Elliott Hibbel.
Holcombe HC: James Day (x2), Barry Middleton.
Highfields Sports Centre, Nottingham.
Less than 23 hours after beginning their league tie at Brooklands, Holcombe began their third round tie away at Beeston in The Hockey Association Challenge Cup.
With Beeston sitting just behind Holcombe in the National Premier League, the undoubted tie-of-the-round saw a large crowd in attendance as the Nottingham Hockey Centre hosted Beeston ladies in their Conference clash as well as another third round tie of Brooklands visiting Nottingham Trent University.
With the two sides repeating the fixture in exactly seven days in the National Premier League, both squads used the opportunity to size up their opponents in the knockout clash.
With the game being used as an opportunity to increase time together as a squad, a number of rotational changes to the starting line-up and positions for Holcombe gave the hosts the ascendency for the opening phase.
The Nottingham side moved the ball around well and were aggressive in their out-letting to put the Kent outfit under pressure.
Holcombe weathered the storm and began to grow into the game, creating opportunities of their own. Simon Hujwan in the Beeston goal was called upon to deny Sam Ward and Robert Field early chances as the momentum began to turn the way of the Kent side.
Before the break, James Day converted Holcombe’s first penalty corner of the day to give the visitors a half time lead.
The second half began at a blistering pace with Beeston raising their intensity.
An unfortunate slip from Dan Fox in the Holcombe defence gave Beeston their first penalty corner of the half. With his drag flick striking defender Ali Bray on the line, Mark Gleghorne stepped up to convert the penalty stroke to level the scores.
Shortly after and the hosts found themselves in front.
A well worked penalty corner routine saw Oli Willard convert on the left-slip to rapturous celebrations. Holcombe responded almost immediately; a well worked long corner saw Barry Middleton slap home from the top of the circle to restore parity.
As time entered the final ten minutes, Day converted his second penalty corner of the afternoon to give Holcombe the lead for the second time in the contest. Beeston then responded instantly with a well-worked move down the left-hand side that saw Elliott Hibbel score on the turn to tie the scores for a third time.
There was still time for a late Holcombe penalty corner to be well saved by Hujwan in the Beeston goal before the game ended at 3-3 in regulation time.
With Cup regulations negating the use of extra time or the commonly used penalty shuttles, the game was decided by the lottery of penalty strokes.
George Pinner saved from Mark Gleghorne and goals from Iain Lewers and Robert Field put Holcombe in the ascendency before Hujwan saved from Day to restore parity.
Nick Bandurak scored to send the contest to a decisive 5th taker before Harry Trusler had his penalty saved by Hujwan to spark wild celebrations from the home side and their crowd.
As an effective utilisation of resources for Holcombe, the end of the cup run hadn’t dampened the spirits of the group. Speaking afterwards, Tom O’Keefe was still please with the weekend’s work; “It’s always tough when, out of any team from any league in the country, you draw the teams sitting second and then third in the National Premier League but we got what we wanted out of our cup run.”
“The most important thing this weekend was to pick up the points in the league yesterday which allows us to push for our return to Europe next season. We entered the cup to spend more time together as a group and have been able to achieve that with this weekend away.”
Pictures supplied by www.groutphotography.co.uk