Whilst the
week brought another set of mixed results, there is no doubt that performances
are heading in the right direction. The football 1st XI may have had
a week off, but the hockey and netball first teams produced their best performances
of the season so far. Meanwhile, Mr Sharkey’s football 3rd XI
suffered a narrow defeat which ended their 100% start to the season.
Hockey
Shiplake 1st XI 1-3
Pangbourne College
Shiplake
welcomed fierce rivals Pangbourne College to Reading Hockey Club for the
biggest game of the season to date.
After a high
tempo warm up, the players looked fired up and ready to attack a Pangbourne
side that had the potential to be very strong. Despite this intensity Shiplake
took from the warm up, a slow and nervous start coupled with some good build up
play from Pangbourne lead to the first goal. Shiplake failed to recover from
the shock of a quick first goal when another crossed the line and left the team
demoralised and very much on the back foot. At 2-0 down inside 5 minutes, coaches
Mr Walter and Mr Gaunt were left wondering how to pick the players up and get
them firing.
With a quick
tactical reshuffle and the experience of a few players, in particular Yeem
Chanthanawan (vice captain) and Anthony Miarli, coming to the fore, spirits and
effort levels were lifted and Shiplake began to get a foothold in the game.
Orla Brown showed some magnificent touches and an abundance of energy in the
middle of the pitch; always looking to get on the ball and regularly building attacking
momentum. All of sudden, Shiplake looked by far the better team.
Aldridge and
Chanthanawan began organising the players and Marsden looked dangerous going
forward but also worked hard defensively. To the delight of Mr Walter, Shiplake
began impressively pressing Pangbourne back into their own half and a quick
counter from Shiplake resulted in a short corner. Although no goal came from
it, there was a real belief that we were capable of controlling this match. For
the rest of the half, Shiplake dominated and Pangbourne lost their cool, ending
the half with 9 men on the pitch. Spectator Mr Gresswell commented that the
feisty encounter had ‘more cards than Clintons’.
The end the
first half brought a hugely positive team talk from the coaches and a few
substitutions (borrowed from the 2nd XI who had played earlier!) to
fill in for tiring players. Super-sub Tom McCooke ensured that the high levels
of intensity were kept up and Shiplake started the second half like they ended
the first, controlling the play and pushing Pangbourne deep into their own
half. Chanthanawan was unlucky not to have scored when clean through after some
excellent build up from Dom Allen and shortly after a short corner was won,
which McCooke fired home at the second attempt.
Despite
pushing hard for an equalising goal, the Shiplake player’s legs starting to get
heavy as a result of the incredible intensity they had maintained throughout.
Will Gresswell and Jamie Lewis worked hard to keep Pangbourne at bay, but
momentum swung in their favour and they started to get back into the game, with
some skillfull build up leading to a short corner, which slipped under Tooley
after a deflection. Jonny Meadows, impressive all game with his eagerness to
get forward yet solidness in the tackle, did his best to save it on the line
but it just crept over and the goal was awarded.
Pangbourne
will feel lucky to have gone home with a win and the Shiplake should be
incredibly proud of the performance, which was by far the best of the season so
far. The hard work on the training pitch is clearly starting to pay off and by
the time the return fixture comes around, Shiplake will be looking to get
revenge on Pangbourne.
Player of the
match goes to Orla Brown for an all round exceptional performance and her
composure and intelligent running will be an important addition to the team
this season.
Barney
Aldridge
Shiplake 2nd XI 2-0
Pangbourne College
The first half was evenly
matched with end to end stuff from both sides. Defensively we were very sound
thanks to the combined efforts of Harry Rees, Harry Emmanuel, Jason Chan and
Chris Baker. This ensured that Pangbourne posed no real threats. We had a
couple of golden chances to score the opening goal but it wasn’t to be.
The second half started in a
similar vein until we managed to break the deadlock when Tom McCooke poked in a
scrambled cross from close range. Buoyed by this success, we looked a different
side and started to knock the ball around with much greater confidence with
Charlie Marsden and Henry Atkinson providing some telling balls up to our
forwards.
It was no surprise then when Tom scored again with a blistering
reverse stick shot from the top of the D with only ten minutes left to play.
Overall, it was a strong performance by the whole team against the old enemy
and has provided us with a strong platform on which to build in readiness for
Bloxham in two weeks time.
Dr Bob Snellgrove
Shiplake 3rd XI 0-1
Pangbourne College
Shiplake Junior Colts 2-2
Pangbourne College
Despite looking very pretty on
the ball, Pangbourne lacked any sort of decisiveness in the final quarter and
it was therefore no surprise to see Shiplake take the lead just before half
time, following a fine counter-attack and a reverse stick shot to the bottom
left-hand corner of the opposition’s goal.
The second half was a different
ball game, with Pangbourne making a lot more in-roads down the right and
creating many more chances. A well-worked effort followed by a defensive mix-up
left Shiplake trailing 1-2 going into the final quarter. However, a couple of
tactical positional changes at this juncture enabled the Junior Colts to finish
strongly and deservedly picked up an equaliser with five minutes to spare. Jack
Rees finally steering the ball over the goal-line after a multitude of unrewarded
efforts.
Mr Richard
Curtis
Netball
Shiplake 9-15 Magdalen College
Report written by Emily Dewell & Kate
Horn
On Wednesday, the
Shiplake College girls’
netball team took on Magdalen College away from home.
Being only our third match of the season, we have already come on in leaps and
bounds, with both our skills and our physical ability. Throughout the course of
the match we continued to improve, and scored an impressive nine goals over the
four quarters, and even though this was sadly not quite enough to be
victorious, it was certainly a huge improvement from our last game. During the game itself, possession largely
belonged to Shiplake, and our dodging and passing skills which we practice in
training sessions have definitely come in useful, and many of our players were
seen to be using those skills very well indeed.
As the match progressed,
we became more dynamic in our play, and began to communicate much better with
each other; something we lacked a little last time. Hopefully with each match we will continue to
prosper as a team, and with the help of our newly appointed netball captain -
Hannah Cartwright - we will be able to do just that, congratulations Hannah!
Football
Shiplake 3rd
XI 1-2 Padworth College
Coming
off the back of two league wins, the Shiplake 3rds were brimming with
confidence as they took on a very capable Padworth College XI. Such confidence
brought an early lead through a goal by James Sloman after some good play
between Matt Tse, Jack Willis and Zach Heppner-Logan. Both Alex Exadactylos and
Sam Mummery were tenacious in defence as they tidied up any loose ball down
their channels and were a constant source of frustration for the Padworth
forward line.
Despite
a series of good chances towards the end of the first half, Shiplake struggled
to put their shots past the opposing keeper. After a series of pressing
advances by Shiplake, a rapid counterattack by Padworth a few minutes before
the break lead to a score and the sides being level at the interval with a goal
apiece.
Daniel
DiGiulio's introduction after the break up front lead to a few chances but
solid pressure from the opposition defence kept the scores tied. Padworth were
growing in confidence and would have gone ahead sooner had it not been for
Henry Waller's fine performance at the back and some quality saves from James
Martin. Despite these efforts, the tide was beginning to turn as Padworth's
pressure mounted and they were awarded a penalty, which they scored from, ten
minutes from time.
While
a late flurry of shots from Shiplake and a tendency to hit the deck in the box
made for a dramatic finish, it was not to be for the home side who surrendered
their undefeated status as it finished 2-1 to the visitors.
Mr
David Sharkey
Shiplake
U15A 1-11 Oratory School
On Wednesday
28 January Shiplake U15A played their first home match of the 2015 season.
After a good away win in our first game of the season Shiplake were feeling positive
and started the game passing the ball well and progressing up the pitch. After
only a few minutes of the game had been played Shiplake earned themselves a
corner. Ben Westbrook-Burr whipped in the ball and Ryan
Jones was there to flick the ball into the net majestically.
The goal seemed to spur Oratory into life and they began
to dominate the midfield, leading to wave after wave of attack. It did not take
long for Oratory to score the equaliser, taking advantage of some uncertainty
in the back four. Shiplake then struggled to gain composure and structure in
the team, with a lack of communication leading to several more Oratory goals.
Unfortunately there was a lack of positional discipline
and regulars Will Parton, Joe Szweda and Elliot Jordan were sorely missed.
Despite our best efforts we were unable to cope with the passing ability and
speed of the opposition. Sadly we were well beaten in the end but a lot was
learnt from the defeat and we have plenty to work on in training before our
next game. Final score finished 11-1 to Oratory.
Mr
Joel Rowlinson
Shiplake
U14B 12-1 Long Close School
On
Wednesday 28th January Shiplake U14B played their first fixture of
the 2015 season at home to Long Close School. Shiplake began the game sharply
moving and passing the ball well, always threatening to go forward and attack
It did not take long for the deadlock to be broken by a James Roxburgh-Smith
goal. As the game progressed Shiplake grew in confidence, putting together some
excellent team passing moves, leading to another two goals.
However,
Long Close showed determination and deservedly got a goal back, making it 3-1.
If anything this only spurred Shiplake on and we went on the offensive scoring
several more goals, and at the half time whistle it was 7-1.
The
second half continued in much the same fashion, with Shiplake showing fantastic
creativity on the attack. Great credit must go the Long Close who fought until
the end and never let their heads drop. Despite carving out several
opportunities Long Close where unable to convert their chances and Shiplake ran
out convincing winners. The final score finished 12-1 to Shiplake with 7
players getting on the score sheet, most notably, Callum Theodorou who got a
hat trick.
Mr
Joel Rowlinson