Saturday 26thSeptember 2009

EHL Conference East

Ipswich v Chelmsford

Result: Won 4-2

Scorers :V Roberts, L Aldous (2), C Hunnable

This was the derby game that had everything, 6 goals, 2 yellow cards, a vocal crowd and more importantly, for Ipswich, a home win. 

Cheered on by a vocal crowd the game started at a frantic pace and it was the away side that took the early lead, a short corner on the 9^th minute that found the back of the net after Ipswich Goalkeeper Fiona Stacy had made a good first save.

Chelmsford looked to increase the lead and put the Ipswich backline under some strong pressure but some great work by player of the match Lizzy Aldous, Charlie Anderson, Amy Tippen and Annabelle Driver ensured that the pressure did not amount to much.

After a tough 15 minutes Ipswich began to find their stride and Mille Sharp in particular began to dominate the midfield line, creating opportunities and making some great tackles.

On the 21^st minute Ipswich equalised after some great team play down the right hand side.  Jess Bloom with a fantastic run finding Anna Sherring on the baseline and she calmly linked with Chloe Hunnable for Hunnable to score with a tap in. 

The game was now more finely balanced with both sides looking for the next opportunity but some good defending by both sides saw half time arrive with the score level. 

Ipswich knew they could play better and after a few tactical tweaks by coach James Kingstone the home side started to dominate the proceedings. Aldous was having an inspired game and duly was rewarded with a goal from a short corner to make it 2-1 to the Suffolk side. 

Things were made tougher for Ipswich when Captain Emma Millar was shown a very harsh yellow card but the 10 remaining Ipswich players worked extremely hard and with some excellent running from Chloe Hunnable up front Ipswich  frustrated Chelmsford until back up to full strength. 

Ipswich continued to play some good hockey and on the 63^rd minute Aldous scored her brace with a Penalty Stroke, after a Chelmsford foot stopped Anna Sherring’s shot as it headed towards the goal. 

With only 7 minutes left the game looked over but a debatable penalty Stroke for a foot in the Ipswich circle saw the Essex side awarded a stroke. Despite a brave attempt by Stacey in goal Chelmsford converted to make it 3-2 and it looked as if it would be a nervy 5 minutes.

However on the 68^th minute Vanessa Roberts scored her second goal of the season to give Ipswich the 3 points. 

It had been 3 seasons since Ipswich had beaten their rivals; with the majority of games in-between ending in a draw and it was a sweet moment for a new look Ipswich side. 

The Suffolk side now travel to Kent next weekend to take on Sevenoaks.

NE14hockey East League

Div1 North

Ipswich v Cambridge City 2

Result: Won 4-0

Scorer: H Martin (2), V Sandall, C Fisher, K McDonald

Following letting in 2 goals in the first 5 minutes against Bury last week, Ipswich 2s went onto the pitch determined to control the match from the start. Ipswich had the majority of possession generating pressure on the Cambridge 'D' early on leading to an early goal from forward Connie Bedingfield. Despite a few attacks from Cambridge Ipswich dominated the first half with a second goal from Kat McDonald and a third from Hannah Martin in her debut performance. Half-time score: 3-0 to Ipswich.

Coach James Kingstone's half time chat encouraged Ipswich to retain possession of the ball by utilising the switch around the back and to collapse play with balls into midfield. Ipswich quickly scored a fourth goal from midfielder Vic Sandall who made sure a penalty corner deflection off the Cambridge keeper was firmly struck onto the backboard from a tight angle. The 5th came from forward Hannah Martin again, scoring 2 goals in her first match. Cambridge City began to tire and this reduced the pace of play, packing their 'D' with all but their 2 forwards made it much harder for Ipswich to generate enough space to increase the score line further. Full-time score: 5-0 to Ipswich. Another 3 points and +5 goal difference sees Ipswich sitting top of East Div 1 with 6 points, 2 games closer to achieving their league winning campaign, but still with plenty to work on as a team. MOTM was jointly awarded to Mitch Chidgney, Hannah Tallent and Vic Sandall and 'Personal Best' was given to Hannah Martin in her debut match.

 NE14HOCKEY East League

Div 2C

Norwich Dragons v  Ipswich 

Result: Drew 3-3

Scorers:

Suffolk Premier League

Suffolk Div 1

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NE14HOCKEY East League

Prem A

Ipswich v Bishops Stortford

Result: Won 2-1

Scorers: K Dixon, A Cook

            After enjoying a successful pre-season and winning in the first round of the national cup competition the squad had been eagerly anticipating the start of the league season. We knew before the game that Bishops Stortford to provide a good test having been trained throughout their pre-season by Olympic Gold medallist John Shaw. They had also made some improvements to their squad, the most notable and Australian striker who was sure to put the Ipswich back line under pressure.

From the very start of the game it was obvious that Stortford were going to sit very deep and try to use their pace on the counter attack. Ipswich started well and had the lion’s share of the possession, without causing Stortford too many problems in the final third. After a good passing move Ipswich were awarded their first penalty corner. Keir Dixon stepped up to draw a diving save from the goal keeper. The second short corner followed shortly after and this time Dixon sent the keeper the wrong way and fired into the roof of the net. 

For the rest of the half Ipswich dominated a Bishops Stortford team, who were resorting to long aerial balls. When our defence was caught napping Ben Glading in goal was doing an excellent job of mopping up the danger. 

Ipswich started the second half well but Stortford were awarded a Penalty stroke when a short corner routine led to the ball being blocked by a foot on the line. Glading got a full glove on the ball but it still managed to drop over the line. Ipswich went straight on the attack after this and a short corner was awarded. With Dixon off the pitch Andy Cook was handed job of striking at goal and duly despatched a thunderbolt strike that went straight through the Stortford keeper to give Ipswich the advantage once again. 

After this the game took a very strange turn when Richard Stainsthorpe had, what appeared to be, a perfectly legitimate goal ruled out. Stainsthorpe had rounded the goalkeeper on the edge of the area and hit the ball into the empty net but the umpire made the decision that the ball was outside the area when he struck it. This knocked Ipswich out of their stride slightly and the game became a lot more frantic. 

Bishops Stortford were reduced to 10 with one of their players going to the sin bin following a bad tackle. Mark Wrinch then followed him in, although he appeared to take out his own captain, Geoff Reed, rather than the opposition player. 

With both teams only having 10 men on the pitch there were some major reshuffles and it appeared to give Stortford the upper hand. Some misplaced passes and nervous defending was putting Ipswich under severe pressure. A man of the match performance from Max Underwood at the back was essential to Ipswich breaking down a lot of Stortfords attacks and relieving pressure at the back with good distribution to the front men. 

Ipswich managed to hold out despite some more controversy at the end of the game when the clock was stopped by one umpire only for the other to then blow for full time. They conferred and decided that the full amount of time had not been played so Stortford had a free hit inside the Ipswich 25. This was a tense moment for Ipswich, with such a slight lead, but as soon as the ball had been played the umpire blew the full time whistle to the annoyance of Stortford.

This is the perfect start for Ipswich who face the long trip to play newly promoted West Herts away next week on Saturday. This is followed by another trip to Kent on Sunday to play National League side Holcombe in the cup.

NE14HOCKEY East League

Prem B

NE14HOCKEY East League

Div 2N

NE14HOCKEY East League 

NE14HOCKEY East League

East Veterans League

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