Ladies 1s v Northampton Saints
After slipping to 7th in the league and still carrying a number of injuries, travelling the 90-minute journey to a blustery Northampton, the ladies 1s were under pressure to seal the win against bottom of the league side Northampton Saints. After Newark lost to Saints at home earlier in the season, perhaps the odds were in Saints’ favour, but the Newark team have improved and evolved as a team since then and coach Paul was confident in their ability to take home 3 points.
From the first whistle, Newark looked strong and Rosie Staniforth weaved the ball up the right wing with ease straight into the D taking the Saints’ defence by surprise and winning a penalty corner. With Newark missing their striker Hayley Chaplin, the team tried a different set but were unable to get on the scoreboard. The pressure was promising but after 15 minutes of settling into the game and Newark having the majority if possession, the defence let a Saint’s winger into the D unmarked and on a bouncy pitch, the home-side slipped a ball past GK Lilly Dean taking it to 1-0.
Newark were fuming, knowing they were the better side and stepped up the pace. Captain Rachel Vickers and defender Megan Cocker made some cracking passes to the forwards, but it was Sophie Chambers who fleeced the Saint’s defenders, drawing the goalie wide to hit the backboard, making it 1-1 at half time.
Newark re-grouped and with some restructuring of the defence, the away side increased the pressure once more, eager for the win.
Shanade Bradley, Susan Tate and Bea Smith used their skill in the middle of the pitch forcing Saints to make several errors and opening up space in the D. Bradley and Smith both had shots on goal, but it was Staniforth who scored Newark’s second goal deflecting a strike from a penalty corner in to the top of the net.
A third goal shortly followed from Bea Smith who beautifully hit the ball from another penalty corner.
Newark were then set-back when midfielder Kathryn Hawkins suffered a hit to the hand, but thankfully this week Newark benefitted from having a substitute on the side-line.
Saints fought back, looking to claw back the score line, sending their wingers high to goal hang, leaving Anna Hall under pressure when the Saints broke, although their efforts were squandered by defenders Megan Cocker, Lauren Verrills and Emily Crisp; GK Lilly didn’t have a touch of the ball in the second half.
Staniforth soon widened the gap taking her second goal of the game from open play and Newark left the pitch with a strong 4-1 win, moving them up the league to 6th but with some work to do in the next few games to avoid relegation.
Player of the match – Rosie Staniforth.
Ladies 2s v Worksop 1s
The Newark ladies had a tough start to the game with Captain Lyndsey out of action and cheering on from the side-lines. Worksop were eager for the win from the first whistle taking a relaxed Newark side by shock. Worksop quickly took the lead by slipping a goal past the defence and Newark GK in the first ten minutes.
This was shortly followed by an amazing dive from GK Freya Grocock, but a penalty flick was awarded as Freya tried to keep the ball away from the attackers and Worksop added a goal to their early lead.
Worksop tried adding pressure to the defence pushing the ball wide and creating aerial shots on goal.
The game settled down a little after 15 minutes, and the Newark side began to work the ball passing in triangles to keep the Worksop side at bay. Hannah Bond and Rachael Copson did well to take control at the back with some brilliant play and passing between Zoe White, Mel Woods and Ann Crockett-McLean, Newark had their fair share of attacking opportunities and shots on goal from Tracey Rimington.
The half time whistle went leaving the score at 5-0 but after a strong half time talk form coach Tim and captain Lyndsey, the Newark side went into the second half with a renewed sense of desire to claw back the score.
The Newark side did a fantastic job of keeping possession and moving the ball around the frustrated Worksop team, especially working the ball wide and high. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to last, and Worksop put a few more past the Newark defence to the leave the final score at 8-0.
Player of the game was Zoe White
Ladies 3's V North Notts 2's
Lost 4-0
A tough game in the usual ways against a solid, hard hitting team. Another strong team performance despite losing several players to the 2’s and players doubling up.
Player Lucy Bateman
Ladies 4s v Ashfield Aztecs
Newark played an excellent match against the Ashfield Aztecs. Overall the game was very close, and Newark played excellently as a team. As soon as the game started, Newark pushed into the Ashfield half, showing immediate dominance. Lucy Wade made some nice runs around the D, passing through many of their defence, utilising to Alison Sheldon who was unlucky not to deflect Wade’s shot into goal.
The game was mostly played in the Ashfield half, but Newark struggled to get the ball into the D. Ashfield soon managed to push up into the Newark D, but Newark’s defence cleared the ball quickly.
In the second half Ashfield came back stronger, but Newark still had the upper hand. The game was still played in the Ashfield half and a strong backing from Moira Chambers in the centre meant that the ball rarely went past the half way line.
Unfortunately, the Ashfield attackers managed to build their way up to the Newark D Newark conceded their first penalty corner. The first shot on goal was saved by the Newark Keeper, Breagha, but unfortunately the rebound slipped past the goal line.
Overall Newark played well, with many chances to score, but unfortunately the chances weren’t quite taken, although Newark were close.
Final Score: Newark Ladies 0 - Ashfield Aztecs 1
Player of the match: Lucy, Evie, George and Kanky
Men’s 1s v Chesterfield
The men’s 1s are back on form beating Chesterfield 2-1 taking their total goals scored so far this season to 64.
Men's 2s v Beeston 5s
Lost 3-1
Goal Scorer: - Jem Hill
M.O.M: - Tom Linford & Ben Bradley
Men’s 3s vs Belper 8s
After last week’s defence heavy performance there was no parking the bus this week as the 3s pressed for the win to increase their chances of securing promotion.
Newark were again without captain Seb Hufton who dutifully made himself available for the 2s who were tight on players for their tough away game at Beeston. This coupled with testing a new formation led to a slightly disjointed first half.
There was a slight ball related delay at the start of the game, which was diplomatically resolved, and Newark started brightly with a couple of early penalty corners but could not break the deadlock. It looked like Newark had taken the lead 15 minutes in after Craig Joynes converted a penalty corner which was initially given but in true Tim McManus style Joynes overruled his own goal as the initial strike crossed the line well above the backboard.
After this, Newark let the visitors into the game but luckily goal keeper Tim Goslin carried on his run of fine form with some solid saves to keep the scores level. Newark regrouped and Ciaran Logue sparked Newark’s resurgence with a great carry through the heart of the midfield and creating an opportunity for himself which just failed to break the deadlock. The home side eventually scored through young Oscar Tunnicliffe who got on the end of a rebound from a penalty corner. After that, Newark soon made it 2-0 from the reverse stick shot (yes it is not a miss-print it was definitely a reverse stick shot) from the not so young Martin Tustin showing his son how to finish after the younger Tustin missed a couple of early chances.
Halftime score was 2-0 to Newark although the home side would have liked the score to have been a little more convincing.
The second half saw the home side revert to a more familiar formation and apart from a few piercing runs by the opposition number 12 who caused one or two problems for Newark the home side took control of the match.
Young Jacob Knox grew into the game and his performance was rewarded with a goal when he calmly finished after getting in a good position just off the right post. At 3-0 Newark continued to push and a string of penalty corners followed one of which Joynes thought he had converted only for a great save on the line by the defender who unfortunately could only clear the ball to Martin Tustin who completed his brace from close range.
Now it has become customary of late to give Dave Beedham a mention and this week he gets a mention for his performance at both ends of the spectrum. One or two miss timed tackles, a bit of back chat at the umpires (which of cause we don’t condone but was quite amusing) and a little argie-bargie saw Dave receive a predictable green card and some cooling off time on the side-lines. After returning to the field Dave then turned it round with the last touch of the game. There was a touch of clairvoyants at work as Newark won a penalty corner on the final whistle and Dave came charging up from the back like a Viking raiding party shouting “I’m having one” and sure enough after the initial shot was saved and some scrapping around Beedham finished it off from close range.
Final score 5-0 to Newark
Goals from - Oscar Tunnicliffe, Martin Tustin (2), Jacob Knox and David Beedham
Man of the Match - Jacob Knox