Fylde Ladies' 1 0-0 Didsbury Northern 1
Vitality Women's Conference North
Fylde Ladies 1st XI kicked off their season with a tough game against Didsbury Northern. The first half was a hard fight for both teams. Strong defending from Lucy Woods and Lucy Partington prevented circle entry from Didsbury. In the second half, Fylde began to get opportunities in the opposition's half. The score-line still sat at 0-0. In the last quarter, Hattie Madden fired a reverse hit to the back post that was narrowly missed by Hannah Cook. After 70 minutes of hard work, the game ended 0-0. Man of the match goes to Dani Merrick for excellent play in the midfield.
University of Liverpool 1 1-1 Fylde Ladies' 2
North West Women's Division 1
On a hot, tropical afternoon Fylde Ladies 2's started off with a strong attacking formation, with everyone on board to push forward collectively as a unit. They linked some passes and were first to the ball consistently. They stood strong, worked together and the highlight of the day was the strength of the press creating a ‘white wall’ of which one of their players even highlighted “I can’t see any blue”!
There were some decisions that didn't go their way but the team remained focussed, disciplined and determined to work hard until the end. Liverpool scored from a fast shift of the ball and just got it to the back of our net.
Fylde worked to anticipate and switch the play with urgency, pace and accuracy resulting in a great link up and finish from Dawn Child, equalising.
With a rare occurrence at the end of both halves, firstly Liverpool attacking and then Fylde secondly attacking - both were defended extremely well resulting in a well deserved 1-1 battle - everyone worked to the final whistle and the team are excited for the rest of the season. A huge thank you to the supporters who beat the fuel rush and cheered the team on.
Fylde Ladies' 3 4-2 Lancaster University 1
North West Women's Division 2 North
Fylde Ladies 3s started their 21/22 season against Lancaster University, the side saw Laura Knowles and Toni Phoenix-Cole make their debuts for the team.
The first half saw lots of attacking play from both sides and despite many breaks in play neither team could find the back of the net.
The half time team talk from coach Ian Swaine payed dividends and the team changed up their tactics quickly finding the back of the net from a Lucy Bridges deflection. Fylde had the momentum and kept the ball for long periods of time, with Charlotte Gornall making quick work moving the ball down the right hand side of the pitch but Lancaster held firm. As the half went on Fylde continued passing it round the back and up the wings until again another fantastic run from the forward line of Katie Tinsley, Megan Coar found a gap and the ball was deflected in once again by Lucy Bridges twice more.
All the team continued to press high with strong tackles and passing game from the midfield and defence up to the forward line giving way to multiple penalty corners. One such corner found the foot of a defender on the line resulting in a penalty stroke, captain Georgie Hampson stepped up to take the flick finding the back of the net.
A fantastic game by all and a brilliant 4-0 win to start the season.
Players of the match: Katie Tinsley and Charlotte Gornall
Fylde Ladies' 4 4-1 Pendle Forest 3
North West Women's Division 3 North (Central)
The sun shone over Mill Farm for the first game of the new season for Ladies 4th Team. A hat-trick from Carly Wilde and a goal from Fiona Quarmby saw the team secure a 4-1 win against the visitors Pendle Forest 3rd team.
Player of the match went to Poppy Chester for her confidence on the ball in her debut match. The predominantly junior side showed great potential for the season ahead.
Lytham St Annes 3 0-2 Fylde Ladies' 5
North West Women's Division 4 North (Central)
The start of the season found Fylde Ladies 5XI away at Lytham. Some of our players were new to adult hockey, together with plenty with experience, and this proved to be a persistent and solid combination.
The defence worked well together and any Lytham presence in the D was quickly dealt with. Fylde's attacks on goal were frequent and in the first half a quick thinking pass by Lucy Wane was deflected high into the net by Sophie Rawlinson on her adult hockey debut.
Despite tiring in the second half the team held firm defending numerous short corners. They were able to work our way up the pitch and made some excellent play on goal again. This time Jess Egan made a superb pass to Jessie Allen who again got it in the net.
The captain was proud of the great team work, great work rate, excellent effort and determination by all.
Lancaster & Morecambe 3 1-5 Fylde Ladies' 6
North West Women's Division 5 North (Central)
Fylde Ladies 6 began the season joined by a selection of new youngsters away to Lancaster and Morecambe 3s. With first pushback going to the opposition, Lancaster and Morecambe quickly worked their way into Fylde's defensive D and, following some to-ing and fro-ing, managed to find the back of the net, giving them an early lead.
On the re-set, with some great on-pitch coaching around positioning from the more weathered players, the team were able to pull it together and with great Fylde feistiness soon managed to even up with a goal from Abi Wensley. The work rate demonstrated was fantastic and another goal, this time from Georgia Nichols, was soon added. Before the end of the first half Georgia Nichols again found the back of the net, giving Fylde a 3 -1 lead going into half time.
Half time allowed Fran Loffler-Thompson the opportunity to give the players a quick explanation of the preferred positional play and out they went again. Early on, we conceded a short corner which was lifted, taking Fran out of the game for a short while, but in true Fran style, she simply took up the position of coach on the sideline before later returning to the pitch.
Following the short, Fylde took back possession, with most of the play occurring in Fylde's attacking half, with those balls that made it through quickly being dealt with by the defence and, when they managed to break through goal keeper Felicity Flood-Whittle kept her calm and made great clearances.
With some great runs down the right by Kellie Wiseman on her debut game, Fylde kept the opposition on their toes and Abi Wensley secured a fourth goal for the team. Natalie Smith grew in confidence, commanding the midfield and distributing the ball and getting it down to our attacking D, Abbie Warburton made some impressive moves but couldn't quite break through the defences but found Abi Wensley who scored our 5th goal, giving her a hat trick and Player of the Match!
Special mention goes to the new players, Kelli Wiseman, Katie Sloan, Sophie Wareing, Abi Warburton, Natalie Smith and Hollie Twose.
Fylde Men's 1 4-1 Lytham St Annes 1
North West Men's Division 1
First league game of the new North West Hockey Div 1 season, pitted local rivals Fylde and Lytham St Annes against each other at Mill Farm, Fylde who have continued their rise through the divisions were looking to start off strongly and continue in that vein of form heading into the season.
It didn’t take long for Fylde to get into a groove in this game. The team with still a lot to learn with a plethora of new players and under new leadership of Captain Jamie Oakes took an early lead through new transfer-in Ben Douglas who slotted home nicely after some slick midfield play into the forward.
This was followed up 3 minutes later with a disguised pass that threw the Lytham defence and keeper the wrong way to allow a tap in at the far post for Jordan Payne. Lytham were on the ropes for majority of the half and Fylde should have been 4 or 5 up before the half, they did get a third a well worked bit of skill in the D allowed Douglas to get his second with a reverse to the bottom corner of the Lytham goal.
The second half didn’t start as cleanly as the first and some mistakes lead to a Lytham counter and goal to make it 3-1, Lytham got into a groove and put pressure on the Fylde back line but Gareth Sym and Ian Swaine rallied to keep them at bay.
Fylde finally turned back the tide and got their fourth and Douglas hat-trick on his debut, a great outing for the UCLan student. Fylde continued to put on pressure with Oakes and Payne both going close in the dying minutes of the game but it stayed at 4-1.
Next up for the Coasters is a trip to West Derby who have just come off a narrow 4-3 loss away at Didsbury.
Leyland & Chorley 1 5-1 Fylde Men's 2
North West Men's Division 3 North
Fylde Mens 2s travelled to Leyland and Chorley for their opening game of the season, handing 2xi debuts to 5 players. A difficult start led to Fylde being behind early despite the best efforts of Duke Jones who was excellent at the back.
Some good play from debutant Josh Keelan ended with Fylde earning a succession of penalty corners however with 2 of the back 4 involved it left them open to the counter and resulted in a second home goal. As the away team continued to push for the goal that would get them back into the game, another counter attack from Leyland and Chorley found the home team 3-0 up via a questionable finish as the umpires view was obscured by the out rushing keeper. Fylde regrouped at half time and strong play through midfield and great skill from Fin Odell Taylor and Luke Hitchen gave the travelling side more opportunities.
Disappointingly Fylde were unable to capitalise and a penalty corner for the home team made the score 4-0 as the player on the post appeared to be impeded by the goal scorer.
A well worked move finally saw Fylde score as the ball was quickly shifted from left to right before a strong run from Keelan ended with a pin point square pass, converted by Phil Hope. A true poachers goal.
The game grew stretched as Fylde tried to recover, however it was again the home team who took advantage finishing the game off with a final goal. The game ended 5-1 but this was not a true reflection of the performance of the team on its first outing.
Man of the match was Duke Jones.
Garstang 1 3-0 Fylde Men's 3
North West Men's Division 4 North
Fylde 3s began with a poor start to the season against a strong Garstang side. From start to finish Garstang piled on attack after attack, breaking apart the Fylde team and netting 3 goals in the process.
Fylde had few chances to attack the opposition defence, with man of the match Hugo Loggenberg working tirelessly in midfield to create something for the side. Special mentions to Ollie Greenwood and Martin Hayes who also put in a high quality performance in defence and attack respectively, but were unfortunate in their efforts to break through a strong Garstang defence.
Fylde Men's 4 6-1 Leyland & Chorley 2
North West Men's Division 5 North The Men's 4th team, whilst taking some time to put together over the preceding days, produced a superb display to overcome Leyland and Chorley Men's 2s. Although manpower did not allow for a sub, determination, discipline and some impressively skillful play allowed Fylde to ease to victory.
Fylde dominated the first half possession, the veteran Chris Hills holding the line up front, and proving the crucial attacking pivot for both of Fylde's first two goals. The right wing attacking play of Richard Clarke was little short of rampaging, which was hugely facilitated by the perfomance of Angus Chandler playing at right half. Chandler's performance from a newcomer to the men's game was little short of breathtaking, and quite rightly gained the Man of the match award. James Dobson can feel somewhat aggrieved, because his performance on the left wing was superb, and he would have been man of the match in practically any other game.
The foundation for the aggressive attacking play came from Martin Stringfellow, with a measured and precise masterclass in how to control the middle of the field. Support for this came from Ollie Holmes, who organised and distributed beautifully from the centre half position in the team's newly adopted formation (it was felt the old system of everyone running after the ball like school yard football needed updating slightly). Connor McClelland continued to demonstrate why Rob Jepson is looking over his shoulder nervously from the 1s.
Back to the game itself, despite dominating possession, Fylde went in to the half time break with the score at 2-1, after conceding a poor goal with multiple opportunities to clear missed. There is something to be learnt from every game, and this was clearly that moment.
Despite this, there was little to discuss at half time other than: more of the same. Despite the lack of subs, in the second half, it was Leyland & Chorley who began to tire. The few chances that fell to them were rapidly dealt with by Sean Lester at right half, who was solidity personified, quickly picking up the new system. Peter Latimer was at the heart of all the good defending, and showed the way forward with a more fluid style of defending where players need not stay precisely in the formation, because others will move in to support. This is a key aim for the season, a more proactive approach to team positioning.
The second half possession was all Fylde, Richard Clarke completing a hat-trick, a brace for Martin Stringfellow and a well deserved goal for James Dobson, who smashed the ball into the top of the net from (nearly) the edge of the D, much to the interest of the watching Men's 1s. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable game, and with an average age of somewhere in the mid 30s*, this is surely a team that is going places? Although in a similar manner, Bill Gates walked into a bar full of statisticians, who all leapt to their feet yelling "We're all millionaires" which was true: on average.
*mean average of 38 beating the previous record of 37, but the median average of 39 was someway short of the record median age of 44 from Oct last year [Club Statto]
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