Captain: Ian SHUTT
Next Fixture
1st Jun 2013 Ben Rhydding 7ths(Home) 14:00:00
Meet: BRHC 13:15:00
Selection from:
MCMILLAN J, PRIESTLEY F, TERRY R, SHUTT I, SMALL S, DAWSON R, HATTON W, CUSSONS J, NAYLOR C, PRIESTLEY B, TERRY A, BRADLEY W, TENCH W,
Umpires:
Previous Fixture(s):
14th Apr 2013 Slazengers(Away) 1 - 2 loss
BLACKBURN P, PRIESTLEY F, ROUGHTON J (1), TERRY R, SHUTT I, SMALL S, DAWSON R, BUTTS S, BODDY S, KERRAY N, HATTON W, CUSSONS J, PRIESTLEY B, TERRY A, HARVEY R,
For many of the Ben Rhydding team, it was a first cup final and a chance to reward the players for their loyalty to the team over the season, with all 15 selected having caps in the double figures on the way to the league championship.
Slazengers have had a good season in their division and put out a very strong team on a blustry day in Halifax. Rhydding packed the midfield but were under early pressure from balls hit from the back to the oppostion forwards, with Butch Terry being forced to kick out on a couple of occasions, while once again the defence of Roughton, Aaron Terry and Blackburn had to be alert to prevent their forwards getting any space, ably supported by Butts, Kerray and Fraser Priestley.
In front of a decent crowd, it was Slazengers who took the lead after a spell of pressure, and one nil down at half time Rhydding threw an extra player forwards and suddenly had the best of the play in the second half.
Butts showed typical spirit, while Boddy on the right benefited from extra space to push forwards well. Cussons on the left provided a useful outlet and Dawson came to the rescue on a number of occassions.
Roughton brought Rhydding back into the game after exchanging passes with Fraser Preistley before firing home past the impressive Slazengers goalkeeper, before celebrating as if Bolton Wanderers and just won the FA cup.
A period of pressure followed, but Rhydding were unable to take the lead, Hatton being marked out of the game and Bob Priestley, on for the injured Harvey, was also struggling to get the ball, while at the other end Small's pace was proving useful in dealing with his winger. With the game looking likely to go into extra time, Slazengers took the lead after a high ball span, bounced and somehow found it's way into the back of the goal.
Rhydding immediately threw on Blackburn, Shutt and Harvey, and a move involving all three was inches away from equalising just seconds before the hooter sounded.
Special mentions were made by the league officials on Aaron Terry, and Ray Dawson was presented with the man of the match trophy.
So, a final word from me, your captain. Together we played 25 games, won 19, lost 4 and drew 2. We beat every team in the league at least once. We won the league by three points. We came close to winning the cup. Each and every one of you should be proud. Thank you for your efforts and sacrifices. Thank you to your wives, parents and employers for making sure you got to the games on time, and thank you for making my job easy. I hope you had fun. Now for my afternoon nap...
13th Apr 2013 Halifax 4(Away) 2 - 1 win
BLACKBURN P, HIGGITT M (1), PRIESTLEY F, ROUGHTON J, TERRY R, SHUTT I, SMALL S, BUTTS S, NAYLOR C, HARVEY R (1),
It was a double cup final weekend for Ben Rhydding, with a point needed in the final league game at Halifax to secure the league title, while the YHA cup final on Sunday would provide a chance for an historic double.
After three weeks with no hockey, Ryhdding out out a strong team against Halfiax, who themselves needed the points to be sure of league safety, while representatives from Huddersfield, who needed Rhydding to slip up could be seen in the crowd.
From the start, it looked like it was going to be a fairly even game, both teams pressing the opposition. Rhydding played well down the right although it was often on the left that they caused the most problems, but unfortunately struggled to get the ball to that side as much as they could have done.
Halifax almost opened the scoring, with Butch once again proving his value in goal. Indeed after one save the crowd questioned whether he was a ringer, "over first team keeper wouldn't have saved that" could be heard.
It was Rhydding who did score first, Harvey linking up well to pass the ball right, from where the ball was hit into the D. Higgitt just got in front of the keeper but the save was made, with the ball coming to Harvey at the back post to lift over the keeper for this 13th of the season.
Rhydding's second came from another run down the right, Charlie Naylor showing a clean pair of heels to his marker to run half the length of the pitch before passing to Higgitt to finish from close range at the far post.
Harvey took a stick to the arm and was forced from the field, resulting in Rhydding having to reshuffle players and positions.
The second half was mostly Halifax. Rhydding began to look tired and struggled to get hold of the ball for any length of time, and found themselves under waves of pressure. Halifax pulled a goal back mid-way through the half, but Rhydding held on to take the points and become LEAGUE CHAMPIONS.
|
TEAM INFORMATION
- Mens 6th
|