Eastcote 1sts vs. MKHC Ladies 1sts - 14.1.2017

Following an emphatic win over Wycombe in their first league game of 2017, the ladies 1st team made the trip to Eastcote this weekend to face a team who MK had defeated in their previous encounter, however, a team who had achieved some mixed results throughout the season. With this in mind, the team knew they were going to have to play some hockey similar to that which they displayed in the second half of last week’s game if they were to maintain their winning run.

After a good warm up on what was a chilly January day, the ladies looked to start the game on the front foot, Karmel Bracken once again driving the ball into the Eastcote half right from the whistle. MK asserted some pressure on the Eastcote defence in the early stages of the game, with a number of chances diminishing once the ball entered the 23m area. Eastcote too showed signs of attacking intent and broke through the MK midfield on a number of occasions, only to face a solid defensive line of Maxine McMenamin, Sophie Wombwell and Clare Stacey and any goal scoring chances were dealt with expertly by goal keeper and player of the match, L-J Millers. MK were the first to break the deadlock midway through the first half, Thea Jackson firing home into the netting from a rebound to make the score 1-0. Both teams had opportunities throughout the remaining minutes of the half, however, neither team could make them pay and MK maintained their lead going into half time.

Returning to the pitch after some home truths from coach, Dave Fenton, MK knew the standard of hockey played in the first half was nowhere near good enough and were well aware that a similar performance in the second half could result in defeat. The midfield of Lindsay Kettleborough, Alice Vigor, Lisa Kavanagh and Amy Hunt worked tirelessly to support in defence and create links to attack, however despite MK’s best efforts to play simple and effective passing hockey, the flowing hockey of last weekend just wasn’t forthcoming. Mistakes and misplaced passes led to a scrappy half of hockey and enabled Eastcote to dominate the possession stats in the second half and following melee in the D and an uncleared rebound, Eastcote levelled the scores.

Both teams went in search for the equaliser in the final quarter of the game; MK winning a number of penalty corners but they failed to find the final touch required to give them the lead again and Eastcote only being kept out by some fine saves from L-J Millers. MK had their clearest goal scoring opportunity with around five minutes of the game remaining, Karmel Bracken doing the hard work in taking the ball round the keeper but then just unable to keep her reverse stick shot low enough to take it under the crossbar. Playing out the final minutes of the game with urgency, MK created another couple of other attacking chances, however it wasn’t to be and they were forced to settle for a draw. A disappointing performance and result, considering the class shown in their previous game, which sees MK slip back down to 5th place in the league. The side will return to the training pitch to work on the negatives from the game in the hope of putting in a better performance in their next game against Witney on Saturday 28th January.