Three more home wins at Mill Farm for the Ladies 1's, 2's and 5's with 16 goals between them all.
Fylde 1 4-1 Didsbury Northern 1
Fylde Ladies 1's continued their impressive form with a 5th straight win, and stay in 2nd just 1 point behind Leeds.
Rebecca Worthington opened the scoring in the first quarter from a penalty corner, and then followed up with a second just before half-time.
Megan Wildish made it 3-0 before Nicola Kellett scored a fourth and Didsbury grabbed a consolation goal for the final score of 4-1 .
Fylde 2 3-1 Formby 1
On a dry, grey and relatively warm Saturday afternoon at Mill Farm, the Ladies’ 2 squad delivered another exciting win at home. The first five minutes of the match proved a nervous start for both teams, with the ball played equally in Fylde and Formby halves, but neither side able to capitalise on their possession.
Then, Fylde settled into the game and clearly dominated the play with most of the possession in the next 15 minutes. However, the Formby defence and goalkeeper frustrated Fylde’s attack and kept the game scoreless.
25 minutes into the game and Formby came back, taking the ball into Fylde’s D and threating to be first to score. However, no joy for the visitors. Fylde attacked again, narrowly missing the Formby goal with a ball passing just to the wrong side of their left post.
From then on, Fylde continued to pile on pressure, with the game again in Formby’s half. A shot to the D from Kiera Tomes saved by the Formby keeper, then a quick response from Formby stopped by Grace Tomlinson. Another shot across the Formby goal by Kiera Tomes that refuses to go in. Olivia John-Haslam and Kiera Tomes work to get another shot into the Formby D, Formby’s keeper saves again, Olivia and Formby keeper on the ground after the tumble.
Soon after, another Fylde shot at goal from Grace Tomlinson that is just off target. Still all the play is in the Formby half, but a goal eludes Fylde. Suddenly, all changes and Formby take a short corner shot that Sophia Murray blocks. This is shortly followed by a second Formby short corner, also blocked by a strong Fylde defence. With the end of the first half a minute away a goalless 35 minutes looked likely, then Natalie Smith passes to Izzy who directs the ball into the Formby D where Esther Thomson secures Fylde’s first goal to end the first half Fylde 1 – 0 Formby.
Great relief for the Fylde team, even greater “very audible” relief for the Fylde fans. The second half began with Fylde determined to defend their hard won 1 goal advantage.
Several times Olivia-Natalie-Grace-Esther play combinations take the ball into Formby’s D. Holly Farquharson passes to Frankie Margerison and just misses Formby’s goal. Formby send the ball out into field only for Grace to pass it to Izzy Mahon for another shot at goal that passes the wrong side of the Formby post.
Fylde get their first short corner of the game, Holly to Grace to Natalie, but Formby’s goalkeeper saves the shot again. Emma Savidge brings the ball into Formby’s D for a shot at goal, but again no success. Dispute strong Fylde attacking play, with Dawn Child helping to ensure the action remained predominantly in Formby’s half, it looked as though the game might end without another goal.
Formby suddenly have the ball in Fylde’s half, pass it into Fylde’s D where they shoot and level with a flick over Michelle Longton into goal. The game is level at 1-1.
Everything to play for, then Holly passes a long ball to Grace who flicks it to Natalie in Formby’s D, Natalie take the shot and this time Fylde are rewarded with the reassuring thud of the ball in Formby’s goal. The Fylde team celebrate having regained their lead and the Fylde fans cheer loudly having waited for a second goal.
Fylde seem to step up a gear and a third goal from Natalie shortly followed the second to give Fylde a 3-1 lead with minutes to go. With both teams tired from almost 68 minutes of play, Formby make a last attack on Fylde’s goal, but Michelle slides out with a successful block and the full time whistle blows with the final score Fylde 3 – 1 Formby.
Team captain Sally Livesey has led Fylde Ladies 2 to another strong performance.
A big call-out to Grace and Natalie whose attacking play stood out and a huge thank you to Formby for being fantastic opponents and for providing an exciting 70 minutes of hockey and for their part in making a truly exciting match for the spectators.
Another convincing win from a strong Fylde team that enjoys playing together and continues to go from strength to strength. Every player contributed to deliver another exciting performance for their supporters and to maintain their team’s strong position in the league.
Fylde 3 - Bye
A bye week for the Ladies 3's.
Windermere 1 5-0 Fylde 4
Fylde Ladies 4's conceded due to player availability, so Windermere are awarded a 5-0 win.
Fylde 5 9-1 Brookfield 2
A late pushback for 5s this week at Mill Farm as school fixtures and no 3's or 4's games greatly limited availability and selection. On Friday night we had a straight 11 but by Saturday morning we thankfully gained a sub. Brookfield arrived with 11 as they also had issues with availability so it was a running theme this week!
Both teams started strong as experienced players on both sides directed the game. Fylde took a few minutes to settle but quickly settled into their rhythm driving the ball up the wings and finding themselves in the circle with attempts on goal. An early shot from Evie Dunne resulted in her first goal of the season, quickly followed by Sara Tomlinson who also scored her starting goal for the year.
Fylde attacked well, passing and moving the ball around Brookfield, undeterred by their adult defenders. Brookfield send hard balls down the line but Tilly Tomlinson and Niamh Smith worked hard to turnover the ball and provide Fylde with more chances.
Agility won out when Hollie Bailey scored her 1st, 2nd and 3rd goals in quick succession on her debut appearance for the 5s.
Heather Appleyard and Dawn Peruzza were solid at the back, ensuring that keeper Jenay Gucver didn’t have many touches of the ball. Fran Loffler-Thompson stepped up to bolster the midfield in place of Nikki Richmond who retired due to illness.
The second half saw more strength and mature game play from Fylde youngsters. A fourth goal from Hollie Bailey impressed as Brookfield pushed hard to find penalty corners and eventually were rewarded. A (possibly dangerous) high ball was stopped in the air by Fran Loffler-Thompson with keeper Jenay poised behind as cover. The ball immediately cleared out of the circle by Heather Appleyard was picked up by Sara Tomlinson who drove down the near empty pitch finding Hollie Guthrie who landed her first goal of the game.
After the restart, Fylde picked up the counter attack and drove once again into Brookfield’s circle, Hollie Guthrie in a one on one with the keeper, found the bottom corner to score her second.
Unbelievably, despite the loss of the sub, Fylde did not tire and this continued effort finally gave Aimee Jennings her long (not that long) awaited goal. Brookfield, to their credit also didn’t give up and in the dying minutes finally broke through our defences to score a good goal to round of the game.
At half time, coach Phil Hope said it wasn’t often that he only positive things to say and it was very hard to find constructive criticism! High praise indeed. Congratulations on a superb performance with a chunky goal difference to boot!
Leyland & Chorley Dev't 0-7 Fylde 6 Development
The joy of playing in the Fylde Ladies 6/Development Team is that the squad changes every week - never a dull moment from an organisational front! Clashing school fixtures took nearly all our young players this week so we had a lovely blend of experience and youth to play our last match before Christmas. Up stepped Lauren Appleyard to play a rare game alongside her mum Heather, together with Ellie, Zoë, Alys & GK Emily from their cancelled game.
Everyone came together and switched positions to support our younger inexperienced players. Alys Williams & Jess Grice excelled in midfield roles with both scoring a goal each. Captain Jasmine Stirrup was joined by Ellie Hope and Zoe Kirkham on the front line and all three popped a goal in with Zoe showing her wise ex-keeper head to lift a sweet shot into the net! It was 2-0 at half time and Fran Loffler-Thompson read the game well to suggest that GK Emily Byers played outfield in the second half.
A team vote ensured that she was released from her lonely role and she darted with enthusiasm to her release from nets. Two goals later and she proved that she could also be flexible in positions, alongside Alice Bishop who had also swapped GK duties for field play.
Layla Oakes played her part too as her confidence improved in the second half with encouragement from her new team mates. It was a rare occasion of joy to be playing two GKs as outfielders and to set the club up for their first whitewash of wins this season against all opposition!
Well done to everyone today with Coach’s Player of the Match going jointly to Zoe for her enthusiasm and skill up front and Emily for keeping a clean sheet and scoring a brace!
Preston 6 1-5 Fylde 1
Fylde Men started strongly against Preston 6’s at UCLan Sports Arena, and it wasn’t long before they took the lead from a Luke Hitchen trademark reverse stick shot.
More pressure and possession from Fylde, with Fin Taylor and Luke Hitchen dominating in midfield, with Preston pinned into their own half unable to attack. They resorted to long balls up the pitch, which in the main were dealt with easily. However one strike from the back, bobbled over defender Pete Latimer’s stick in midfield, leaving the lone striker with a one on one against the last defender Phil Weir, and he managed to get a shot away to the goal, which goalkeeper Craig Nutter managed to palm with his hand, but unluckily the ball spun back into the goal.
The equaliser seemed to inspire Preston, who started to look more threatening, and Craig Nutter had to make an important save with a straight one on one encounter with a striker in the D. Fylde started to use their two subs and rotate players, and generated several short corners. From one of these, a slip from Ollie Holmes to his left gave Phil Hope time to flick his ball into the goal through the defender on the post, and give Fylde a 2-1 lead. [as caught on video, below]
Young Sam Asquith, playing against his previous club, was given a yellow card for a clumsy tackle just before half-time. Fylde knew they needed to up their game in the second half and score more goals, which they duly did.
Paul Thomson passed the ball across the middle to Ollie Holmes in the centre of the pitch, who ran with it towards the D, tried to pass into the D, but was stopped by a defender but bounced back. Turning to the right he again tried to get the ball through, and the same thing happened, a partial block, but the ball was still with Mr Holmes, who then entered the D and took a shot, which found the far corner of the goal.
Another attack started with a defender, this time Phil Weir who managed to slot the ball to striker Martin Hayes, who dribbled to the baseline and passed back inside for Sam Asquith to slot past the goalkeeper and finally score his debut goal for Fylde.
Luke Hitchen made it 5-1 with another reverse stick strike after a dribble into the D.
Preston did have some attacks in the second half, and a couple of short corners, but Fylde were able to clear, including some last ditch tackles, with one in particular by Ed Jefferson standing out.
The man of the match voting was close, with Ed Jefferson just winning ahead of Fin Taylor and Oli Adewale.
Comments