Redditch Hockey Club

Redditch Girls Under 16s travelled to Reading for their quarter final tie in the England Hockey Girls Under 16’s Plate and were up against one of the top two teams in contention for the cup.

Coach Daniel Jakeman led out his troops onto the pitch for a 12 o’clock start with an inspiring pre match prep talk.

But despite a strong following, Redditch would eventually be knocked out, explains guest reporter Dave Pilkington.

Redditch started brightly with some early pressure from Jodie Wallacott and there was some good tackling in midfield from Philippa Williams, however Reading seized possession and through a series of lucky deflections the ball ended up in the Redditch net.

The opening minutes were frantic but a calm head in defence from Danni Nevitt kept the deficit to a single goal.
However the constant pressure told with a penalty corner for Reading from which they scored leaving the score at 2-0.
Nicola Moss provided some respite for the Redditch defence and there was more good defending from Danni Nevitt. Philippa Williams was quickly out on penalty corners to prevent more goals.
Mid way through the half, Redditch were still hanging in the match after Olivia Laxton cleared off the line and Stacey Cowley made some excellent saves in the Redditch goal but the defence were breached in the 20th minute leaving the score at 3-0.
Again the forwards were fighting hard and Kirsty Williams showed some excellent skill to win a free hit just inside the Reading half, but this attack petered out and more pressure from Reading forced Cowley into more good saves.
There was concern from the sidelines in the 25th minute when Olivia Laxton was hit by a lifted ball however after some ice from the physio she recovered. Steph Beaumont was constantly helping out the defence with excellent tackling.
After these concerns Redditch seemed more inspired and an excellent run from Nicola Moss left Kirsty Williams to break into the Reading D and win a penalty corner, however the subsequent shot was deflected over the bar off a Reading stick. The long corner was then lost leading to another Reading attack.
There was more brave defence from the back three of Nevitt, Laxton and Beth Vincent however once again they were breached in the 28th minute after a goal-mouth scramble.
Straight from the push back Reading again won the ball and broke through with some dazzling skill to score a fifth inside the first half.
Redditch however did not allow their heads to drop and there were some promising runs from twins Helen and Kate Racki with some support play from Millie Vincent which provided an optimistic end to the first half.
At the start of the second half however Reading seemed to have been inspired and won an early short corner, this time Cowley was able to watch the ball skim wide of the post.
Redditch then attacked and Rachel Nevitt forced a short corner for the Redditch girls. This was injected by Nevitt to Laxton who squared the ball, but to the disappointment of the players and supporters, Philippa Williams shot slid agonisingly wide of the post.
Redditch continued in an attacking vein winning a long corner and also there were some promising runs from Kate Racki.
The pressure was then exerted on the defence once again with a series of short corners for the home side, Cowley saved two and Beth Vincent in defence stopped one on the line and Philippa Williams took a nasty blow on the leg blocking a shot however eventually the wall was breached and the sixth goal went in.

Within a minute Reading had scored again with a run from their midfielder making the score 7-0 and only a save from Cowley prevented an eighth only seconds later. Unfortunately the pressure continued and in the 60th minute Reading extended their lead to eight and in the 65th minute they scored a ninth. The final five minutes had Redditch on the back foot but committed play from all the girls avoided another goal being conceded.
Overall the girls put up a spirited fight and played with real commitment. Beth Vincent and Danni Nevitt fought hard in defence and some excellent saves from Cowley kept the total below double figures, Laxton helped inspire the midfield where Moss and Williams fought hard with both Racki twins adding good drives forward, Rachel Nevitt and Millie Vincent lead the line as best they could along with Wallacott who showed excellent skills, Kirsty Williams was inspirational when on and was behind many Redditch attacks however the opposition turned out to be too strong and skilful and 9-0 was overall a fair reflection of Readings domination.

Many thanks to Dave for this superb write up!