Longridge Hockey Club

Longridge 8 v 1 Wigan

A long awaited first game of the season finally arrived on Saturday for Longridge and with some new and young faces in the starting line up; there were a few nervous faces before the game. Longridge still without there new pitch, played there first home fixture at Kirkham grammar school against a newly promoted Wigan who didn’t get off to the best start conceding in the first minute. A good run down the left by Nicki Wilcox saw her shot saved by the Wigan keeper but a fantastic follow up strike from Sally Rotheram put Longridge ahead in the first minute. Longridges second of the match game from some good defensive play from Longridge. Longridge knew Wigan were struggling with there hit outs so used it to there advantage, blocking off all options the Wigan defence made a vital mistake which resulted in a race between the Wigan keeper and striker Nicki Wilcox. Fortunately for Longridge the striker got to the ball first and slotted the in the back of the net. Goal number 3 for Longridge came from an outstanding penalty corner strike from Jenny Key, which left the Wigan defence stunned. Wigan pulled a goal back as Longridge fell asleep for a moment, which allowed them to get a strike on goal.

The second half saw Longridge come out fighting strong. With some excellent play down the right from new striker, Grace Airey the ball found its way to Jenny Key who smashed the ball in behind the Wigan defence leaving Nicki Wilcox to tap the ball in safely for our fourth goal. Longridge, who were trying out a new formation, were showing some good standard of hockey and with a brand new backline of Charlotte Carter, Becky Wright and Emma Wilkinson proving too much for the Wigan attack to deal with, Longridge were let loose on goal again! With some good running from Sally Rotheram and a great pass from Leanne Pye, the Wigan defence crumbled and left Nicki Wilcox to slot her third of the game. Wigan were getting tired as were Longridge but a great run from Grace Airey on the right who gave the ball to Charlotte McNeela who drilled the ball into the D leaving Sally Rotheram to finish it off for her second and Longridges 6th!Even more hard work and excellent play from the whole Longridge squad lead to 2 more goals for mighty blues! The first came from a lovely one two between Sally Rotheram and Nicki Wilcox allowing Nicki to smash the ball pass the keeper for her 4th of the game and number 5 came shortly after with a brilliant reverse stick strike from the top of the D putting the final score at 8 – 1 to the mighty Longridge Blues!!!

A fantastic first performance from all the squad especially the new members but player of the match went to Grace Airey for her outstanding hard work in her first game for the 1st team. Next week see Longridge play another newly promoted team away at Oldham.

Team: Kirkham, Carter, Wright, Wilkinson, F.McNeela, Rotheram, Pye, C.McNeela, Key, Airey, Wilcox< >