Ladies 1s -vs- Taunton Vale
4 April 2009
2 - 2
Cheltenham dealt Taunton Vale's promotion hopes a massive blow by drawing 2-2 at home on Saturday. Having also drawn with promotion-chasing Bath Buccaneers last weekend, Cheltenham demonstrated fighting spirit and flowing hockey in front of a big crowd on Cheltenham HC's Vice President's Day. Cheltenham were immediately on the back foot against last season's National League opponents, but another sterling performance from GK Lara Harvey kept the home team in the game. Taunton broke the deadlock mid-way through the first half when a penalty corner re-bound was fired into the net. As last week, directly after conceding, Cheltenham went straight down the other end of the pitch and some fantastic attacking play from Daisy Noble saw her up-ended with a cynical foul which left her needing hospital treatment. After a lengthy stoppage, Cheltenham re-grouped and made the visitors pay by converting the resulting penalty corner when top-goal scorer Emma Jones was again in the right place to slot in on the right post.
Cheltenham then enjoyed a period of superiority, playing their trademark fast-flowing, attacking hockey and the trio of attacking young forwards, Emma Bevan, Laura Jacques and Georgie Jefferies caused all sorts of problems for the Taunton defence. Taunton came back into the game in the second half and again took the advantage. Cheltenham remained patient, continuing to pass the ball around and were rewarded when Nat Lewis continued her scoring form with a smart finish from close-range. The result means that coming into the final round of games in the West Premier League, Bath are guaranteed to be promoted as Champions, Taunton cannot be promoted, and Cheltenham will finish mid-table having shown they can compete with the best but need to find some consistency in the results.
Goal Scorers: Emma Jones, Nat Lewis
Ladies 2s -vs- Devizes
4 April 2009
3 - 0
Cheltenham Ladies 2s entertained Devizes at home in their penultimate match of the season. It was a beautiful sunny day, and as the game clashed with the club's Vice President's day, a good crowd had gathered to watch. Cheltenham started positively, taking advantage of Devizes 10-player side. The run of play was all Cheltenham's and the team maintained a constant attack into the visitors' half. Cheltenham, despite the majority of possession, failed to score in the first half, and the 35 minutes ended honours-even.
In the second period, Cheltenham righted their mistakes and opted for a much more fluid style of hockey, making the ball do the hard work, and passing cleanly and quickly from one end of the pitch to the other. The defence of Pearce, Dale, Brown, Jowett and Tredgett were solid, with goalkeeper Collins only touching the ball twice in the entire game. The midfield of Keating, Chicken and Metters, were much more effective in the second half, creating the linking passes to give the forwards the chances they required. The first goal came quickly and was a great team effort which ended with Dowsett popping the ball into the back of the net. Keating set up Taylor for a second goal and Mayes got the third.
With a 3-0 win and having dominated the game, the Cheltenham 2s look set to finish the league in the top four; a great result as they were only promoted into the league this season.
Goal Scorers: Lou Dowsett, Jo Taylor, Frankie Mayes
Player of the Match: Karen Keating & Rachel Chicken
Cheltenham VP XI -vs- Cheltenham President's XI
4 April 2009
4 - 2
The annual Vice Presidents day at Cheltenham Hockey Club was well attended by players past and present, the highlight of the event being a game between the Gareth Lewis's President's XI against the Vice President's XI. Helping the "veterans" of the VP XI in midfield was England and Great Britain defender Ben Marsden who showed why he was a first pick at the recent Olympic games. Ben was ably supported by Mike Woods and Karen Keating who showed that class does not diminish with age, resulting in a superb individual goal for Karen. The President's XI, comprising a selection current players from Cheltenham HC, had most of the pressure in the first half with husband and wife Gareth and Nat Lewis linking up well in attack. First team centre forward Alex Hay was superb in the unfamiliar position of sweeper and kept the VP's out for most of the first half until Matt Gardner, captain of the 3A's, scored the opener. The second half was a different game with the VP's taking most of the possession. Two more goals for Matt Gardner sealed the game for the VP's. Thanks to all VP's who played or just attended on the day and we look forward to seeing you all next year.
Player of the Match: Sue Bailey
