22nd April Match Reports

GMHA Team Match Report

REDDISH HOME IN ON SECOND PLACE

With second place still very much up for grabs in the Stockport Ladies Hockey League, Reddish were set to play the newly crowned champions of the league, Heaton, with only a win being good enough to keep pressure on Stockport who are also challenging for the runners-up spot.

Reddish knew what that had to do and started the game in a very positive manner. The ball was passed around effortlessly between the Reddish players as each team member looked confident on the ball. Reddish dominated the early stages preventing Heaton from getting close to the Reddish D, with interceptions from Adele at right back and strong challenges from Lucy Fairbrother in midfield. Reddish used their defensive skills and accurately passed the ball onto their attackers with Amber running down the right side of the pitch, teasing the Heaton backs with one of her constructive runs.

The constant attack from Reddish earned them a number of short corners. Consistent penalty corner set-ups have worked well for Reddish all season and this game the outcome was to be no different. The accurate passing transferred to this part of the field and Lucy Cook was on target once again for Reddish as she took the ball in her stride and struck it into the bottom right hand corner. Reddish were now leading with the score at one-nil and were looking to dominate further.

However Heaton were not crowned champions for no reason and they also displayed accurate passes with good cross field balls which split the Reddish defence but they were equal to the task. The long crosses into the Reddish D were met with tenacity by the defenders as they knew how precious this lead was!!

After encouraging words at half time from captain Mags, Reddish were ready to defend their lead. Heaton had other ideas though and earned a number of penalty corners at the start of the half as well as giving Reddish goal keeper Sarah lots of work to do with shots from all angles. The Reddish goal at the Heaton penalty corners was well protected; with Dunners getting her stick in the way and not her feet for once (!!) and Sarah keeping the ball from crossing the line with plenty of diving saves.

After soaking up the pressure, Reddish went back on the attack and with the defence pushing up to hold their line at half way, the forwards meant business. The halves, Charlie and Nat were playing well in building up the play and passing the ball to the forwards, who gladly took the opportunity to increase the Reddish lead. Jenny W pressured the keeper with runs from halfway and Cookie continued to shot on target. Yet the Heaton goalkeeper was to let no more goals go into the net and managed to keep the score at one-nil despite the constant pressure form the Reddish forwards.

The win means that Reddish will leapfrog Edgeley into second place for the time being and it looks as though it’s going down to the last game to see who will get the elusive second place position. Reddish played an exceptional game of hockey with lots of accurate passing and positive moves and will look to take this into the final game of the season.