Another week of very cold weather has seen certain fixtures cancelled due to unplayable pitches and risk of injury. However, some matches were held and the results were a mixed bag; the 1st hockey team achieved a victory over Lord Wandsworth College after a difficult opening to their season. The football teams took on teams from local rivals Abingdon School, resulting in a range of scores...
Hockey
1st XI 1-0 Lord Wandsworth College
‘Shiplake made the trip over to Lord Wandsworth looking for their first win of the season, following a draw and a defeat at Henley College and Reeds respectively. With just the bare 11 due to exams and illnesses, Shiplake knew they were going to have their work cut out to take something away from the game. However, they could not have gotten off to a better start, with a driving run down the left by Timothy Herbert falling to Dom Allen on the top of the D. Keeping his footing, he drilled the ball into the far corner of the goal. The power in the shot left many wondering if the Lord Wandsworth goalkeeper had even seen it go past him.
Shiplake then dominated large parts of the first half, applying a large amount of pressure on the ball and forcing Lord Wandsworth into mistakes. There were lots of positive runs forward by James Smith and Dom Deakin, and William Gresswell and Harry Rees were doing well to soak up any attacks made by the opposition. The defensive line of Liam Peachey, Jonathan Meadows, Harry Emmanuel and Chris Baker was not often called upon, but they were efficient in any work they had to do.
As the game progressed, Shiplake became a little lazy in their defensive work and Lord Wandsworth did begin to find holes in the armour but a few excellent saves by Jack Tooley ensured the clean sheet stayed intact. Deakin managed to win a penalty stroke with some neat footwork but unfortunately the flick did not find the net. Whilst there are still plenty of things to work on, Shiplake can be happy with the progress they have made already this season and we move onto another local derby against rivals Pangbourne.’
Master in Charge of Hockey, Mr Tom Walter
Football
1st XI 1-0 Abingdon School
Captain Freddie Lock provides an insight into a successful game against a challenging side:
‘After a difficult season last year, Shiplake wanted to start off well with a positive mentality going into this tough fixture against Abingdon. After dominating with possession in the first 15 minutes Shiplake were off to a great start, getting shots away and not letting Abingdon into our own half. Abingdon then came back into the game, getting a shot away and playing some football in Shiplake’s half.
After going in goalless at half time Shiplake knew we needed to control the play better and make Abingdon work. With both centre backs Miles Bridgman and Cameron Goodlife not letting anything past them, Shiplake began frustrating the opponents and we began playing nice passing football. With 10 minutes to go, Matthew Fitzgerald picked out Callum Murray’s run, and he calmly tucked the ball passed the keeper into the net, putting Shiplake 1-0 with an excellent goal. Shiplake were on the back foot for the remaining final minutes of the game, trying to seal out all 3 points with Abingdon putting great pressure on us with consecutive corners. The final score was 1-0 to Shiplake, and a special mention to Year 10 Matthew Fitzgerald who had a great game in midfield.’
2nd XI 2-4 Abingdon School
Team Captain Zach Heppner-Logan offers the following report from a tough match against Abingdon:
‘As the new season started, the 2nd team had a new coach from the king of Sunday league football Mr David Rose. Before the match started he gave us his wise words of ‘hit the target men up top and keep a strong defence’. As the game started, Abingdon came out the blocks firing quickly against Shiplake with a constant attack in the opening minutes, with vital saves being made by Quinn Wagner-Piggott. As the first half continued, Shiplake started to get into the game until a free kick was deflected past the goalie followed up by another quick goal by Abingdon.
After a regroup at half time Shiplake came out strong and with our first corner from Rory O'Conor the Abingdon defence panicked and put the ball through their own net for an own goal. Unfortunately, quickly after this Abingdon had a penalty and another quick break from which they scored. With five minutes left O'Conor scored a free kick with a sublime chip over the goalie. Shiplake also managed to hit the post twice - once after a bullet header from Finn ‘the octopus’ Arbuckle. A narrow defeat from our first game but many positives, particularly the excellent team spirit shown. A good start for the boys.’
4th XI 1-3 Abingdon School
Captain Vincent Thomann provides a report from this well-played match:
‘With only one effective training session under their belts, the fourths had their first match against an aggressive and much more physically advanced team from Abingdon. As the pitches on the front field were frozen on the early Saturday morning, we had to move our debut match to the new field with smaller pitches. Though the kick off was on our side, straight away the ball was in their possession. Lacking preparation for dealing with such a dynamic and powerful opposition, we had to dig deep and stay strong. After a couple of minutes, and a cheeky corner, Abingdon scored the first goal of the match. We continued to throw them everything that we had. Unfortunately, this was not enough and after about five minutes we conceded a second goal. Nevertheless, we refused to give up and as a result scored our first goal of the game with just one minute until the end of the first half.
After Mr Tiki Ebun-Cole’s inspiring half time team talk we all felt that the day was not lost. Putting pressure on their defence to draw the game. With a strong pass over their defensive line to James Vizard by Jonny Walter, the match could likely have been drawn. Yet an unfortunate miss by James meant that this wasn’t the case and we walked away with our heads held high with a final score of 3-1 to Abingdon school.’
