Ladies 1st Team
Matches
Sat 12 Jan 2019  ·  Premier Division
Broxbourne Hockey Club
Ladies 1st Team
4
0
CoP 1
COP threat gingerly peters out to badger dominance

COP threat gingerly peters out to badger dominance

Laura Wills13 Jan 2019 - 11:57
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Broxbourne 4:0 City of Peterborough

By Lisa Banahan

It was a day for the gingers at Badger Field, with Broxbourne stretching the gap to their closest rivals with an emphatic win.

There were prominent performances from Charlotte Skipp, Lucy “Bob" Hoskins and veteran Gemma “fake ginger" Wilkinson. Hoskins has returned to the club this season after a three year break from hockey, taken to pursue her career as one of the country’s top builders. Following an incident involving a bucket on a late night train, Hoskins has had to take a step away from her building empire, commenting that the bad publicity was regretfully something “she couldn’t fix”.
The utility player received her first Badger badge of honour for the season following a firey performance at the helm of the Badgers’ press, in addition to a red hot strike finding the backboard for the final goal.

The build up to the game was not ideal for the Badgers, with Right-back Tor Stacey hospitalised after training on Thursday night. Stacey's go go gadget arms worked against her on this occasion, deflecting the ball into her own face, as she reached for a totally innocuous ball that was in itself not at all to blame for the incident. The Broxbourne medical team have come under much criticism following the incident, with Stacey slamming the Banahan-Green first aid kit operation team in a statement before today's game. Green will be under review after accusations of using some of the medical materials as cuff links and Banahan has denied rumours that Stacey was given a sling to cover her bleeding temple while Banahan herself collected hockey balls. Captain Laura Wills has viewed this as a serious violation of medical team protocol, considering it involved a “grade 2 bruise “ classified incident. Stacey’s recovery allowed her to return to the squad for the crunch tie, but the futures of Banahan and Green in the club are uncertain.

Broxbourne got off to the dream start with a goal in the first 10 minutes, courtesy of an Emily Wilkins’ reverse stick chip into the top right corner. Wilkins has been targeted by the Broxbourne nutritionist to help her develop her strength in this signature stroke, although her commitment to kale stir-frys has been queried following a unbecoming snap of her in the Daily Mail tucking into a chocolate brownie after today's game. The normally photogenic Wilkins brushed it off as a calorie free protein bar in the post match press conference, and the nutrition team have refused to comment on rumours that the suspect brownie will be sent to the Broxbourne lab for further analysis.

It was top earner (£5000 a week) Charlotte Skipp's turn of pace that down the left hand side that provided lowest earner (£5 a week) Gemma Wilkinson with opportunity to put Broxbourne 2 in front going in to half time. The striker made no mistake in punching the ball into the bottom right corner, doubling her goal tally for the season.

It proved a nervy last 5 minutes before the half time whistle blew, with Pip “The Wall" Evans denying the COP forward line access to the defending circle on numerous occasions . The backroom technical staff have revealed that the defender trumped her tackling stats from last week today, although suspiciously didn’t receive half as many player votes post game. Grumblings that the player is a chronic self-voter continue in the Broxbourne camp, led by badge deficient centre back Becky Scarrott. Scarrott has defended her stance publically against the Januhairy campaign championed by Evans, increasing tensions further between the centre back pairing.

Coach Matt McDonnell was not inclined to let the foot off the gas in the second half, and he was not disappointed. Pip “The Wall" Evans showcased her “Walls of Jericho" short corner routine, resulting in the Badgers celebrating their third goal of the game. This was followed by passages of beautiful link up play between Emily Wilkins and the forward line, which amazed even Coach McDonnell on occasion.

However, an unfortunate yellow card to Scarrott led to a period of pressure from the visitors. Alice Brown stepped into the centre back role, and managed to direct operations to keep the Badgers’ clean sheet in tact. As ever, the midfielder's well publicised perilous financial status is front and centre of her media profile, spotted carrying her kit off the team bus today in a Waitrose plastic bag.

Laura Wills took the opportunity to play down the clock on the Scarrott yellow card in the top right corner, and pleased the team fitness director Kerri Marshall with her subsequent tracking back to defend. This pressure on the right hand side led to Emily Wilkins playing a beautifully paced ball to Kerri Marshall just outside the attacking D. She first timed it to Lucy Hoskins in the circle who in turn first timed it into the bottom left corner.

The last few minutes were not without incident with Left back Lisa Banahan receiving a potentially life threatening blow to the throat following an ill-advised stick challenge. Dr Laura Wills was on hand to reassure and diagnose a grade 1 bruise and Banahan was fortunately allowed to continue. The defender has had a number of medical scares this season following a slightly sore arm after a flu jab and being generally a grade 2 pain in the arse.

The stadium at Badger Field showed their appreciation as the final whistle went, with Pete Finch sporting his GB kit in support of his daughter. As always Sam Gates enjoyed the goal-fest for the Badgers and spurred the team on from the sidelines.

The Badgers travel to the Harleston next weekend, keen to steal some points from the Magpies nest to hold their 3rd place position in the East Prem League.

Match details

Match date

Sat 12 Jan 2019

Kickoff

15:00

Meet time

14:00

Instructions

Playing in BLUE but please bring Pink Just incase
Match fees £10 senior £5 Junior

Competition

Premier Division

League position

2
Broxbourne 1
5
CoP 1
Team overview
Further reading