AMIDST the stunning cup double success on Sunday from Jersey Ladies and Jersey Men over Lymm HC and Sunbury & Walton Hawks respectively, there was a smattering of local grassroots hockey to enjoy.
Action began on Friday evening with an emphatic 6-0 victory for Ladies Island 1st XI over VC Colts, perhaps of little surprise, given the fact the quartet of scorers all played a key part in Jersey’s cup success over Lymm just two days later.
Hannah Scriven stole the show with a hat-trick, while Jersey teammates, Natacha Kay, Jamey Henderson and Chrissie Helmholt-Kniesel were also on target.
Victory propelled the ladies side to the summit of Men’s Division 2. However, the chasing pack have either one or two games in reserve as it stands.
Meanwhile, our feature match of the weekend came from the tussle between OV Rathbones Victoriana and VC Second XI.
Charlie Reid reports…Victoriana entered the contest on a poor run of form, winless in their first three games. Meanwhile, VC 2nd XI occupied fourth in the league and looked to bounce back from a controversial draw last game out against Jersey Ladies.
Like their form at the start of the season, Victoriana began extremely poorly in the first ten minutes, with the VC 2nd XI strike force of Jake Le Boutillier, Sunny Reid and Merriam Carter running riot at the defence. A shock to the system, as the back four of Victoriana struggled to mark their men leaving free runners into the D constantly.
When Victoriana tried to play out the back from a 16, the high line of the 2nd XI proved very difficult to break down.
The constant pressure led to talisman Le Boutillier receiving the ball around the penalty spot. With his back to goal and with a lovely spin, he hit into the upper stanchion, giving the 2nd XI an early lead. The nervy Victoriana eventually grew in confidence through accumulating passes with each other and spreading the ball out wide.
Jordan Ramsay caused much trouble down the right, repeatedly beating his man with skill and pace and driving into the opposition’s D.
Luck eventually fell for Victoriana after an electric run down the wing by Ramsay and from what seemed like an impossible shot to score from a metre in from the byline. A hit by the winger beat the keeper on his near post to level the contest.
The game turned on its head with Victoriana now applying all the pressure.
With dangerous balls into the D from Jonny Heward and multiple shots on target from Dylan Dunphy and Charlie Reid, the 2nd XI keeper, Will Wilson had a blinder of a game to deny every single chance.
Victoriana couldn’t get the ball into the goal and the 2nd XI was relieved to hear the half-time whistle.
Victoriana maintained the pressure entering the second half.
An exquisite ball into the box from Jonny Heward fell to Ian Cumming four yards out, but yet again Wilson was there to deny the two shots from the striker.
Everything seemed to be in Victoriana’s hands and VC 2nd XI had their backs against the wall.
The 2nd XI had a few chances but the solid defence of Ben Viera, Harry Brooks, Heward and Robbie Mossop dismissed any opportunity of entering the D. Victoriana looked to move the ball around, switching play to cause a bombardment of balls into the 2nd XI box, causing a lot of trouble for the defending side. After a breakthrough, the ball fell to Charlie Reid on the penalty spot and what seemed to be an inevitable goal. The striker flicked the ball over the crossbar.
Victoriana were in dismay from the missed chance, which proved the turning point in the game.
Just two minutes later, after a run across the byline from Sunny Reid into the Victoriana D, a pull-back pass to Henry Johnson was slotted away into the bottom-right corner giving the 2nd XI a 2-1 lead.
Victoriana couldn’t get a grasp back on the game and eventually there was another counter from the school. A through ball from Le Boutillier to Reid allowed the VC 2nd XI striker to score a cheeky goal through the legs of keeper Archie Scate.
Victoriana pushed hard at the 2nd XI defence for the final five minutes of the game, but Harry Cutting and Hugo Gomersall rejected any ball into the D. Time was up for Victoriana as the final whistle blew and Victoria College 2nd XI celebrated a hard-earned win.
Victoriana felt disappointed with the performance as they believed they could’ve earned some valuable points.
Everything about the game seems to set up a grudge match the next time these two meet in January.
Elsewhere, in the division, Hunters recorded a remarkable double success over Affinity teams over the course of the weekend.
Firstly with a 2-0 victory over JHC Panthers on Saturday behind strikes from Tom Coward and Lucas McAllister, before dispatching JHC Lions 2-1 on Monday evening.
Olly Van Klaveren and Jake Buckingham were on hand to score on Monday, while Jake Thomas grabbed the goal for Lions.
Meanwhile, the sole contest in Ladies Division 2 proved a thriller, as JLHC 2s edged out Nomads 3-2.
Nomads were in the ascendency and took a 2-0 lead into the half-time break Scarlett Kinnaird and Erin Machin, but goals from Lexi Edward, Farah Firby and Megan Jerrard flipped the script and led JLHC to victory.
There were no top-flight games as the focus shifted to the Island side’s cup fixtures. However, unbeaten Men’s Division 1 leaders OV Convicts square off with Affinity JHC Leopards on Saturday, as Crusaders look to keep up the pressure at the top end of the table when they face Hautlieu.
Elsewhere, in Men’s Division 2, Hunters meet Jersey Ladies 1st XI on Friday evening under the lights.
