The Chronicle

On Thursday, Crackley took two teams of very excited Junior 3 Boys to Bilton Grange for their first competitive hockey fixture – a triangular with Crescent and Bilton Grange. Having been coached in unihoc through Key Stage 1, their challenge was to now just use one side of the stick! All the boys rose to the occasion.

The first match was very wet and windy, but Crackley’s Team B saw out a competitive Bilton B Team to earn a well-deserved 0:0 draw; with standout performances from Patrick B in defence, and William C in attack.

The first game for Crackley’s Team A was against the eventual winners, Crescent A Team, narrowly losing out by just one goal, but a game that got them ‘off the minibus and into the blocks’.

Our Team B then took on a very strong Bilton A Team. Again, all the boys gave it their all and continued to apply and develop their skills, but on this occasion, it wasn’t quite enough, with a 4:0 loss.

The last game for Crackley saw Team A to take on Bilton’s A Team. With Team B’s side-line support and chants, Team A weathered attack after attack, and showed true resilience and teamwork to keep Bilton out. But then, heading into the final minutes, from a superb clearance pass from Rory T, Casper made an amazing run from the half-way line into the D, and with the passionate cheering of his name from Team B, he held his nerve and put away the winning goal – much to the delight of all the boys, supporter and Mrs Vaughan (Mr Vaughan was umpiring, so couldn’t get too carried away!) Team A went on to keep a clean-sheet and saw out the game to record their first victory in a fitting nail-biting end of tournament match-up.

Thank you to all the side-line supporters, and to Bilton Grange for their generous hospitality and for hosting the event, plus big big thanks goes to Mrs Vaughan for her umpiring and coaching on the day.

Finally, a hearty congratulations to the entire squad, who should be very proud of themselves  and who demonstrate the promise of what is to come from this very promising year group.