Whilst the week brought another set of mixed results, there is no doubt that performances are heading in the right direction. The football 1st XI may have had a week off, but the hockey and netball first teams produced their best performances of the season so far. Meanwhile, Mr Sharkey’s football 3rd XI suffered a narrow defeat which ended their 100% start to the season.
Hockey
Shiplake 1st XI 1-3 Pangbourne College
Shiplake welcomed fierce rivals Pangbourne College to Reading Hockey Club for the biggest game of the season to date.
After a high tempo warm up, the players looked fired up and ready to attack a Pangbourne side that had the potential to be very strong. Despite this intensity Shiplake took from the warm up, a slow and nervous start coupled with some good build up play from Pangbourne lead to the first goal. Shiplake failed to recover from the shock of a quick first goal when another crossed the line and left the team demoralised and very much on the back foot. At 2-0 down inside 5 minutes, coaches Mr Walter and Mr Gaunt were left wondering how to pick the players up and get them firing.
With a quick tactical reshuffle and the experience of a few players, in particular Yeem Chanthanawan (vice captain) and Anthony Miarli, coming to the fore, spirits and effort levels were lifted and Shiplake began to get a foothold in the game. Orla Brown showed some magnificent touches and an abundance of energy in the middle of the pitch; always looking to get on the ball and regularly building attacking momentum. All of sudden, Shiplake looked by far the better team.
Aldridge and Chanthanawan began organising the players and Marsden looked dangerous going forward but also worked hard defensively. To the delight of Mr Walter, Shiplake began impressively pressing Pangbourne back into their own half and a quick counter from Shiplake resulted in a short corner. Although no goal came from it, there was a real belief that we were capable of controlling this match. For the rest of the half, Shiplake dominated and Pangbourne lost their cool, ending the half with 9 men on the pitch. Spectator Mr Gresswell commented that the feisty encounter had ‘more cards than Clintons’.
The end the first half brought a hugely positive team talk from the coaches and a few substitutions (borrowed from the 2nd XI who had played earlier!) to fill in for tiring players. Super-sub Tom McCooke ensured that the high levels of intensity were kept up and Shiplake started the second half like they ended the first, controlling the play and pushing Pangbourne deep into their own half. Chanthanawan was unlucky not to have scored when clean through after some excellent build up from Dom Allen and shortly after a short corner was won, which McCooke fired home at the second attempt.
Despite pushing hard for an equalising goal, the Shiplake player’s legs starting to get heavy as a result of the incredible intensity they had maintained throughout. Will Gresswell and Jamie Lewis worked hard to keep Pangbourne at bay, but momentum swung in their favour and they started to get back into the game, with some skillfull build up leading to a short corner, which slipped under Tooley after a deflection. Jonny Meadows, impressive all game with his eagerness to get forward yet solidness in the tackle, did his best to save it on the line but it just crept over and the goal was awarded.
Pangbourne will feel lucky to have gone home with a win and the Shiplake should be incredibly proud of the performance, which was by far the best of the season so far. The hard work on the training pitch is clearly starting to pay off and by the time the return fixture comes around, Shiplake will be looking to get revenge on Pangbourne.
Player of the match goes to Orla Brown for an all round exceptional performance and her composure and intelligent running will be an important addition to the team this season.
Barney Aldridge
Shiplake 2nd XI 2-0 Pangbourne College
The first half was evenly matched with end to end stuff from both sides. Defensively we were very sound thanks to the combined efforts of Harry Rees, Harry Emmanuel, Jason Chan and Chris Baker. This ensured that Pangbourne posed no real threats. We had a couple of golden chances to score the opening goal but it wasn’t to be.
The second half started in a similar vein until we managed to break the deadlock when Tom McCooke poked in a scrambled cross from close range. Buoyed by this success, we looked a different side and started to knock the ball around with much greater confidence with Charlie Marsden and Henry Atkinson providing some telling balls up to our forwards.
It was no surprise then when Tom scored again with a blistering reverse stick shot from the top of the D with only ten minutes left to play. Overall, it was a strong performance by the whole team against the old enemy and has provided us with a strong platform on which to build in readiness for Bloxham in two weeks time.
Dr Bob Snellgrove
Shiplake 3rd XI 0-1 Pangbourne College
Shiplake Junior Colts 2-2 Pangbourne College
Despite looking very pretty on the ball, Pangbourne lacked any sort of decisiveness in the final quarter and it was therefore no surprise to see Shiplake take the lead just before half time, following a fine counter-attack and a reverse stick shot to the bottom left-hand corner of the opposition’s goal.
The second half was a different ball game, with Pangbourne making a lot more in-roads down the right and creating many more chances. A well-worked effort followed by a defensive mix-up left Shiplake trailing 1-2 going into the final quarter. However, a couple of tactical positional changes at this juncture enabled the Junior Colts to finish strongly and deservedly picked up an equaliser with five minutes to spare. Jack Rees finally steering the ball over the goal-line after a multitude of unrewarded efforts.
Mr Richard Curtis
Netball
Shiplake 9-15 Magdalen College
Report written by Emily Dewell & Kate Horn
On Wednesday, the Shiplake College girls’ netball team took on Magdalen College away from home. Being only our third match of the season, we have already come on in leaps and bounds, with both our skills and our physical ability. Throughout the course of the match we continued to improve, and scored an impressive nine goals over the four quarters, and even though this was sadly not quite enough to be victorious, it was certainly a huge improvement from our last game. During the game itself, possession largely belonged to Shiplake, and our dodging and passing skills which we practice in training sessions have definitely come in useful, and many of our players were seen to be using those skills very well indeed.
As the match progressed, we became more dynamic in our play, and began to communicate much better with each other; something we lacked a little last time. Hopefully with each match we will continue to prosper as a team, and with the help of our newly appointed netball captain - Hannah Cartwright - we will be able to do just that, congratulations Hannah!
Football
Shiplake 3rd XI 1-2 Padworth College
Coming off the back of two league wins, the Shiplake 3rds were brimming with confidence as they took on a very capable Padworth College XI. Such confidence brought an early lead through a goal by James Sloman after some good play between Matt Tse, Jack Willis and Zach Heppner-Logan. Both Alex Exadactylos and Sam Mummery were tenacious in defence as they tidied up any loose ball down their channels and were a constant source of frustration for the Padworth forward line.
Despite a series of good chances towards the end of the first half, Shiplake struggled to put their shots past the opposing keeper. After a series of pressing advances by Shiplake, a rapid counterattack by Padworth a few minutes before the break lead to a score and the sides being level at the interval with a goal apiece.
Daniel DiGiulio's introduction after the break up front lead to a few chances but solid pressure from the opposition defence kept the scores tied. Padworth were growing in confidence and would have gone ahead sooner had it not been for Henry Waller's fine performance at the back and some quality saves from James Martin. Despite these efforts, the tide was beginning to turn as Padworth's pressure mounted and they were awarded a penalty, which they scored from, ten minutes from time.
While a late flurry of shots from Shiplake and a tendency to hit the deck in the box made for a dramatic finish, it was not to be for the home side who surrendered their undefeated status as it finished 2-1 to the visitors.
Mr David Sharkey
Shiplake U15A 1-11 Oratory School
On Wednesday 28 January Shiplake U15A played their first home match of the 2015 season. After a good away win in our first game of the season Shiplake were feeling positive and started the game passing the ball well and progressing up the pitch. After only a few minutes of the game had been played Shiplake earned themselves a corner. Ben Westbrook-Burr whipped in the ball and Ryan Jones was there to flick the ball into the net majestically.
The goal seemed to spur Oratory into life and they began to dominate the midfield, leading to wave after wave of attack. It did not take long for Oratory to score the equaliser, taking advantage of some uncertainty in the back four. Shiplake then struggled to gain composure and structure in the team, with a lack of communication leading to several more Oratory goals.
Unfortunately there was a lack of positional discipline and regulars Will Parton, Joe Szweda and Elliot Jordan were sorely missed. Despite our best efforts we were unable to cope with the passing ability and speed of the opposition. Sadly we were well beaten in the end but a lot was learnt from the defeat and we have plenty to work on in training before our next game. Final score finished 11-1 to Oratory.
Mr Joel Rowlinson
Shiplake U14B 12-1 Long Close School
On Wednesday 28th January Shiplake U14B played their first fixture of the 2015 season at home to Long Close School. Shiplake began the game sharply moving and passing the ball well, always threatening to go forward and attack It did not take long for the deadlock to be broken by a James Roxburgh-Smith goal. As the game progressed Shiplake grew in confidence, putting together some excellent team passing moves, leading to another two goals.
However, Long Close showed determination and deservedly got a goal back, making it 3-1. If anything this only spurred Shiplake on and we went on the offensive scoring several more goals, and at the half time whistle it was 7-1.
The second half continued in much the same fashion, with Shiplake showing fantastic creativity on the attack. Great credit must go the Long Close who fought until the end and never let their heads drop. Despite carving out several opportunities Long Close where unable to convert their chances and Shiplake ran out convincing winners. The final score finished 12-1 to Shiplake with 7 players getting on the score sheet, most notably, Callum Theodorou who got a hat trick.
Mr Joel Rowlinson
