Women's B

ASA Championships. Sheffield B

1st Round, 22.04.07, at Manchester Aquatics Centre

Sheffield B V Manchester C

Score: 5 - 9 win to Sheffield B

Sheffield gets off to a very respectable start...

On the weekend of 23rd and 24th September, Sheffield ladies B team travelled down to Basingstoke to begin their 2006 National League campaign. Accompanied by stand-in coach Rich Sellors due to the playing commitments of head coach Olly Birkett, the ladies gave an excellent account of themselves over the games, winning 2 out of 3.

The first game on the Saturday was against Sunderland, who last year underachieved, but this year came into the league as an unknown quantity. This was due to their ability to 'draft in' students from nearby universities. The game, on paper, was always going to have the Sheffield team as favourites but the game did provide a potential 'banana skin' result.

With the Sheffield ladies being well aware of the danger of taking their opposition too likely they started off hesitantly, wasting a number of good chances in front of goal in the first quarter. In fact they only managed to produce 1 goal courtesy of Jo Jones. Luckily the team weren't as hesitant in defence and managed to keep their opponents from scoring, a task they kept up until the fourth quarter. Sheffield?s hesitancy continued into the second quarter until 2 goals from Beth Procter midway through seemed to relax the whole team and further goals from Rebecca Brindley and captain Alison Storey gave Sheffield a comfortable 5-0 half-time lead. With the impetus well on their side Sheffield continued to stretch their advantage scoring a further 6 goals in the third, including a brace from Emma Griffiths a further 2 from Beth Procter and a fine individual effort from Marie Mulligan. With Sheffield well in control due to tight defensive display from Amelia Gale Sheffield continue to play with freedom and flair and despite conceding a dubious penalty, Sheffield managed another 6 goals in the final quarter. Giving them a deserved final score of 17-1. The biggest contribution of which, coming from Alex Hill who contributed with 3 goals. Beth Proctor continued her fine individual performance with 2 more to take her individual match tally to 6. The other goal came by way of national league debutant Eleanor Gaywood.

The Sunday morning game against Otter, last season's league runners-up, was always going to be a hard fought game. The first quarter was a close affair with Otter scoring in the final second to take a 2-goal cushion into the second at 4-2. Sheffield's goals being provided by a well worked ?man-up? goal from Alison Storey and a good solo effort from Jo Jones. Early in the third quarter Sheffield managed to reduce their arrears to just a single goal through Rachel Gamble-Flint. However a slight lack of discipline at the back allowed Otter to extend that lead with 2 goals of their own midway through the quarter. Despite Sheffield coming back into the match with a goal from Emma Griffiths, Otter scored twice more to take a 5-goal cushion into the final quarter. Sheffield showed true fighting spirit in the final quarter and the discipline returned to the defence as they managed to prevent Otter from scoring further. Although Sheffield managed to reduce the deficit by 2 with goals from Beth Procter and Alison Storey, Otter held Sheffield at bay and eventual won 11-8, a score line that didn?t really reflect the evenness of the sides.

With Sheffield keen to take their frustration out on their final opponents, Hucknall, they came out the blocks firing. Racing into a 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, with Sheffield's player of the weekend, Beth Procter scoring twice whilst Becky Brindley and Alex Hill contributed with a goal apiece. With Sheffield in relentless mood they continued to press home their superiority with another 4 goals in the second quarter. Amelia Gale (2) and Esther Sandstra-Bennett (1) opened their own personal account with the consistent Alex Hill (1) adding the other. With Sheffield well in control, some may of thought that they would have been happy just to see the game out but a further 11 goals scored and only 6 conceded in the final 2 quarters proved their dominance. The pick of the scorers was Rachel Gamble-Flint with 5 goals. Emma Griffiths (1) and Jo Jones (1) joined Beth Proctor (2) as the only players to score in every game. Other contributors were Becky Brindley (1) and Alex Hill (1).

Other notable performances came from debutants Ripley Fidler and Elinor Weatherill.