A squad of 9 players travelled to Swanley for this competition against Beckenham A, Beckenham B and a combined Sevenoaks/Monson team. The tournament allowed each team to play each other twice with matches having two halves of 5mins running time. Unfortunately, for Hythe we had 3 matches on the trot midway through the programme, so we knew that would be a tiring block of time in a 6ft deep pool.
Our first match was against the strong Beckenham A and proved to be our worst match of the night as mistakes and lack of team awareness saw us lose 11-1. However, Luke Riley scored a good goal and Grace Walker as goalkeeper was kept busy saving us from a bigger defeat. |
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goalscorers left to right:
Jacob Burden, Grace Walker, Luke Riley,
Tommy Evans
and Esther Evans |
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The 2nd match against Sevenoaks/Monson saw a much more positive performance and we took an early lead with Luke scoring again. Jacob Burden and Grace Walker seized any goal scoring opportunity that came their way, scoring a hat trick each. Esther Evans was also in fine form and snatched 2 goals herself to finish the game 9-2. The goalie Josh Tyrrell and the defence played a solid game to keep the ball out of our net and fed it well up the field to our attackers to score.
A quick hat change and back in the pool to play Beckenham B. They had beaten Sevenoaks/Monson and lost narrowly to their own A team, so were eager to beat Hythe. It was a close fought match all the way but Hythe just managed to win 3-2, with Luke scoring 2 goals and Jacob the other. After another hat change! and no rest and we were back in against Beckenham A. Hythe were a totally different team to the first match producing good team work and had several missed goal opportunities. Luke added to his goal tally scoring our only goal but tight marking and defensive play meant we only lost 4-1 this time. A much better result
After a much deserved rest Hythe played Sevenoaks/Monson for the 2nd time. Again the Hythe team found spaces to score goals and the passing was far more accurate. Josh in goal felt quite neglected at times as the play was all at the other end. Luke again started the score sheet in our favour with Tommy Evans scoring 2 goals soon after. Jacob and Grace both scored another hat trick and Esther Evans brought the score to 10-0.
The final game against Beckenham B was another tight game with both teams having missed opportunities. Luke maintained his record of scoring in every game and Tommy and Jacob also scored. However, with some goal scoring opportunities not being taken the result was that Hythe lost by one 3-4.
The final result saw Beckenham A as champions with Hythe Aqua 2nd on goal difference. Thanks to Jim Burch for coaching and team managing and all the parents for their support.
The team: Luke Riley, Jacob Burden, Esther Evans, Billy Barnes, Freya Coughlan, Ellie Burch, Grace Walker, Tommy Evans, Josh Tyrrell.
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