The Hockey First XI produced a series of outstanding performances to reach the final at the North Yorkshire County Cup tournament. Having qualified to represent Scarborough and District, the team took on seven other district winners from North Yorkshire. The standard of the opposition was very high but the girls were not intimidated and their work rate was excellent all day. We qualified as runner up from the group stages after Ameena Ashcroft equalised late in the second half against Giggleswick.
A tense semi -final with St Peters again saw a second half equaliser this time from Sarah Trowsdale which sent the game into a penalty flick competition. A superb series of saves from Chloe Cervone resulted in her saving all five of the St Peters penalties. This was all the more remarkable seeing as she had never played in goal before. Sarah Taylor’s successful penalty was enough for the team to advance into the final and by this time Mr Allen was seriously concerned about Mr Blackwell’s health!
The final saw a return clash with Queen Margaret’s who had beaten us 1-0 in the group stages earlier in the day. A strong and passionate performance from the first team lead to a very tight game with very few chances. Fyling Hall finished the stronger of the two teams and, with a bit of luck, a few half chances created late on could have gone in; however a scoreless draw was a fair result. Another penalty flick competition was a tense way to settle the competition and was always going to be a tall order against the England under 18 goalkeeper. Queen Margaret’s held their composure and scored some excellent penalties and their keeper made some good saves which saw them run out 3-1 winners.
Finishing runners up was a remarkable achievement and is rewarded with the First XI making history for Fyling Hall by going on to represent North Yorkshire in the North East of England Tournament on Monday 19th November. The way the team worked for each other was a credit to all concerned and the performances of those players who have played very few hockey matches at all, never mind at first team level, was remarkable. Strong leadership from the experienced players Danielle Halley, Samantha Gibson, Sarah Taylor and Ameena Ashcroft set the example for the whole day. An outstanding performance for which the whole team should be very proud.
