Sunday 6th November - Junior round up

U8's - Sunday saw over 100 U8s descend on Blueharts for their tournament. Despite getting drenched, all four Blueharts teams had an amazing tournament with some impressive hockey skills on display. There were lots of wins, a few losses and lots of happy faces! Thanks to everyone who helped set up, run teams and umpired, we couldn't have done it without you.

U10 girls - U10 girls took a B and C team to WGC and saw some great improvement as the tournament went on. They came away with a couple of victories and great big smiles on there faces. We are definitely seeing some positive progression and looking forward to the next tournament at home at the end of the month.

U10 Boys A team won 3 and drew 1, they played some excellent hockey.

The new-to-hockey C team lost 4. The C team defended really well and great debut goal keeping from Charles. 

U12 Girls - Two teams entered into the Herts tournament, the B team lost all three games and the C team won one game and lost two. Both teams played well, just need to work on getting the ball into the D and supporting the forward when they get the ball. Can definitely see what we have been doing in training is working, both teams were shooting first time when they got in the D and they are spreading out more and keeping their width. 

U12 Boys C team - Won 1-0 v St Albans, lost 1-0 to Letchworth, won 1-0 v Broxbourne. From a team that hadn’t played together they did incredibly well with communication & teamwork improving over three games.

U14 girls had a 7-a-side team in a tournament at Letchworth and an 11-a-side team playing against Hertford. 

The 7-a-side represented the club well and after an opening draw with Broxbourne, secured a fine victory against St Albans and finished off with a loss against a strengthened home side. Credit to all the girls who battled through the torrential rain and played really nice hockey throughout. 

The 11-a-side team took on Hertford at home and, having narrowly escaped the aforementioned downpour, played a great match against Hertford. Both sides competed evenly in all areas of the pitch with Hertford coming out on top after taking their chances well. The U14s don’t have a goalkeeper so special mention must go to the three girls who stepped up to try it out and all played really well.

U14 Boys travelled all the way to Walthamstow, London, to play their next East League T2 fixture.

They made a positive start, taking their own set goals into a very competitive match against a physically developed opposition

The boys quickly began to establish a high pass rate rewarded by an early goal, Jake assisting Rory who finished with a clean dink over the line. 

Second goal came from more build up of strong passing and distribution with a cracking strike from Freddy at the top of the D. 

As the opposition started to pile on the pressure, GK Will made some fantastic saves, with great marking from our defensive line and work rate from the central mid field generals Ollie and Jake, who worked their socks off to close down incredibly tall playmakers coming through the middle, with a great success rate. Walthamstow eventually broke through and we conceded an unfortunate goal with uncharacteristic miscommunication between centre back and GK.

After a review of their targets at half time, the boys stepped positively back on to the pitch. With several shots on goal from Oscar H, Rory then scored our 3rd, rebounding the ball to finish by flicking it over the keeper into the top of the net. 

We maintained control of the game with calm and accurate distribution through from Centre Back Henry to Charlie on the right and wide balls completing the transfer to Freddy and Oscar G and early released balls up the right forward line to Cam. Excellent left side transfers from Harri at LB, Max B in midfield and high ball through to Rory. The defence continued to kept the oppo at bay with fantastic tackles from Henry, a goal line save from Harri and great covering runs and tackles from Barney. 

After great determined pressure and hunting of the ball and from CF Oscar H, Ollie then set up goal number 4 with a strong strike and a touch finish from Charlie, finishing with a strong 4-1 result and outstanding progress in distribution. 

Man of the match nominations received for Henry, Jake, Cam and Oscar G, Harri R/up behind Ollie who had an outstanding game. 

Well done to all and thanks to all coaches and parents for making the long journey and sorting ULEZ payments!

A group of U14 Boys also played in the Herts tournament, they won one, drew one and lost one.