By Isle of Wight Observer
IW Hockey is celebrating convincing wins for the men’s and women’s First XIs, as well as a strong performance from the Ladies II XI.
The Ladies’ XI travelled away to face the Trojans III XI, with Saffron Hart returning with a brace from short corners, Evie Fairhurst and player-of-the-match Lizzie Dodds, both scored hat-tricks, and Katy Ednay also scored a brace to give the Island an astounding 10-0 victory.
IW men’s XI overcame visitors, Andover 7-2. Starting with a quick tempo, the Island kept Andover pinned back but they scored first on a rare counter-attack. Quickly replying, Kit McChesney collected a long ball over the top to slot calmly into the bottom corner. The forward trio of Samuel Challis, Antonio Ferreira and McChesney then maintained the pressure, winning a short corner that Adam Payne converted past a floundering keeper. This was followed by Ferreira finding himself free on the right, smashing the ball past the keeper. Payne finished off the half refreshed from his 2-minute sit down, wandering in to the top of the ‘D’ and hammering the ball home to give the Island a 4-1 lead at half time.
The second half followed with fluid hockey, with the defensive line of Patrick Butt, player-of-the-match Arran Wood, Ethan Edmunds-Lamb and Alex Breach making incursions into Andover’s half, playing the ball around with ease and running the opposition ragged. Ferreira became free again to unleash a ferocious reverse, striking the stick of Finn Woodford adding another name to the scorers. This was followed by a penalty which Challis calmly slotted home, with a final penalty corner converted by Edmunds-Lamb.
At home, the Ladies 2 XI secured a convincing home win over Basingstoke 6 XI with a dominant display, despite early pressure and near misses. Annabelle Stanley broke the deadlock just before half-time, with a superb finish from a tight angle. In the second half, a deflected strike was calmly converted on the rebound by Siena Holbrook, before Annabelle sealed the victory with her second of the game, following up her own short corner effort.
The Men’s 2 XI had their first game of the season away to an experienced Salisbury 5 XI (‘Sliders’). Starting slowly the Islanders were 4-0 down at the break, but a determined second half effort saw a goal from Carl Joyce, and a player-of-the-match performance from Kensei Parker, with the 7-1 loss not a fair reflection of the match.
On Sunday the Isle of Wight U-14 girls put in a spirited performance in their first game of the season, away at HMS Temeraire. After conceding an early goal the team battled hard, defending multiple short corners and creating chances of their own. Player-of-the-match Molly Priddle inspired a side still adjusting to a full-sized pitch, and there were lots of positives despite a 3-0 loss.