Badgers Vs Finchfied

Yardley Badgers 1 v 1 Finchfield

Finchfield mentioned they may be short of two players, early on Saturday morning, so Yardley sportingly loaned them two players. A big “thank you,” must go to Sean and Zak for volunteering to don a white shirt for Finchfield.

Yardley had four substitutes for this game and it was hard at times to keep the squad happy as they were all so keen to get on and play hockey (chomping at the bit). We fielded two adults to strengthen our defensive line with Saleem and John both deciding to stay deep and not push forward.

The home team started strong and played some positive hockey and it was a joy to see all the players working in synchrony. It was then soon undone against the run of play when Finchfield took an early lead. A scrappy goal but it was well taken by our loaned player Sean as he rounded the keeper to slot cleanly the ball over the line.  The visitors buoyed by this start, began to press high with their sole adult also going high into our half getting close to our “D”. This pressure continued but the Yardley’s adults along with Edan in defence withstood these attacks and our keeper was not tested again this half.

The home teams’ central midfield trio of Aeysha, Kyle and Rahmann worked hard and soon began to exert their own pressure in the middle of the pitch and started to overpower the opposition’s midfield. Then Saleem began to push high out of frustration of the Finchfield adult who was pushing high. It’s not the Yardley way in Badgers’ games and after he proved his point, resorted to drop deep and defend only.

In the second half Yardley got the equaliser and their first goal this season from a penalty corner.  The ball was pushed out with pace and Kyle at the top castle controlled the ball, moved passed the approaching defender and shot a powerful hit, low to the corner. Another defender got an unlucky deflection and the ball rose/lobbed over the keeper into the roof of the net. Each team tried hard to get the winner and Yardley had many chances in the “D” to shoot but were soon closed down by fast defenders stopping the shots with timely tackles.

N.B. After the team talk at half time the Captain requested the midfielders, all to drop back and help the defence once the opposition attacked. So my favourite moment in the 2nd half was watching a line of red shirts all running back from midfield to support the defence when Finchfield attacked once our own attack broke down. The young squad are keen to learn and seeing this put into action made the Captain very proud. The team are learning about positional play and formation tactics, so seeing it being put into practice is a joy to watch. More next week please against Solihull Blossomfield.