A trip down to the sports field in the mini bus gave the girls some time to reflect on their heavy loss on the netball court and with some stern words from me they were keen to make amends on the hockey pitch. The weather was becoming increasingly inclement though and as the netball had started late it was agreed that in dropping temperatures, halves of only 8 minutes were to be played.
The girls got off to a cracking start and had a great passing game on a very bumpy pitch. Frankie's hits were very effective on this surface and Nicole, who had another great game, Lily and Olivia all played really well up front, dribbling and passing the ball into spaces. Belmont, who had very little of the ball in the first 8 minutes, never got out of their half and mounting pressure in their D resulted in a lovely shot from Erin slipping past a very tired goal keeper.
In the second half, Clemmie in defence and Sophie in goal had a lot more to do but gave good account of themselves, Clemmie's interceptions and Sophie's quick reactions keeping Belmont from scoring. Unfortunately, against the run of play, Belmont broke free and gained a soft goal as we were caught heavy footed and left our D undefended. The U11s responded well though and continued to threaten Belmont's D until the final whistle. Had we been able to play the normal 20 minute halves I feel Terrington's superiority on the grass would have shown through and could have resulted in a win, however you can only play to the whistle and as it was the girls gained achieved a good draw having given their all in difficult conditions.
