Both the mens and ladies leagues are now in action with a mixed bag of results for Newark Hockey Club this week but with some outstanding performances from the younger members...
Ladies 1s
2-0 win away against Players
Newark Ladies 1s travelled to Nottingham Players on Saturday and came away with all 3 points thanks to a brace of goals by Vicky McMunn. The opposition, promoted into the Premier Division this year, were not going to lie down and accept a loss. They worked Newark hard throughout the game. McMunn's goals, both reverse strikes which wrong-footed the home goalkeeper, separated the teams at half-time, and despite some good play this was the final result. Much improvement needed when Newark come up against tougher opposition!
Player: Megan Cocker
Ladies 3s
1-1 draw against North Notts 3s
Newark started out strong against an experienced North Notts team. A swift pass from Sara Jackson on the left to Izzy Wells was quickly moved on to Zoe White in the D. She managed to slip the ball to Ann Crockett-McLean who knocked it past the keeper to score the first goal in minute 4 of the game.
Newark continued to dominate the game with changes in the defensive line up of Sue Birkett, Rachel Spolton, Hannah Bond and new member Emily Crisp working well. North Notts could only see a wall of green on hit outs with Louise Goodman, Laura McMunn, Jacky Nullis and the rest of midfield setting up the “W” quickly. A lucky hit out from North Notts found a lone player up high who managed to strike the ball into the goal. 1:1.
The second half saw a slight change in positions and Newark managed to keep the ball in the opposition’s half, being awarded multiple short corners and even a penalty flick, taken by Suzy Gray. Unfortunately they were unable to convert the opportunities into goals and frustration started to show. North Notts made a run up the field but a fantastic right hand swipe from goal keeper Clare Dent prevented them taking the lead.
Player: Emily Crisp
Ladies 4s
3-1 win at home against Notts Players 3s
Players capitalised on Newark’s slow start and found themselves one up. However, Newark equalised by half-time taking control of the game. Newark scored 2 more goals in the second half which all 3 goals were a credit of Eleanor (Ellie) Smith’s debut game.
Goal Scorer: Eleanor Smith (Hat Trick)
Player: Eleanor Smith & Chloe Sloan
Mens 1s
2-0 win at home against Oundle
Newark started their league campaign this week with a tough home game against an Oundle team which have caused Newark problems over the last few seasons. Oundle started the game the stronger of the two teams putting Newark under constant pressure. They won a string of short corners but some good work from Dave Colcomb on the post kept them at bay. Newark started to bring themselves back into the game slowly taking control of the middle of the pitch, with crisp passing and movement between the midfield and forward lines. With this new found control over the game Newark started to create chances of their own but the Oundle defence stayed strong sticking close to their men and not allowing the forwards any movement in the 25. Newark eventually made the break through the defence winning a short corner through a good run from Sam Smith. The short corner was put away from a deflection from Keiran Meppem connecting the ball low and hard under the keeper on the back post after a great delivery from Scott Robinson. Newark were now fully in control of the game creating chances at will but were unable to convert them into anything until a fantastic run by Sam smith resulted in Newark being awarded another short corner. This short corner did not go as well as the first one as Jack McMunn broke early and got sent back to the half way line. Bringing up another Newark player up caused a change of routine which lead to Scott Robinson trying to put a drag flick into the top corner of the net but only managed to float the ball onto the keepers glove and allowed Oundle to relieve the pressure that Newark that had put them under for the majority of the half.
Newark started the second half how they finished the first half putting Oundle under more pressure which caused one of their midfield players to get increasingly annoyed, he then made a poor tackle and received a green card from the umpire putting Newark a man up. However, this was short lived as Oundle managed to create a break away being a man down and Craig Joynes came in with his own poor tackle giving the umpire no choice but to show him a green card as well. This lead to a calm period in the game with both teams taking a moment to regain their energy and get back to full strength. Once both teams were back to full strength Newark again put the pressure on having chance after chance go past the posts, calling on the Oundle keeper to pull off some great saves. Newark finally got their reward when a deflected shot fell to Scott Robinson on the far side of the pitch, he drove to the baseline, cutting the ball back to the penalty spot where Alex Davies was waiting to put the ball into the back of net to give Newark the Goal they had been pushing for and deserved. Only moments later Scott Robinson could of added a goal of his own after arriving late onto the post but only managed to deflect ball wide rather than into the back of the net. The game then took to a slower pace with Newark moving the ball comfortably around the back until the final whistle came.
Player: David Colcomb, Ben Brown & Tom Sheldon.
Goal Scores: Keiran Meppem & Alex Davies.
Mens 2s
9-0 loss away at Belper
After promotion last season Newark travelled to Belper (who were relegated last year) not sure what to expect but missing several players from the promotion winning team. From the start Newark were under pressure and struggled to get the ball out of their own half which led to many chances for Belper to score. By half time Belper were 3 up and scored 6 more in the 2nd half to finish 9 0. Newark had several chances to score but without an outstanding performance by Ben Bradley in goal it could have been a lot worse.
Player: Ben Bradley
Mens 3s
6-0 loss at home against Coalville
With a general lack of players, many players were drafted in from the 4th XI, who's game had been forfeited. A home game against Coalville was therefore going to be a tough game to get anything from. Despite this the Newark side played extremely well in the circumstances. Youngsters Emil Liniewicz, Fred Pearce and George Silver played wonderfully showing that the future of Newark HC is in good hands. Coalville scored 6 goals without reply. A beautiful running move from Chairman and stand-in captain Arran Coggan left the opposition defence for dead, but it wasn't Newark's day as the ball flew past the keeper, the post saved Coalville's blushes.
Player: Alex McNulty
Mens 4s
3-0 forfeit
With a shortage of players this week the 4s game was forfeited but a friendly was organised to keep the team from losing 3 points on the opening game of the season. Several 2s players and Adrian Parrett and Ryan Parrett played a game in good spirits and Belper were pleased to get a run out in readiness for next week's competitive league games.
Big thank you to all the players that doubled up to make this happen