IT was another action-packed weekend of action across the board for Yate Hockey Club at the weekend.
Yate Ladies 1s
Yate Ladies 1s hosted Team Bath Buccs 3 in the gusty wind in their last home fixture of the season.
Yate had plenty of early pressure and penalty corners. After 9 minutes Yate took a 1-0 lead when Kyishia Cooke intercepted and slipped the ball to Antonia Joy, who calmly lifted it past the keeper.
Yate doubled the lead after 22 minutes when Di Pugh-Hudson's long ball found Zoe Vale at the edge of the D, whose first time pass allowed Cooke to deflect in past the keeper.
A few minutes later it was 3-0 when Isabella Joy found Cooke on the P spot at a penalty corner and Cooke turned and he shot hammered the Backboard.
Credit to Bath in the second half as their heads didn't go down and they made some effective changes second half which contained Yate more. The action was more end to end but Yate's defence of Joy (I), Willetts, Pugh-Hudson and Joy (L) held firm.
Eventually Yate found a 4th to please the home crowd through another great finish by Cooke to secure her hatrick and the game ended 4-0 to Yate.
Yate Mens 1s
Yate mens 1 had their final league home game against a Bristol UWE team who sat second from bottom, however they did manage to beat a very hungover Yate just before Christmas so it was redemption time.
Yate started very sleepily and within 2 minutes found themselves 1-0 down after conceding a penalty corner.
It took Yate a good 10 minutes to wake up and compose themselves, beginning to move the ball around and exploit the space in the UWE defence! Finally the break through came when Nick PG found himself unmarked inside the D and quickly deflected the ball past the on rushing keeper.
This was quickly followed by the brilliant passing movement from left to right for Will Davies to slap home from close range.
Then just before half time Rhys Gamlin scored with a great forehand strike from the top of the D. Yate went into half time at 3-1.
The second half began much like the end of the first with Yate dominating the ball and before long yate were scoring again and UWE had no answers, goals were flying in to the extent that the umpires couldn’t keep up and missed a goal in their final count!
The official score was 9-1, but the correct score was 10-1 with Goal scorers in the game;
Nick PG x 3
Danny Pearce x 2
Rhys Gamlin x 2
Will Davies x 1
Milo Young x 1
Dylan Bruce x 1
Yate move up to 3rd in the table with just a short trip to Swansea to finish out the season.
Yate Ladies Development Team
Yate Ladies Development team had their last game of the season away at Bristol and West.
All fired up to finish the season on a high, there was great team spirit going into the game.
As with their previous meeting, both teams were quite evenly matched. Unfortunately B&W opened the scoring after one player breaking through and a one v one with the keeper ended in a goal for the opposition.
Yate answered with several attempts to break their defence with action in the D, finally resulted in a great set up by Nicola Bruce and slotted into the back of the net by Heidi Bruce (thanks mum!).
B&W managed two more goals before the half time whistle, however just before half time Nicola Bruce broke again down the right and crossed to meet Imogen C in the D, who calmly popped it past the keeper.
The first half ended 3-2 to B&W.
Emerging for the second half Yate were still positive that they could get the win! There were many attempts on goal at both ends of the pitch; Jess V-W taking control of the midfield and Nikki Ashley and Julia Collin teaming up to keep the defence together, with Lucy W and Imogen A covering defence and midfield along with Sarah-Jane More switching to cover.
The team upfront of Angela Turner and Olivia M worked hard to get another goal on the scoreboard, but alas the opposition keeper kept them out! Until Nicola Bruce again with a break down the right took the ball into the D and rattled the backboard with a great strike and a great celebration 3-3.
Despite the best team efforts, B&W managed another two goals to deny Yate the draw and the match ended 5-3. Keeping with the spirit of the Development team this season, everyone was still smiling and the hockey was enjoyed by all.
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