Didsbury Northern 1 (F) 2 - 1 Fylde 1 (F)
Vitality Women's Conference North
Fylde 1XI faced Didsbury away, starting with only 11 players and debut for junior player Layla Wholey.
Fylde kept good possession of the ball while having chances going forward, including winning the ball up the pitch by Tineka Jennings. Towards the end of the first quarter, Didsbury had a counter attack resulting in a 2 v 1 and a goal to Didsbury.
Continuing through the match, Fylde had attacking opportunities including a short corner unfortunately saved by the opposition goalkeeper.
At half time, the Fylde squad of 11 became a squad of 13 allowing fresh legs on the pitch. Links between Vicky Rukin, Hattie Madden and Flor Zappula in the midfield led to a break and an excellent reverse hit from Flor to the top corner.
Towards the end of the match, Didsbury unfortunately scored a second goal after a break in the midfield.
Final score 2-1 Didsbury, Player of the match: Flor Zappula
Fylde 2 (F) 3 - 0 Clitheroe Blackburn Northern 1 (F)
North West Women's Division 1
On a windy day,
We all nearly got blown away,
A close colour clash,
Off we ran with a dash!
On we went, pass and go,
Everyone ready and staying low,
Pressure was our tool for the fight,
Oh we battled and stayed tight.
Excellent defending and movement wide,
The play was like waves in with the tide,
You all had a place on the pitch as we squeezed them in,
Communicating excellently from chin to chin.
The play moved forward up and up,
Counting down minutes for the half time sup,
Roll on and off, the players worked hard,
We were so disciplined, no one was shown a card.
Dawn C was on fire with forward passing into the middle,
Chelsea A and Emma S ran so much they were off to Lidl,
Passes through set them up in the D,
2 strong finishes were meant to be.
A ball was sent long down the line,
A jog back for most, all in time,
An attack was made in the D,
An ‘off the goal line’ dive from Mia said it wasn’t to be!
Keeping possession and together as one,
Working together, getting the job done,
We were calm, focussed and determined to win,
The midfield were strong - C & B’s patience was wearing thin.
EJ tried to play forgetting her stick,
Pass to pass making them click,
A short was earned and we quickly learned,
‘Whack it’ in the goal by Chelsea A as C & B we’re even more concerned.
A great finish to a game full of strength,
It’s fabulous to see our team on the same wavelength,
We work hard again next week,
Enjoy this feeling on our winning streak!
Windermere 1 (F) 0 - 2 Fylde 4 (F)
North West Women's Division 3 North (Central)
A wet & windy trip to Windermere for the Ladies 4th team this week.
The team started strong and took the lead early with Isabelle Woodman crossing from the right to Grace Tomlinson on the left post. An injury to striker Fiona Quarmby stopped play for approximately 15 minutes and resulted in a loss of a player and coach Martin Stringfellow as they took a trip to Kendal A&E.
Numerous attacking short corners followed as Fylde continued to fight for a goal. Jess Addy stepped up to take a penalty stroke following a strike to the knee of the last defender, unfortunately it went wide.
Following a few changes at half time Beth Wolstenholme took up the centre forward position and put away the second goal by smashing the ball from the top of the D into the bottom right hand corner.
Great attacks down the right with short passes between Lauren Appleyard, Natalie Smith and Kirtika Saravanan looked promising. Fylde dominated the second half with Windermere breaks being broken down in midfield.
Overall a strong performance for the young Fylde team and a much needed win. Player of the match Hannah Metcalf. All now home safe and sound after an eventful trip to the lakes.
Fylde 6 (F) 0 - 1 Garstang 4 (F)
North West Women's Division 5 North (Central)
The result did not reflect the effort put in by an improving team! 90% possession and numerous chances could not break down a solid defence.
A break away goal mid way through the second half sealed the win for the opposition on a wet and windy early morning start at Mill Farm. A great team effort hoping for a better result next time!
Fylde (M) 3 - 7 Alderley Edge 2 (M)
North West Men's Division 1
Another frustrating result for the Men's 1s this weekend. A game of 2 halves meant the Men's 1s were left very frustrated. The game started well with a bare 11 side dominant in possession and creating chances, some excellent hockey and goals from Jamie Oakes and Jordan Payne (2) meant Fylde took a 3-2 lead at half-time.
Alderley Edge changed their tactics at half-time which worked well for them and exposed the lack of personnel on the Fylde bench, creating overloads on the left and right sides of the pitch creating chance after chance.
Final score 7-3 and a big opportunity missed by Fylde to close the gap on the 5 teams above.
Kendal 1 (M) 19 - 0 Fylde 2 (M)
North West Men's Division 3 North
Pitches are often tricky to find, but this one was tricky to get into. The resident gate keeper had slept in and kept everyone waiting in their cars outside the security gates for 25 minutes, in the lashing rain.
Ollie decided not to wait in his own car and strategically did the rounds of those queuing to find the best option to take shelter in. He ignored the Honda, only glanced at the Jaaaag, and after peeking into the Mazda settled on the BMW.
In hindsight it would have much better all round if the gate keeper brought the wrong key and we all had to go home. Alas- it was not to be. There was further faffing at the pedestrian entrance from the car park, as another key was needed, but eventually we all made it in. The changing rooms came with a pair of soiled boxer shorts and a shower room with a locked door. This did not bode well given the home team's track record on security, and the fact that more water than the entire contents of Lake Windermere was being thrashed down on the pitch outside.
2 minutes before push back, Andy Lund decided to show up and complete the 11 man strike force set to face Kendal’s 15 man squad.
We had pockets of good play, some key tackles and well worked breaks with Harry working hard on the left throughout the game.
Although, for such an advanced opposition they really need to work harder at hitting the target. Because of all the time we spent waiting to get the ball back from their stray shots, my right hand went numb from the cold. I can’t help but feel this was a tried and tested tactic to ensure that visiting teams couldn’t actually use their sticks!
The highlight of the game came from one of our 16’s, when Craig decided to pass the ball directly to the Kendal centre forward who was knelt down tying his shoe lace in the middle of our D.
Despite this and many other errors of which we all contributed, positivity and moral was high.
Until that is, we came to get a shower. We had been informed the shower door was unlocked so were eager to get in and bring our body temperatures up from -26 degrees. Only to spend the next 12 minutes waiting for the female team (who presumably were discussing tactics about how to avoid being beaten 19-0) to leave and let us in. Needless to say the showers left a lot to be desired so it was in, out and off to the pub as quickly as possible.
Where (it turned out) there was no central heating and overly damp walls which left Rick covered in a complimentary coating of paint dust. I managed to break my tooth on a wrap softer than a soft thing, and took that as a sign it was time to go home. Just about thawed through by the time I got back, and enjoyed a great many beers. Had some good laughs with the guys and looking forward to more next week.
Fylde 3 (M) 1 - 0 Lancaster & Morecambe 2 (M)
North West Men's Division 4 North Fylde Men’s 3’s had the pleasure of playing at the height of the winds and squally rain under the floodlights for the final game of the day at Mill Farm, against Lancaster & Morecambe 2’s. Fylde had the bare minimum of 11 players, after some late drop outs, but started strongly and dominated the first half, with the wind at their backs.
James Smith, Angus Chandler and Phil Hope were industrious in midfield, constantly moving and creating space for each other. Simon Allen distributed the ball magnificently from his left back position, and was often drilling balls into the D. Chris Hills held the ball up well, and even had a couple of shots go close. Young Bertie Jones, in only his second senior game, was running round defenders on the right wing, and was ever so close to scoring on a couple of occasions. At half-time, the talk was more of the same, and the team was boosted by the late arrival of Ben Slater, which meant that the team could start rotating players who were starting to tire, especially with the second half having to play into the wind and the rain.
Fylde once again dominated the possession, but struggled to get shots away in the D. Dan Howe worked hard up front, and won a couple of short corners, but they weren’t converted. The defensive line of Simon Allen, Connor McClelland, Pete Latimer and Sean Lester increasingly took turns in driving forward and supporting the midfield attacks.
Lancaster had a few attacks of their own later in the half, and Luke Whitelow made some important saves in goal, including at a short corner. With Fylde starting to worry they could potentially lose to a goal against the run of play, they finally managed to score themselves from a short corner, where Simon Allen’s initial shot was saved by the Lancaster keeper but Phil Hope pounced on the rebound and flicked the ball over the goalkeeper’s prostate body.
The small loyal crowd, tucked away at the top of the stand to try and avoid the elements, went wild. 1-0 to Fylde, and they hung on for the final few minutes of the game, celebrating a victory that they thoroughly deserved. Simon Allen was awarded Man of the Match, and the team warmed up with a fine chilli & rice in the clubhouse afterwards.
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