The final sports fixtures of the half term were played on Wednesday, and once again Shiplake fielded teams across four sports. The Shiplake hockey 2nd XI continued their fine form with a 1-1 draw against a strong Bloxham side, while the Lower School U13 rugby team enjoyed their first win of the season. Other highlights included a nine goal win for the U14 footballers and a first ever fixture for a Shiplake 5th XI!
Football
Shiplake 1st XI 0-3 Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School
Lady luck failed to shine on Shiplake’s senior side as they were left yet again to rue what might have been. Playing on the pristine surface of Memorial Field for the first time this season, Shiplake’s creative sparks in the middle of the park had a chance to get the ball on the deck and play some excellent football.
Shiplake started confidently, with the ever-reliable Cameron Goodliffe mopping up play in the ‘Makelele’ defensive midfield role, and launching attacks from deep. Freddie Ireland looked neat and tidy on the ball, with lone striker Miles Bridgman looking the most likely to break the deadlock with several jinking forays into Borlase territory.
However, Shiplake were dealt a cruel sucker-punch as Borlase took the lead with an instinctive finish. After an initial shot was blocked by a combination of Shiplake’s centre half duo of Banks and Horsfall, the ball ricocheted into the Borlase striker’s path and he made no mistake from 8 yards. Borlase grew into the game and began to dominate proceedings. An audacious bicycle kick was one of several chances which could have doubled the lead, but Shiplake were undeterred and responded well. With Bridgman moving onto the wing, Ruairi Van Raalte was thrown on up front and his presence occupied the Borlase defence. This created space in the attacking third for Markland Tidswell and Charlie Proctor to exploit, as they fired a succession of long-range efforts narrowly wide. Shiplake’s best effort came from a more unlikely source. Matt Horsfall picked up the ball inside his own half, and moved unchallenged through midfield. He was still a good 30 yards out when he unleashed a speculative shot on goal, which flew over the goalkeeper and cannoned back off the crossbar!
The second goal was always going to be crucial, and unfortunately went to the visitors. A measured through ball opened up the Shiplake back four and left a one-on-one with goalkeeper Callum Heppner-Logan. Despite bravely going into the challenge, the Borlase striker came out with the ball and curled a left-footed effort into the net. Once more, Shiplake came back into the game and a scorching drive from Tidswell looked in from the moment he struck it, only to smash the inside of the post and roll back across the face of goal. What happened next in many ways sums up Shiplake’s season to date. An attacking corner led to an almighty scramble in the Borlase penalty area, but after losing possession, a lightning Borlase counter attack led to another one-on-one and once again the clinical Borlase attackers made no mistake.
The 0-3 half time scoreline was extremely harsh on Shiplake, but the boys knew they had to improve their communication and organisation, as it was far too quiet out on the pitch. The second half was relatively uneventful in comparison, with Heppner-Logan making some good saves in the Shiplake goal to keep the scoreline respectable. When Bridgman grazed the crossbar from eighteen yards out, it became even more apparent it was not going to be his day. The boys deserved a consolation, but it was not to be.
1st XI coach Mr McSweeny commented: ‘The boys were disappointed again with the result, but again we must reiterate there is no shame in losing to a quality side. Nick Burnage, making his first 1st XI start of the season, was awarded man of the match for his outstanding defensive work. Nick has already cemented his place in the side for the fixtures after half term, and is an excellent example for all 2nd and 3rd XI players who hold aspirations of breaking into the first team squad. We have integrated several Year 11 boys into the side already, which is very promising for the future. Congratulations to Callum Heppner-Logan for his inclusion in the Headmaster’s XV this term. His performances and general attitude have been outstanding.’
Shiplake 5th XI 1-3 Claires Court 4th XI
Shiplake’s 5th XI travelled to their first ever fixture with great enthusiasm and were welcomed warmly by our hosts Claires Court. Shiplake started very positively with Adam Fletcher and Findlay Rowan probing forward and captain Sam Wisely and Man of the Match George Martin mopping up any danger at the back. However disaster struck when Martin’s glasses broke and he had to momentarily leave the field. Miscommunication ensued and we let their centre forward get free in the box to slam the ball past the despairing dive of Joe Sung in goal.
However we responded brilliantly and on the stroke of half time Findlay Rowan picked the ball up (roughly) 30 yards from goal. Like a young David Beckham he let fly and the ball slammed into the top corner of the net. 1-1 at half time.
With us still celebrating a shot on target we conceded five minutes into the second half as their dangerous centre forward got free and slotted the ball home. When Claires Court soon made it 3-1 the boys looked down, but some stirring words from Wisely turned the tide. Shiplake poured forward with Kieran Leach, Oliver West, Seb Roberts and Shanaka Clay showing some great skill. Suddenly Adam Fletcher found some space in the box and was scythed down to give us a penalty. Fletcher bravely stepped up to take it but the keeper guessed correctly and saved it. From the ensuing break Claires Court were awarded a penalty of their own and a chance to make it 4-1, but Joe Sung had other ideas. He palmed the penalty on to the underside of the bar, the ball bounced back over his head and he volleyed it out for a throw in. Quite astonishing goalkeeping.
Despite West and Jamal Springer-Lynch going close at the death the match finished 3-1, but we look forward to the rematch at Shiplake after half term.
Mr Howorth
Shiplake U14 9-0 Bearwood
Shiplake started the game strongly, having the majority of possession. It wasn't long before the first goal went in and Shiplake were 1-0 up. We continued to dominate the 50/50 positional battles which was our target from the last match and this was key to breaking through their defence.
This second goal came after a deflected long shot from Dom Hance troubled the keeper, causing him to spill the ball and letting Matthew Dalrymple pounce to calmly tap it in. Callum Theodorou was causing havoc down the left wing scoring his first goal of the game which he pulled across the goal slotting it in to the far corner. He found another opportunity to reward himself for his efforts which he converted to make it 4-0 going into half time.
With some substitutions made, the whistle blew for the second half to begin and Shiplake started where they left off scoring yet another goal. We carried on this with a dangerous ball being put in by Alex Shean and the Bearwood defender’s clearance sat up nicely for Sam Ellis whose strike from outside the box nestled beautifully into the bottom corner.
We followed this up by scoring again, coming from a great recovery tackle by Josh Howard who crossed it into the box and was the ball hit on the volley to make it 8-0. We completed the game by scoring a beautiful team goal, starting with great interplay between the back four going through midfield and finally being converted to finish the game 9-0. A big well done to the back four for keeping a clean sheet and for scoring so many goals, this sets us up nicely for half term.
Matty Fitzgerald (U14 Captain)
Hockey
Shiplake 1st XI 1-3 Bloxham
Shiplake played their best hockey of the season so far but were undone by a clinical Bloxham side. The team will be looking to build upon the positive elements of their play in the second half of the season. Another outstanding performance by Orla Brown was particularly pleasing for Mr Walter, as he looks to find a consistent winning formula ahead of the next round of fixtures.
Shiplake 2nd XI 1-1 Bloxham
We took a while to get into our rhythm and spent the first ten minutes defending our D. Gradually, however, we got into our stride and started to look threatening. Although we had some sustained pressure, we just couldn’t put it in the back of the net and the signs looked ominous as Bloxham began passing the ball around quite fluently. Sure enough Bloxham put their chance away with a break out from defence and we ended up 1-0 down at half time.
The second half was a hard fought contest with chances at either end. Our new recruit, Rory O’Conor, demonstrated his stick skills down the left wing which resulted in some promising attacks but, again, we just couldn’t finish off. Eventually a short corner came our way and our trusty forward Tom McCooke slotted the equalising goal home to give us a much deserved draw against a very useful Bloxham side. McCooke is in outstanding goalscoring form and will be hard to catch at the top of the goals leaderboard between now and the end of the season.
Dr Snellgrove
Shiplake Junior Colts 0-3 Bloxham
The Junior Colts gave away possession far too cheaply in this game to ever contemplate victory, especially in the first half where we conceded two goals in just such fashion. The second half was much more productive and some sweeping movement down the right hand flank led to one or two chances which, had they been put away, may have led to a tighter game in the finish. Unfortunately, it was Bloxham who broke away to pop in a third midway through the second half to come out deserved winners in the end.
Mr Curtis
Netball
Shiplake 7-19 Cokethorpe
On Wednesday, Shiplake girls’ netball team played against Cokethorpe. We started really well, scoring the first goal of the match within three minutes of play. We had a very small team, with only one sub, meaning game time for each of our players was increased more than usual. We had to work extra hard in order to maintain a high standard of play to contend with Cokethorpe, as their team was of a very high level. The match started off being very close, with alternate scores, however after the second quarter we began to struggle, with such a small team.
We persevered though, and carried on building our team skills and communication, and this worked really well, and we also tried testing out some side line passes, as these seemed to enable us to keep possession longer. Our marking skills have improved dramatically, and this was evident in the match as we prevented many more passes from the opposition than we have before, and this allowed us to prevent several goals for the other team. Overall it was a tough match, but we continue to improve week by week, and this is really showing in our team’s play, so well done girls!
Written by Emily Dewell and Kate Horn
Rugby
Shiplake U12 22-7 Bearwood College
On Wednesday 11 February Shiplake U12s took on Bearwood for the second time this season. As our last 2 matches had been cancelled due to bad weather we were keen to play again and put our training to good use.
The first half started off brilliantly with a try from Ben Willis but sadly we missed a tricky conversion. With our spirits high, we performed some excellent rucking and the best passing of the season so far. This hard work resulted in a try for Zac Kennedy. Again, we narrowly missed the conversion and the score at half time was 10-0.
The good work continued after half time with a fabulous interception and speedy run by Max Way to score another try, which he converted. Bearwood then came back to score a try after some brave Shiplake defending but they missed their conversion. With 10 minutes left we passed the ball out to our winger, Elliot Richards, to go over for our fourth try.
The match ended with a 22-5 win to Shiplake. We hope Zac's knee gets better soon, after he got injured in the very last minute.
By Ben Ferguson
