Huddersfield Dragons Ladies 1sts 1 – 1 Roseberry
The ladies 1st team made the journey up north hoping to repeat their early season success against Roseberry, on the back of last weeks win HDHC were in confident mood and looking to climb up to 3rd spot in the league with 3 points. The Captain, Fillingham had asked the team for an up tempo start but unfortunately it was the opposition who started the brighter side, dragons found themselves on the back foot and had to resort to long ball hockey to try and clear their defensive lines, the majority of the first half was played in the dragons defensive 3rd but some excellent defending from Thomas and new recruit Young kept the dragons in the game, the sides went in 0-0 after a disappointing 1st half.
After some stern words from captain Fillingham and with some tactical changes HDHC came out of the traps the quicker team and looked a different side to the lethargic team of the 1st half, short ball hockey had been asked for at half time and the team delivered with some incisive and penetrating attacking play, in particular Higginson and Longstaff were causing the home side problems and within minutes of the re start the dragons were ahead, some excellent quick stick work from Blackburn and a searching ball across the are created confusion in the Roseberry defence and resulted in an own goal. The dragons continued to press and contained the threat of Roseberry’s big players much better, Thomas continued to press up the pitch and some excellent link play saw the dragons again go close again. HDHC continued to push for a second and hit the post twice in their search for an elusive 2nd goal. With 2 minutes left on the clock the home side were awarded a very dubious short corner which the defence dealt with magnificently only for the home side to again be awarded what can only be described as a soft Penalty, they converted this last chance and the final whistle blew leaving a very frustrated Dragons side deflated not only with bad umpiring but with a first half performance which coast HDHC 2 points.
Posted in Match Reports, Womens 1XI Match Reports, Womens Match Reports 2011/12.
By dobbo
– January 31, 2012
Huddersfield Dragons Mens 1sts 2 – 3 Doncaster
Huddersfield took an early advantage following a good positive start against Doncaster from a crisp short corner strike by Marc Wyer early in the 1st half and were unfortunate not to extend the lead shortly after with some more good chances squandered. Doncaster equalized following a lapse in Huddersfields concentration as all the players had stopped for an injured Doncaster player who just carried on around him.
The 2nd half was very scrappy with both sides working hard to create chances and with a couple of desiscions seeming to go against Huddersfield allowed Doncaster in to increase the lead to 3 with some direct hockey breaking through a very resilient Huddersfield defence. Huddersfield pushed on and scored a goal through Peter Thornton in the last seconds of the game but had left the comeback charge just to late.
Team: Jack Canham, Oliver Matharu, Aidy Buckley, Andy Kaye, Clem Gregory, Marc Wyer, Greg Cooke, Rob Kelly, Ed Haigh, Steve Durrans, Tom Goldsmith, Peter Thornton
Posted in Match Reports, Mens 1XI Match Reports, Mens Match Reports 2011/12.
By dobbo
– January 31, 2012
Huddersfield Dragons Ladies 2nds 0 – 5 Harrogate
Saturday’s game was certainly a game of two halves for the home side. It was a disappointing start for the Dragons after they found themselves three goals down within the first 10 minutes against second in the league. Harrogate continued to put the pressure on the Huddersfield defence and were soon rewarded with a further two goals, despite the best efforts of young keeper Alex Wagstaff.
After a rousing half-time team talk, Huddersfield came out looking like a completely different team. They continued to defend well and excellent play by player-of-the-match Kat Fielding in the midfield allowed the Dragons to push forward and put pressure on the Harrogate defence. Despite a few great chances, the home-side were unable to find the back of the net and were left feeling a little disappointed that they couldn’t reduce Harrogate’s early lead.
A promising second half demonstrates just how much this new team has improved throughout the season and it would seem that they are due a few wins in the near future.
Team: Wagstaff, Eade, Hemsley, Young, Dobson, Clarke, Fielding, Takeuchi, Hargreaves,
Posted in Match Reports, Womens 2XI Match Reports, Womens Match Reports 2011/12.
By dobbo
– January 31, 2012
Huddersfield Dragons Mens 2nds 1 – 1 Doncaster
Huddersfield Mens 2nds travelled to Doncaster looking for their first win of 2012 against a Doncaster side bottom of Yorkshire League Division 1. In the opening twenty minutes Huddersfield dominated the game and played with confidence going forward. Doncaster were restricted to counter attacks but the defence looked solid. Foster had a good chance to open the scoring early on but saw his shot saved. Huddersfield took the lead when good play from Richardson allowed Gary Clarke to scramble the ball over the line. Doncaster then came into the game more and Huddersfield became a bit too casual and the quality of passing and decision making dropped as Doncaster started to exert more pressure. The teams went in at half time with the score 1-0 to Huddersfield.
In the second half Huddersfield were attacking into the low mid-winter sun which made it very difficult to pick out players and Dragons struggled. Doncaster played with more and more confidence and looked stronger then their lowly league position. A pattern of questionable officiating culminated with a penalty corner being awarded against Huddersfield for some unsavoury language not directed in any way towards the officials but within the team. From the resulting penalty corner a penalty stroke was awarded for the ball being illegally stopped on the line. Doncaster levelled and in the latter stages of the game it could have gone either way. Goalkeeper Paul Howarth was again tremendous and his reaction saves kept Huddersfield in it. Somewhat disappointed not to have taken more away from the basement team, Dragons now look to next weekends fixture against league leaders Bradford.
Posted in Match Reports, Mens 2XI Match Reports, Mens Match Reports 2011/12.
By dobbo
– January 31, 2012
York University 7 – 1 Huddersfield Dragons Mens 5ths
The Dragons knew they were in for a tough game against the students after a hard-fought 1-1 draw between the teams in the last game prior to Christmas.
Unlike the wintry showers of last week it was a nice sunny day but this was soon forgotten when the Huddersfield defence made a rare error and gifted York the opening goal. In an open game the Dragons fought back and equalised when Conrad Dales produced a brilliant take from a Jerry Turner cross and just managed to squeeze the ball past the York keeper. York then regained the lead after another piece of poor defending and Huddersfield just failed to get back on level terms when they hit the post from a rehearsed short-corner move. 2-1 to York at half-time
In the 2nd half, York scored a crucial 3rd goal to give themselves a cushion but the Dragons were again so close to scoring themselves when an almost identical short-corner to the one in the 1st half was again inches off target. As Huddersfield pressed forward they were still creating chances but York made it 4-1 to land the killer blow.
It may look as though Huddersfield over-committed in order to get back in the game but instead it was simply a case of failing to pick up their men when their opponents had the ball, which really cost the Dragons. This was out of character for a team which had conceded just 8 goals in their 10 previous league games but was almost certainly brought on by the unfamiliar situation in which Huddersfield found themselves, i.e. being several goals adrift.
In the closing stages the students played some magnificent attacking hockey on the break, adding 3 more goals for a final score of 7-1 which simply did not reflect the game.
It was the first loss in the league for the Dragons since the opening day of the season in September and particularly hard to take, given the margin of defeat. However, all is not lost. They still have a better league record than York and winning promotion remains in their own hands. Next week they have an even more significant game against Bradley, another promotion contender, and with it will come an immediate chance to get back on track.
Team : McFillimy, Ridings, Lewis, Wood, Donovan, Turner, Pogson, Flavin, Maddocks, Greenberry, Dales, Dallas
Scorer : Dales
Posted in Match Reports, Mens 5XI Match Reports, Mens Match Reports 2011/12.
By dobbo
– January 31, 2012
