Match Report - Hertford HC Girls U10s, St Albans Sun Oct 9th

With 30 girls(yes 30!) representing Hertford HC Girls U10s last Sunday, Hertford was fielding a lot of players new to hockey and new to match play, but still managed an excellent set of results. The girls were all really enthusiastic and wanted to play every minute of every game (until it started raining and getting cold!!)....

With each team playing 5 matches each, it was a full on afternoon. When I was 'drafted in' to help manage the last 3 Hertford C matches on the pitch, I realised how difficult it is to 'sub' players and see their disappointment when they don't start the match, especially when they are all jumping up and down in front of you asking 'Can I play the whole match'? 'Can I play upfront'? 'Can I play in midfield'?. Not too many requests to play in defence! It was great to see all the girls eager to play and most importantly enjoying themselves and playing as a team. There were 11 girls in the C squad, so please accept my apologies to any girls who felt they didn't get enough game, I tried my best!

Hertford A were unbeaten again after a clean sweep last time out, and this time they won 3 matches and drew 2, with Blueharts A scoring in the dying embers to draw 2-2 when it looked as if Hertford had won the match. They won their 3 matches by convincing 4-0 margins, with 6 different scorers (listed below).

Hertford B and Hertford C played each other again, and again Hertford won!!! :) It was also nice to see Hertford C beating our arch rivals Blueharts B 2-1. Hertford B & C are treated as pretty much 'equal' with a mixture of 'established' players and new players, and you could see already that they are beginning to understand that you have to use the whole pitch and not just crowd round the ball all trying to get it all at the same time. Only once did the referee stop the game to tell both sides to 'Back off'!!

Overall, our teams secured 6 wins, 4 draws and had 5 (mostly narrow) losses. Well done to everyone who participated, there were some fantastic performances, great goals, determined tackling and many last ditch goal line clearances. The full set of results and scorers for each team is shown below:-

Hertford A v Broxbourne A Score 4 - 0
Hertford A v Royston Score 4 - 0
Hertford A v Blueharts A Score 2 - 2
Hertford A v St Albans A Score 4 - 0
Hertford A v Harpenden A Score 1 - 1

Hertford A Scorers: Sophie Duncan, Lucy Wiggetts, Kiana Hawes, Isabella Earle, Alice Lynn, Izzy Stewart

Hertford B v Harpenden B Score 2 - 0
Hertford B v St Albans B Score 0 - 0
Hertford B v Hertford C Score 0 - 3
Hertford B v WGC Score 0 - 1
Hertford B v Blueharts B Score 0 - 3

Hertford B Scorers: Ella Chandler

Hertford C v Harpenden B Score 0 - 1
Hertford C v Blueharts B Score 2 - 1
Hertford C v Hertford B Score 3 - 0
Hertford C v St Albans B Score 1 - 1
Hertford C v WGC Score 0 - 1

Hertford C Scorers: Molly Hagan, Evie Macrae, Helena Oxland-Oxley

Looking forward to the next competition. Will be in touch on that in due course!

Rob Macrae
Girls U10 Team Manager