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Felsted U9 Boys Mini Hockey Tournament

On Thursday 5th March the U9 boys’ hockey team travelled to Felsted School in Essex to take part in the U9 Boys Mini Hockey Tournament. Having enjoyed their lunch and shaken the journey out of their systems, they managed to win a tough opening match against Felsted 1-0 and followed this up with a sound 2-1 victory over Edward’s House. The team managed to boost their goal difference with an impressive 6-0 victory over Felsted B and then they beat Kingshott 3-1. Their final game was against Barnardiston and this transpired to be their most crucial, with Barnardiston needing to win by at least 5 goals in order to beat Town Close on goal difference. Barnaridston did win the game by the narrow margin of 2 goals to 1. This meant that the U9 boys added to the impressive performance given by the U9 girls by winning the tournament!

Team from: B Watson (capt), L Trafford (GK), G Hunt, B Dugdale, C Woodcock, G Stephens, N Sharpe, T Huckerby

Review of the Boys’ Hockey – Spring Term 2008

It has been a very hectic term with 13 teams playing approximately 60 matches against other schools, as well as competing in several tournaments in various parts of East Anglia.

At the junior end, the Under 9 team showed considerable promise, coming second in the Felsted tournament.

At Colts level we ran 8 teams, a record number for the School, and the highlight was the success of the Colts A team, winning the Felsted tournament, beating the host team 7-0 in their final match. In the Norfolk Mini Hockey Tournament, the team came 3rd after narrowly losing their semi final match to eventual winners, Gresham’s.

At the senior end, the 2nd and 3rd XIs were not as successful and suffered some big losses, especially when they had to play matches on grass, against teams who were more accustomed to the surface.

The 1st XI began the season slowly but grew in confidence and were involved in some high scoring games, beating Woodbridge 3-2, Beeston Hall 4-2 and losing to Culford by 4 goals to 5.

The highlight was definitely winning the Norfolk Mini Hockey Tournament after exciting penalty shoot outs in both the semi final and final against Gresham’s and Norwich School. The boys will now be representing Norfolk in the East finals in April.

Several boys have gained selection for County teams. They are Tim Alexander, George Anthony, Angus Raffles, Henry Brock, Lewis Gooderham, Oscar Marshall and Henry Crane. Well done to all of them.

On behalf of all the boys who have played hockey for the School this term, I would like to thank all the staff who have given up their time to coach the teams.

U13 Boys Hockey - County Champions

Town Close House School Under 13 boys hockey team became county champions on Sunday. They will now represent the county in the East finals in April.

In a very tough group they won 1-0 against a skilful Beeston Hall team, before beating Gresham’s B team, also 1-0. In their third game they beat Watton Hockey Club 3-0, securing a place in the semi finals. Their final group game was against Norwich School and they lost a very close game 1-0 to come second.

This meant a difficult semi final against favourites Gresham’s, who had romped through their group, winning all their matches. In a very tight match, both teams had chances to score, but both goalkeepers played well keeping the game goalless. This meant penalties and Town Close kept their nerve, scoring all three to secure a 3-2 win.

The final meant a rematch against Norwich School. Norwich took an early lead, but Town Close kept pressing and were rewarded with an equaliser from captain George Anthony. Both sides had chances to win in normal time, but the game finished all square.

This meant that the result was again decided by penalties. After two good saves by keeper, Tom Turnbull, it was left to Tim Alexander to score the winner and he duly slotted home to seal a well earned victory.

Squad; Back Row – Angus Raffles; Sam Bloom; George Anthony (capt.); Tim Alexander; George Taylor; Frazer Baron. Front Row – William Tomson; George Cooke; Tom Turnbull