Great game

Anyone with any who doubts as to whether Bury St Edmunds Hockey club is thriving should have watched the 6s vs 7s match on Saturday.

This was a great turn out with two full squads containing 12 youngsters aged under 18 playing some really good hockey. The game was played in a friendly but competitive spirit with both teams competing for the victory.

The match started with both sides playing some good end to end hockey testing both defences.

The only goal went to the 6’s when they were awarded a penalty corner after 20 minutes which was calmly converted in the bottom left corner by Norman Ballard. The rest of the half was played out with both teams attacking and defending well and the 7s unlucky not to score when Andy Northcote hit a screamer against the post from one of many short corners.

The half time team talk inspired the 7s as they came out after the break with a greater intensity, Mark Barber, Andy Northcote and Kieran O’Connell bossed midfield and forced the 6s to spend much of the first 20 minutes defending. The 7s would have scored with a missile of a shot from Andy Northcote if it had not been saved by an incredible diving save by Aidan Gibson. This was one of many great saves he made as the 7s won yet more short corners. James Walshe made good runs down the right and the ball was frequently hurtling across the 6s D with Peter Lillistone, Matt Knight and Rob Nash all going close. Josh Gooding was strong for the 7s down the left side often breaking up the 6s play and distributing well.

For the 6s Lucas Nicolai, Zac Rogers, Evan Williams and Jude Christie were always quick, composed and confident on the break, often fed by Freddie Fiske who was strong in defence and distributed the ball strongly. On the occasions that the 6s broke, Aengus Sullivan made some good saves with Matt Hyndman, Andy Dahl, Tim Coe and Owen Jones strong in defence

The sixths managed to regain their composure and played out the remainder of the half sharing the possession with the 7’s to hold on to a tight 1-0 victory although the last 2 minutes saw the 7s throw caution to the wind as coach Sullivan sacrificed sweeper Tim Coe and the team pushed even further forward but they just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net.

Players of the day for the 6s would be Freddie Fiske, with great support play from Lucas, Jude, Evan & Zac, this can only bode well for the future of Bury hockey club.

So, the 6s stay top of the league and the 7s still search for that elusive first league point. But, as Matt Fordham confided with Andrew Dahl over a chicken jalfrezi, a couple of pints of Cobra and a few popadums later in the evening “I think the 6's dodged a bullet there”. Many on the sideline would probably agree with him!!