20/05/2009  L          Heathens Yardley     1-4     Bournville (ended early)
With a fifteen man squad and everyone turning up early all the team were looking forward to the new summer league season. A good training session and warm up exercise took place prior to the match, which was delayed by twenty minutes as the opposition had a late show up keeper. The captains’ talk before the match said it was to be a fun friendly league to enjoy hockey. The opposition said they will play without keeper until he arrives, but we sportingly waited for their goalie to arrive before push back. A very friendly start all round. Once the match started it was very even with both teams playing well. A few strong challenges put both sides on their toes. As Yardley started to use their substitute rotations things began not to gel for the team and Bournville was able to take the initiative and took the lead. A major incident in the first half halted proceedings as Doc our right back got hit in the face with the match ball  from an attacking players shot on goal which went high and the ball hit Doc. An ambulance was required and the match was stopped.

27/05/2009               L          Added Edge   3-1      Heathens Yardley

With new players being available for Yardley’s second game of the season it took a while for the team to gel.  However some excellent hockey was produced. Particularly in the second half which unfortunately was too late, but a sign of good times ahead for the team.

03/06/2009               L          Old Halesonians        3-0      Heathens Yardley

With a pitch hidden away and players struggling to find the venue we had to begin with 10 and lost all substitutes.  A strong performance from Yardley took Old Hales by surprise with the opposition wailing “You think we are better than them but we are not!”  Unfortunately despite Yardley having many more attempts on goal the ball would not go in the goal and Old Hales capitalised on their opportunities.

17/06/2009               L          Heathens Yardley     1-2      Streetly Exiles
A strong Streetly team came to the King Edwards girls school with a team coach/trainer and various subs. Streetly seem to be playing the summer league as a training exercise for next seasons league. Their coach kept threatening his players with twenty push ups during the game when they made mistakes.
Yardley defended deep with five defenders and this kept the score line low as Streetly were unable to get good crosses into the “D”.

25/06/2009               L          Barford Cubs             3-2      Heathens Yardley
Playing against a very stick skilled team (one ex-England player no less) the Barford Tigers did make Yardley a little apprehensive but we set out to enjoy the game none the less.
We played a little defensive for first few minutes to settle ourselves down then tried to put our quick passing game into action. They played with a few ex-Badger players and Vets but none the less a very strong stick skilled team who happily brought it up to the halfway line dodging early tackles and releasing the ball to either winger. Our team also comprised of a few ex-badgers but some quick inter-passing and running off the ball by the Yardley midfield was a dream to watch. We lost but it was a close game as a post and two near misses for Yardley good have brought the first point’s home for Yardley.
Although this was a quick flowing game it was played in a very friendly spirit and I feel both teams enjoyed the competition

30/06/2009               W         Bourneville   Bees         2-5      Heathens Yardley
On one of the hottest days of the year we faced a team who lead 4-1 when our last game had to be curtailed due to the horrid accident to our own Doc. In good spirits Doc turned up to support our efforts.
With a solid defence Yardley played confidently from the back all the way up through midfield to the front men. Trailing by a goal after 15 minutes Bournville kept pushing up strongly trying to get level and seconds before half time they broke away and got an equalizer.
With good use of rotating substitutes Yardley kept the momentum going (even with 24’C temperatures.) Yardley’s effort was rewarded when they took the lead again early on in the second half.  Bournville kept pushing hard and the Yardley keeper needed to pull off 3 or 4 great saves. Yardley were able to make space in attack with breakaways that had extra players powering into the “D” running overlap. Although Bournville got a second goal
So Yardley’s first victory for the summer

08/07/2009               W         Berkswell & BC         1-2       Heathens Yardley (friendly)
 A friendly game at Warwick University with a twelve a side match and only one umpire. Each team tried very hard to play fair and help the umpire out as much as possible. With twelve a side match space on the pitch was hard to find with very little time on the ball. The game could have gone either way, as Yardley made it hard by not keeping possession for long enough periods. Yardley did not keep it simple and using quick decisive accurate passes. Too many times various players would try to go past three or four players instead of a simple pass which was always on and lose possession after going past three players. Berkswell played a quick passing game which gave them good chances in the first half, only to be thwarted by great saves from our keeper. In the second period it was Berkswell keeper who kept their team in it till the last few minutes.

15/07/2009               W           Heathens Yardley      3-2          Added Edge

Looking for a hat trick of wins Yardley came out of the starting blocks firing on all cylinders as did Edgbaston hoping to claim another victory over Yardley.  An excellent team performance was produced (maybe the best of the season) as players looked to recapture the flowing passing game that suited us much better than the solitary efforts shown last week against Berkswell. The game was closely battled and a string of heroic saves from Neal the cat Makepeace ensured Yardley won three in a row.

22/07/2009   L          Heathens Yardley     2-4        Old Halesonians

With two matches on consecutive days the Yardley Team faced a test of fitness and stamina.  As in the first half of the season Yardley started strong against Old Hales and looked to continue their winning streak.  An injury to John Skidmore unfortunately meant that Yardley could no longer rely on the Skidmore-McGuigan sweeping partnership to mop up any errors, allowing Old Hales to capitalise.

23/07/2009               L          Streetly Exiles          6-1        Heathens Yardley
Yardley were a bit disorganised at the start and never really managed to settle in the first half which showed how well prepared Streetly were with pace and good positioning. Streetly had a full team of young, fit and very athletic players and played a very fast game, but Yardley did well to keep the score low during the first half. The first twenty minutes of the second half was proving better for Yardley getting some shots on target and forcing good saves from their keeper, and three or four penalty corners with one getting us the goal. Unfortunately, Streetly were awarded short corners through-out the game which, was very apparent, had been practiced a lot by the team. Yardley did very well to keep the score at 6-1 against this top of the table team who have a strict training schedule. Yardley were fatigued with ten minutes remaining, giving little resistance to the fitter and younger opponents

05/08/2009   D            Heathens Yardley      6-6          Barford Cubs

We witnessed that cliché of clichés, a game of two halves at the King Edwards Girl School. Yardley were forced to fight their way back into the game after falling four goals behind inside 22 minutes. The team started to put some positive effort in with ten minutes left in the half. Ben Cross produced a fine solo run into the “D” and produced a fine stroke for our first goal, but still down 5-1 at half time.

Some positives came out of the frank team talk at half time with every opinion listen to and taken onboard. An early goal in the second half settled everybody and then with our first penalty corner of the match produced a fierce effort by Ollie our third goal. A loose pass in midfield gave Barford a breakaway goal and their sixth of the match.

A second penalty corner produced a goal again from Ollie and the score was now 6-5. Both teams at this stage were playing excellent hockey but Yardley got the equalizer before the final whistle.