The U16 Girls travelled to Magpies to commence their campaign in the new East Hockey League. Today’s opposition was Magpies (the team were hoping to clip their Wings after the Ladies 3’s dismantled Magpies 5s the day before) followed in quick succession by Cambridge City, who the team beat the previous week (4-3) in the 2nd round of the England Hockey Cup competition. No pressure then girls.

In the first match (captained by Nellie) against Magpies the team started well dominating the play through countless advances from the midfield and up front, backed up from some great defending. Katie nearly opened the scoresheet only to be stopped by a defending Magpie. After team talk at half time the team knew they could break down the parliament and it wasn’t long until they got off the ground through a lovely strike from Nellie. At the reset and with the team firing on all cylinders they broke again leading to super goal from Verity. The match ended 2-0 although the score could have been higher. Bury were victorious and Magpies were well and truly clipped (again!).

In the second match (captained by Liv) against Cambridge City the team knew the opposition were looking to settle the score after last week and would be gunning for a win. The play was end to end, resulting in a 0-0 stalemate at the end of the first half, which sadly came to an abrupt close after a Cambridge City girl took a ball to the head in the D (thankfully she was okay although needed 7 stiches – one very brave girl). With Cambridge down a teammate Bury knew they would come back fighting to try and take the win. The team again defended well through Liv, Kate, Emma, Abi, and Hannah, backed up by Lilia and Katie in a defensive mid stance. Advances were made through Nellie, Verity, Alice, and Arabella. Finally, after some perseverance Arabella managed to sneak a goal into the back of net taking the team 1-0 up. The team tightened with 10 mins to go resisting any Cambridge advances to stay ahead. The match ended 1-0, Cambridge beaten for the second week in succession.

Both Kerry and Bethany were able to keep a clean sheet through their good keeping skills.

A special thanks/mention to Alice for stepping in at the last moment and for Abi for her resilience despite feeling a little under the weather prior to the match. Also, a big thank you to Jenny for umpiring again.

Once again it was a strong performance from the team, and a treat for the travelling parents who thought they all played fantastically, in fact it was a performance that many adult teams could learn from.

Coach Bibby was a very proud coach ‘Absolutely smashed it’, ‘Amazing attitude and mentality’.