We saw the final fixtures of the season last week, with Lower School football against Maiden Erlegh and Cranford House, Junior House Football and Staff v College House. In netball, the Year 13 girls took on Shiplake staff and our 1st XI hockey team played their final match against RGS High Wycombe
Hockey
Last Friday, the 1st XI had their final game of the season against RGS High Wycombe. We knew it was going to be our toughest game of the season given RGS’s season so far. It was extremely exciting to have a team consisting of boys from Years 9 to 13. A special mention must go to B Demery and H Arnold. It is very rare, if ever, that boys in Year 9 are selected for the 1st team in a sport. It took the team a long time to get going and we conceded a number of early goals. Towards the end of the first half we began to play some lovely hockey. Our captain, A Thomson, S Mealing, L Rouse Roberts and B Demery were able to show off their skills in particular. Sadly, despite looking dangerous in the D a number of times, we struggled to score. Our goalkeeper, H Kunzig, was under constant threat and made some fantastic saves but by the final whistle the score was 7-0. Despite a heavy defeat it was tremendous to see the boys play right until the end of the game. A great display of character. Well done.
Report by Mr Parker (1st XI Hockey Coach)
Netball
Last Tuesday we had an amazing Staff vs Student match with plenty of support from students and teachers of Shiplake. It proved to be a competitive match with fantastic skill from the staff who had been training in the weeks leading up to the game. Mr Bowden and Mr Cooper displayed quick speed down court, giving strong passes to Miss Mordue in the circle who rarely missed a shot. This made the Year 13s work hard to keep possession of the ball and throughout the whole match everyone was supportive of each other, helping the staff who’d never played pick up some of rules. For the students, M Adams scored brilliant goals in attack and E Lambert was powerful in defence, intercepting most balls that came to her. In the end, Mr Geyton and M Fisher both earned a well deserved player of the match with a score of 26-15 to the Year 13s. Overall, it was a really enjoyable afternoon and our Year 13s will miss this experience greatly.
Report by G Garner, Girls' Sport Captain
Football
College House v Staff
The College v Staff match is the pinnacle of the football season for our Year 13s. Their desire to beat the teachers is always compounded throughout the season. In a humiliating 7-3 loss for the staff, the intense preparation by the Year 13 game paid off. From penalties by A Arnold and the greatest goal S Looney has ever scored, the match was filled with amazing highlights. Player of the match goes to H Kunzig for some outstanding goalkeeping in the latter stages of the game and not allowing any of the 6ft+ strikers to ever win a header! The Year 13s played some excellent football and played the staff off the park; whether this is due to the incredible coaching by the football staff this term, or a renewed sheer determination to beat the staff, they leave Shiplake with one final victory.
Junior House Football
An unbeaten run with a stand out performance from L Spence between the sticks allowed a mixed team of Burr and Everett Footballers to win Junior House Football. Hopefully we will see what the senior teams are able to provide on Wednesday this week.
U13A vs Maiden Erlegh School (1-7)
We started off as the team on top by keeping possession and playing some nice tiki taka in our own half. Eventually we had a break down the right wing from D Johnson-Greenwood playing a lofted ball over to right winger O Wright. Wright's touch fell to S Baker who was a long way out and smashed it into the top right corner. After Baker scored we carried on with good passing. E Fulton made a great tackle saving a good chance for Maiden Erlegh but unfortunately it went for a corner. Despite J Terry ordering the defenders well they scored with a header. The score was equal and our heads seemed to drop. They had a skilful player dribble down the right hand side and play a pass through to their striker who despite J Terry's great angles lobbed the ball over the top of his head. We were 2-1 down and were struggling to keep the ball under the pressure of their attack. That pressure led to another goal before half time. Despite S Baker's wonder-goal we were finding it hard to punish their defence. We started off the second half with good link up play down the right hand side from F Fisher and O Wright. Despite all our hard work they seemed to dominate in corners scoring from two in the second half. Again their right winger put the ball into the back of our net twice more. In the last minutes of the game S Baker had a great run again down the right hand side and whipped the ball to the back post where D Johnson-Greenwood was waiting but decided to hit it on the volley instead of taking a touch and dragged it wide. Standout performances from S Baker with a great finish and an ongoing attacking threat. O Bailey with some good runs on the ball. I Doherty with some great tackling and hard work. E Fulton with some superb defending and D Johnson-Greenwood with good lofted passes.
U13B vs Maiden Erlegh School (1-5)
The B team had an intense first half, with a disallowed goal, multiple close offsides and B Kellett saving a penalty. We were advancing high up the pitch and attacking football was played from both sides. However, we ended the first half only one goal down. The second half was much different, the other team brought on a player that rampaged through our defence as fast as lightning. Our out of position midfield and full backs were unable to prevent a goalfest from Maiden Erlegh. We ended up losing the match 5-0 wondering how we didn’t score.
U12A vs Cranford House School (7-1)
We started off the 60 minutes and from the start we knew it was going to be a high scoring game. It didn't take long for our incredible captain H Biggs to gain us the lead from an astonishing goal just outside the box. Biggs hit the ball perfectly into the bottom right corner which made the Cranford goalkeeper have no chance. After the first goal it was an intense battle for the ball then it did not take long for a brilliant ball from O Spearing for a volley just outside the box with the outside of his boot by Z Sanders and smashed it into the back of the net but unfortunately it was offside or it would of been one of the best goals we have scored this season. But it did not take long for Z Sanders to receive the ball again in the box and smash it in the right middle of the net. Then a few of us turned off and the opposition smacked the ball into the top corner to make it 2-1 at half-time.
At half-time we had a good strategy plan with Mr McCraw our coach and went in to the second half looking strong. Early on, A Massie took a great shot which resulted in a great save from the keeper. But K Bazeley had no hesitation to slot the ball in the bottom left corner after this. We kept the pressure high when we got a corner where K Bazeley wiped a lovely ball in from the corner and H Biggs side foot volleyed it home. They kicked off once again and Shiplake won the ball instantly and passed it to O Thomas who scored the best goal of the match. From just over the halfway line he smashed the ball in to the bottom corner which resulted in some big celebrations. Then our opposition kicked the ball from centre, with pressure from D Siddiqui, he won the ball and a great pass down the line to H Biggs. He proceeded to dribble the ball round the defenders with a great little pass straight to A Massie who slotted the ball round the keeper into the net. It was now 6:1, Z Sanders won a free kick on the edge of the box where he whacked the crossbar and made it vibrate from his powerful kick . D Siddiqui then passed to H Biggs which made it seven 7-1 and a hatrick to wrap up the game for Biggs. It was an all round great performance.
U12A vs Maiden Erlegh School (2-1)
Under the patronage of Mr McCraw, Shiplake College commenced their final game of the season against Maiden Erlegh School, Reading. We believed that we could come out of the game with a bang and we weren’t going to go down easily. The whistle blew and we were off…
Straight from the off we were into the game. Even though we knew Maiden Erlegh were a physical and big team, we kept playing our football, not letting them get a peak on goal. As a result of our hard challenges and keeping the possession, a lovely through ball from D Siddiqui meant a soft and comfortable goal from our striker, Z Sanders. 1-0 to us. We restarted and Maiden Erlegh got into the game more. We could tell that they were starting to get more confident. A few minutes later from the first goal, we were left shocked as their striker smashed it into the top left corner of the goal. 1-1. We weren’t going to give up though: throughout the first half we kept tight and linked up to the best of our ability. Suddenly, we got the ball and a lovely through ball from J Callow meant Z Sanders slotted his second past the keeper. 2-1. However, after we restarted, a few plays later the referee blew the whistle bringing the 1st half to a conclusion.
Before we knew it, we were off again gliding through the defence of the opposition, however, this time with more confidence. We were dominating the second half and were almost rewarded when H Biggs’s goal was called offside. However, we kept going through the thick and thin and at the end of the second half O Spearing slotted in a goal from a mistake by the goalkeeper. A few minutes later, the whistle blew. The pitch erupted with celebration as we celebrated with pride.
This season has been amazing and I can’t express enough gratitude to our coach Mr McCraw for making us the footballers we are today.
Match report by H Biggs and Z Sanders
U12B vs Maiden Erlegh School (2-1)
The game kicked off and immediately we were put under pressure, Maiden Erlegh had quite a few chances all going behind the goal for a goal kick. After a good run by T Berry down the left we finally got into the box but their keeper made a tame catch. After some more pressure from Maiden Erlegh we had a goal kick, it went all the way to A Ball on the right hand side, he dribbled a bit and after some good link-up play with O Griffin he struck the ball into the bottom left. A few minutes later it was half time.
Early into the second half Maiden Erlegh got back into the game and had two corners in succession. The first one soared over the crossbar after a deflection, but the second met the head of their player and powered into the top corner it was 1-1. Shiplake were then under more pressure and the opponent's no12 dribbled past our defence and powered a shot straight at our goalie, which was parried away. The throw-in was well whipped into the box and went past the goalie but W O'Callaghan made a good clearance to get rid of the danger. It was 1-1 into the dying moments of the game when the ball was booted up the pitch, then the A team's ball came onto our pitch which confused the opposition and O Griffin scrambled the ball through the keeper into the back of the net! It was our first win of the season and we had done it by a last second goal by O Griffin.
.JPG/U12FootballSq(1)__500x500.JPG&command_2=resize&height_2=85 "HM's Team of the Term, Spring 2023")
