Spurs, Whalsay and Delting victorious in hockey league

Hockey’s Association Rosebowl league saw wins for Spurs, Whalsay and Delting over the past week.

Association Rosebowl

Spurs 4, Zetland 0

Spurs won the toss and opted for first pass. Fielding a different format from that of Monday night, they got off to a furious pace and were always looking for an early goal.

Play dominated the right wing initially, through Gayle Johnson, Morag Fox and Karen MacKay. Often forced to play back by the Zetland defence, they were supported well by Andrea Tait and Irene Gray.

Zetland stood strong at the back and any through balls were dealt with by Wilma Sim and sisters Dawn Anderson and Lara Jamieson.

Spurs opened up the play, bringing in Kara Thomson at centre defence. She switched play through to the left, bringing in the duo of Sarah Grogan and Fiona Shearer. They tried to mix things up and inject pace on to the ball. Their attempts nearly paid off when a series of attacks lead to Spurs’ first penalties of the game.

Fox was unlucky not to open the scoring when her first-time strike flew off the side of the goal. Grogan’s effort clipped off the post and Emma Gray could only look on as her effort went past the face of the goal, and off the back line, with no-one on the post for a tap in. Debi Kane was in fine form and made some timely saves in goal.

Zetland regrouped and had a bit more space. Attacking runs from Eiliedh Coulle, Vicki Henderson and Maisie Unsworth saw Spurs under pressure for a spell. However, they found Gray, Thomson and Louise Moar alert and on the ball. Helen Robertson was on form for Zetland and her determined play resulted in a few tussles with the Spurs midfield, neither party giving in to the other.

Spurs calmed down and began to pass around more. A free ball out of their defence from Moar found Shearer on the left wing. She saw Fox with bags of space and Fox held her nerve and rounded the keeper to open the scoring.

The remaining 10 minutes of the half saw a lot of attacking pressure from Spurs. Karen MacKay played some sneaky balls through to Emma Gray, who was unlucky not to get her name on the score sheet. Kane again made some clearances.

As the second half opened Lara Thomason was introduced and Spurs reverted to their more familiar line-up. Gayle Johnson was creating a few problems on the right, as she and Fox played many one-twos up their right wing. A penalty corner was awarded and Kane saved a clean-cut strike from Fox. Both Gray and Shearer saw their resulting efforts saved before Grogan finally sealed it with a back post tap-in.

Spurs continued to dominate and two goals from Grogan in quick succession resulted in the first hat trick of the season.

Zetland battled all the way and their defence fought hard throughout the 70 minutes. A good team performance by Zetland saw Dawn Anderson outshine her teammates. For Spurs it was a good, positive display throughout with Gayle Johnson picking up the honour of best player.
Whalsay 4, Juniors 1

On a chilly night on the Brae astroturf, the Bonnie Isle lasses met the newly-formed Juniors. Perhaps still jetlagged, Whalsay were slow to start and Juniors took full advantage of this, making some fast breaks up the field with some great one two passing.

Whalsay did settle with Maggie Kay controlling the midfield and sending some great balls up to the forwards. Soon Whalsay began to take the majority of the possession but could not seem to finish. Debbie Sneddon, in charge of the Juniors defence, proved difficult to beat and they worked well to fight any Whalsay attacks.

It took a superb finish from Deborah Mowat of Whalsay in the 21st minute to break the deadline, with a slick reverse stick flick from back post. This did not deter the Juniors, however, and they equalised after a long corner when Rowan Nicholson slotted home after a Whalsay error.

With the scores now level Whalsay realised they would need to up their game to come away with three points. They pressed on and a goal came with a Maggie Kay shot from the top of the circle.

Now more confident, Whalsay took their chances at goal and Eileen Sandison made it 3-1 a couple of minutes later, placing the ball past the Juniors keeper after an interception.

Deborah Mowat sealed another goal for Whalsay before the full-time whistle with a strike on goal following some great movement from the midfield.

Maree “fresh air” Simpson must be mentioned for her great runs up the wing and Debbie Sneddon was player of the match for Juniors due to her solid role in defence.

Scalloway 0, Spurs 5

Spurs won the toss and chose to have the first pass. They started off strongly with great play coming from Gayle Johnson and Morag Fox down the wing, and were soon putting pressure on Scalloway.

But Scalloway’s new recruit Aimee Topp was settled in defence with Lara Kay and Julie Brown and they were sure not to let the ball see the back of the net. Emma Gray made a good run to the shooting circle to receive the ball and with a strike from Gray Spurs got their first goal.

Scalloway kept their heads up and continued to fight back with great linking between Naomi Johnson and Kate Moncrieff to forwards Mel Inkster and Kirsten Flett but were unable to find the back of the net, due to Megan Nicholson in the Spurs goal making a few great saves.

A break from Spurs found Gray in the shooting circle to score again and make it 2-0 to Spurs. Christine Georgeson made some great saves for Scalloway but it was a rebound that saw Gray get her third to end the first half 3-0 in Spurs’ favour.

Scalloway made a few more changes at the second half. This saw Inkster move into defence and Karis Irvine move up front. Spurs were awarded with several short corners which saw Gray get another goal and Rona Simpson notch up their fifth of the night.

Scalloway put a lot more pressure on Spurs with Meg Laurenson playing extremely well up front and Scalloway even being awarded a short corner. A strike from Scalloway was blocked by the strong defence of Spurs who were not going to let Scalloway get one back.

Players of the match were Julie Brown for Scalloway and Emma Gray for Spurs.

Delting 2, Burra 1

Delting looked the stronger team initially and were quick to put the Burra defenders under pressure. Debbie Sneddon, Melanie Couper, Louise Kok and Julia Halcrow remained composed and calmly dealt with any danger during the first 10 minutes.

Halcrow was quick to clear wide and link with Sarah Young in midfield who released Kristan Robertson to strike the first shot towards Toni Sidgwick in the Delting goal – this attempt went narrowly wide.

With a few more players taking the field for Burra they seemed to find increased impetus and Delting were suddenly on the back foot. Louise Arthur, Debbie Robertson, Nicola Blance and Jillian Copland worked well together to close down players and not allow time for them to get the shot away.

Stacey Laurenson was keen to be the first on the score sheet and was looking to put in her trademark reverse flick. The Delting defence were wise to this and thwarted these attempts.

The game now looked more even with midfielders Julie Crossan and Rowan Nicolson for Delting and Young, Joyce Adamson and Lori Robertson for Burra working tirelessly to support both attack and defence.

After a period of end-to-end play Burra were awarded a short corner. Kristan Robertson pushed the ball to Stacey Laurenson who struck well. Sidgwick took the sting off the shot but unfortunately saw it slip into the goal.

Delting were quick on the counter attack and with some dogged determination from Brenda Leask she took the ball into the circle and put it past Burra keeper Caroline Watt.

Both teams were eager at the start of the second half in attempting to secure a victory. This was proving to be a tough battle and heading towards a draw.

Leask, Blance and Copland persevered with numerous crosses in to their strikers Donna Murray, Linda Gunn and Megan Hibbert, all having narrow misses. Attempts were made by Burra to counter with Karen MacKelvie and Bethany Laurenson trying to get into the danger area.

Delting started to find a little more space on the right and Copland kept supplying the forwards. With only five minutes to go Hibbert put the ball into the goal from the left post. Delting maintained their shape and held on to the advantage.

Best on the night for Burra was Sarah Young for her endless running and Nicola Blance stood out again for Delting.