Ahead of the new season starting tomorrow, here's a quick round-up of activities last season for the Masters players amongst us (ages 35 and upwards).
Individuals representing the North West
The mixed NW500 summer games
The Ladies Over 35's run in the EH Cup
Further info & contact details
North West Masters
Congratulations to both Michelle Longton and Pete Latimer, who were selected to play for the North West in the annual EH masters tournaments for their respective age-groups in May/June 2024. Each tournament involves playing each of the 7 other English areas in shortened games over a weekend.
Michelle was one of the two goalkeepers for the Over 45's and they shared duties playing a half in each game, for their tournament in Bournemouth on 11/12 May. Michelle managed 6 clean sheets in her 7 spells in goal, however overall the North West won 2, drew 1 and lost 4, finishing 6th.
Michelle in her #1 shirt and with the NW team
Pete played in defence for the Over 50's in Wakefield on 8/9 June. The North West won 2, drew 2 and lost 3, ultimately finishing 6th, but all the games were decided by a single goal and could easily have finished 2nd if not for a couple of late goals conceded in two of the matches.
Pete with Rob Abbott & Kieron Morrow from Preston HC, all 3 having played together at Blackpool HC 15-20 years previously. Pete #58 in a team talk. Pete waiting at the far post for an unlikely goal opportunity.
This follows a total of 7 call-ups from the club in 2023:
LO40 EJ Dunkerley
LO40 Dawn Child
MO40 Danny Taylor
MO40 Chris Dunkerley
MO45 Phil Hope*
MO50 Pete Latimer*
LO60 Soraya Rigby
*unable to play in their tournaments due to injury
Not forgetting Vicky Rukin who played O35 for England both outdoor and indoor in 2023 and 2024, see previous article https://www.fyldehc.com/post/vicky-s-a-world-champion.
Mixed Summer NW500
There was a 3rd summer of mixed masters games, under the NW500 rules of needing the outfield players total age to be over 500, and playing local teams in a friendly mini-league.
We managed just 4 games between May & July, won twice at home 6-1 v Northern and 2-1 v Leyland & Chorley, and lost twice away 1-3 at Garstang and 0-8 at Preston (the eventual winners of the whole league, although we matched them for long periods of the game).
A total of 25 players played at least one game and Phil Hope was the clear top scorer with 5 goals, next was Tim van Rijn with 2.
some of the NW500 team in the pub garden with much needed pints after the Preston game in the sunshine
Ladies Over 35's Cup
The Ladies entered the EH Over 35's Cup for the first time during the 23-24 season, beating Deeside away in Round 1 in November and then unluckily losing at home to a single goal in Round 2 to Lymm in February. Match reports follow below.
Deeside 0-4 Fylde
On a sunny Sunday the Fylde Ladies Over 35s squad made the trip to Deeside for the first round of the England Cup. With players of past and present in the line up it was a time for reunion and some excellent hockey was played throughout.
The strong Fylde side started well, dominating from early in the game. Pressure was applied on the Deeside defence and a corner was awarded. The initial shot was saved well by Deeside's keeper, however as the ball wasn’t cleared Dawn took her chance well and put it away for a 1-0 lead. Some more great pressure from Fylde and nice crisp passing leading to a great opportunity for Leanne to score from open play.
Deeside where struggling to get it out of their half and with confident instruction from Karen Wells in goal the defence where always in the right place at the right time, helping to keep the pressure high. Great work from Holly and Sally down the right lead to another short corner being awarded. This time when the corner broke down and Jayne Wilson seen her name in lights with a perfectly struck shot into the bottom left corner!!
Second half was similar to the first with Deeside given very little possession and Fylde’s 4th and final goal came from another short corner with a perfect ball pit across the D by Leanne for Dawn to deflect past the keeper.
Deeside managed to get a nice run of passing and where rewarded for their efforts with a few short corners which Karen and her defence coupled with very well!
We had plenty more chances but the score line remained 4-0 until the final whistle.
Fylde 2-3 Lymm
With some familiar 'old' faces joining current players from the 1st-6th team, Fylde came out ready to face Lymm on a very windy Sunday. After an initial unsettled few minutes, Fylde took control of the game and dominated their opponents. With 10 minutes gone, Fylde won their first short corner but couldn't put the ball away. There were another 8 penalty corners awarded to Fylde within the first half, but despite repeated pressure and the ball barely leaving our attacking half, we were unable to convert our many, many chances.
Vicky Rukin held the middle steady and made a series of tackles from the floor to keep the ball in Fylde's attacking half and it was a full 30 minutes before the Fylde GK, Karen Wells, had her first touch of the game. Fylde finally took a well deserved goal with some lovely linking play from Leanne Sharples to Cathy Fewson-Reeve who slotted the ball in the back of the net to start the score sheet!
A half time talk around the importance of transferring the ball out the congested attacking half saw Fylde come out strong once again with goal opportunities coming thick and fast. A deflected shot from Michelle Longton bounced back off the post and many more saves were made by the very competent Lymm goalkeeper.
A rare and quick break from Lymm led to them firing an excellently placed shot past Fylde to make it 1-1. Fylde got fired up and Kelly Windows stormed through the field with enormous skill to place a well struck shot from the edge of the D to put Fylde ahead again.
Lymm quickly bounced back on a quick break and there was a very contentious second goal scored by them, with a little help from a bemused Lucy Partington! Lymm found themselves with another chance and put away a beautifully executed reverse stick shot to put Fylde 3-2 down.
Despite a frantic last 10 minutes of Fylde once again dominating the game, we could not put away our many chances and were very unlucky to lose the match 3-2.
Fylde Over 35's on a very windy day
More Info / Contact
Pete Latimer is the club's Masters representative and can be contacted on 07761117161 for more information or questions about playing masters hockey at any level.
The link to the North West Masters site is North West Hockey Masters | North West Hockey (englandhockey.co.uk) .
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