Match Report

Chichester Minifest, 22nd April 2018
After a season of overcast, rainy and cancelled snow minifests, it was great to finally get a sunny minifest. Gosport arrived at Chichester college to be greeted by wall to wall sunshine and 20 degrees.
Gosport U8’s, U10 dragons and U10 phoenix teams were all at full strength and raring to go

Under 8’s minifest report:
A 9 strong Gosport under 8’s team flew off the starting blocks against Chichester, getting straight back to their winning ways.
A strong defensive line made up of Mia, Alex and Lucy were untouchable from the start with Chi trying on repeated occasions to break through but stopped on every occasion. Full strength midfield line up of Alice, Bilbo, Nathan and Hayden attacked fast, frustrating the Chi attack, whilst also creating opportunities and goals in abundance, all midfield stars worked tirelessly with Nathan and Hayden both getting 3 goals between them. Jacob started up front and didn’t disappoint the hard work the midfield did with adding 2 goals to his tally and setting up his teammates.
Supersub William was a little dynamo every time he was on the pitch, getting stuck into everything and covering almost every position on the pitch, probs all the hardest worker of the day.

Another super strong performance against Petersfield A, had Nathan, Hayden and Jacob all add to their goal log for the day. A rare break by the Petersfield attack managed to sneak through and beat the Gosport defence and force the ball over the line, but Mia and Alex created an amazing double team effort to stop a more more chances.

Gosport faced Petersfield B team on a high after 2 wins and started strong, scoring quickly to go 1-0 up. Petersfield not wanting to go down without a fight released their secret weapon, 1 player called Cooper flew from the Petersfield midfield, thwarting the Gosport players, quickly scoring 3 goals leaving Us on the back foot. Not happy with this the Gosport under 8’s showed their tenacity and fought back hammer one tong, pulling the 2 goals back just before then hooter blew. A superb game and a well deserved draw for both teams.

Keen to retain their top spot after the draw, the 9 strong under 8’s went into their last 2 games against Haslemere and City of Portsmouth with every member of the team playing outstanding hockey, showing both of the opposition how they have earned such notice from other team coaches throughout the season. They worked tirelessly as a complete unit, supporting each other, fighting for every ball, creating opportunities from nothing and holding the back line with determination that many a team could learn from. And from this they earned 2 well deserved wins.

A fabulous end to a super sunny day of Junior hockey and to the minifest season.
I have loved every second of coaching and managing this under 8 team and know that as some of them move to under 10 next year that they will be amazing, and will also leave a super legacy for future under 8 players.
U8’s Star performer: Hayden (consistent strong performance, selflessness and team spirit):-
Stats as below: (Won 4, Drew 1)
Game 1: Gosport 5-0 Chichester
Game 2: Petersfield A 1-4 Gosport
Game 3: Gosport 3-3 Petersfield B
Game 4: Gosport 2-1 Haslemere A
Game 5: City of Portsmouth A 0-5 Gosport
Goal scorers:
Bilbo - 1
Hayden - 6
Jacob - 5
Nathan - 7

Match report written by Mark Short