Although the unusually bad weather caused several football matches to be rained off, the second week of term saw many fixtures take place. For the majority of the Shiplake hockey teams, this week provided some of their first matches of the season, and they were eager to start on a winning streak. Congratulations to the U15As and the U14As, both of whom took on very strong rival teams from Lord Wandsworth College, and came out on top!
Hockey
1st XI 0-5 Reed’s School
‘Shiplake had a tough draw in the first round of the Boy’s U18 Cup, welcoming Reeds, who are one of the top hockey schools in the area, to Reading on a cold and wet evening. Many of the Shiplake parents also made the journey to Reading and endured the conditions, which the players appreciated even if the parents’ hands and feet did not!
Shiplake started positively and were doing well to break down Reed’s attacking play. The back four of Jonathan Meadows, Liam Peachey, Chris Baker and Harry Emmanuel all made a huge contribution to keeping Reeds at bay for the majority of the first half. Dan Deakin and William Gresswell were doing their best to keep Shiplake moving forward and both Dom Allen, Billy Sayers and Hassan Rubbani put the Reeds’ defence under pressure well. However, Reed’s eventually found a gap in the Shiplake defence and managed to score a scrappy goal to the dismay of Jack Tooley in the Shiplake goal.
Shiplake went into half time 1-0 down, but they had certainly let Reed’s know that they were in for a fight. The second half started in a similar fashion but soon Reed’s found another gear and Jack Tooley became very busy in the Shiplake goal. Harry Rees worked hard in midfield, always looking to be an option for his team mates and James Smith and Timothy Herbert were doing their best to stem the attacks down the line. They also occasionally broke forward themselves but some unorthodox tackling and tiring legs lead to several short corners which were duly dispatched following some neat moves by the Reeds attack.
Shiplake can be proud of their efforts, with everyone tackling and running hard through to the end but the better team won and Shiplake can now look forward to their next match in the Boy’s U18 Vase.’
Mr Tom Walter
U15A 3-1 Lord Wandsworth College
‘For the first outing of the term, it was decided that everyone in the squad would get some game time to aid the future selection processes. It was, therefore, always going to be a stern test against a traditionally strong hockey school. However, with no less than five minutes into the match, it became apparent that the all-round skill levels and athleticism of the Shiplake guys were proving too much for the opposition and it was not long before a well-worked move down the left flank ended up with Shiplake taking the lead. Following this early goal the U15s failed to capitalise on numerous chances by taking far too long to get their shots on goal and the game remained evenly balanced at 1-0 at half time.
In establishing a much wider attack in the second half Shiplake were able to take a grip of proceedings with two more goals. Unfortunately, the additional width to the U15 game meant that they got exposed on one occasion to a swift Lord Wandsworth counter-attack. Other than that Jamie Gibbs had a very quiet game in goal.
Final score 3-1 to Shiplake.’
Mr Richard Curtis
U14A XI 6-1 Lord Wandsworth College
Director of Sport Mr James Gaunt provides the following report from a successful opening week for the U14As:
‘This was the first game of the season for the U14 A XI and the performance suggests that the future of Shiplake hockey is in very good hands. Great levels of enthusiasm, energy, commitment and skill were evident from the start and it wasn’t long before the impressive Arthur Langelur made mincemeat of the Lord Wandsworth defence to score a very impressive goal from the left wing. Wave after wave of Shiplake attack was repelled, but with the talented Creighton forcing the opposition defence to twist and turn it was never going to be long before the next goal came and it was Creighton who got it to make it 2-0 at half time.
The priority for the second half was movement; we needed to use the ball more rather than trying to beat defenders individually. Thierry Althorp, Cameron Jones and Rory Diez Harrison Harrison became more prominent as a result and we started to play with a little more width. This took its toll on Lord’s Wandsworth, who despite getting a goal back began to tire. Tom Lynskey latched onto some good interplay in the opposition D to make it 3-1. The game then became very one sided with Shiplake beginning to play with real confidence. Ed Gilbert Blay began to drive forcefully towards goal, Langelur continued to dictate play and Jacob Kirby displayed great skill. Creighton scored two more to complete his hat trick before Kirby netted a wonderful reverse stick shot. Jack Underwood, Dom Deakin and Toby Gorringe also impressed. This was a very promising first game. There is much to work on but this squad has the talent to become a very good team.’
