West Clubs Women’s North

Cirencester Ladies 10 Stroud Ladies 1

A FULL raft of wins were recorded for all four ladies' teams at Cirencester Hockey Club over the weekend.

The Ladies' firsts notched another impressive win to continue their unbeaten streak. Opponents Stroud started the match strongly and with a number of quick forwards, it was clear their tactic was to catch Cirencester on the break.

However, keeper Lou Pettit did well to come off the line and prevent an early Stroud attack on goal. Cirencester soon sorted out their marking and worked well to cut out the long balls with strong play down the middle.

Hannah Denning and Alex Neilson offered pace in the centre and out wide, setting up many scoring opportunities. Cirencester dominated the game, not allowing Stroud any chance to attack and they converted the majority of their chances.

The 10 goals were shared among five scorers with Kath Fry, current top goal scorer, adding four to her tally.

The victory over Stroud was duplicated by the Ladies' IIs who scraped a 1-0 win over their counterparts thanks to a single goal from Alex Neal.

The Ladies' IIIs recorded their second successive league win with a 3-0 victory over Blockley III.

Cirencester pressed early and the majority of the game was played in Blockley's half. The midfield of Harriet Illston and Nicki Roberts linked well with forwards Jenny Jones and Kate Randle.

Eventually, Philippa Dunn broke the deadlock through sheer persistence. Further goals in the second half came through Ceri Hopkins and Kate Randle after an exceptional passing move out of defence.

Another impressive performance by the Ladies' 4th XI rounded off the day. The 7-0 win over Wootton Bassett was a game of firsts with debutants Jo Fysh and Emma O'Connor both adding to the goals tally.

De Cymru & The Marches One

Cirencester 3 Cardiff 3

CIRENCESTER’S 1st Men's XI shared the spoils at Cardiff in a close game that highlighted the importance of tight defending.

With a brace of goals from top men’s scorer Charlie Partridge and a further goal from Rob Carmichael, the first half finished with the visitors defending a 3-1 lead, but with Jack Brown spending 10 minutes in the sin bin.

Desperate attacking from Cardiff saw them twice reduced to nine men, but the visitors squandered good scoring opportunities. After Cardiff clawed back a second goal, the final 10 minutes proved nailbiting. Despite Cirencester’s technical supremacy, a lapse in defence offered a gilt-edged chance in the dying minutes that Cardiff snapped up.

The first home league game of the Men’s 2nd XI turned into a 12-goal bonanza against league leaders Gwent.

The hosts were 5-1 down at half-time and needed their mettle after keeper Woody Franklin was given a long sin bin for a wild challenge. The second half saw Cirencester pull back two goals through Pete Willett and Oscar Snowball but they were unable to get closer, eventually losing 9-3.

The Cirencester 3rd XI travelled to Wotton-under-Edge and were 3-0 down before coming to life. Goals from Robbie Webster, Will Jarvis and Owen Harrison pulled the score back but Wotton added their fourth and took the spoils at 4-3.

The fourth team lost 6-0 to Wotton, a result that flattered the visitors.