THE girls from the U13 section of Abergavenny Hockey Club started their 2010-11 season in emphatic style with a tournament at Pontypridd.
With most of the team from last season now moving up to the U15 section, this was the first time this team had played together, but every player put in a performance of absolute quality which shows that there is great potential for success this season.
With the opening match against Swansea there was no opportunity to relax. This is a team that regularly win cups at U13 level and always presents a tough challenge, but the Abergavenny girls seem to relish a challenge and thrived on it.
With some solid defence play from Rebecca Hoyle and Natasha Morgan, the confident Swansea forwards suddenly found things a little tougher than they were expecting. And then when Rebecca and Natasha showed their clever distribution skills to release Mali Atkins into great space for many forging runs down the left, suddenly the balance was completely turned. With the game well balanced a superb strike by right winger Sian Phillips took the lead, a lead that was retained until the final whistle.
Next up were Llanishen & Llandaff. Never before have Abergavenny dominated a match so much as they did in this instance. With Rebecca and Natasha stepping right up to pin the opposition back, some lovely stick work by Mali and Sian on the wings came around the back of the defence on numerous occasions. But here they met the opposition goalie, the player of the match without question, making at least half a dozen fine saves.
And as so often happens in this sort of match, it required our own strong goalkeeping presence of Jessica Francis to prevent the single break away that so nearly resulted in a goal. So in the end Abergavenny had to grudgingly settle for a goalless draw on this occasion.
The third match saw Aber up against Whitchurch, another one of Wales' premier clubs.
In this game Aber's central midfield pair of Nia Johns and Kayleigh Jones dominated.
With tenacious tackling and a refusal to allow opponents get the better of them, the match turned into a battle of the centre midfield area. Not many clear cut goal opportunities were created which reflects the well-balanced nature of the match.
But with Nia releasing Mali on the left she received the ball back with only the goalie to beat. Her initial shot was well saved by the goalie, who then proceeded to lie on the ball with the goal at Nia's mercy. Less good-natured players than Nia may well have issued the necessary harsh lesson to the goalie to perhaps not do that again, but on this occasion the goal was prevented and the match ended goalless.
The fourth match was against the 'B' team of Swansea. This match saw an end-to-end encounter. With there being a couple of very quick forwards on the Swansea team, Natasha and Rebecca needed good concentration skills to keep them marked tightly at all times. Abergavenny took the lead with a fine strike from Sian but Swansea came straight out of the blocks at the restart and managed to find their forwards who left Jessica with no chance.
With the momentum swinging to Swansea they repeated the long through balls to score a further two goals. At which point the Abergavenny defence learned the lessons and nailed any further similar attempts. At 1-3 down heads might have dropped but no so this team. With Nia and Kayleigh dominating again, Nia scored her first goal for the club and with less than a minute left Sian equalised with a fine drive from far out. The dying seconds saw both Mali and Kayleigh go desperately close with tricky finishes on the reverse side.
With one team having not turned up to the tournament, Aber played one more match against Swansea 'A'. Was this to spoil the unbeaten run so far? No chance, with Kayleigh displaying some mesmerising stick skills down the left, Sian and Nia were both on target again and Aber finished 2-1 victors.
Nia took the Player's Player award of the day on her first outing for the club.
Training continues at the Leisure Centre Astroturf on Tuesdays 7-8. Both boys and girls are welcome.
The U15 Girls section of Abergavenny hockey club had their first fixtures on the weekend. This was the first time the team had played at this level and the challenge was eagerly anticipated. A three way fixture had been arranged, with Bridgend and Brecon the opponents on this occasion.
A lovely crisp clear morning greeted the teams and as the sun bore down the day kicked off with Abergavenny facing Brecon.
Abergavenny started stronger and created some lovely moves down the flanks with wingers Alyssa Morgan and Sian Phillips showing tenacity to drive around the back of the defence to provide good crosses for the forwards to work with.
It was through one such move that the opening goal was created; Nicola Jones fed Alyssa who worked with Lara Botting to get the ball quickly and strongly into forward captain Fleur Atkins in the D who finished the job with a fine strike.
Taking the lead and playing with such confidence really encouraged the team. But it was perhaps the lack of experience of the required formation that led to Brecon equalising.
With the team pressing forward to assist in the attacking play, it allowed the midfielders of Brecon more space and they punished expertly with a well worked goal having broke out of defensive positions. Another goal for Brecon soon followed with a similar well taken goal; despite goalkeeper Jessica Francis saving the initial shot, there were enough forwards in place to ensure the rebound was tucked away.
With a 1-2 deficit at half time Abergavenny were pleased with the performance at the interval. But in the second half Brecon became more dominant, and intense pressure on the Abergavenny defence saw them pinned back for long periods.
Brecon forced a couple of short corners but the defensive line marshalled by defence captain Ellie Dickinson defended stoutly.
Once Abergavenny started to break up the Brecon formation, they managed to push forward themselves. With Alex Jones tirelessly chasing down opponents, more breaks were created, with Nia Johns feeding Fleur who in turn worked with Lara to finally break into the opposition D. Forcing a short corner we saw the initial powerful shot saved whereby Alex neatly finished off the rebound to leave things all square, leading to a tight final five minutes or so.
Brecon continued to strive forward through the middle and eventually a goal mouth scramble saw the ball creep over the line in the corner to leave Brecon delighted with their 3-2 victory.
After a well earned break the team then faced Bridgend. Here Abergavenny dominated the majority of the match and at times pretty much every player on the pitch were positioned in the Bridgend D.
But with such territorial advantage comes the problem of a total lack of space in which to create any opportunities. Abergavenny had no luck and could only force free hits outside of the D without being able to create the penalty corner infringement.
With no goals at half time Abergavenny began to get concerned that things might not go their way despite all the pressure. Indeed this was the case, as on a rare Bridgend attack the attackers calmly passed the ball around our defenders and finished with what has to be said was a quality goal. With the vocal support of the supporters behind them the girls threw everything at Bridgend forcing short corners, but the final touch was never to come and Abergavenny were disappointed to lose the match 0-1.
On balance this was a great morning of hockey for the girls. As previously stated this was their first outing as a full 11 a side unit, and with players and coaches still adjusting to the best way to balance the formation there were lots of lessons learnt. The skill and stamina of the team will no doubt bear fruits this season and the team look forward to the next match.
Training continues at the Leisure Centre Astroturf, 7-8 on Tuesdays. All players, both boys and girls, irrespective of age or experience are more than welcome to attend.