In2Hockey U10's County Championship

The U10 Boys and Girls squads travelled to Solihull School to play in the county tournaments on Sunday 12th March. The snow melted and the temperature was above zero so the event was able to take place. As all our previous games had been in mixed teams this was the first competitive matches for both teams.
In the morning the boys had a fantastic run in their group stage. They beat Sutton 2¹s 2:0 with goals from James Currie and Theo Wells, the later
goal coming from an excellent cross from the right form Archie Driver. They then went on to score two against Edgbaston from Archie Driver and
Willian Sworowski. Goal keeper Jack Gallon kept a clean sheet in both games. Erik Jang looked good in attack. The defensive line up of skipper
Oscar Moore, Daniel Hodder and Reuben Marshall were amazing and cleared every attack made against them. The final group game against Rugby and EW was much harder and saw them loose 0:1 with our central defender Daniel Hodder taking a very nasty ball on the knee. The team line up was quickly re-arranged but they just couldn't find a goal. Two wins and a defeat put them into second place in their group and into the semi-final. A boy down and facing a strong Old Sils team Oscar Moore then sustained another knee injury, which took out two of our key defenders. Jack Gallon was outstanding in goals and made some magnificent saves, with a final score of 0:4. This put us into a third v fourth place play off and facing Rugby and EW yet again. James Currie dropped into central defence and did an excellent job, but they beat us 1:0 again. Overall the boys finished fourth in the county, which according to Steve Tabb the county secretary is the hardest county tournament to play in in the Midlands. Old Sils were crowned county champions.
After a long lunch hour for the coaches, with some excellent sandwiches provided by Reuben¹s mum the girls arrived in the afternoon. The team had two players who had not played in any previous games Ava Martin and Elsie Wooding and Eliza Shaw guesting from a local school. The GK Kiera Holmes was also making her debut only having taken on this role a few weeks previously and made great progress through-out the afternoon. Their first game was a really tough one against Rugby and EW who went on to win the tournament and they were defeated 0:3. Next up they faced Olton and WW and came away with a 3:1 win, with two goals from Polly Barden from a defensive full back position and one from Mairi Gibbs-MacLeod. Team skipper Hazel Matthews, Polly Barden and Annie McKenzie were strong in defence and Harriet Jeans also offered support from her mid-field role. Facing Kalsa Leamington they went down 1:2 with guest player Eliza Shaw scoring her first Adders goal, as did Ava Martin when we won our final group game 1:0 against Old Sils. The girls narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-final finishing in third position. Overall that put them into fifth/sixth position in the county which they can be very proud of.
Both teams were amazing and did exceptionally well against some tough opposition from some large Warwickshire clubs. They all had a great time and enjoyed the event.
Many thanks to all our parents for their support and encouragement through out the day, Mike Brooks for umpiring, Mick Thomas for chauffeuring us and Dawn McMahon as coach.

Jill B THOMAS
Atherstone Adders Hockey Club Junior Manager