Reports from Morpeth Hockey Club's teams

Posted by Richard Fletcher on Nov 25, 09 04:50 PM in Sport

Morpeth Mens 1st XI vs Newcastle University 4th XI

Score: 1-0
MOM Ian Kendall

Following the previous week's unfortunate defeat to Northumbria St Georges, Morpeth Mens 1st XI were fully aware that nothing but a win would do against fellow arch rivals, Newcastle University Students who's 4th XI were newly promoted to the league this season.

A cold wet afternoon greeted the teams at MHC and, with expectations high, every Morpeth player on the pitch was ready to show the visitors why they deserve to be at the top end of the table. Trying out some new tactics enabled the home team to take control of the game right from the push back and early pressure saw all of the attacking play coming from the team in green! A quickly taken free hit following a bad Newcastle Tackle was threaded through to Danecki who found himself one on one with the goalkeeper. A misjudged low flick was deflected away from the goal keeping the score in the first 20 minutes at 0-0.

With newly implemented tactics holding firm, Morpeth were always looking like the stronger team and were rewarded just before half time when good link play from the defence and midfield enabled Danecki to have the ball and fire a hit through a crowded 'D' where a deflection off the centre back lifted the ball into the path of Jonathon 'Ritchie' Brown who, using his cricket playing skills, cut the ball low past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net. Half time score. MHC 1 - NUMHC 0.

With Morpeth now playing against the wind and up the slight gradient of the pitch in the second half, tiring legs required the players to make the ball do the work and not use up everyone's energy as Morpeth had a rescheduled game the day after. The second half continued in a similar fashion as the first half. Fast ball movement and strong tackling from Morpeth maintained the home side's domination over the game.

Although Morpeth were leading, they knew they could not let up the pressure on the visitors goal. Another one on one shot from Danecki was saved again by the goal keeper, a well worked passing manoeuvre found club captain Will Mclean in the 'D' whose shot went agonisingly wide of the post and another attacking manoeuvre from the team led to a flick attempt by Danecki being saved on the line by a defenders stick. It just seemed like it was going to be one of those days where the ball refused to go into the back of the net!!

Towards the end of the game, tempers started to fly with both teams making silly mistakes and bad tackles-the resulting outcome was a yellow card for one of the Newcastle players who were sent off for the rest of the game. Even with the visitors reduced to ten men, the damage had been done and the final whistle went with a vital three points in the bag for Morpeth.

A good performance by the team and raised spirits will hopefully ensure that the successful start to the season will continue up to and after Christmas.

Morpeth 1st XI v Richmond 2nd XI

Score: 6-0
Scorers: P Danecki, I Kendall (2), J Brown, J Sanders, J Smith
MOM: Ian Kendall

Having won three points the previous day, Morpeth looked to take another three points on the Sunday for the replayed match against Richmond which was abandoned the previous month. With a strong squad, Morpeth started the game using their newly implemented tactics from the Saturday win.

A particularly young Richmond side started the game brightly using the ball to their advantage, but Morpeth never let them get anywhere close to their D and were happy to pick up the loose balls and advance when appropriate. This soon frustrated the visitors, and the green men found themselves able to advance with ease time and time again. Various attempts went either agonisingly wide or were well dealt with by the Richmond keeper and his defence.

The deadlock was finally broken when a shot from Jonathon Brown was deflected by the keeper into the path of Paul Danecki, who calmly controlled the ball and reversed it low against the backboard. This was not what the visitors wanted, and some of the less experienced players' heads began to drop.

The lead was soon doubled when the same up front partnership of Danecki and Brown linked up well. Danecki latched onto a through ball, drove it along the base line, and the flicked pass to Brown was dispatched into the back of the net with a shot that Paul Collingwood would have been proud of. Brown's second cover-driven goal in two days!

Morpeth continued well, allowing Richmond to have the ball in the les dangerous areas of the pitch, and capitalising on their mistakes meant that the home side could quickly counter attack. A resulting short corner was well executed, leaving Ian Kendall a simple strike from the top of the D. 3-0 Morpeth.

Richmond had their brightest spell of the first half and a short corner was looking to get them off the mark, only for veteran defender Stuart Fairbrother to pluck the shot from the air and deflect for a corner. Morpeth knew they needed to react positively, and they did exactly that, when a powerful run from new-boy Jamie Smith found fellow winger James Sanders to complete the move.

Morpeth players were then queuing up to score, so much so, that they pretty much just got in each others' way and ended up being the best part of Richmond's defence! Kendall got his second of the day, straying from his defensive position he found himself in the D to latch on to a loose shot, and deflect over the floored keeper.

The rout was finished, and deservedly scored by new boy Jamie Smith when a short corner turned into a goal mouth scramble, Smith finding the calm to slot the ball home.

Six points from the weekend and another great team display from Morpeth gives them the confidence that they can regain the momentum and take it south to league leaders Hartlepool next week.

Morpeth 3rds 6-0 Tynemouth 3rds

Morpeth came to this game hoping to win all three points against a Tynemouth team lacking in numbers. Morpeth did not disappoint. Coming out of the blocks early and attacking the Tynemouth goal and camping in the Tynemouth third.

Morpeth made effective use of the space left by Tynemouth's lacking numbers with P Tomlinson and S Emery often spreading the play to both wide men, J McManus and D Critchley who both had the beating of the defense. With all this pressure it wasn't long before the hosts scored their opening goal. It came when McManus was played through into the D comfortably showing a calm finish to place the ball past the oncoming keeper.

This gave Morpeth more vigour and it wasn't long before Emery put Critchley into space in the D. Critchley then went on to casually flick the ball past the keeper. Morpeth had many more opportunities to score in this half with the ball often being squared to the back post, where the finishing touch often eluded the attacking player. However Morpeth's pressure paid off again towards the end of the half when good attacking play by M Bott rewarded him with his first goal of the game.

Morpeth went into the half time team talk knowing that they were on top of this game and drastic mistakes and complacency would lose the game. With this comfortable three goal lead Morpeth could go into the second half and really push for more goals, And push for more goals they did.

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first half with Morpeth having the majority of the possession and pushing the away team back into their own third. With this extensive Morpeth pressure it wasn't long before the home side scored more goals.

The first goal of the second half came when the ball was squared to N Larvin who tapped the ball in at the far post. Morpeth continued to place extensive pressure on the away team's goal and if it wasn't for some superb goal keeping from the Tynemouth keeper the score would have been much worse for Tynemouth.

However saying this Tynemouth did manage to mount some good counter attacks in the second half and if it wasn't for the strong defense and some great goalkeeping from A Gayner Tynemouth might have been able to record some goals. Morpeth's fifth goal came again from Bott who had a strong game. Morpeth continued to press until the end of the half and this persistence was rewarded when Emery powered into the D and hit an early well struck shot straight into the bottom left corner of the goal the finish left Tynemouth's keeper with no chance.

Overall Morpeth should be very happy with their performance in this game although there were some missed chances they never looked like losing the game and the side played well together with a good team spirit.

4th team

Morpeth travelled to the Parks on Saturday to play a home fixture against Jesmond.
The opposition started strongly and Morpeth's back four were kept busy for the first 15 minutes. Gradually they got back into the game and the mid-field played some good supportive hockey. Woods, Durance (P), and Fidler supporting Van Zwann and Cooke well.

Goals were conceded despite Smith's sterling performance in the Morpeth goal, but a better second half saw the 'home' side continuing with their efforts up to the final whistle, despite being under constant pressure from a physically stronger Jesmond side.
Man of Match: Peter Durance

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