Potters out fighting

An excellent exhibition of Badgers Hockey saw honours even after Worcester took the lead in the first half. A wonderful demonstration of the benefits of children learning how to play 11-a-side hockey in the Badgers environment saw lots of ambition, purposeful attacking and gritty defending from both sides. Worcester started the match strongly, with the midfield of David Shephard, Luke Bowerman, Lottie Atkinson and Connor Winkworth controlling possession. At the same time Cameron Palmer, Imogen Gillgrass and Izzy Nott were working hard to create space in attack. This early momentum resulted in a well worked early goal scored by Izzy Nott from a deliberate deflection at the far post following a tremendous reverse stick strike from Cameron Palmer. The rest of the half saw Evesham work hard to create opportunity but due to the endeavour of the Worcester team rarely did they breach the our D. Into the second half and again Worcester appeared to have the balance of play, but now the Evesham team were becoming more ambitious and putting more pressure on the Worcester goal. Their wide players were able to demonstrate their pace which meant the Worcester defence were now going backwards rather than supporting the forward momentum. At times Worcester appeared to get bogged down just outside the Evesham D resulting in either conceding possession or missed opportunities. The pressure from Evesham ultimately told as a deflected shot saw them equalise, which was how it ended. I am sure an independent observer would say it was a fair result, but a little disappointing that we could not hold on to the early lead we created. Thank you to Evesham for their excellent hospitality and match tea back at the Clubhouse. Player of the Match: David Shephard Worcester Scorer: Izzy Nott Team: Austin Shipley (GK), David Shephard, Alastair Borwell-Fox, Cameron Palmer, Connor Winkworth, Luke Bowerman, Ben Lawrence, Immie Gillgrass, Bella Fielden, Lottie Atkinson Izzy Nott, Milly Short