It was a tough week for Shiplake's footballers, who took on accomplished teams from Reading Blue Coat. That being said, the 1st XI gave them an incredibly close game and showed just how far the Shiplake side had come. It was not all doom and gloom on the score sheets. The staff team took on a team from BMW, and came away victorious. The 1st XI hockey team drew 5 all to The Windsor Boys' School, and the 2nd VII netball team showed that last week's defeat wasn't going to knock their spirits, as they came out fighting against Leighton Park School and won 19-8.
Football
1st XI 1-3 Reading Blue Coat School
‘The first 20 minutes of this game were very even with Shiplake creating some chances and closing down well. Bluecoat played some good football down the right with the winger getting plenty of ball but the Shiplake defenders held firm. The opening goal came from a controversially awarded penalty. The right winger crossed the ball into Joe Ruffle's face...the ball dropped down onto his hand and the referee blew loudly. He then asked the Blue Coat player if he thought it was a penalty, to which he of course responded "yes"...so gave it. Almost immediately afterwards, Callum Theodorou played a wonderful through ball to Matty Fitzgerald, whose shot was deflected for a corner. The next action saw the second Blue Coat goal. The main striker used his pace to get in behind and cut the ball back for the annoyingly good number 7, who tucked the ball into the corner. If this season has proven anything, it is that Shiplake do not give up. The boys rallied and after the best spell of possession in the game, a free-kick was awarded 25 yards out. Matty stepped up and curled the ball into the bottom left corner to give Shiplake a well-deserved goal going into half time. The second half was a tight, even battle with a few tackles flying in from both teams. Tails were up and Shiplake could sniff an equaliser. Unfortunately, a second penalty was awarded for handball and, at 3-1, the boys faced an uphill challenge. With the Rev watching from the side, praying for some divine intervention, Matty was fouled in the box twice...but he stayed on his feet as he looked to shoot. The resulting melee resulted in another corner and the pressure was on the Blue Coat back 5. The goalkeeper made two excellent saves, one of which he punched 25 yards to safety. With Blue Coat under pressure, tempers flared a little but the coaches understood the high spirit and saw the positives in approach. The final whistle saw a Blue Coat victory...but it was certainly not the game, nor outcome they expected. A great performance from the Shiplake 1st XI and with one game to go in the season, there is still plenty to play for. Well done everyone! Men of the match – Matty F and Darius Braun – for tenacity and work rate!’
Mr Alex Duncan
2nd XI 1-3 Reading Blue Coat School
‘Despite the good performance and the effort put in by the players on a hot, sunny day, it was extremely disappointing to lose to our local rivals. Well done to Rhys Edwards for a great performance in defence and to Ben Monson for a well taken goal just after half time. Congratulations to Blue Coat for taking their chances and for a thoroughly entertaining game. We look forward to the last match of the season against Cokethorpe School where we will once again give our all to finish the season on a high.’
Mr Tiki Ebun-Cole
3rd XI 0-3 Reading Blue Coat School
‘Having followed a few victories in past weeks, including Forrest School who had beaten Blue Coat previously, the team was ready to go into the match, with compassion and a winning spirit. On kick off, Blue Coat were very precise with their passing and footwork, pushing themselves into our half quickly. A strong defence line prevented the team from scoring for the first 15 minutes but by half-time, the score was 0-2 to Blue Coat. Shiplake were frustrated having missed a couple of chances to have made the score more even.
After having had a discussion on what to improve on at half-time, we went back onto the pitch with determination. We managed to push our way up into the Blue Coat half more often, allowing ourselves more opportunities to go for goal. The team stayed focused and prevented themselves from getting overly-tired. Blue Coat then made another final run to obtain a third goal. With the final score at 0-3, Shiplake came off having wanted to win the league match. However, in comparison to a 1-10 loss the previous year, it has shown the team improving over time, with some newer players and some strong performances from old ones. Shiplake were outplayed, but never outworked on the pitch during the match, always wanting to succeed. Man of the Match went to Tom Ibbitson for a range of excellent saves and an all-round fantastic performance in the goal.’
Will Bailey (Year 12)
4th XI 0-7 Reading Blue Coat School
‘Shiplake 4th XI hoped to build on wins in their two previous fixtures but started without key players Will Parton, Harvey Hendry and Joachim Ridley-Barker who were all injured. The 4ths got off to the worst possible start, conceding a goal from Blue Coat's first attack and the team didn't recover from it. Chances fell to Alferick Philishkirk and Louis Ashcroft towards the end of the half but both narrowly failed to convert. The score was 3-0 at half time and Blue Coats started the second half as they had done the first with two quick goals. Again we had opportunities to score but the game finished 7-0.’
Mr Paul McCraw
U14A 0-6 Abingdon School
'The game started off quickly with good football from both sides. After 20 minutes an unbelievable volley from Luke Theodorou was wrongly flagged for offside which would have put us in the lead. This proved a real turning point. We continued to attack but their pressure saw us one goal behind at halftime when a wonder strike had our keeper Alex Bartlett beaten. All to play for in the second half. We came out after halftime with a mindset to win the game, this was changed when they scored quickly from kick off and our heads began to drop. Soon after we let in two more goals and we were behind 4-0 we defended very well until the final few minutes when they scored two more good long shots to make it 6-0, Shiplake certainly victims of trying to score goals to get back in the game but leaving us open to counter attack. Sadly the result did not reflect the game in the first half, if we had been allowed the goal early on then who knows?! With our unbeaten run gone we have a chance to even things out straight away when we travel to Abingdon. Well done to debutants Jamie Boardman and Sam Nike.
Man of the match: Luke Roxburgh Smith.'
Freddie Diver
Staff vs BMW
‘This was our third fixture versus BMW, with honours even after two matches. The opposition arrived at 9.15am for the 10am kick-off. With the majority of the Shiplake players arriving at 9.58am, the opposition certainly started the better. With four twenty minute halves the order of the day, due to refereeing and goalkeeping swaps necessary, the game was evenly balanced heading into the second quarter. 0-0 the score. 3 minutes into quarter 2, Shiplake took the lead through a well worked goal with the Miller brothers involved setting up A Birkett. Within a minute, BMW equalised. They certainly had the size advantage and made that pay when their captain flung himself at a corner and headed into the roof of the net, which had been well marshalled until then by Mr Richard Ebbage (himself feeling the effects of a quiet night in on Saturday). The quality of Mr Jonnie Howorth and Mr Adam Moffatt upfront was starting to pay off, especially after Howorth was subbed off to referee and Moffatt moved to right wing. Mr Tiki Ebun-Cole provided a constant threat down the wings and Mr Tom Walter, Mr Charlie Pettifer and Mr Alex Duncan were all working hard to close down the BMW front three. Mr James Arney showed superb defending skills. The game was in the balance and only one man could sort this mess out for Shiplake. Step up Mr Moffatt…with a hat-trick of goals in a 20-minute spell of pure work rate with a sprinkling of genius. His first goal went through the side netting and should not have counted. The second dribbled in past a goalkeeper with no gloves and one shoe and the third, a penalty…was lucky. However, he was the hat-trick hero and despite conceding 2 more goals, Shiplake hung on for victory.
Man of the match – Hockey ringer Joe.’
Mr Duncan
Hockey
1st XI 5-5 The Windsor Boys' School
‘A sunny afternoon at Reading hockey club set the scene for what turned out to be a match that was enjoyed by players, coaches and spectators alike. This was Shiplake’s penultimate match of the season, and the players were hungry to get a win after several good performances of late. Shiplake started well, going a goal up inside the first five minutes through Freddie Bowcock, who got on the end of a lovely passing move down the right wing involving Arthur Langeler and Harry Rees. The lead was quickly doubled as Callum Creighton bundled the ball over the line after another positive, flowing counter attack down the left side. The defence, consisting of Ollie Brown, Harry Emmanuel, Tom Gorringe and Tom Paine also looked in the mood as they marked their men tightly and continually beat the Windsor forwards to the ball. Their guard was only broken when a short corner was dispatched into the roof of the net by Windsor’s main goal threat. Shiplake added and third, and Bowcock’s second, as yet another well-crafted move was finished off with Bowcock tapping the ball past the keeper and Shiplake went into the break 3-1 up and hoping to secure a win with more of the same desire and creativity in the second half.
If ever there was a game of two halves, this was it. Windsor came out of blocks firing in the second half and their pace and movement left the Shiplake players chasing shadows! Two goals in five minutes and the scores were level, with a third added shortly after from another short corner and Windsor were all of sudden in control, leading 4–3. Will Gresswell and Harry Rees managed to claw back some order and possession for Shiplake, but Windsor were relentless in their counter attacking hockey. Eventually, after some scrappy play, Brandon Tan found some space in the D and managed to drill the ball home to bring the scores level at 4-4 and the match really could have gone either way at this point. With 5 minutes remaining, there was a tense atmosphere surrounding the pitch as parents watched on if they dared. The final five minutes were a flurry of attacks from both sides, with neither throwing caution to the wind and both sides were eager for the win. Windsor looked to have secured it when they managed to get the ball across the goal line with just a few minutes remaining, but the Shiplake players dug deep and with 30 seconds on the clock, Brandon Tan managed to find the back of the net after Bowcock had narrowly missed out on his hat trick, and the spoils were shared in a 5-5 thriller.
Shiplake will go into the match next week full of confidence knowing that they can score goals but will need to make sure they can maintain their performance levels for the full match to get that elusive win!
Man of the Match: Arthur Langeler. Goals: Bowcock, Tan, Creighton.’
Head of Hockey Mr Tom Walter
U12B 1-3 Abingdon School
‘After a 1-1 draw with LVS ascot last week, Shiplake College were ready for abingdon. As The whistle blew Shiplake Burst out of the defence into attack creating chances in all spaces. But with various shots at the Abingdon Goalkeeper, Abingdon came determined at our defence; but luckily our defence managed to put in a few brilliant tackles to stop them from smashing one in the back of the net. About thirty minutes into the match, we managed to break through Abingdon’s defence with amazing attacking from Taj Angell and Finlay Woods who managed to slid one in the back of Abingdon’s net with a beautiful finish from Finlay. After Finlay scored the goal shiplake were pushing for a second. But after a small mispass at the back of the shiplake side we gave the Abingdon striker a clear shot on goal and scored equalising the score.After the abingdon goal Shiplake defence were getting exhausted by the pace of their wingers crossing in the ball. But after another break away attack from Abingdon the opposition managed to get behind Shiplake defence and smash another goal in making it 2-1.
After Abingdon Squeezed in another goal to make it 2-1 With only 5 minutes to play shiplake were determined to equalise the game and make it 2-2, But after an error in play at the back of the defence allowed the striker to receive the ball and get it past our goalkeeper to make it 3-1 and end the game with a good win from Abingdon
Final Score: 3-1 to Abingdon. Goals: Finlay Woods.’
Zac Morrison, Year 7
Netball
1st VII 9-30 Leighton Park School
'Last Wednesday, Shiplake 1st VII travelled to Leighton Park School to play our last game of the league. After last week's win, spirits were high throughout the Shiplake team. During the first quarter, possession and goals were pretty much equal between both teams. Shiplake were working hard to control the fast pace of Leighton Park's game. Although this got the better of us, Shiplake did not give up. We continued to show great defence and attack through out the game. The end result was not what we had hoped for however we have grown as team, taking points through to our finals tournament this Wednesday.'
Lauren Way, Year 13
2nd VII 19-8 Leighton Park School
'Last Wednesday, Shiplake B’s played a league match against Leighton Park. Within minutes we realised our opponents had a strong line of defence, so strategized for the next quarter by changing some of our players around into positions that suited the gameplay more. By the second quarter, both teams had settled into their positions and gameplay began to intensify. Shiplake’s attacking players were outstanding in this quarter which boosted our score ahead of the other teams. In the second half, Shiplake maintained both a strong attack and defence and centre-court play was flawless, resulting in the final score being 19-8 to us. Well done to all the girls; and congratulations to Jem Evans for achieving player of the match - great defending.'
Nadia Sherlock, Year 12
3rd VII 2-11 Cokethorpe School
'Last Wednesday the C team went over to Cokethorpe School in Oxford. With coach Mrs Lou Porter by our side everyone was feeling very positive and keen to do well. After a few slightly misleading directions by me we made it to the match on time! With Cokethorpe and Lord Williams both keen to start I led a quick warm up and with some inspirational words given by Mrs Porter, we were all ready to go. We all got on court ready to play our best, however after a few minutes of play it became apparent that we were in fact playing both schools' A team squads. This made it slightly more difficult, but did not let it get us down and still managed to score some goals in all games but the last. After the first game everyone was still positive, determined to at least get a few goals in the next few matches. With Tayla Caldeira quick on her feet as centre and Emily Wilkinson and Anna Whitelaw working well in defence we were able to defend off a few goals, however impeccable scoring from both Cokethrope and Lord Willams meant this position was made a lot harder, as well as this the Cokethorpe had an extremely tall player player as goal defence this was a bit of a match for our slightly smaller goal defence, Lauren McNally.
Although we did not manage to win these games as they were A team’s spirits were not dampened and even on the way home there was lots of positivity on the bus. Well done to everyone who played, particularly Emily Wilkinson who got player of the match and Lauren who played extremely well even with the slight height disadvantage.'
India Gilbey, Year 12