Emily Crisp reports
Ladies 1’s v Market Harborough
With only 4 games played this was already a “must win” game for both teams. Freezing, “arctic like” conditions welcomed Newark and after a brisk warm up Newark seemed better prepared. The visitors peppered the Harborough goal from the start, chances from Ashwell, Beckett & Laughton were either squandered or well saved.
Newark notched up 8 penalty corners in the first half & although the routines were slick, desperate defending on the line prevented the deadlock from being broken & the score-line remained 0 – 0 at half time.
The home team came out fighting in the second half, swamping the midfield, thus preventing Newark’s free flowing hockey.
Although the home team looked more competitive in the second half they still struggled to create goal scoring opportunities & failed to even get a shot on target from the 3 penalty corners they were awarded, due to sublime work from the visitors defence.
The deadlock was broken 18 minutes into the second half. The impressive Laura Harris dispossessed the Harborough right half, accelerated at pace some 50 metres, leaving all in her wake, fed the ball in field & a deft touch found Dani Ashwell who went one on one with the keeper, sublime skill put the keeper on the floor & the ball was flicked into the gaping goal.
The hard working Pask, Laughton, Beckett & Staniforth all came close in the final minutes but the score remained 1 – 0.
Ladies 2’s v SBU 2’s
Ladies 2s played SBU 2’s on a frosty Saturday morning, after a brisk warm up the team went out and performed some nice passing and good attacking but were unable to manage any goals in the first half, keeping SBU out of the D with a tight defence organised by Anna.
Half time was quick due to the cold and coach Sally Halfpenny gave the team a good talking to, getting them fired up for the second half. Ellie Smith had her debut for the 2s this season and managed to get the first goal in with a smashing goal shortly into the start of the 2nd half giving Newark the lead.
Not to be outdone, Shanade got the ball over the line with some great pace to take the Newark side to a 2-0 lead. After some awesome amazing aerial balls and runs from captain Melanie which later gave her player of the match, new player Jade managed to slip the ball in from the back post from a great long corner to give Newark their 3-0 win just as the final whistle blew.
Special mention goes to all the players in new positions and especially Lindsay for her pace in the game and continued battling.
Ladies 3’s v North Notts 2’s
Newark had a tough match away at North Notts, taking the bare 11 players and in the cold conditions, Newark struggled to get into the match and conceded two goals early on. The teams were relatively even standard, but North Notts had a great striker who managed to slip the ball into the Newark goal from open play and converting attacking short corners with ease.
Winger Tash Gresswell was injured in open play, meaning the team was down to 10 players, making a tough match even harder. Newark had a couple of attacking short corners in the second half but failed to get on the score board. There was some scrappy play in front of the North Notts goal but the team were unlucky.
In the final few minutes, left winger Mallory Towlson also obtained an injury, meaning Newark only had 9 players.
Player of the match was Zara Littlewood.
Final score, Newark 0 – 7 North Notts
Ladies 4’s v Ashfield Aztecs 3’s
Newark took early charge of the game and wave after wave of attacking play just seemed to hit a solid Aztecs defensive line up time and again.
We welcomed more new junior players to the senior ranks this week - Polly Richards and Isobel Pendle and they both had a great game, slotting well into the squad.
Moira Chambers made a cracking save in front of goal from a shot hit hard from an Aztec penalty corner, when slight confusion saw nobody in defence running to the ball. Quick thinking free hits from Hannah Broomfield and Moira found winger Chloe Sloan and with deft support from Vicky Jones kept the ball coming up the wing. Several strong hits from behind the halfway line found forward Sally Halfpenny or Sam Wade, but again Newark could not break the Aztec defensive line up.
The half time score was 0-0, which was an unlucky reflection on the hard work put in by Newark.
A more confident Aztecs side appeared after half time and they were able to hold their formation and get the ball around Newark and with a lucky break managed to find the goal after a scrabble in the D. A seemingly tiring Newark side slightly lost their way and their structure and a penalty corner awarded against them took the visitors two ahead.
Great efforts in the centre by Imogen Kennett and Kanky Andrews held off further attack by Aztecs and a battling side did not give up until the final whistle, although sadly Newark were unable to make a dent in the visitors' lead.
Final score Aztecs 2 Newark 0
Players of the match tied between Moira Chambers, Hannah Broomfield and Vicky Jones.
Men’s 1s v Nottingham 2’s
For the second week in a row Newark dominated most of the game but just couldn't take their chances.
Newark 1s went into Saturday's game versus Nottingham 2s feeling confident after the previous week’s disappointment. This was seen with an impressive attacking performance in the first half with the men's 1s passing the ball round comfortably. No goals for either team in the first half set the game up for an exciting second half.
Both came out strong with lots of counter attacking but no successful strikes. Nottingham won a short corner and placed the ball in the bottom corner. Not long after, Nottingham scored a deflection off the keeper to put them two ahead.
The game ended 2-0 to Nottingham 2s and left Newark 1s feeling disappointed once again
Newark Men’s 2’s v Derby 1’s
Newark travelled to Derby looking for their first points of the season.
However, their task was soon made harder after a deflected short corner saw Derby take an early lead. Newark battled back into the game could not make any clear-cut chances with Captain Simon Higgs struggling to get control of the ball upfront.
With the defence of George Silver, Tom Scotney, Seb Hufton and Dave Colcomb restricting the Derby attack from too many chances and goal keeper Robbie Robertshaw clearing anything they missed the first half finished with Derby leading 1-0.
The 2nd half saw Newark work some better chances with hard work from the midfield Newark continued to press but could not find the all-important equaliser and then from a good Newark attacking opportunity the ball was turned over and Derby broke away and finished clinically to double their lead.
With no time left for Newark to respond Derby finished 2-0 winners.
Newark 2s welcome Mansfield 1s (2nd in league) to Magnus this coming Saturday.
M.O.M:- Seb Hufton
Team:- Robbie Robertshaw, George Silver, Dave Colcomb, Seb Hufton, Tom Scotney, Andrew Tallis, Dave Woods, Steve Littlewood, Cameron McLean, John Clarkson, Ryan Parrett, Dave Fellows, Simon Higgs.