All four of Knole Park’s junior teams progressed through to the next round of their respective competitions on Sunday.
The U18 Girls were the biggest winners of the day with a 14-0 win against Bromley & Beckenham HC. The first half was a superb performance. Every player was absolutely amazing for the full 35 minutes playing some wonderful flowing hockey!
The first goal was an excellent move between Annabel and Alex that saw the former score. An incredible run by Sasha then put Grace in to score to make it 2-0. Amelie scored a well hit penalty corner, before Alex scored after a lovely run from Elloise. Annabel scored one of the team goals of the day. Starting with a side line near the 23m, Katie rolled it to Betrys who put Sasha in. Her guile in the D enable Annabel to finish from close range. 5-0. Alex scored her second after some gliding through from Annabel, before Annabel then scored from a well worked penalty corner. Another super run from Sasha saw Grace score her second, and just before half-time Annabel scored from a free-hit outside move. 9-0.
With BromBeck keen to continue, the second half brought some real fighting spirit from them and they kept the KP girls at bay for 15 minutes. Phoebe finally broke the second half deadlock after a super move involving Bea and Amelie. Annabel scored her fifth of the match after a trademark run from Elloise put in Alex, who unselfishly squared the ball to Annabel to finish. Alex scored her own trademark goal as she smashed a backhand in. Phoebe scored from close range to make it 13-0, before Elloise got her goal on the final whistle as a well worked penalty corner move was slotted home. The match finished 14-0 and the girls are now into the National Quarter Finals and will face either Trojans or Hampstead and Westminster in two weeks’ time.
The U16 Girls won 11-0 against Blackheath. Another emphatic victory for this amazing team! The girls were slow to get started on Sunday and it took a penalty stroke mid-way through the half from Anna to break the deadlock. Polly got the second of the half from a full pitch counter-attack. Olivia rolling her in unselfishly for the easiest of finishes.
The second half was a different story however. The girls added two goals in two minutes to restart at the tempo they normally play at. Olivia scored both with assists from Grace and Anna. Polly then scored once again following a lovely run from Anna. Anna then got her second of the match with a stunning solo effort and backhand strike. Polly won the ball from the centre back to get the team’s seventh of the match. Before Olivia finished the match with three more goals. Two coming from the outstanding skills of Anna. Anna was also involved in assisting Polly for her fourth of the match. After a silky run, she rolled Olivia in, who once again unselfishly passed the ball to Polly to tap in. The girls progress to play Brighton on Sunday in the next round.
The U14 Girls won 8-0 against Eastbourne to make it through to the next round. The girls were excellent in both halves against a very good Eastbourne side.
Amber started the scoring with a penalty stroke. After a good initial attack by Mackenzie and Celia, it got very messy around the D, before the ball hit a foot on the line. Amber coolly slotted the ball away to make it 1-0. Mackenzie then went on a fantastic mazy run to score with a cool authority. Summer and Alessia then linked up well before Summer smashed the ball home. Betty completed the first half scoring with a sensational backhand strike for her first Knole Park goal!
The second half was a similar pattern. The Knole Park girls looking to play positive attacking hockey. Summer scored twice more early on to take her tally to three for the day. First it was a backhand strike, before slotting on a penalty corner move. Bella got the biggest cheer of the day as she scored her first KP goal since returning to play from a wonderful penalty corner deflection. Mackenzie completed the scoring with another excellent penalty corner strike! The girls move into the next round with a home match against Sevenoaks on Sunday.
Finally the U14 Boys beat Sevenoaks 2-0. In the first meeting between the two sides, the boys were on fine form after a week off to rest and recuperate over half-term. A brace of penalty corner strikes from Isaac was enough to seal the win. The boys now travel to Surbiton on Sunday in the next round!
The Women’s 1st team took on East Grinstead in the first round of the Cup. In a true “David vs Goliath” match up, the young Knole Park team were superb against the side who were top of the English Premier League before the second lockdown ended the season. In fact it was Knole Park who took the lead through Annabel. An excellent turnover in defence and she rounded the goalkeeper to put Knole Park ahead. Sadly this seemed to spark East Grinstead into life and five unanswered goals before half-time meant the contest was all but over. The second half was a much improved performance, but despite this East Grinstead scored twice more to make the final score 7-1. The Women drop into the Women’s Plate competition and face Havant in two weeks’ time.
Knole Park’s Mixed XI started their England Hockey Championships campaign this week with a challenging game against Burnt Ash. On a sunny Super Sunday at Tonbridge School, Burnt Ash started strongly with some excellent pressure but our midfield and defence were able to soak up the early attacks and outlet to our forwards. The hockey was a little rushed from both teams, but the game soon settled down and some superb runs from Duncan from midfield were curtailed by various fouls and we won a series of penalty corners. After the KP attackers had been through a range of variations, Duncan found the backboard with a powerful drag flick, taking the score to 1-0.
Our second goal came from some excellent passing through midfield. An excellent 1-2 between Duncan and Captain Ruth put Duncan back on the ball breaking across the half way line. Duncan threaded the ball through Sarah who drove into the D, beat the goalkeeper with some sublime skill before finishing with a forehand strike into the bottom corner. As the half wore on Burnt Ash capitalised on some defensive turnovers to create their first opportunities of the match to bring the score level by half time. 2-2
Burnt Ash turned up the heat in the second half and after some confidence-building “worldie” goals coming from aerials played into the D and volleyed into the net, the game began to run away from us. A couple of opportunities came through Martha running out of defence and Sarah turning over a hit-out, but shots were few and far between and Burnt Ash continued to play well. The game finished 2-8 so Burnt Ash. We now drop into the EH Plate and next week hope to put in a better performance against Gore Court.
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