L1: Reading 8 Sevenoaks 2

Reading’s champagne hockey pops in 8

Slazenger EHL South Division
Reading 8 Sevenoaks 2
Claire Kerr 9′, Becky Odlin 34′, 41′ 66, Erin Ruxton 37′, Emily Malden 50′ 59′, Alex Smith 64′

Normal service was resumed at Sonning Lane this week. With a missed penalty stroke, a disallowed goal, conceding 2 goals and a below par short corner conversion ratio this wasn’t a perfect performance from Reading but you barely noticed in a breathless game that saw the girls rattled in 8 goals against the 3rd placed side in Slazenger EHL South Division. Only 2 places separated these two sides at the start but by the end of the game it was a chasm as Reading demonstrated their accomplishment at this level and left themselves 20 points above their opponents!

Still Reading were once again jump started by a better start from their opponents as Helen Calvert soon gave the Kent side hope of a crucial victory for them after only 6 minutes. Unusually Reading were to fail to stop two bouncing crosses in this game and both times Sevenoaks would capitalise, perhaps Reading were missing Emma Kavangh who was busy off being a pop star. Parity was quickly restored however as Claire Kerr added to her tally with a tipped in short corner. It was to be the only penalty corner routine that would come off for Reading all game, but fortunately Reading were irrepressible in open play to more than compensate.

Sevenoaks still looked the livelier of the two sides and continued with their bright start forcing keeper Helen Marsden into a couple of good saves. This was to be the last time she touched the ball as Reading started to lift their play and dominate both territory and possession. The game stayed finally poised at 1-1 for a long period however as Reading missed chances to go into the lead. Reading had a shout for a penalty stroke early in the half as Kerr seemed to have her legs taken away by a flying stick in the act of shooting but only a short corner was awarded. Emma Thomas was off target with her drag flicking and was to miss from the spot when Reading were finally awarded a stroke after an illegal stop on the line from the Sevenoaks defence. This aberration on the part of Thomas can perhaps only be explained by her having practised strokes before the game for the first time this season. Apart from a malfunctioning radar Thomas was again magnificent in this game running the midfield with increasing confidence. Sevenoaks probably aware of her midfield mastery from the glowing reports on these pages stuck a player on Thomas in an attempt to reduce her influence, but this only had the effect of taking a player out of their game as Thomas still made herself available, tackled like a terrier and lubricated Reading’s increasingly flowing hockey.

Along with Becky Odlin, Thomas was voted Reading’s MVP and it was Odlin who was who would finally make the breakthrough on the stroke of half time. She should have put Reading ahead ten minutes earlier when she put the ball in the back of the net with a deft deflection. Too deft for the umpire it seemed as he awarded a hit to Sevenoaks after deeming the ball had actually come off Odlin’s foot despite the Sevenoaks players hitting the ball back to the centre line for a restart and not protesting. Not to be denied Odline received the ball in the D in the 34th minute and pulled the trigger unleashing a fine shot into the bottom corner to give Reading a narrow 2-1 lead at half time.

Although the scoreline was tight Reading sense the pressure of their possession and territory was starting to prey on Sevenoaks as their opponents were struggling to outlet the ball. Reading also suspected that their opponent fitness wouldn’t hold for 70 minutes if they continue to pass the ball at a high tempo.

Reading accelerated after half time and immediately took the game away from a stunned Sevenoaks side with two quick goals. For the first Erin Ruxton won possession in the D and the calmly took the ball around the keeper and walked the ball into the goal. The 2nd came only 4 minutes later and started in the back four. A flowing training ground move saw the ball move from Alison Pope at full back, to Kirsty Reeman then up to Ali Omell on the forward line before Sevenoaks could even react. Omell’s cross into the D was met by Odlin whose first time shot swept the ball into the top left corner.

Reading increased their lead on 50 minutes when Emily Malden lashed in a shot to get on the scoresheet. Sevenoaks had a few chances in this period as Reading’s intense pace sometimes saw them concede possession as they tried moves that didn’t quite come off. Sevenoaks looked most likely to score from a short corner as they created few opportunities in the D, but Reading defended these robustly. Sevenoaks did manage to peg a goal back after some careless play by Reading saw a wayward pass give Sevenoaks possession in their 25 and the bobbling cross that resulted was missed by both Alison Margerison despite her ‘magic stick’ that once again picked off most things all game and Alison Pope and Sarah Pinkstone got inside her marker Kirsty Reeman to score a second for Sevenoaks.

Reading were flying however and this barely dented their momentum. Another great passing move extended their lead only 3 minutes later. Reading again passed teh ball well in teh back four before releasing Emma Thomas in the midfield. Spotting a gap on the right Alison Pope charged forward from full back and was found perfectly by Thomas. Pope threaded the ball through to Kirsty Reeman who by this point was on the near post. Reeman cleverly didn’t attempt to shoot from a narrow angle, something Reading was guilty of the previous week. Instead having learnt their lesson Reeman simply deflected the ball across the face of goal for Emily Malden to tap her second into the open goal. In fact this should have been Malden’s hat trick, but instead of tipping in Emma Thomas’s pass a few minutes earlier she had managed a fantastic save diving at full stretch instead that was fully applauded by her full back colleagues. Joking apart Malden thoroughly deserved a hat trick from another mature performance as she continues to improve with every game.

It wasn’t to be however and in the end it was to be Odlin who scored the only hat trick of the day sealing the win with her third and Reading’s 8th in the 66th minute at the second attempt after her first shot had been well saved. Two minutes earlier Alex Smith had scored Reading’s 7th after a sweeping breakaway. Sevenoaks had won another penalty corner but Alison Pope plucked the ball out of the air and released the midfield. The ball was swept out to Smith who needed only one touch to tee herself up before lashing in an unstoppable shot.

It was a credit to Sevenoaks that despite their second half battering they never gave up. It is also credit to Reading who never took their foot off the pedal in the second half and in doing so advanced their game yet again. Even within touching distance of the end of the season Reading are showing a fantastic dedication to their preparation and performances, focusing on every detail and demonstrating a confidence to translate training ground work into match day performances and a willingness to keep learning and improving. This is thanks to coach Manpreet Kochar who once again has lifted his girls to meet and exceed the challenge in front of them and prepared them perfectly for the task.

Reading visit Maidstone next week for another must win game. Maidstone feature the league’s second best scorer behind our own Claire Kerr so have a dangerous cutting edge and their last four games have all been close contests with only a one goal margin. Reading will hope they can take the momentum from this game into this week’s training and down to Kent with them and get the 3 points they need rather than suffer a hangover from their second half champagne hockey.

SquadHelen Marsden (GK), Kirsty Reeman, Alice Margerison (Capt), Alison Pope, Anna McGlaughlin, Erin Ruxton, Emma Thomas, Alex Smith, Claire Kerr, Becky Odlin, Ali Omell, Abi Harper, Emily Malden
ManagementManpreet ‘Loving It’ Kochar, Emma Gibbings, Fi Holmes
MVPBecky Odlin and Emma Thomas. A finer pair of tackle monsters you couldn’t wish for. And they score too!
Noisy Home CrowdIn good voice thanks to the Mens 4s but then they got their money’s worth.