Sirens Play First Friendly of the New Season
By Tracey House
Ashtead Old Freemans 4 – 1 SHC Sirens
Team: Tracey House, Claire Johnston, Victoria Tyson, Emma Dempsey, Hayley Bouchard, Laura Maginnis, Victoria Wiesener, Jackie Anderson, Aimee Bishop, Katie Cudmore, Jenny Melbourne, Katie Johnson, Ruth Banks, Debs Ogun
Sirens arrived at Blenheim high school in Epsom, very excited for our first game, to be greeted by a ‘beach’. Ahhh the memories of Surbiton’s old beach came flooding back – then you stepped on and ran… and slipped!
Sadly we had no GK but this is due to Silke’s promotion to the Ladies 9s along with Philippa – we did miss them. But we had Debs Ogun and Ruth Banks as brilliant stand ins. We welcomed back Jenny and great to see the family as well, and the first game for Katie J who came to B2H training on Tuesday and offered to play in her first Sirens game in the same week!
Old Freemans started quickly and within five minutes they were two goals up – we were a bit shell shocked and certainly missing a GK. Luckily playing quarters meant we had time to re-group and talk through what we needed to change.
Half time came round and we were 3-0 down. Time to re-set and think about man marking, quicker passing and finding space. We were improving and talking more, and we needed use our wings and ensure we passed the ball into space – the ball moves quicker than we do!
The third quarter started positively with great movement between Jenny, Aimee, Ruth and Claire. Emma, Hayley, Jackie and Debs were really strong in defence but it’s always hard when you don’t have a GK. Katie J and Katie C were working hard in midfield linking with the forwards.
Then Tracey got hit on the knee and then a stick on the thumb – time for a break! And then we (their GK) scored our goal – we were back in it! More space and movement were being created by Aimee and Ruth, allowing both Victorias to attack the goal. Only to be followed by another injury, this time to Laura twisting her ankle and a bloody knee! Our brand new First Aid kit came in very handy today.
We finished at 4-1. Each quarter we improved and that is a real positive for the season ahead.
Moist Mug award – Aimee for literally throwing her stick at a ball that she couldn’t reach, and then she kept running to the ball without her stick – a new way to play hockey
Player of the Match – Claire Johnston – for constantly running and chasing
A huge thank you to Jo Moores who stepped up to umpire at the last minute.