Badgers Vs West Bridgford - EH Under 18 Cup

Old Wulfrunians U18’s 2 – 4 West Bridgford U18’s   Old Wulfrunians hosted West Bridgford in the England Hockey U18’s Cup.

Our opposition were a bit of an unknown entity and therefore Old Wulfs approached the game with caution, but with the emphasis of pressing our opposition and battling as a team.   Old Wulfs started the better of the two teams pressing and causing West Bridgford to make mistakes; this led to Old Wulfs creating the first opportunities of the game. However against the run of play West Bridgford got round the back of the Old Wulfs defence and despite Luke’s best efforts the West Bridgford forward scored well under pressure. Undeterred by being a goal down Old Wulfs kept pressing, and an aerial ball from Sam Russell at the back came through to Sam Aldersely up front, he collected the ball and drove round the defender, but as he passed the defender there was contact and the Umpire awarded a penalty stroke. Sam picked himself up and put the stroke high into the net 1-1.

The two teams continued to battle away, but with the 5 man midfield of Ryan, Hugh, John, Dilraj and Seb chasing the ball continuously and pressing the West Bridgford players few chances were created for the opposition. Just before the break an aerial ball from West Bridgford dropped into a crowd of players and caused confusion in the Old Wulfs backline, the recovering tackle resulted in a short corner. From the resulting corner West Bridgford managed to squeeze the ball in. 2-1 to West Bridgford at Half Time, although not a fair reflection on the balance of play.   The half time team talk was very positive and the players knew they were right in the game, and the second half was a dominant display from Old Wulfs, which resulted in West Bridgford only having 4 shots at goal. Old Wulfs pressed and pinned their opposition in their own half as they created chance after chance, only to find the West Bridgford keeper in fine form. Again against the run of play, West Bridgford caught Old Wulfs on the counter attack and put themselves 3-1 up, this was after a West Bridgford player had already missed a penalty stroke. Old Wulfs continued to press and Ryan put a couple of chances just wide and Sam was denied by the keeper and Oliver Harris efforts from short corners were also well saved by the keeper. West Bridgford went 4-1 with a late stroke, but Old Wulfs immediately responded with Sam Aldersely beating the keeper at his near post with a shot that was too powerful for the keeper. Late chances from Kieran, Oliver and Ryan could have seen Old Wulfs pull another goal back, but it was not to be. 4-2 the final score.  

The game was extremely competitive and both sides gave it there all. Thank you to the umpires and all those who played. Luke (in goal) Adam, Sam Russell, Oliver Harris, Kieran and Rishi (in defence), Dilraj, Hugh, Ryan, John, Seb, and Bhavesh (in midfield) and the lone striker of Sam. Special thanks to our guest players Sam Russell and Oliver Harris of Finchfield HC and the coaches Roger Cooper, Jaime Archer and Michael Birch.

Old Wulfs will now go into the England Hockey Plate and play Telford and Wrekin on Sunday 22nd November.