Carlton Park I 5 v IES II 0

27/09/08

On a very hot, sunny morning Park knew that they had to play good hockey against IES and with a strong squad of 12 players were ready for the job. Park started well and immediately closed down the IES players. This frustrated them and lead them to make a few errors. Park dominated the first quarter of the game and attacked the defence. Emma Tuckwell worked hard and linked up well with Justine Howe we fed Vicky Le Fanu down the right. Park were unlucky to take an early lead when a good cross from the right failed to get the finish it deserved in front of goal. Sarah Whatling was unlucky to open the scoring when her shot from a penalty corner was well saved by the keeper. The breakthrough came from another penalty corner when the ball was fed out short to Denise Manning. Her cross in front of goal took a deflection and finished in the back of the net. Park continued to dominate the play and crossed the ball well from side to side. Emma Tuckwell, Tori Walton and Kirsty Marshall stood strong in defence and were very rarely troubled during the half. Kerry Whatling pushed up on the midfield and fed the ball well out wide. Park then added their second when Vicky Le Fanu slotted home under the keeper. She quickly added her second when some skilful stick work again out did the defence and she found the back of the net. Wendy Corneby ran tirelessly in mid field and tracked back well to cover any breaks but again Karen Fletcher in the goal had a pretty quite time. Sarah Whatling finished the scoring in the first half when her shot beat the keeper.

In the second half, having moved players around, Park kept their composure and again continued to attack. Lynn Whittingstall caused problems with her constant running and was unlucky to add her name to the score sheet when the ball just ran away from her as she prepared to strike. Roo Mackie was also unlucky when her shot was saved well by the keeper. Park didn’t quite have the momentum of the first half but everyone had played well in that half and knew that they had done enough to claim the points. IES had no answer for the performance of Park and were never a threat even when they entered the home side’s ‘d’. Park scored their only goal of this half when the ball came out to Sarah Whatling and her shot from and acute angle thundered in off the post. An excellent team performance.

Squad: Karen Fletcher, Emma Tuckwell, Tori Walton, Kirsty Marshall, Kerry Whatling, Justine Howe, Wendy Corneby, Roo Mackie, Lynn Whittingstall, Vicky Le Fanu, Sarah Whatling, Denise Manning

Report by Denise Manning.