SUMMER LEAGUE 2010   

  Yardley Heathens   

Brief  Background

Welcome to Yardley Hockey Club’s summer team, The Yardley Heathens. They took their name from Sheldon Heath School and involve players present and players past. The Summer League always seems to provide a very high level of skilled hockey which helps our players to develop and flourish. All matches are midweek and play starts at 7-30 on warm summer evenings.  

Match report 10   Pickwick Men 4 - 3 Yardley Heathens

This was a game where holidays got in the way of Hockey. Many regular players were off on holidays this week and we had to play with a bare eleven with no subs, which shocked a few players during warm up. Many thanks must go to Rob who came in at the eleventh hour to play and to Chris who then became our umpire.

 Our last game of the Summer League was a close run thing with both teams evenly matched. We had a few switches in positions with Stan going up front and Charles going right back. This took a little time to adjust to, but it seemed to work as Charles had a good game in defence and Stan got two goals. In the first half the opposition was again given too much respect by Yardley and their three goals in this half came from two penalty corners and a defensive error. Our goal came from Stan who held possession well at the top their of the “D” and turned on the reverse stick for a great shot at goal which beat their keeper. This goal was a long time coming as we had numerous chances but failed to convert any, to make it a more accurate measure of our performance.

At the half way stage we regrouped and built our confidence up and started the second half strongly. The Cornelius quartet of Jordan, Stephen, Zach, and Luke were all having good games taking good first touches, passing strongly and using the full width of the pitch. They were backed up by Rick who game after game plays to a very high standard and brings other players into the game very skilfully. He played a little deeper than usual to protect of back three who played well especially Rob who kept our shape in check. We managed to get the score line level at three three with goals from Luke and Stan from a penalty corner powered through the keepers legs. But only for a few short minutes as The Pickwick Men soon re-took the lead from another penalty corner. This lead could not be countered by Yardley as they went down to ten men through injury, when Jordan was broadsided by a freshly substituted player crashing into a tackle side on which whiplashed Jordan who needed fifteen minutes to recover. This really unsettled our shape and our width disappeared.

Excellent play with Jordan’s speed on the left-wing and Stan’s strength in attack with two goals warranted a joint “man of the match” award which was justly awarded.

Match report 9   Yardley Heathens 0 - 7 Streetly Exiles

Our last home game of the season didn’t start well when 3 players turned up late and push back was delayed for ten minutes. When the starting whistle was finally blown we didn’t settle down and Streetly got an early goal. This put us on edge and we gave Streetly far too much respect and was pretty much pinned in our own half for much of the first thirty five minutes. At the half way stage we were four nil down with many goals bring gifted to the Streetly team by simply defensive errors and inadequate 16’s hit outs.

We regrouped at half time and started to play a better passing game and got a few chances in the “D” which against a team who have only conceded four goals all season certainly boosted our confidence. Our best chance came to Luke who collected the ball at the top of the “D” and he attacked strongly, rounding the keeper with excellent stick skill but was put off his shot on goal by an approaching defender and the ball went wide. In the second thirty five minutes Streetly kept attacking strongly. But with strong defensive skills from Stan and excellent keeper Gavin their goal tally was kept to three in this half.

At the end the oppositions umpire came over to our keeper and congratulated him on a strong second half display, which was quite rightly observed, as I think Gavin our keeper had a great match and in the second half it was like having Neil (our first team keeper) behind me in goal. He commanded the “D” driving out off his line. He also made great saves and good clearances. We kept the score to seven nil and in our last match against Streetly it was six nil. Both losses but against a team who have scored seventy five goals in ten games we can be proud to keep our result below their average score tally.

 It only proves how under attack we were as our right back Stephen Cross was voted man of the match with seven votes as he tackled well and showed composure when under pressure; even deftly going passed attackers to move the ball forward.

Match report 8   Edgbaston 3 - 0 Yardley Heathens

This game was at Birmingham University, on their water based Astro, a surface many of our players had not played on before. The pre-match sprinklers certainly gave a few of our players a pre-match shower (ha-ha). Some players arrived late and we didn’t really get fully warmed up before push-back. Poor preparation along with the extra bounce the ball made off the pitch, required some time for all our players to ease into the game properly. But we slowly and surely upped our pace and movement as the game went on.

 This was a game where both teams were evenly matched and both teams played competitively but fairly.  Edgbaston scored two goals in the first half (one on 13 minutes the second at 18 minutes), both times they had a man over on the far post who wasn‘t picked up by a defender (sorry guys) and was left with a simply tap in. With lessons learnt we became more solid at the back and pushed higher up the pitch. This was excellently orchestrated by Martin whose loud commands boosted confidence and improved our organisation. This started to give us many excellent chances, but our shots either went narrowly wide or we got tackled just as the shots were attempted. We went into half time two nil down but not disappointed as our passing and work ethic was excellent throughout the team.

Second half was a much better 35 minutes as every one of our players looked like they wanted the ball, the midfield harried the opposition winning the ball back on numerous occasions. Our wingers played well putting in some telling crosses onto the “D” but our strikers just failed to make the connections. Our strikers chassed, what seemed lost causes. Pressurising their keeper and defenders whom panicked and we therefore won back possession. This was a game were our team-work really shone through. Edgbaston only scored in the second half with five minutes left to play, when they won a penalty flick as the ball hit a defender on the leg on the goal line (sorry guys again) when it came off our keepers glove.  Gavin in this game played to a very high standard and made good solid blocks from powerful shots and cleared loose balls with skill (his karate style clearance certainly gave the umpire something to think about). We managed to keep playing strongly right up to the final whistle when in other games we began to tire.

Match report 7   Yardley Heathens 2 - 6 Barford AFS

Yardley started very well, passing decisively with pace and accuracy from all over the pitch. This gave us confidence and we improved further. We passed back if our options ahead were blocked. We passed then moved for the return which did come (back).  It was like watching a “pin-ball” zip about with our strong fast passing and good off the ball movement.

 All this good work paid dividends as we got an early goal from Luke Menzel on the ten minute mark.  We continued to pass on the strong side with good control and even passed into space for our players to run onto.

This I feel made us over confident as we started to try deft flicks and reverse stick passes to each other in midfield which lost us possession when we were not pressurised to do so. But our central midfield quartet of Ben, Rick, Zach and Nick always harried the opposition when we lost the ball, which meant Barford passing backwards. This made Barford change tactics a little with them passing long to their lone striker, who held it up long enough for the overlapping runners. They got the equaliser twenty minutes in, and we never really got our passing going fluidly again, even though Rick tried to calm it down a little in midfield by holding the ball up and looking for the simply pass and not hitting hard and long. The midfield kept doggedly plugging away at the opposing side never letting them have time to dwell on the ball, but their talent with stick and ball made it hard for us to win back possession. This exposed our 3 defenders and caused fouls on the edge of the “D” or penalty corners. Barford scored the majority of their goals from penalty corners, as Zach said in the pub afterwards it was “death by penalty corner”.

 We had our own chances many with just the keeper to beat but time and again narrowly missing the target and hitting the side netting. We put together a couple of nicely worked penalty corners. One was pushed out to Stan who hit it cleanly and beat the keeper but was a fraction of an inch above the back- board. The other was a training room manoeuvre with Charles pushing out to Ishmael who sold a beautiful dummy by pretending to shoot but passed straight back to Charles who was left unmarked; his shot was hit well and beat the keeper but was saved on the line by a defender. Our second goal came from Ben who scored in open play by linking up with Rick.

Match report 6   Bournville Bees 5 - 0 Yardley Heathens

 Our Summer League has now past the halfway stage and we begin to play opposition whom we have already played.  This match was against Bournville Bees who beat us 8-1 last time out. So we were determined not to concede so many goals this time out and possible come away with some points.  Bournville are a strong young team so we decided before the push back to use our talents. One example being our old heads should equal wise experience play against their young legs.

This was a very competitive match and if it wasn’t for strong defending at the back by Stan, Skiddy and our keeper Gavin the last match score line would have been bettered. We played this match to Bournville strengths as time and again we tried to pass it through their very narrow packed midfield. This did come off on numerous times, but soon broke down as we got to their last 25. As it was we went into half time 3-0 down with very few of our own chances testing their keeper. At team talk we decided to play to our own strengths by using the wingers more as Luke was playing well but not getting the supply he quite rightly deserved, another point was to take our 16’s quickly before our players got marked.

Jacob again entered at the half way stage and like our other younger players, he will be taking some valuable lessons with him into the up and coming year. We passed the ball around better in the second half and used the width more, this resulted in us getting more chances in their “D”, whether it be penalty corners or goal mouth scrambles. But alas not for the want of trying we failed to score. Bournville stayed strong to the end and managed two more goals in this half. We probably had fewer chances in this match than our last encounter but we defended better. This was evident at the end when our “Man of the Match” was voted for and it became a close call between our keeper Gavin and our central defender.  Congratulations Stan the “Man of the Match.”

 With only one point and bottom of the league we should not feel disappointed. I believe we are enjoying our hockey. Our young players are getting valuable experience. We are all playing enthusiastically with excellent work rate, and we can improve our results before this season is out. Roll on our next match against Barford AFS.

Match report 5    Yardley Heathens 2 - 5 Pickwick

Our fifth match was against Pickwick. Yardley were again playing with four under 18’s, but as was Pickwick. We had a welcome return of our top scorer, Ishy, who has recently recovered from a broken arm.

Both teams were evenly matched during the whole of the first half and Yardley felt unlucky to be two goals down at half time. Yardley’s attacks always seemed to break down when they went in or around the “D”. Yardley did make some defensive errors which were capitalised on by Pickwick. They put away a short corner which went through a player’s legs on the line and also an unlucky judgement from a long, hopeful aerial. This gave them a two goal advantage at the halfway stage.

We started strongly in the second half keeping possession well and probing and testing their defence. Ishy our striker managed to hold up play better this half and linking up more. One of his trade-mark tight angled reverse stick shots went flying between goal and keeper going slightly wide, but Charles covering the far post managed to make contact at shoulder height to score a remarkable, if a little bit controversial, goal. Our second followed soon afterwards by a very skilful dribble into the “D” by Nick who finished with power into the far corner. Scores were all even, but spaces for Pickwick started to open up as Yardley began to get tired legs. This led to Pickwick scoring 3 in the final 15 minutes.

We would like to thank the players who came in at the last minute to give us options on the night.  One such player was Jacob, our Young Player of the Year. He gained confidence as this match went on, and played strongly against adult opposition in the midfield, passing well and making runs into the “D”.

Thanks must also go out to our many supporters on the sidelines for giving encouragement and constructive advice during the second half when some players started to feel tired and they needed that boost.

Match report 4     Streetly Exiles 6 - 0 Yardley Heathens

Our fourth match was against Streetly Exiles the strongest team in our six team league and they are scoring goals for fun (35 scored in three games). Our match at THE Streetly School started around 20-15 as a Fathom match was scheduled for the earlier slot. After a good warm up on the grass pitches next to the Astro and extra time to talk tactics we chose a 4 4 2 approach regardless of the opposition.

In the first five minutes it became apparent that our midfield was being pushed back by very strong early pressure from Streetly, but still no goals. 10 minutes into the game and we could only muster a couple of breaks into their half, as their pressure was pretty much constant. Yardley were defending deep but defending with great skill as Streetly only had half chances and they did not really test our keeper.

Yardley were playing with four under 18’s and two keepers playing outfield, so expected to be losing by now. The home team and their supporters started to get frustrated as they had many chances but failed to get any goals. This frustration boiled over when one Streetly player clattered into our near stationary under 15’s player when the ball arrived at his stick, he had to leave the pitch as blood was pouring from his mouth (he later went to hospital and required stitches.) This put Yardley on edge, as up to then they seemed to be enjoying the challenge put before them.

After 20 minutes and still no score, Streetly kept the pressure on Yardley and little niggle challenges by both teams started to appear. This is when players on both sides started to lose their discipline; the umpired quite rightly sent one Yardley player off and issued two yellow cards. This reset the players’ minds back onto Summer Hockey and play restarted. Down to ten men and a little disorganised Yardley finally conceded a goal and went into half time 1:0 down.

 A major reshuffle was planned during our team talk, when we tried to strengthen our midfield.  As expected Streetly started the second half as they started the first, and with the extra man they played with more confidence. During this half we conceded five goals but we played in the spirit of the game and we enjoyed our selves. By putting our own style into play, but we never really got into their “D”. Lessons need to be learned from this game. Players must show more discipline and not get riled (def; to stir to anger) by opposition players and play our own way. Roll on next week against Pickwick.

Match Report  3        Yardley Heathens 0 - 4 Edgbaston

Third game of the season started promisingly even before the match whistle blew, as many players arrived early enough for a warm up exercise of 5 versus 5. After we were all nicely warmed up Yardley began brightly unlike the weather, as the heavens opened with the heaviest downpour I have ever played in came down throughout the seventy minutes. Many a stick went tumbling through the air as firm grip became a problem. The sticks weren’t the only tumbles as a few players collided/tumbled during the first period.

Yardley’s fun tactics of out and out attack carried on in this game. Our confidence did upset the opposition’s formation, but we again failed to capitalise. A breakaway goal to Edgbaston proved to be their confidence booster and they began to play more possession hockey not being afraid to play back or switch the play in order to keep the ball. We continued to attack strongly but Edgbaston soaked up all the pressure and kept hitting us on the break. We all too often left only one holding defender and were overrun by their fast strikers when the defenders hit it hard and long up field. Yardley had more short corners than Edgbaston but they scored twice from their short corners. I feel we had more attacking opportunities in free play too but Edgbaston scored twice from breakaways.

Edgbaston could have scored more from their open play breakaways but for the great saves from our keeper and last man defenders Rick and Martin. Both teams came off the pitch well and truly soaked but everyone had a smile on their face, as it was a fun game played in the true spirit of summer hockey.

Match Report  2        Barford Tigers   4 - 4    Yardley Heathens

Match two in the summer league started off very briskly with Yardley having a couple of quick shots at goal in the first 5 minutes but alas, no goals, and against the early run of play Barford scored on the sixth minute mark. The Yardley players remained positive and kept attacking strongly. This left the team open to break away attacks with too few central defenders holding deep enough. Gavin the keeper was therefore required to pull off some excellent saves and precise kick out clearances.

Yardley’s constant attacking finally paid off on the twenty fourth minute with some quick accurate passing down the left enabled a clever cross by Stephen which left Kaiser to deftly flick it past their goalie. Not long after this Ben managed to break away from the right side and shoot powerful past the goalie whilst on the run into the “D”. Half time came and Yardley were 2-1 in the lead.

The second half started off excellently with very slick quick passing play by Yardley. After ten minutes a quick one two movement between Charles and Ben made space for Ben to unselfishly pass wide of the goalie for Charles to shoot strongly into the open net. Yardley’s fourth goal came on the twentieth minute with great positional play by Luke who stated wide right of the keeper so when the ball was passed out to him he had time to control the ball and then push with power into the corner of the goal, clipping the inside of the post on the way and giving their keeper no chance. The score was at 4-1 with 15 minute to go Yardley decided to still go for more goals. This with hindsight proved to be a costly mistake.

 With 10 minutes to go Barford managed to pull a goal back which instilled them with confidence and slightly unsettled Yardley. The home team soon got a penalty corner which they put away with a good clean hit into the corner.   Yardley still tried to attack and had some close shots saved and some hitting the post and outside board. The last two minutes was indicated by the umpire and a failed clearance brought another penalty corner for Barford. In the defence of this short corner the umpire judged a penalty stroke. So in the last minute of time Barford scored a flick which gave the Yardley keeper no chance. This last shot in the match gave Barford the equalizer.

Match Report  1     Yardley Heathens 1 - 8 Bournville Bees

Our first match was against Bournville Bees one of the strongest teams in our six team league. With Zach Jarvis taking the captain’s arm band for the first time (thanks Rob) the team arrived at the King Edwards VI Girls School (our home ground for Summer League) in good spirits. After a good warm up, tactics were given out by Zach and we were going for an attacking formation.

We had three defenders, four midfield and two strikers with Ash our newest club member as sweeper. This ambitious approach so nearly paid off as in the first 5-10 minutes we had three very good chances on goal due to great positioning by Charles our out and out striker. Alas, these very close chances failed to pay dividends, and on 15 minutes the Bees got a penalty corner which was put away eventually. This settled the opposition and even though Stan and Matty made some fantastic last man tackles they scored three more before half time.

We went into half time not disillusioned as we had many chances during the whole of the half but the final finish eluded us. During the Captain Team talk Zach praised our hard work and determination, and as a good captain should, he took other peoples comments on board at the end of his own comments. We spotted that we could not get our 16 hits out quick enough and player movement failed to make telling paces.

Second half proved very much like the first half with the opposition really choking the midfield stopping us from playing free flowing play. When we did get the ball moving fast and accurate it was a joy to watch. We had even more chances in this half, we twice beat the goalie with an open goal beckoning but  all our attacking play only produced one goal courtesy of a well positioned  tap in by Luke. The Bees got four more goals during this half from their quick break aways. It was definitely end to end stuff and every player enjoyed the contest, only annoyed that we did not have a little bit more to show for all the attacking efforts. Roll on next week against the Barford Afs.