Under 8’s Bears Match report Petersfield

Here is a great report on Havant Bears from Jonathon

Wow! The Bears did Havant Hockey Club proud on a very cold Sunday in Petersfield, playing solidly against some very strong opposition (many of whom were their club’s A-teams).

At the start we were a player short but thankfully the Alligators had a sub so we pulled Peter Smith in to play for the Bears (thanks Peter) leaving us with a full team (although no subs now in both U8 teams so we were all crossing our fingers and toes that we didn’t suffer any injuries).

We played a 3-2-2, with John, Ernie and Lucas up front, Daisy and Georgia in mid, and Peter and Christopher in defence (with minor tweaks) and they ran their socks off for the 5 games we played. We may not have won a game, but the team worked so hard that any ‘goal carnage’ was avoided and the scores ran 2-0, 2-0 (one goal of which was miles outside the D, but we never argue with an umpire’s decision, do we team?!), 1-0, 1-0, and 1-0.

Georgia and Daisy were formidable in the mid-field, thoroughly getting into the fray whenever the opposition dared to cross the half-way line.  Daisy in particular seemed to be totally fearless, going in for tackle after tackle from the start, joined by Georgia to get pressure onto the opponents.

Up front, Ernie and Lucas had the almost-goal, missing the goal by millimetres after a tidy free hit. Their eagerness to get involved meant that at times we weren’t sure which position they were playing in as they ran from one end to the other covering attack, defence and midfield in a blur of legs and sticks.

John, too, made his presence felt when the ball came in his reach, battling to get the ball from the opponents and pushing it back up the pitch.

Peter and Christopher worked really well together in defence, remembering to pull back behind when one was tackling, rotating back and back, and then quickly getting to the line to block any shots. Christopher made some key saves preventing at least 2 goals in one game alone, and Peter’s tackles, and slaps from the 16-yard line (and other parts of the pitch), were awesome.

We had a couple of injuries in games, and really cold hands (remember some grippy gloves next time), but the team fought on and on.

I’m not going to nominate a player of the match this time – they were all incredible. Well done Bears!!