Badgers Vs Old Silhillians

Yardley 7 v 0 Old Sils

Goal scorers:     Dawood x3 Zak x2 Ifty x1, Cem x1

Yardley were again to a full strength eleven. Both teams fielded two adults who played defensive for the whole game giving the young players the support when needed and helped coach during the game.

The visitors apart from their adult players were very young and some quite new to the sport. Yardley on the other hand were a much more experienced group of players who have been playing hockey for some time now.

 The home team started brightly, having lots of possession and pushing high to give the visiting defence lots to do. The early pressure eventually led to a well taken goal by the home team. The constant pressure in the first twenty minutes meant that the Old Sils Badgers never got out of their own half. The team play by Yardley was high quality and the use of the wide players gave good results on many occasions. If it wasn’t for the adult defence the goals may have come more quickly. The home team attackers and wingers seemed to be drawn to the adult defence and lost possession many times to the adult defenders. As Yardley started to win more penalty corners the home team’s chances came thick and fast and soon a well taken shot from Zak gave the team a deserved two goal lead. Unfortunately, the home team stopped playing as a unit, going for individual skills. This lack of discipline gave the visitors break away chances as the game neared half time. Yardley's adult keeper Jack, had to pull off a dramatic save deflecting a goal ward bound shot over the crossbar.

The Yardley Badgers at half time were 3-0 up and enjoying the majority of play, but caution was expressed by the coaches as there were signs that the visitors were getting into the game as certain players in Yardley's team were not holding their positions and left the defence exposed a few times in the first half.

Through this game the young goal keeper who Old Sils brought along made many brilliant saves. He stopped powerful shots from top of the “D” and also reaction saves close to his line. He certainly stopped the score line going into double figures.

Dawood swapped positions with his sister Barakah, moving from defence to wide midfield. He correctly kept drifting to the back post when play was on the right side. He kept getting the loose ball and scored a quality hat trick in a twenty-minute period. The reason Yardley got four goals in this half was because the visitors’ adult players pushed a little higher to try to get Old Sils a consolation goal. It resulted in the visitors’ attacking our back line in numbers, but the defenders were strong and then released counter attacks down the wings instantly putting the Old Sils’s keeper under pressure. Ifty, our new player from Small Heath School, playing his first game on a full size pitch got our final seventh goal with five minutes to go.

The team enjoyed the victory and played great fast attacking hockey for long periods.