Our SU Spotlight is on the Hockey Women’s 1st team this week after they beat the University of Nottingham’s 5th team 3-1.
The match between the two teams was an important one as there was only three points between them. However, the win has taken the home team into second place of the Midlands 3B league.
Despite losing, the performance by Nottingham’s fifth team was testament to the quality that they must have. Despite being beaten in the end the fifths did offer a competitive match so if that was their fifth team then one can only imagine the talent that they have in their other teams.
The game started controversially as in the 7th minute captain Kathryn Hainsworth looked to be injured. She seemed to be in pain after the ball hit her ankle and she went to ground. This unfortunately left the team exposed on the right flank and Nottingham were able to capitalise. They made it 1-0 with a low driven cross that was tapped into the goal.
Breesha Foxton seemed to be Lincoln’s best chance at grabbing a goal as she spearheaded most of their attacks. Her movement was so fluid and unpredictable that she ran rings around the opposition defence. She created two chances in quick succession just after the fifteen minute mark.
The first was to pass to Rachel McCarney who was waiting at the left post but unfortunately couldn’t put it past Nottingham’s ‘keeper. The ball didn’t rebound far though and Foxton looked to be running at the loose ball. However, by the time she got to the ball it was already being swung at by several sticks.
They didn’t have to wait much longer to make the match even as Flora German managed to get to the right place at the right time. A ball was played into the Lincoln player who managed to lift the ball up into the air off her stick and into the roof of the net.
This made it 1-1 and it wasn’t too long before Lincoln got that all important second goal to go into half time in front. With five minutes left before half time Holly Sinclair went one-on-one with the Nottingham ‘keeper for a penalty. The home player seemed calm and composed and she scooped it into the right hand side of goal, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.
After the first half the most frustrating thing was the amount of chances missed by the home side. They could have easily been four goals ahead by half time and have the game sealed. However, they were wasteful in their set plays. They had four in the space of five minutes in the first half but not one was converted. The Lincoln team did show a lot of threat going forward but if they a little more clinical then they could have had this game wrapped up already.
The second half was filled with chances so it was a wonder that there was only one goal in it. Lincoln’s first chance came five minutes into the second half. Foxton was once again spearheading the attack weaving through the midfield. She played the ball to McCarney on the left hand side of goal who played it across to German. Unfortunately though it was always running away from her.
In the 50th minute Nottingham got their best chance of the second half but they couldn’t even get it on target pushing it into the side of the goal.
Momentum seemed to shift in Nottingham’s favour for about five minutes but Lincoln found the perfect way to stop it. As German drew out the ‘keeper and sent a cross across the goal to Foxton it looked like the ball was beyond her reach. However, Foxton did really well to stretch as far as she did to hit it into the open net.
A couple of late efforts fired into just over the roof of the goal kept the pressure on Lincoln until the very end but after the third goal Lincoln always looked in control. They pressured Nottingham into their own half for thirty five minutes.
Hainsworth said that she expected a tougher game than she got.
“I think we dominated but we just really wanted to push the play and everyone was up for it. We thought with it being a five o’clock pushback that everyone would be tired and lethargic but we really wanted.”
Having assessed how the season has gone so far she said that she is really pleased with where the team is at and believes that they are putting their case forward for good funding from the Students’ Union next year.
She said: “Obviously we had two losses this season and a draw but really it just shows that we are capable of doing what we can and obviously it’s every single player that helps us. We’ve just come such a good way and I really hope that we can get our funding back for next year.”