Hockey

HOCKEY, 1964

As regards weather the 1964 season compares favourably with most: only one match, against Bootham, had to be cancelled and the second and third games both had more than their usual quota of hockey.

However, the loss of a complete season last year was very apparent in the inexperience and lack of tactical skill of many of the members of the First Game; fortunately there were perhaps more players than usual with natural ability and the 1st XI was potentially one of the best in recent years. In Cloughton, Mitchell and Hunt we had a mid-field trio of great ability; that they did not score more goals was due to the usual fault of poor finishing, although Mitchell showed once or twice that he will one day be a very dangerous centre-forward. Cloughton was the most experienced and most accomplished player in the side; he worked tremendously hard and got the best out of his team. Hunt's stickwork was above average for a schoolboy and he worked himself to a standstill both in defence and attack; when he learns the difficult art of making the defence-splitting pass at the right moment he will be an asset to any side. Ibberson on the right wing ran well and hit some good centres but lacked the experience to decide on the right thing to do on each occasion; on the other wing Harding never attempted to exceed his own limitations and thereby sent across a succession of excellent centres before the opposing defence could cover; he was also on hand to have a shot himself on occasions.

The defence was usually sound, and the fact that a powerful Styx side was held to two goals until the last ten minutes of the game testifies to their tenacity. In goal Higgins, after a rather tentative start, played extremely well in the last two matches. Of the two backs, Hudson was eminently sound and reliable, rarely making a mistake and positioning himself well, whilst Nettleton, deceptively casual, at times anticipated brilliantly and usually came out of a tackle with the ball. Richardson at right-half supported his forwards well, hitting many excellent cross-passes, but he must overcome a tendency to hang on to the ball too long; the other winghalf, Eatough, improved with every match and proved to be a very tenacious player who marked his opponent very closely and intercepted well; his chief need is to cultivate a really hard cross-pass. In the early matches it looked as if Pickersgill might be too slow at centre-half but a brilliant display against York, the strongest Club side in Yorkshire, gave him the confidence he needed and he controlled the middle of the field very well; he must improve and quicken his distribution, chiefly by means of the push shot..

As usual, the team produced its best performances against the strongest opposition; against York they played some good hockey without much reward, but against the Styx the whole team played well above itself. on 12th March the School sent a team to take part in a six-a-side tournament run by Welbeck College: after losing unnecessarily 1-0 to Oakham, the eventual winners, in the first game, the team did well to beat Worksop and West Bridgeford to win the losers' tournament. The team was: Nettleton; Richardson, Eatough; Cloughton, Mitchell, Hunt. Reserve: W. M. Hudson.

The 2nd XI suffered equally from lack of experience but had quite a successful season: of the older players White and Todd did well, and of the younger ones D. E. Hudson, Vooght and Baxter showed much promise,

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whilst in his one game N. G. A. Morris, in his first year of hockey, displayed remarkable ability.

Finally, as these are the last Hockey Notes I shall write, I should like to express my thanks to all those who have helped and supported me in the thirteen years I have been in charge of this Cinderella of the School major sports. I cannot honestly say that I have enjoyed every minute of it (the playing fields in January and February are not the most attractive spots, not to mention the frozen wastes of York Aerodrome or the beach at Scarborough in a blizzard), but it has been most rewarding to see the obvious enjoyment which hockey players have got out of the game at school and also to hear of so many of them carrying on with the game after they have left. I hope many more will learn and enjoy the game, which can bring them much pleasure even up to a mellow middle age.

1ST XI.

TEAMS

D. E. A. Higgins; W. M. Hudson, P. F. Nettleton; J. L. Richardson, W. R. Pickersgill, J. A. Eatough; M. H. Ibberson, G. N. Cloughton* (Capt.), T. C. Mitchell, D. Hunt, R. D. Harding. * Cap.

2ND XI. M. J. Winn; D. E. Hudson*, M. E. Raine* (Capt.); M. G. D.

White*, J. J. Vooght, P. F. A. Shearsmith; T. J. Newhouse, G. M.

Todd*, D. R. Baxter, G. A. Willstrop, D. M. Rawlings. * Colours.

RESULTS

1st XI RESULTS Sat., 25 Jan. v. Leeds Corinthian 3rd XI ... Away Won 5-2 Sat., I Feb. v. Welbeck College ... ... Away Drawn I-1 Sat., 8 Feb. v. Trent College ... Home Lost 1-3 Wed., 12 Feb. v. Scarborough College Home Won 3-2 Sat., 15 Feb. v. Staff XI ... ... Home Won I-0 Wed., 19 Feb. v. Bootham School ... Home Cancelled Sat., 22 Feb. v. York H.C. ... .. Away Lost o-8 Wed., 26 Feb. v. Worksop College ... Away Lost 0-3 Sat., 29 Feb. v. Old Peterites Home Won 4-2 Wed., 4 Mar. v. Styx H.C. ... Home Lost 1-5

2nd XI RESULTS Sat., 1 Feb. v. Welbeck College ...

Away Drawn o—o Sat., 8 Feb. v. Trent College ... Home Lost 1-2 Wed., 12 Feb. v. Scarborough College Home Won 4-2 Sat., 15 Feb. v. York H.C. 3rd XI Away Won 3-2 Wed., 19 Feb. v. Bootham School .. Cancelled Sat., 22 Feb. v. York H.C. 2nd XI Home Lost 0-4 Wed., Feb. 26 v. Worksop College ... Away Lost 3-4

MATCH REPORTS

v. WELBECK COLLEGE Played away on Saturday, 1st February. Drawn 1-1.

This game was played on a perfect pitch which produced a very fast game. The School's mid field play was very good but the majority of the movements broke down in front of the Welbeck goal. However, having

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been attacking for so long the School was bound to score and finally Mitchell scored an excellent goal from a difficult angle to give the School a one goal lead at half-time. In the second half, however, Welbeck gradually came back into the game and their captain and centre-forward broke through and equalised. The School tried hard to score again but the shooting was very weak in the Welbeck circle. Richardson played well at right-half, opening up the opponents' defence with some excellent cross-field hits. On the whole this was a disappointing display by the School who had many more chances to score.

v. TRENT COLLEGE Played at home on Saturday, 8th February. Lost 1-3.

This game was played on a very muddy pitch and this slowed the game down considerably. Trent had two good players at inside left and outside left. The outside left could hit the ball extremely hard with reversed stick and the School defence was not able to adjust itself to allow for these hits. Consequently it took a long time for the defence to settle down. Trent opened the scoring but straight from the bully-off the School moved down into the opponents' half of the field and equalised when Hunt followed up a shot to score a good goal. In the second half Trent put on more pressure and soon went ahead again. From then on the School was mostly on the defensive and their few attacks were not able to penetrate the Trent defence. Once again the School was rather disappointing but the defence played a much better game.

v. SCARBOROUGH COLLEGE Played at home on Wednesday, 12th February. Won 3-2.

The School played much better in this game and moved the ball across the field to advantage. Mitchell scored to give the School the lead but soon afterwards Scarborough equalised. However, at half-time the School was leading by a goal scored by Cloughton, who followed up a shot which had been deflected by the goalkeeper and flicked the ball into the net. After half-time the School was pressing hard and Ibberson scored with a brilliant shot from a very oblique angle. Then Scarborough narrowed the gap but they were prevented from pressing more because of the loss of one of their players owing to injury. However, the School held on to the lead and thoroughly deserved to win.

v. WORKSOP COLLEGE Played away on Wednesday, 26th February. Lost 0-3.

Worksop opened their scoring mid-way through the first half and despite a great deal of pressing by the School they held on to their lead. Up to half-time the two sides were evenly matched but in the second half the School faded away. The Worksop defence anticipated the passes very well and cut the School attacks off. The School defence became very uncertain against the Worksop inside forwards, who were quick-thinking and very fast. However, the School held on to the one goal deficit until near the end when Worksop scored two very good goals. On the whole the School played better than in the previous games and they did not deserve to lose by such a large margin. Eatough played very well at lefthalf and did not allow the Worksop right-wing much room to move.

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