U11A Hockey beat Belhaven

Down at Dunbar it was surprisingly mild and the baselayers that I insisted everyone wore, were perhaps today, not required.  The astro has been newly refurbished so it was just like our own but full size and so it was perfect conditions for some fast-flowing hockey.  

We played 3 touch hockey in the first half and passed the ball around confidently with some lovely passes back to our defence who played it around the back nicely, looking for the openings. James held his position on the right well and both Harry at right back and Xander, who played just in front of the back two, put in some terrific passes to the right wing and he looked to get that ball in early.   Cody was up front and did well with some unselfish lay offs to Max on the left and we scored a few this way. We had a lot of the ball and the territory and kept Belhaven in their own half. There were some great moves with Charles, who had replaced Max on the left, played some excellent layoffs for Cody and Xander to run on to. Charlie tackled terrifically to thwart any Belhaven attacks. 

At half time, we talked about how well the 3 touch was working as everyone was getting lots of touches and we moved the ball nicely. In the second half, players were moved around to allow them to try other positions and the intensity dropped.  We panicked a bit and made some poor passes but everyone kept working.  Belhaven defended better and their Goalie was in good form to make some great saves, even when we had two players against him.  We became rather disappointingly casual with our passing and missed a number of glaring opportunities in front of goal but Cody set Charles up to put the ball into the back post and Max came back on to score again to take the score to 10 nil.

We had a couple of penalty corners to defend which was great practice and although the first two were defended solidly, their solitary goal of the afternoon came when we didn’t stick to our roles properly and allow Thomas in goal to defend the centre of his goal.  

It was a difficult afternoon for us to keep up the level of play in the first half but there will be bigger tests to come down south at the IAPS Finals in a fortnight’s time.  We need to keep working on set pieces and make sure our passing is sharp and accurate so that we can move the ball around at the level of intensity we are capable of.  

Well played today, boys; particularly in the first half.