Maidenhead U 16 V Richmond

Maidenhead Girls U16s A’s 7 Richmond 0
Sunday 28 October at Braywick
Maidenhead scored a magnificent seven past Richmond with Maisie grabbing the headlines with a first half hat-trick.
But, it was her fourth and final goal – midway through the second half – which best highlighted her skills in a match-winning performance.
Maidenhead were attacking into the Richmond D from the right when a cross-shot ricocheted high into the sky. Maisie reacted first to bring the ball down with her stick, pirouetted 360 degrees to get the ball onto her strong side and then slotted calmly past the advancing keeper.
This made the score 6-0 and by then the game was well and truly won. But from the first whistle it was Maisie’s anticipation, Emily’s strong running and good support in attack from Tilly and Ellie which set up the goal-rush.
Richmond will feel a little hard done-by with the final score. They had some neat, skilful players but their attacks were quickly snuffed out by Holly and Amelia in their deep lying midfield positions who then, repeatedly, turned defence into attack with some strong tackles and sharp passes.
Maidenhead attacked from the start and got their first goal in the fifth minute from a penalty short corner. Holly injected and was there again to finish off after both Emily and Maisie shots had been saved.
At the other end, Alexis in goal got down well to a shot by her right-hand post. This was the first of two good first-half saves which importantly preserved our lead and maintained the team’s momentum.
But, mainly, it was Maidenhead who launched attack after attack with Ellie, Tilly & Emily all having the confidence to shoot on goal.
One lovely flowing move from midfield saw passes from Jess, to Holly, to Amelia and finally to Emily who played in Tilly behind the Richmond defence, but she couldn’t control her final shot.
Our second goal – after 16 minutes - came from another short corner, this time won by Annabel whose left wing run and cross caused chaos in the Richmond defence. Holly injected to Emily, it was moved right to Tilly whose shot was flicked home by Maisie.
The third again came down the left, this time from Jess, whose cross was finished neatly by Maisie in the centre. She completed her hat-trick from another short corner just before half-time.
In the second half, Maidenhead were determined to not let Richmond back into the game. It was the turn of Tilly to score by finishing off one short corner early on and for Holly to perfectly poach her second goal of the game from another penalty play near the end.
It was only in the closing stages that Maidenhead eased off as all the 15-strong squad got some good game time.
This was a convincing performance with all the starting defence strong throughout and Stella and Simran coming off the bench to fit in well. Evie in attack also had a lovely 10 minute cameo performance at the end of the first-half with good runs, crosses and shots on goal and was unlucky not to score.
With four-or-five regulars missing, this result shows the potential depth and strength of our A-team this season as we secured our second consecutive win in the Home Counties league.
Along with our hard-fought English Hockey Cup draw against Reading we are unbeaten this season and competition for places is tough.
Next weekend we have two away games. The A’s play Wycombe while the Dev Squad are away to West Herts.