A very successful week of fixtures shows the Shiplake College teams are heading in the right direction, working together well and really getting to grips with their sports.
As the final week of spring term grows nearer, the players are making the most of the last few fixtures, before they gear up to play summer sports.
Football
1st XI 1-1 Forest School
The Shiplake 1st XI have had a strong and steady season and the first 15 minutes of this fixture was reminiscent to the first game of the season vs Abingdon. The defensive shape and quality of centre backs, Goodliffe and Bridgman, shone through and whilst Forest had the majority of possession Shiplake had the best chances. Ben Arnold ran riot up front and was later joined by George Greenaway, whose energy and footwork caused Forest problems all afternoon. Shiplake took the lead through Darius Braun, who finished off a great move, which started at the back through Matty Fitzgerald. His pass to Callum Murray was accurate and Ben Arnold was released through the middle. A block ricocheted to Darius and he prodded home. The next 20 minutes, to half time saw much controversy. Forest, down to ten men managed to get themselves back in the game after a few chances and good saves from Shiplake’s new keeper, Quin Wagner-Piggott. He could do nothing though for the equaliser, after the initial header from a deep cross deflected wickedly off the unknowing centre forward and into the corner of Shiplake’s goal. The response from Shiplake was first class. The Gaffer threw caution to the wind and left a back three to deal with the counter attacking Forest and pushed Fitzgerald into a more advanced position. This paid dividends when Fitzgerald released Callum Murray numerous times down the left and his pace got him into excellent positions. Darius Braun was in space, but shot just over the bar. A barrage of chances continued to fall for Shiplake, with Whittingham and Brady dominating the play up field. Shiplake were on top and the Forest goalie had a fine afternoon. He couldn’t stay still and bounced and leapt to save every shot coming.
It felt inevitable that the talented Forest side would create one last chance at the death. A free kick was awarded deep to the far right of the pitch. The in-swinging delivery caused chaos and the ball was miraculously cleared off the line by the impressive Matt Fenton. The ball was hooked back into the danger area and into the net. However, the referee had blown his final whistle during the melee and much to Forest’s disbelief the goal did not count. An amazing end to a fascinating game.
2nd XI 2-1 Cokethorpe School
On Saturday, the 2nd XI team travelled to Cokethorpe School, looking to get their season back on track. Recent performances have been good but unrewarded. Due to injuries, the team had only 12 players, including two players promoted from the third team due to their exceptional Opta stats, namely Kieran Leach and Charlie Bertram. It was a fresh morning at Cokethorpe as the players kicked off. Shiplake started brightly and were on the front foot in the first five minutes attacking into the wind. With Hassan Rubbani and Ben Tressider controlling the midfield and Greg Cooke and Freddy Ellis physically bossing the opponents (occasionally forgetting that the rugby season is over)! Shiplake continued to look the more likely to score. However, after 30 minutes the back four were caught out by the ever increasing wind, and a sliced clearance flew over the defence into the path of their centre forward. Despite the attentions of our makeshift goalkeeper Zach Heppner Logan (reminiscent of a young Peter Schmeichel), the ball was lobbed by the centre forward into the net for a lead to Cokethorpe. Unfortunately, a mazy run and wonder strike by Cokethorpe with the last kick of the half made the score 2-0 at half time.
As the second half started it was Shiplake’s turn to try and use the conditions to their advantage. The majority of the game was now being played in the Cokethorpe half. Callum James floated into the area where Freddy Ellis leapt, like a salmon, to power a header into the top corner. Game on now! With 20 minutes left, Shiplake were dealt a blow when inspirational defender James Fenton was the unfortunate player on the end of what can only be described as an ‘agricultural tackle’ and had to depart the pitch on a very nice John Deere Gator. Shiplake now dominant pushed for the equaliser. Ben Westbrook-Burr came within a hairs’ breath of connecting one on one with the keeper with five minutes to go. This proved to be best chance that Shiplake had and, as the final whistle blew, the team were bitterly disappointed to lose 2-1.
2nd XI 1-1 Forest School
Following a nail biting defeat at the weekend the Shiplake 2nds where determined to get their first points in the league in their final home match of the season against Forest School. The game started very well for Shiplake, playing some nice football and looking to create as many chances as we could in the first half. At halftime the score was nil nil and following our inspirational team talk telling us to continue to hold a high line in attack. Following this forest scored through a shot from the outside of the box which sneeked into the bottom left hand corner. However, this didn't off put Shiplake off. With five minutes left an inspirational formation change to 3-5-2 helped Shiplake in our attempt to get a draw. We won a free kick and a brilliant header from Finn Arbuckle was saved off the line meaning Shiplake had a corner. This corner resulted in the ball being kicked around the box until Keiran Leach scored ‘the goal of the season’ in the final play of the match. Once again another strong performance from Shiplake which we will take into the final game of the season against Reading Bluecoat. (Report by: Zach Heppner-Logan)
4th XI Shiplake College vs Forest School.
On Wednesday the 9th of March, it was cold outside but we were all up for it. With captain Todd Harmon injured and unable to play, the defence was shaken up a bit with Angus Munro coming in as a replacement. For the first five minutes of the game Shiplake played well, having a good shot on goal, worked by some nice play between Olly Potter, Sam Neil and Hugh Routledge. Things were looking up and many of the team believed we could achieve a good result. However, the next few minutes where not to be the same as Forest School quickly got into the game and with some good possession and passing. They managed to score 3 quick goals. Mr Ebun-Cole made a tactical decision to swap from a 3 at the back to 4 at the back bringing on Matt Sloman in replacement for Daniel Butt. The moved worked well for a while, as they struggled to get into the Shiplake box. However, Forest School quickly realised a change was needed so flooded the midfield and simply took shots from outside the box, which brought the score to 6-0. A tactical change followed, putting on a new striker in the form of the big man himself, Johnny Reid. It was Reid’s debut for the 4ths and a return from a long injury. Johnny made an immediate impact, using his strength to overcome several of the opposition players, we gained more of the ball and managed to survive to half time without conceding.
We came on for the second half with lightened spirits after the break, ready to have a crack at the opposition. We made a keeper change putting Sam Neil in goal. Forest school however came back even better, managing to score 2 goals in the early minutes. From the re-start Johnny Reid and Olly Potter had been planning a tactical kick-off. As Olly tapped it to Johnny who struck a thunderbolt from half way, only missing because of a wonderful save from the keeper. We controlled the ball for a bit, creating a string of passes, which created a 1 on 1 between Hugh Routledge and their keeper, it looked promising but another wonderful save from their keeper prevented us from scoring. Forest school decided to get cocky moving their goalkeeper upfront to a striker, which only caused more danger, as from a rebound of a Forest School corner the ball landed to him, and he toe-punted it into the top left.
After this Shiplake went on to concede another 3 goals and the game ended 12-0 to Forest School.
U15B 2-4 Oratory School
After a run of heavier than expected defeats, Shiplake 15Bs travelled to The Oratory looking for a more positive outcome. The team suffered the worst possible start as some neat interplay by the opposition saw them slot home a goal in the first minute of the match. Despite this setback, Shiplake did not let their heads drop. In fact, quite the opposite happened. The team set about defending strongly with Max Haynes, Tooey Morris and Finn Wallace all making vital tackles and interceptions. It was only a matter of time before Shiplake created their own chances and through the hard work of Josh Lloyd, Elliot Garner and Will Mullin, an opportunity was presented to Aelfric Philliskirk, whose accurate shot was only just dealt with by the Oratory defence. Unfortunately, a quick counter attack saw Oratory double their lead and they snuck one more in just before half time. Nevertheless, Shiplake started the second half positively and began to create more chances. A defensive mix up, which saw their keeper out of position, allowed Aelfric to pull a goal back with a well taken effort. Sensing a comeback, the team worked even harder and a lot of composure was shown by defenders Rafe Koser, Antoine Schweitz and Mike Ball to ensure the Oratory attack was kept at bay. Captain and goalkeeper, Tom Howlett, pulled off some confident saves. As the half went on, the opposition increased the pressure and eventually scored a fourth. Even though defeat was looming, Shiplake pressed on, determined to get something from the game. A number of corners and free kicks were won and with the last kick of the game Josh capitalised on a goalmouth scramble to score a consolation goal and end the match 4-2 to Oratory. Joint men of the match were Josh and Finn for their tireless work all game but every member of the team gave a performance to be proud of in, arguably, a match they did not deserve to lose.
Hockey
U14A XI 5-1 Lord Wandsworth College
Difficult conditions met Shiplake U14A’s as they travelled south to Lord Wandsworth College to face their U15 hockey side. Rain, high winds and close to freezing temperatures coupled with a shortened warm up made for a tentative start to the game from both sides. As Shiplake got themselves into gear, chances in front of goal started to arrive. The Lord Wandsworth Keeper proving to be a good shot stopper kept the scores at 0-0 for most of the half. With 10 minutes to go in the half, Shiplake’s forwards worked the ball around the keeper rather than shooting from range that ended the dead lock. Captain Callum Creighton linking well with forward line partner Tom Lynskey. It wasn’t long before roles were reversed and it was Creighton supplying Lynskey to make it 2-0. Shiplake had settled well into the conditions and with some strong defensive work from Barney Rivett and Billy Parrish on the left flank that kept Lord Wandsworth off the score sheet. It seemed like Shiplake were going to take a 2-0 lead into the half time break but a dubious short corner decision led to a cool finish on reverse past an un-sighted Zack Tilley.
Frustrated to have gone into half time with only a one goal lead, the Shiplake boys rallied well at the start of the second half. Strong link up lay between Arthur Langeler and Jacob Kirby through the midfield exposed Lord Wandsworth back line and Kirby was through to neatly finish on the reverse.
Shiplake’s confidence and the possession percentage were rising equally. More solid defence from Billy Parrish and Rory Diez-Harrison gave Shiplake the belief to commit men to the attack and once again it was Kirby who benefited from more good passing, this time from Toby Gorringe. With the game looking won mid-way through the second half, Shiplake reduced their numbers in the back line and brought on an extra forward to complement their high possession. Ed Gilbert-Blay won the ball via some good defensive tracking on the left wing and supply the ball down the line to forward Dom Deakin, who was playing as a forward for the first time this season and showed no signs of a lack of experience in the role nicely rolled the ball to the back post where Lynskey picked up his second and Shiplake’s 5th of the game. A strong performance from all the U14 squad in very trying conditions and against an U15 side. Special mentions to Barney Rivett for a solid performance at left back and also Billy Parrish, who belied his hockey experience with a strong performance at the back. A defensive platform which allowed the midfield and forward lines freedom to attack.
Director of Sport Mr James Gaunt
Netball
3rd VII 16-2 Padworth College
On Wednesday the 9th of March we played against Padworth College, with two full teams. We were all excited to play continuing our winning streak from the successful match last week. Shiplake began with a very strong team, winning the coin toss, leading with Mimi Brough to start with the first centre pass. The passes were great. They were fast and snappy and within the first seven minutes we were in the lead 6-0. There was some great defending from Emily Duncan at GK in which she was almost twice the height if their GS. The first goal to start the match was shot by Poppy Stebbings on a double obstruction then some other great goals between both Poppy and Lauren Way.
We had a one-minute break and continued with the game. The team played very well with some fierce defending from Sophia Gibbs giving the possession back to us and leading to Emily Duncan scoring four more goals, and one goal to the opposing team leaving the score at 10-1 at half time.
The next plays were very quick with the thirteenth goal made in only four passes. So ready to end the match on a high, Lauren Way score three more goals to finalise the score at 16-2 to Shiplake. All of the girls played very well, and the player of the match chosen by the other team was Emma King-Lewis. Well done to everyone who played.
