Five Wins and Two Draws for Our Junior Boys
Our Junior Boys hockey teams (Year 7 and 8) started their season with a bang against Royal Hospital School this week, and although conditions were extremely cold the play was anything but! Seven matches, every boy in lower School playing!
Junior 1 Team
The Junior 1s had a confident start and dominant display. Although they were disappointed to not have scored more goals after creating many opportunities, especially in the first half, they were very pleased with an impressive and well-earned clean sheet.
Highlights from the match included a good and disciplined press and defensive structure, excellent one-on-one defence at the back, multiple chances created by good passing and circle play, and a debut goal for Year 8’s Toby in his first match for Woodbridge School! Top performers were Year 8’s Harry, Oliver, Barney and Arthur in goal, with player of the match going to Year 8’s Elijah.
Junior 2 Team
The Junior 2s boys started their season with an exciting draw. An excellent opening half, saw Year 8’s Charlie score twice after some superb team hockey, with assists from Year 8’s Ambrose and Toby. After missing a few chances to put the game to bed before the half, RHS scored twice in quick succession halfway into the second (against the run of play). The quick pace of the game continued up to the final whistle with both sides missing chances to win the game. An enthralling and very promising start to the season!
Junior 3 Team
What a cracking first game of the season for the Junior 3s with a great mixture of Year 7 and 8 students representing the team. For some students it meant their first opportunity to represent the School in hockey and show their ability. Year 8’s Jago and Zac held their position at the back, allowing Year 8’s Lade, Tom, Isaac and Jack K to exploit the spaces in front of them. It was an excellent start to the match, with the ball regularly making its way to the right hand side of the pitch where we were able to take advantage of our strong side and make an early lead with Year 8’s Jack sliding the ball into the corner. The subs came on and continued the impressive display with Year 7’s Oscar W moving especially quickly up and down the right hand side of the field, showing great effort in attack and defence. The only negative to the first half was that we didn’t score more goals.
Into the second half and a few changes in position meant that RHS were then able to attack a little more, however a few alterations and a little more composure saw Year 8’s Tom strike the ball into the goal for a two goal lead. With some more great defence we secured a solid win with Year 7’s Oscar W being voted man of the match.
Junior 4 Team
The Junior 4s had to settle for a low scoring draw in their first match. Both sides put their hearts and souls into this combative and close first fixture, but the match was crying out for a bit of composure. The frenzied activity on the pitch never ceased with plenty of goalmouth action and robust challenges in midfield. Players were trying out different positions and testing out their teamwork in the crucible of competition. The goal went to Year 8’s Oscar R, and Year 7’s Tahir was voted player of the match. There is a lot of promise looking ahead at future matches for this team.
Junior 5, 6 and 7 Teams
The Junior 5, 6 and 7 teams played their first matches together against an equally inexperienced RHS teams. Huge credit must go to the boys for approaching the matches with such spirit and enthusiasm, especially in the freezing conditions.
The Junior 5s were very impressive, taking ownership of their own positions and substitutions, they were dominant throughout and recorded a comfortable win, scoring plenty of goals whilst also keeping a clean sheet. Excellent work all round! Special mention to Year 7’s Jacob for a double hattrick and Year 8’s Noah for his all-round performance.
The Junior 6s were quick off the mark to get the ball from the opposition and some great link up play meant they scored very early in the first half. From then on in Woodbridge had the upper hand over RHS for most of the first half. RHS got a score early in the second half however their attack was soon stopped with some great defending. Woodbridge responded quickly with some good play getting the ball wide, with a good cross into the box for an easy tap in. They went on to win comfortably without conceding again.
The Junior 7s scored first in their game after converting a quick counter-attack. More good play saw them score a second and third not long after. RHS put together some good attacking play forcing multiple saves from Year 7’s Kaell in goal, however they did eventually manage to score in the corner. Woodbridge got the final goal of the game to round off an excellent afternoon for our teams.
Seven matches, five wins and two draws – a pretty great way to start the season. Hopefully the experience and knowledge gained will stand all our players in good stead for the matches ahead. Well done to all and big thank you for the fantastic parent support on a very cold afternoon.
