1st XI
The 1st XI team played out a superb end-to-end match with Trinity School. Both sides could have scored plenty of goals, but it was Trinity’s ability to take their chances that decided the game. 3-1 was a shame but the boys played magnificently. A special mention to Josh and Toby who played their last games for the 1st XI after 4 years in the team. Tom and Varun will be also missed as they also leave us at the end of this year. Congratulations to Ashley on being named Captain 2019/20 and Olly as vice-captain.
Overall, a fantastic season given the age of the squad and plenty to work towards in the next few years.
2nd XI
The 2nd XI had a tough match on Saturday against a quick and competitive Trinity School team. The opposition started the match strong and only poor shooting and some last ditch defending by Louis kept the score at 0-0.
Eltham slowly got themselves into the game and some good work down the right-hand side by Cameron forced the Trinity School goalkeeper to make a string of good saves. The score of 0-0 at half-time was probably a fair reflection of the match. The second half was more of a struggle for the Eltham team and Joe in goal had to make several saves in the early minutes but eventually Trinity took the lead after a goal mouth scramble saw the ball forced into the Eltham goal. The match continued to be played from end-to-end with both teams creating chances but failing to convert. With two minutes to go Eltham got a short corner which Cameron managed to score from with a good drag flick into the bottom right hand corner. With 90 seconds remaining Eltham looked as if they were going to manage a draw against a determined Trinity team but a lack of concentration in defence allowed Trinity to score a rather soft goal to secure a victory with the last play of the game.
Well done to the second team for a good season with many of them only being in Year 11
Under 15A
The Under 15A team lost 4-1 on Saturday against a good Trinity School side. It was always going to be tough on a warm Saturday morning and we seemed to struggle in the heat and were unable to build momentum and play the way we wanted to. Ed made some good saves in goal, but the Trinity attack was unrelenting, and Ed could only do so much to keep them at bay. Overall the season has had its ups and downs, but the boys gave their all and always fought right till the end. We are quite an emotional team and sometimes get a bit too fired up so keeping our emotions in check when things aren’t going our way is another way to improve moving forward.
Under 15B
The Under 15B team have had an up and down season, with a few good wins. Unfortunately, we didn’t end the season off with a win, losing 4-1 to Trinity School. We had a handful of chances but were only able to convert right at the end of the game. The boys played some good hockey in phases throughout the game but were put under a lot of pressure by a good Trinity team. The team should be proud of all the hard work and commitment they have shown throughout the season and probably deserved a few more results to go their way.
Under 14A
The Under 14A team are a talented group who are really starting to turn into something special. Trinity School started the game with a lot of noise and bravado but after two minutes they were quickly silenced when Theo carved through the opposition defence scoring with class and finesse. Before Trinity had a chance to recover Eltham were at it again and Theo finished from close range after a lovely team move to make it two. Lewis scored a nice third goal to effectively settle the match before half-time. After half-time, Trinity came out with an aggressive press trying to initiate a comeback, they forced lots of pressure on Luke, Dmitri and John. The boys struggled to start with and did concede a goal. The boys then started to find ways to cope and backed up by Jack who made some good saves, combined with great defensive work from Uriel and Aditya. Eltham looked extremely good on the counter and it was only a matter of time before Eltham scored a deserved fourth goal to close out the game. Trinity tried very hard, but Eltham showed huge discipline to reply by playing good hockey and secured the win. This team has come a long way the last four to five weeks, adopting a new style of play whilst also integrating several players from the Under 13 team to prepare for next season. Overall, this was a seriously successful season for this group of talented boys.
Under 14B
On a sunny morning, it was Trinity School who applied all the early pressure and scored a couple of goals. Uur best move of the match saw Keaton go clean through and place the ball past the goalie. At 2-1 down, there was much to play for, however it was the home team who were more confident and consistent in possession and despite some excellent saves from Oli the goals regularly trickled in. The squad have worked hard this term even when results haven’t always gone our way.
Under 13A
The boys finished the season on a high against Trinity School. Having started below par by their high standards they found themselves 2-0 down at half time. Mr Giles had to apply the “Cruel to be kind” approach combined with the tactical points that were required. The boys responded very quickly in the second-half and within a few minutes Piers, who has improved incredibly this season, finished off a well worked short corner. Ollie made some great saves to keep the scores level, keeping the teams energy levels high. Eltham missed a penalty flick to take the lead, it wasn’t long before Charlie equalised after some good team work and made amends for his penalty miss. Trinity then had a penalty flick which struck the post, although it was more than likely that it was covered by Ollie who went the right way. With 90 seconds left, Jamie capped off an incredible season by rounding the keeper and scored the winning goal from a narrow angle. Eltham defended like their lives depended on it and saw the game out to cap off a second consecutive brilliant season. There is a lot of talent in this group and they continue not only to improve their hockey but their mental toughness and character to win matches.
Under 12A
The Under 12A team will feel that they let the chance for a valuable victory escape them. Despite having the best of the opening two periods they failed to register a single shot on target across many circle entries. They lost both periods by a single goal. Jake managed to pull a goal back early in the third period and despite Eltham trying extremely hard they just could not get the ball in the goal and lost 2-1. Overall, it’s been a decent season for the boys and there is potential in this group.
Under 12C
The Under 12C team started off well with both teams pushing for that first goal, our goalkeeper made some good saves to deny Trinity School the lead. However, they converted one of those rebounds from the goalkeeper and went into halftime 1-0 up. Eltham pushed well in the second-half with Peter making some good runs but we didn’t capitalise on the chances we had in the D as we tried to hit the ball too hard and ended up missing the target on quite a few occasions. Trinity scored two more through counter attacks in the second-half but eventually Eltham were rewarded with a well-deserved goal. The lead was a bit too much for Eltham to make a strong comeback.
