City of Peterborough Under 12’s in action

CoP HC started off this 7 a side competition at Bretton Gate wanting to have fun and possibly sneak a win.  

The first game saw CoP HC playing the eventual winners Rutland.  A strong start from Rutland was quoshed by the commanding defence led by Sam Maryniak & Kunal Patel.  Peterborough started to pass the ball around wisely, with pace and passion, which eventually lead to a mazy run from Daniel Mees who slipped the ball through to Ivar van der Schans to put the ball in the back of the net and gain the high fives from his team mates.  The game then stalled a bit with both sides playing some nice Hockey, as time ran out CoP HC would have the upper hand and come away with a 1 – 0 results, a very good start to the tournament.

This would be the theme of the day with the team getting 1 – 0 & 2 – 0 wins thanks to some excellent keeping from Ieuan Williams, and the dogged running from Finlay Richardson & Milo Fitzpatrick with both getting vital goals to progress CoP HC to the Semi Finals against a much bigger and older TDA team.

The game started nervously from both sides with the smaller CoP HC thwarting TDA’s attackers.  Jordan Griffiths, making his debut appearance after joining the club 3 weeks ago, made some excellent tackles and playing the ball down the line for Ivar to constantly cause the TDA defence to panic.

Unfortunately the size and physical strength of TDA started to show through and they managed to pinch an untidy goal, as after some chopping went unpunished, TDA managed to get the ball across to the top of the D and slip it past the advancing Ieuan Williams to make the score 0 – 1.  CoP HC then pulled up their sleeves and with Daniel masterfully ripping apart the midfield he managed to get a strong shot on target only for the keeper to clear his lines and set up TDA’s next attack, with CoP HC chasing back TDA managed to drag the ball into the bottom left corner for 0 – 2.

Two minutes to go and COPHC got a bit of luck they needed, following a missed tackle from TDA the ball slipped through for Ivar to slide the ball under the keepers foot to make it 1 – 2.
The whistle for full time came too soon for a spirited CoP HC to claw another goal back and TDA advanced to the Final with CoP HC playing for 3rd Place against Spalding.

The game started brightly with the ball being past around well by both sides.  Strong tackling again from Kunal & Sam meant their wall would not be broken,so it was up to the midfield and front men to win this one for CoP HC and that’s exactly what they did with Finlay Richardson running strongly down the left and firing the ball past the hapless keeper for 1 – 0.

The next 5 minutes the game was all about who wanted it more.  The CoP HC boys didn’t stop tackling, running and passing the whole game, causing Spalding all kinds of problems, Milo narrowly missed the post, Ivar hitting the keeper and Jordan htting the near post.

CoP HC won the game 1 – 0 and claimed 3rd place with Rutland winners and TDA second.  This was a great day for COPHC, all coaches were over the moon at the skills and prowess being shown by a bunch of under 12’s playing a game they loved.

The future of this club is in safe hands.

Team on the Day

• Ieuan Williams – GK
• Jordan Griffiths – Defender
• Kunal Patel – Defender
• Sam Maryniak – Defender
• Milo Fitzpatrick – Midfield
• Finlay Richardson – Midfield
• Daniel Mees – Midfield
• Ivar van der Schans – Attack

Coaches

• Darren Griffiths
• Gwyn Williams
• Steve Maryniak