Left to Right: Marnie Scatchard, Holly Pears, Hattie Councell, Yasmin Marshall, Daisy Grainge, Pippa Bentley, Minnie Pollock. Kneeling: Evie Haigh (GK)
The forecast was for rain, rain and more rain. We had a slightly delayed start due to the over-running of the U10 tournament before which meant we had to shorten our game-time to 10 mins each. So I got the team in and told them just to go out there and enjoy themselves.
First up was Ben Ryhdding who we made quite hard work of, we were pressing so well that they could barely get out of their half but the girls were not passing well to each other and we were struggling to get goals. We did eventually break the deadlock and that got us flowing a bit better but not much. The game ended 2-0 but I knew we had so much more to give. So I got the girls together as we had a two match break, I simply asked what they thought they could do better and they all agreed they all needed to pass better. I told them to go off on their own and discuss amongst themselves how they were going to improve. I had then had two games of umpiring and then it was our turn again. Next up was Driffield and it was like a different Thirsk team had turned up from the first game, they were moving the ball around the pitch beautifully, creating space out wide and getting some great crosses in – the wings of Daisy, Marnie and Pippa were working hard and causing havoc, this allowed the space in the middle for our favourite thing, GOALS! Minnie was enjoying the space and scored a number of goals but it was all down to the wings working hard. Holly Pears was backing up well in the central midfield position. Yas and Hattie were happy switching the ball side to side waiting for space to appear. It was genuinely great to watch. We ended up 6-0 winners. Next up straight away was Sheffield, the only team to score a goal against all season, I didn’t need to do much, the girls were focused and hungry. Again the girls smashed it, they were just playing top notch hockey and as a result we were dominant, the match ending 5-0. That was that, we were through to the semi’s and rather unfortunately we knew we had to face our B Team. They always put up a great fight the B’s so we knew it was going to be tough but the A’s knew what they had to do. Again, although Thirsk B were doing a great job of trying to disrupt us, it didn’t work, with quick thinking and passing the goals were coming. It ended 4-0 but should have been more but for the B Team goalie, Emelia Reeve, who was on fire stopping all sorts of shots, really impressive display.
So that was it, we were now in the final against Wakefield – this has been the same pairing in the final for the last 3 seasons so we knew it was going to be tough. We know them well and we knew who we had to watch but I also didn’t want us getting sucked into being defensive. We started quite nervously and Wakefield got a few runs down to our goal and even forced a short corner. However, the defence of Evie, Hattie and Yas dealt with it excellently. Now the girls were piling the pressure on and I knew we’d get a goal in the end. We did manage to break the deadlock and once we got the first goal, the next two came quickly and then that was the end of the match. We’d won the final 3-0 and the girls were Yorkshire Cup Champions, 3rd year in a row!
An absolutely fantastic effort by them all – it is the best hockey I’ve seen them play and the parents agreed………………………………one even stating it was poetry in motion at some points, I agreed!
All the girls did well, so much so that I couldn’t decide on Manager’s Player of the tournament, so I got the parents to decide:
Player’s Player: Daisy Grainge
Managers/Parents Player: Minnie Pollock
But they were all awesome and we’re now looking forward to the North of England finals.