Badgers Vs Bournville

Yardley Badgers   0      Bournville Badgers   1

Yardley sportingly delayed pushback for 15 minutes to allow the visitors time to get a full squad as a few cars were stuck in traffic around Small Heath.

The home team ran through some warm up drills whilst waiting and got in some shooting practice against our keeper Anthony.

From the start the visitors went at full speed and put the Yardley defence on the back foot immediately. The only goal of the game came after only two minutes. But then the home team settled into a rhythm eventually after 10 minutes and started to create chances of their own and the game became more evenly balanced.

Both sides created chances and Yardley were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty flick when a shot on target hit a Bournville foot. The umpire decided against the flick after much deliberation and awarded a penalty corner instead.

During the second half both teams again pushed hard to get goals and Yardley managed a lot of break-aways running from defence, but the decisive passes to numerous unmarked strikers never materialised.

A good game of hockey which was evenly matched with both teams similar in their blend of young novices and older more experienced players. Yardley came off the pitch disappointed not to have won after all the hard effort. The captain was really pleased as the team gelled quickly with the old and young blending brilliantly.

Our new recruits (young juniors) who were only playing their second competitive game on a full sized astro, all had excellent games. They listened to the coach and the experienced players and played some good hockey