SPORTS ROUND-UP – 16 JANUARY
After a hard frost and a delayed start, Warminster’s 1st XI football team were determined to get their season going with a good performance against Sexey’s School. In a tight opening spell, and some early pressing, Warminster created a couple of early chances. However, this match soon became a very even contest with both teams pushing for a win. Tim Schneider had an excellent game at left back, whilst player of the match Vincent Halkenberg displayed all his trickery with some darting dribbles. The game ended 0-0, which was a fair reflection of the game. In the afternoon match, Warminster 2nds were pitched against Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School. Having gone one nil down, Warminster rallied back in the second half with two goals from Nick Heron enabling warminster to pull off a 3-1 victory. A great start for the 2nds.
In the early morning Netball fixtures, Warminster’s 1sts and 2nds travelled to Royal High School, Bath. The 1st team were determined to eradicate some of the basic errors of their previous game and had worked hard on their timing and decision making all week. In the first 10 minutes Ela Hartley and Claudia Eeales worked the circle well and shot 100% against a very tough defensive unit. Lulu Cope had great timing and was able to get free on the centre pass, easing the pressure on Ela. Cassie McCormack linked the through court, being a key option on the backline. Warminster took a 5-4 lead. Warminster began to grow their lead to 9-5 after 3 mins of the 2nd quarter with great shooting from Claudia Eeles, with great feeds from Georgia Richardson. However, The Royal High School roared back to finish the 2nd quarter level at 11-11. The 3rd and 4th quarter saw too many errors and Royal High were able to exploit this and pull away to a 34-23 victory.
The 2nd squad struggled to get into the game, making a number of errors within the first 8 minutes, allowing their opponents to score and pull away. The error rate was high and a number of the girls struggled to get free, making it hard for Phoebe Scammell and Abbie Cadwallader to score any goals. Although the game ran away, the defensive unit of Amelia Eden-Hamilton, Emily Watson and Celia Wang worked hard trying to delay their opponents movements, Celia won a number of interceptions. Maisie Fogg worked hard throughout and was excellent at getting free. Warminster will head back to the training court, keen and eager to rectify things ahead of their next fixture.
The U15A team faced their first game of the season against the Royal High School. Expectations were high of this team, but unfortunately, they began slowly and found themselves trailing 9-2 after the first quarter. Warminster fared better in the second quarter although they lost Poppy Helm with a back injury having fallen twice in quick succession. After a number of positional changes for the third quarter, Warminster produced some of their best netball leading 5-3. However, their fitness levels dropped enabling Royal High to score quick goals. Jade Hartley, player of the match and Robyn Glennard-Cade worked tirelessly at GS and GA whilst Hannah Kirwan fed a number a good number of balls to them. Warminster will be looking to make improvements to this performance in their next game.
The U15B team had a challenging game against Royal High School, after just missing out on a win in the last 5 minutes of the game. The game was exciting throughout with some excellent through court from Sophie Watson and Millie Dyke. The girls have several things to work on in order to turn the result around however, it was promising to see Lilith Podbocicanin and Sasha Berdnikova take to the court for the first time, both showing promise for the future.
The afternoon boys hockey matches began with junior fixtures against Dauntsey’s School. In a pulsating game, Warminster found themselves two goals down within the opening minutes of the first half. However, goals from Ed Vickery and Bryce Furlong saw Warminster come in at 2-2 at half time. Jasper Spandler made some great saves in goal, keeping out the Dauntsey’s attack. However, a soft goal gave the opposition a slender lead. With five minutes, remaining Bryce Furlong scored to ensure the contest remained even. The senior teams faced King’s Bruton. The U15’s continued to show their promise with a narrow 1-0 victory, with the only goal coming from captain Felix Sheves, whilst new boy Jacques Kinnison took the player of the match award. This was an end-to-end game but the midfield trio of Robbie Maclean, Chris Pearl and Felix Sheves just gave Warminster the edge and a fantastic win. The U15B’s made big improvements in a 2-4 loss, with Joe Widman and Jack Spicer scoring goals, whilst Stanley Admiral picked up the player of the match.
The 2nds were keen to avenge their 3-6 loss the previous year and so they did. An excellent team performance with goals from George Elliott, Ben Wallis, Nick Beyer and Charlie Powell saw Warminster home with a 4-2 victory. James Caldwell was player of the match for his strong attacking runs from full back, whilst also putting in some last-ditch tackles and interceptions. The 3rd XI continue to grow in confidence and enjoyed a competitive 0-0 draw. There were significant improvements by the team from the previous week and with a little more composure in the oppositions D, Warminster would have come away with a win. Ben Mrozek was in outstanding form picking up the player of the match award.
Both U14 teams struggled against a strong Kings Bruton outfit losing 0-2 in the A’s and 1-6 in the B’s. Jack Pickford and Milo Stretton-Cox picking up player of the match awards.
The last match at home saw Warminster 1sts taking on King’s Bruton. Bruton were missing a number of players due to their involvement in the National Indoor Finals. However, the game was still certainly competitive. Warminster took an early lead through Hector Lyons with a reverse from the top of the D but within five minutes, Bruton were level from a penalty corner. Warminster responded well from this and completed a great team goal with slick passing from Mark Antrobus to Hamish Leslie, before squaring the ball to Ed West to score under the keeper. Jack Vincent quickly added a third to leave the score 3-1 at half time. Warminster had plenty of opportunities to kill off the game with numerous penalty corners but simply could not convert. Bruton then came back into the game with the centre forward converting after a save from Niklas Kraegel and then levelled to make it 3-3. However, into final play Warminster were awarded a penalty corner. Hector Lyons shot was partly saved before Jack Vincent slotted in the rebound for a 4-3 victory. A pulsating game.
Chris Knight, Director of Sport