Spurs move 10 points ahead of nearest rivals in hockey league

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Spurs stretched their lead at the top of hockey’s Rosebowl league to 10 points with a comfortable win over Scalloway while Burra lost out to Whalsay and Delting were unable to field a team against Burra and forfeited the points.

Association Rosebowl

Spurs 4, Scalloway 0

Spurs won the toss and opted for first pass. They used their athleticism from the start. Spurs managed to open the score sheet within the first minute of the game. Sarah Grogan pounced on a loose ball and calmly drove the ball into the circle and beyond the reach of Scalloway goalkeeper.

At this stage Scalloway woke up and came into the game more. They used their target players Lynne Scollay and Mhairi Moncrieff to build up their attacks. However, Lara Thomason, Rona Simpson and Ava Sim were all marking tightly in the central belt.

Play began to open up. As the Scalloway wide players were being sucked into the central midfield, play was opening up for the Spurs midfield and forward line. Gayle Johnson and Fiona Shearer were working hard to switch play around the defence and drove at their Scalloway counterparts. This resulted in a number of penalty corners. On this occasion, Spurs were unsuccessful, despite the efforts of Lara Thomason and Morag Fox shooting wide of the posts.

As play progressed, Spurs were building up many well-executed passes. Karen MacKay was linking well with Fox and Emma Gray, providing Grogan with many a fine pass. Christine Georgeson in the Scalloway goal saved her initial strikes. Fox picked up a rebound, but she could only watch in disbelief as her goal bound flick was saved in mid air by Georgeson.

Spurs kept the pressure on, and their confidence was growing. A slick through-ball from Shearer found Grogan on the back post who hammered home in 30 minutes. In 33 minutes Grogan claimed her hat trick. A nice touch-on from Thomason found Grogan in space to slot under the keeper’s pads.

As the second half progressed, Scalloway made slight changes and played more defensively. Naomi Johnson and Debbi Sneddon were blocking well, and Scollay was clearing well to her front line.

Spurs continued to attack. Sim, Susan Morrison and Louise Moar were calmly disposing of any through balls. Andrea Tait was commanding her area well. Spurs were unlucky not to add to the score sheet, as Thomason hit the post, Shearer shot wide and Grogan clipped the side netting. A spell of penalty corners saw Simpson’s flick saved by Georgeson in the Scalloway goal.

Gayle Henry was introduced to the Spurs midfield and instantly injected some pace and quick thinking. She supported Fox by crossing in some tricky balls. Thirty-three minutes into the second half  the score sheet opened again. This time Lara Thomason got her name on it with a well positioned strike from the acutest of angles. Play closed 4-0 in Spurs’ favour.

Best on the night was undoubtedly Christine Georgeson for Scalloway, and for Spurs Sarah Grogan was nominated as best player.

Burra 0, Whalsay 3

Whalsay started on the attack as soon as the whistle blew, putting pressure on the Burra defence. Good linking play from Nicola Duthie, Victoria Duthie and Shelley Sandison lead to Shelley scoring Whalsay’s first goal of the game. Burra fought back hard and kept the score at 1-0 until the half time whistle.

Burra started strong in the second half with good pressure from Josie Jamieson and Kristan Robertson with Josie unlucky to score from an excellent strike at goal. Whalsay broke again, resulting in an early second half goal from Maggie Kay putting Whalsay 2-0 up.

Burra played well but were unlucky to string together the passes to keep the ball up the pitch. An opportunity was opened for Burra with a short corner. Josie passed to Kristan who passed it to Joyce Adamson who struck the ball into the left hand corner of the goal. Unfortunately it was disallowed because of an earlier stick tackle.

Whalsay applied pressure continuously throughout last quarter of the game. Nicola Duthie had a strike at goal which deflected off a Burra defender’s stick, making the final score 3-0. Special mention must go to the Whalsay goalie Emily Shearer who did an excellent job.

Player of the match for Burra was Joyce Adamson and for Whalsay it was Maggie Irvine.

Burra v Delting
Delting were unable to field a team so the points were awarded to Burra.

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