The 2021 hockey season has reached the mid-point, with the junior teams on a break for the school holidays. So it was left to the senior teams to carry on the good work, and there were some great games to applaud.
Division 1 Women
Newtown Falcons vs Saints Black 0-1
A goal slipped in behind the defence by Saints didn’t reflect the game, with Falcons having the majority of the play, leaving the goalkeeper very little to do. Falcons are starting to build some great teamwork and creating threats for opposition teams in their attacking zone.
Division 2 Women
Newtown Strikers vs Geelong Blue 0-4
Strong defence on the left by Andie, well backed up by Hillary and Kirsty, forced Geelong to attack down their left and through the centre. Hannah continues to block many opposition attacks through the centre but at times a lack of support made it difficult to move the ball out of the midfield and into our forward zone. Lauren’s commitment and hard running found her in good position on many occasions, but a lack of structure and confusion about marking allowed Geelong to regain control and put the pressure back on the defence. Despite the good work by Peta and Georgie and our forward players we were not able to find the goals. We had a number of penalty corners which we were unable to convert.
Division 2 Men
Newtown Falcons vs Golden Plains 10-4
One of our best games of the season so far, our use of the wingers and switches through defence set us up for success and it was great to see everyone having fun and encouraging one another.
In the first half, Newtown scored 5 goals and the intensity from the start set the tone for the game, as our structure and ability to get the ball out of defence and through the midfield to our attackers, made their job a whole lot easier to get reward for our effort.
In the second half, Newtown continued to put the pressure on, however Golden Plains responded and made some good plays and were able to convert 2 goals from short corners and another from a dashing attack. The team quickly bounced back, by scoring another 5 goals in the second half, this was the result of some superb passes from our backline down to our forwards who were able to conjure short corners and set up our goals.
Well done to both teams, the perseverance and determination shown is to be commended. Thank you to the players who helped field the Golden Plains side and to Basyl and Harry for filling in for us, as well as Luke for being our goalie.
