U11A Hockey v Merchiston

Won 6-1

A big U11A squad faced Merchiston today and within 10 seconds we were one goal up after a terrific, accurate strike from Toby from the edge of the circle. Merchiston disrupted our play and we found it difficult to get the second. We had to work really hard Theo was on the end of a great cross from Toby after a super break from Oliver on the right. Merchiston scored after a bit of a scramble in the circle but we finished the half with another 3 superbly worked team goals where we played simple hockey. The second half became a bit scrappy but there were some nice touches from our younger players. We perhaps needed to use the space more as we seemed to get in each other’s way a bit in the midfield. Our only goal in the second half came from a strike from Caspian following a penalty corner. More would have come if we had had more conviction in the circle but it was good we got into positions to give us a chance of scoring.

Whilst we played some lovely hockey at times, areas to work on are: decision making in defence – clear the ball to the side; play with the head – find a team mate in space; be stronger in the tackle – use the jab or get low for the block tackle; and try to play the ball in behind the defence early rather than taking too many unnecessary touches.

The boys can be very pleased with their performance and it was great to get back onto the pitch after all the frost last week and have a successful first home match of the season.

Player of the match was Theo for his excellent finishing but special mention to Oliver for his usual non-stop work rate.