In today's bumper-packed Sports Report, we catch up on all the netball and football fixtures that took place over the week. We also hear from the Boat Club following their first winter Head of the year.
Football
Girls’ 1st XI vs Reading Blue Coat
On Thursday 23 January, our girls' football first team took on Reading Blue Coat, our local rivals. We started off with a strong first half where we dominated, and our defenders M Mundy, S Pendlebury and B Sauboua gave RBC a very hard time, while S Bhambra made some good saves in goal. Our midfielders and strikers - A Godfrey, A O'Shea, M Spooner, T Gilliard and T Nicholson - played very well and got many balls through and several shots on goal, putting the pressure on our opposition and getting lots of corners. At half time, we were determined to get a goal, and had a team talk before heading back onto the pitch. In the second half, we again dominated the possession and kept the ball mostly in RBC’s half with many more shots on goal, resulting in an incredibly skilful and impressive goal from A Godfrey that boosted our motivation and determination. With the score at 1-0, RBC began to get more runs through as they were working hard to get a goal, resulting in some amazing saves from S Bhambra and some impressive defending from all our defence, especially S Pendlebury, B Sauboua, and M Mundy. A great run from the opposition resulted in a good goal from them, putting the pressure on. Shiplake again worked so hard with several more shots from A O'Shea, T Gillard and M Spooner, and keeping possession within the midfield and putting pressure on their goal kicks. An unfortunate last-minute goal from RBC brought the score to 1-2, however Shiplake did not give up and kept working so hard. The final score was 1-2, but we all played so well in this very close game. Player of the Match was A Godfrey, Coach's Player was B Sauboua, and Players’ Player was A O'Shea.
Report: M Spooner, Girls’ Football Captain
Boys’ 2nd XI vs Burnham Grammar School
As we discussed from the last game on Saturday, aggression and physicality are key figures in which the 2nd team is built on. I believe we demonstrated against Burnham a perfect display of hitting the tackle hard and winning the ball and playing out. C Nash-Steer and J Laing-Buck put this on display with pressure and strong tackles winning us our first corner where J Webb put a rocket in the top corner. From there, we lost a little momentum letting them play the ball forward. With a good counterattack, their striker got through and pumped it straight through H Arnold in goal. We quickly picked up from there as strong words from the gaffer at half time left it up to us to win it or lose it. From there we picked it up by scoring an early 2nd half goal from D Higgins and then the flood gates opened. O Palmer-Page found himself on the far left of the pitch in lots of space and scored an early contender for goal of the season. J Wilson then looked to follow it up, but his screamer was ruled out as the ref claimed hand ball in the build-up. But that didn’t stop us as D Higgins then put his hat in the ring for goal of the season hitting it from outside the box and putting it bottom left. C Zhou and C Nash-Steer then both followed up with some good finishing. I would like to thank some of the 1st XI players who stepped into our team as well as those from the 3rds.
Final score: Shiplake College 6-2 Burnham Grammar School
Boys’ U15A vs Sir William Borlase Grammar School
This was a game full of entertainment with plenty of attacking display on show and some brilliant passages of play summing up the game from both sides. It was a very fast start for Shiplake who managed to take the lead within the first 10 minutes with some fast flowing, slick football. This set the tempo for the game and gave Shiplake the momentum and confidence to build upon this. It was not long until more goals followed after some brilliant build up play down the right-hand side. All in all, a very strong performance and something the U15A can build upon.
Final score: Shiplake College 7-3 Sir William Borlase Grammar School
Boys’ U15B vs Sir William Borlase Grammar School
The under 15Bs played incredibly well, playing their best football this season. You could clearly see an improvement in their skills, and it showed how hard they had been working in training sessions. We ended the first half 3-1 down, with I Walmsley scoring an excellent goal from a free kick. Despite being down, the team went into the second half with a refreshed attitude, stood proud, and played incredibly well. We had two further goals from A Homer and W Hunt to equalise but sadly finished with a score of 3-4 to Borlase.
Final score: Shiplake College 3-4 Sir William Borlase Grammar School
Boys’ U14A vs Sir William Borlase Grammar School
A reversal of fortunes this afternoon compared to last week as clearly SWB had done their homework. Early pressure led to us going 1-0 down inside the first five minutes. The game ebbed and flowed, but Borlase always had the greater threat. A man marking job on H Sargent throughout the game negated a lot of our attacking flair until just before half time when he rifled in a superb equaliser from the edge of the box. The second half was a lot more competitive with chances at either end. A Webb had a fierce shot crash off the post and J Filippetto had a goal ruled out for offside - a tight call but probably the right one. The defining moment came with minutes to go. From our goal kick, a free header led to a corner from the resultant open play. As our defence stood still, the cross was allowed to travel through the 6-yard box for a Borlase attacker to finish at the back post. Shiplake pressed for an equaliser with H Sargent going close with a superb lob that crept the wrong side of the post, but it was not to be with Borlase holding on for the win. Great effort from the lads. That little bit of composure on the ball to get the game played on the deck is a key area for us to move forward on.
Final score: Shiplake College 1-2 Sir William Borlase Grammar School
Boys’ U14B vs Sir William Borlase Grammar School
Playing with two up front, Shiplake were immediately on the attack and within the first 15 minutes had racked up eight shots on goal. Eventually, from a well taken corner by E Hills, L Baux neatly finished to put us 1-0 up. Buoyed by this, Shiplake went on the attack again and W Webb caused havoc down the left which eventually led to a cross that S Harrison bundled in for Shiplake’s second goal. Borlase started the second half brightly and started to cause Shiplake’s defence some issues and five minutes into the 2nd half, they were awarded a penalty which their captain duly dispatched. This was the first wake up call for Shiplake who responded well and scored the goal of the game. The game now opened up as both teams tired and Borlase continued to press and played some great football. After a great long ball from J Elston, Shiplake were back on the attack and E Hills blasted one into the bottom corner from outside the area and the score became 4-2. With 15 mins left, Borlase threw the proverbial kitchen sink at the Shiplake defence and it paid dividends as in no time at all, they scored two quick goals. The Shiplake boys needed to re-group and quickly as there was only 10 minutes left. S Harrison jinked into the box on the left-hand side and as he was about to shoot got taken out by a Borlase defender for a penalty. Captain E Hills stepped up and calmly steered into the bottom corner for his second of the game and with minutes left, Shiplake made the game safe when H Williams was quickest to react for a tap-in.
Final score: Shiplake College 6-4 Sir William Borlase Grammar School
Boys’ U13A vs Aylesbury Grammar School
A tough day at the office for the U13A team. Although the score line was heavy in one direction, this did not show the determination of the team who stuck together and through J Verheggen, scored a great goal in the second half. We also saw some tenacious defending from C Deering and L Moss to keep the scoreline down. M Brown was solid at left back and helped create some incredible counter attacking football.
Final score: Shiplake College 1-7 Aylesbury Grammar School
Boys’ U12A vs Aylesbury Grammar School
With no B team game, the squad was extended to 13 for this 9-a-side game. The attacks were certainly on top in the first half, with the sides ‘taking it in turns’ to score all the way to 5-5 by half time. D Rosser showed his pace and attacking prowess to score four of these, with B Gyoker scoring the other. Although eventually losing 5-7, with the whole squad gaining valuable game time, this was a very balanced fixture with AGS fielding an A/B team. Goalkeeper J Pattison-Smith and central defender TJ Caunter diffused numerous other attacks and there were fine performances from Z Field and birthday boy on the day, F Currie. Praise and thanks must also go to Year 10 pupil S Crisford who refereed and performed well in his first ever game officiating.
Final score: Shiplake College 5-7 Aylesbury Grammar School
Netball
1st VII vs Leighton Park
We played away against Leighton Park school, and it was a very successful match, resulting in a 40-20 win! There was excellent play from everyone on the team and good communication and teamwork across all areas of the court. Well done especially to Players’ Player A O'Shea, Player of the Match A Godfrey, and Coach’s Players S Pendlebury and S Bhambra.
Report: M Mundy, Netball Captain
2nd VII vs The Oratory
The game started strongly with L Dix in defence and throughout the first half, the team did well to take possession of the ball. However, by the end of the first half, the score was 8-6 to The Oratory. Our strengths in the first half were strong with clear communication as well as marking but what we could have improved on was taking our time to avoid wasted passes. We lost 11-7, however, we started to play at our own speed and stopped the opposition from scoring more goals. B Broad played well in centre effectively moving the ball down to the attacking ‘D’. Player of Match was F Rait, Players' Player was F Dix, and Coaches’ Player was L Dix.
Report: F Rait, Acting 2nd VII Netball Captain
3rd VII vs Claires Court
On Wednesday 22 January, Shiplake’s 3rd team played their second league game of the season, with a triumphant 20-9 win against Claires Court’s B team. In the first quarter, Shiplake won the first centre pass which led to 7 goals by I Davenport-Thomas and B Sauboua. By half time, Shiplake kept the upper hand with a scoreline of 11-8. We saw some strong defending from R Clayton and I Forrest who kept the ball out of the opposition’s third which allowed Shiplake to score another 9 goals from I Loyd and B Sauboua. Player of the Match went to B Sauboua and Players’ Players went to R Clayton and I Woolfrey.
Report: B Sauboua, 3rd VII Netball Captain
4th VII vs Leighton Park
The 4th VII played very well in our second match of the season. There were defiantly some major improvements, and the team collaboratively worked together. E Young opted in to play GS even though that isn't normally her chosen position. Her excellent play led to her being chosen as Player of the Match. E Erb, J Biggin and B Redston were pushing themselves in the last two quarters and it showed. With the match in the balance, we unfortunately lost but moral was high after the game.
Report: L Nicholas, 4th VII Netball Captain
Rowing: Quintin Head
On Saturday 25 January, our rowers competed at the Quintin Head in London, one of the biggest Tideway rowing heads and the first of the winter rowing season. It was fantastic to see some rowing action after so long out due to bad weather and poor river conditions and in total, five Shiplake crews entered – one J16 eight, 2 J18 eights, and 2 JW18 eights.
Standout results included both our first J18 and JW8 eights coming first in their category. The second JW8 came 14th in their category while our J16 crew came 9th overall in their category. Well done to all involved; we look forward to seeing more success over the coming months!
Flickr album: Sports Report 28 January 2025 |
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