Whalsay, New Rev, Hurricanes and Lobbyless make progress in hockey knockout

Round one of the indoor hockey competition for the George Robertson Cup saw Whalsay, New Revolution, Hurricanes and Lobbyless progress at the expense of Zetland, Reckless, Crusaders and Deltmavine.

George Robertson Cup
Round One

Whalsay 9, Zetland 0

Whalsay started this game at great pace, taking full advantage of Zetland being a player down. Zoe Irvine was finding space in the Zetland circle and was on hand to give Whalsay an early lead from a Karl Williamson cross. Zoe went on to secure her hat trick following two similar build-ups.

Zetland made some good attacking moves of their own, through Liam Graham and Stacey Gardner, but were unable to find space in the circle to get the final shot away.

Kyle Duncan in the Zetland goal made a number of good saves but was unable to prevent Josie Jamieson from scoring two good individual goals before half time.

Zetland had a full team to start the second half and were making Whalsay work hard to gain possession. Some determined attacking play from Karl enabled Zoe to increase Whalsay’s lead. This was quickly followed by another goal from Josie.

Zetland continued to push forward and gained a number of penalty corners in quick succession, but unfortunately for them George Abernethy was again in great form.

Whalsay then gained a penalty corner, Debie Kane in the Zetland goals saved the first attempt but her defence were unable to clear the danger. Fiona Dally was in prime position at the back post to slot home from close range. Josie rounded off the scoring just before the final whistle.

Players of the match were Zoe Irvine for Whalsay and Liam Graham for Zetland.

New Revolution 10, Reckless 1

The game started brightly with both teams having good chances. Joshua Morrison was working well with Sarah Grogan and Neil Duncan for Reckless bringing the best out of New Rev goalie Jessica Bradley.

New Rev were playing some nice quick passing moves from the back and some great moving up front caused Reckless problems at the back, which found Emma Gray in space to score the first of the night.

This spurred New Rev on and they were able to pin Reckless back with a flurry of short corners from which Stacey Laurenson was able to find the bottom corner of the goal to make it 2-0.

Reckless had their fair share of short corners in the first half too, but were not able to find the back of the net with the New Rev defence getting out quick to quash the danger from the barrels of the Reckless players.

New Rev were able to get one more goal before half time from Bryan Irvine squeezing a short corner home to make it 3-0.

The second half started with New Rev on the attack straight away and Mhari Moncrieff was able to slip the ball past the unlucky Reckless goalie after a scramble in the D. The attacks kept coming from the New Rev and Emma Gray score her second of the night with a neat finish round the goalie.

Reckless were able to get back into the game with some hard work from John Magnus Scollay in midfield, winning a succession of short corners. Sarah Grogan was able to fire a short passed the helpless Bradley in goal to make it 4-1.

New Rev were quick to hit back and straight from the pass back Irvine found Peter Sharp in the D and he made no mistake with the finish past the goalie.

New Rev now found their stride and it wasn’t long before Bryan Irvine scored two more goals to claim a hat trick withgood finishes. Emma Gray also got two more goals to bring her tally to four.

Players of the match were Emma Gray for her clinical finishing up front for the New Rev and Joshua Morrison for Reckless, who caused problems with pace and movement up front.

Crusadaers 3, Hurricanes 6

Hurricanes started the stronger, scoring a goal within the first three minutes. They continued to apply pressure and managed to break through the Crusaders defence and were awarded several short corners, enabling Jillian Copland to score the second goal of the night.

The game continued with end-to-end play, but Hurricanes managed to score a further two goals through Bradley Mackenzie and Copland. Crusaders soon found their form and Lowrie Simpson scored their first just before half time.

The second half saw the Crusaders come out stronger. They pushed forward and with some good passing between Rona Simpson and Grant Johnson, and managed to feed the ball to Lowrie Simpson who skilfully slotted it into the back of the net.

Kara Thomson and Kelly Thomson worked tirelessly in defence but with some excellent link-up play between Bradley Mackenzie and Naomi Johnson, the Hurricanes scored a further two goals.

Crusaders goalie Darren Thomson made some quality saves and prevented the Hurricanes from gaining any more goals. Just before the full-time whistle Lowrie Simpson got his hat trick for Crusaders.

Players of the match were Lowrie Simpson for Crusaders and Bradley Mackenzie for Hurricanes.

Lobbyless 5, Deltmavine 4

The game started off with both teams looking for the opening goal, hoping to take them to the next round of the cup. Lobbyless were the first to open the scoring through James Aitken’s blistering shot from a quick counter attack, lead by Haydn Thomason.

Deltmavine answered back strongly and found Alasdair Williamson to equalise for the first time. Gwen Malcolmson and Karen McKelvie were solid in defence for Lobbyless, keeping the scoring at bay. James Aitken then got his second of the night, again through Thomason, making it 2-1 to Lobbyless.

Lobbyless continued to attack and pressed for the next goal with a slick finish from Brenda Leask. However, the lead was soon closed as Deltmavine piled on the attack.

With impressive play from Andrew Aitken and Alasdair Williamson, they added another two to the tally, making it 3-3. Before the half-time whistle blew, Lobbyless then took the lead through Haydn Thomason’s great finish, from an Aitken cutback.

The second half began more heated than the first with both teams so eager to take the win. At this point it could have gone either way, with Deltmavine making that crucial equaliser through Andrew Aitken. Lobbyless soon reacted to this and it wasn’t long before James Aitken got his fourth of the night, taking the lead.

The final whistle was looming and the game was at deadlock as Deltmavine once again got the equaliser. However, solid defending from Kristoffer Thomason and Gwen Malcolmson soon cut out any more pressing attacks from Deltmavine, thus allowing the Lobbyless attack to form again. James Aitken got his fifth for the winner, clearly showing his skill after Lara Thomason had found him well.

The players of the match were James Aitken for Lobbeyless and Alasdair Williamson for Deltmavine.