Maidenhead Hockey Club round-up: Women's 1sts show progress with exciting draw

WOMEN

In their last Conference East match before Christmas Maidenhead women’s 1sts drew 2-2 with second-placed St Albans. Maids lost the first encounter of the season between the teams 5-1, but have improved since then.

The match started with Maids on the front foot for the first 10 minutes.

Rewarded with a short corner Maids were unable to get a shot away, however St Albans failed to clear the ball and Shona Young was first to react. She pounced onto the loose ball, drove in to the circle and released it to Vicky Goodacre who calmly slotted the ball home.

St Albans were stunned but fought back into the game and forced and equaliser following good work on the right-hand channel after an excellent initial save from Maids keeper Daisy Ruhle.

Maids’ defence looked to stay strong but a deflected short corner from the visitors put them down   2-1 at half-time.

Maids dominated much of the play after the break and their tenacity was rewarded when Young slotted home the equaliser with 15 minutes remaining.

Maids continued to apply pressure and the visitors keeper made two crucial saves – the last at the death from a short corner straight strike from player/coach Jane Smith.

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Maidenhead 3rds recorded their first clean sheet of the season with a 2-0 success over Wycombe 3rds.

The first came through an attacking move starting on the right with Freya Hulse and Libby Parsons leading to the ball finding its way into the Wycombe D which after great persistence from Maids’ forwards allowed Cesca Woodland to slot the ball home.

The pace of the forwards was causing no ends of problems to Wycombe and it was no surprise when the second goal came through a Lia Cheeseman shot.

The final 10 minutes were slightly nervous for the Maids with Wycombe winning a few short corners but good saves from Courtney Furnell maintained the clean sheet.

Gemma Strachan and Laura Woolford were voted joint players of the match.

MEN

Maidenhead men’s 1sts slumped to their heaviest defeat of the MBB&O Regional 1 campaign when they lost 4-0 at Eastcote on Saturday.

Eastcote is always a tough place to play – and with the loss against the Middlesex club at the end of last season that cost Maids promotion still fresh in the memory – it was still not enough to spur a first away win of the season.

The hosts had strengthened significantly over the summer with several top forwards arriving from local clubs, making them title contenders.

This was evident during the match as Maids struggled to gain a foothold and had to play against sustained pressure for long periods.

There were standout performances from fullbacks Rob Jeffrey and talented u18s colt James Denman, but they could not prevent four goals being conceded and a scoreline which was a fair reflection of East- cote’s dominance.

Maids are next in action on Saturday when they host rivals Marlow 2nds in what will be the final league match before the Christmas break.

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A goal from Bruce McArthur was not enough to steer Maidenhead Mystics to victory in their clash with Harrow 2nds which they finally lost 3-1.

Mystics took the lead when a free-hit from David Gordon-Smith found Aran Wellman who turned two players before pushing the ball to Bruce McArthur who finished deftly.

Maids had chances to add to their tally and had a strong shout for a penalty stroke, but this was as good as it got against a team who took their chances well.

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Maidenhead Merlins failed to score for the first time this season as they lost 2-0 at a strong Marlow Strollers on Saturday.

In truth it was far from a stroll for Marlow against a Merlins side keen to attack and make up for last season’s two defeats to the Strollers.

The Merlins started brightly and were a little unfortunate not to profit from a series of early chances but having initially played a blinder, Merlins’ keeper Ronnie Fuller allowed a cross to roll under his body which was pushed over the line by a Marlow forward.

Undeterred Maids went back on the attack and David Rennie came close  following good play down the left from Rob Newnham.

But in an end-to-end game Marlow capitalised on their chances and a fearsome rising drive from the edge of the circle was deflected in to double their lead.

Rhys Edwards and man of the match Louis Cadinouche continued to probe, but the visitors were unable to reduce the deficit while Marlow forced a series of short corners but failed to score.