Banbury Bulldogs Skater Hockey Club

Pee wees

Gloucester Boxers 9 - 5 Banbury Bulldogs

Following a changing room strategy in which Hayley Cross had her first experience of the "boys" changing room, the team ventured into the limelight. This pre-league match was being run strictly to the BISHA league rules and our players were sent reeling for spare tape to apply to their skates and hockey sticks. Every piece of kit was inspected and after a short delay all our players were approved to play. A very anxious moment for all supporters! [Not at all - we trust the team managers to cope with all this - Ed]

After the warm up the team assembled ready for battle, the managers prepping and hyping them up only to hear the comment "Ooo-er aren't they BIG!" from some of the more vertically challenged team members. Encouragement in bucketsful was dispensed and out went the team.
The Bulldogs started slowly. The Boxers swarmed around our goal area and took first and second blood.  The Bulldogs held their ground and Stephen Wiggins smacked a beauty into the back of the net scoring the first of his four goals, giving the Bulldogs a much-needed dose of confidence.

Gradually the team started to gel. Adam Capel and Oliver Cruzat pushed the Boxers around the pitch and were creative in support of the team, having several shots on goal. Jo Cochrane scored a swift shot on the rebound from Haris Khan's powerful attempt on goal bringing the score at half time to 5 - 2 to the Boxers.

Lots of Aqua Pura water was taken on board and into the second half they went. Ben Khan, Mark Andrew, Simon Read and Josh Harrison played well, interrupting their opponents passing and occasionally surprising the managers with some creative passing. The Boxers pulled slightly ahead with numerous shots on goal though only a minority of shots passed the rock of Hayley Cross. The pace of the game started to show, with players noticeably tiring, though others in the wings were screaming that they wanted to go on. The final score stood at 9 - 5 to the Gloucester Boxers.

After the match the Gloucester Boxers had organised a "Player of the Match" award, for each team. After careful consideration, ther Bulldogs award went to Haris Khan for his work in all areas of attack and defence and his support of the rest of the team. Other players worthy of mention are Hayley Cross for her stirling performance in goal, Steven Wiggins for all his goal scoring and Oliver Cruzat for his game awareness and team support.

WELL DONE to all the players, a good first league standard game and one to be proud of irrespective of the result. To hold a team who have played in the league for a year to a 4 goal difference is very impressive and a result on which to build. FANTASTIC EFFORT.
In addition, a big thank you to all the travelling supporters for making the trip to Gloucester.