St. Mary’s 1st VII Vs Loretto

On Wednesday we returned to our home patch at Tweedbank to welcome Loretto, for an early kick off at 2pm. Coming up against familiar faces the boys knew what to expect from a skilful and direct team. Following last week’s victory over Strathallan the team was confident we could get something out of the game. After a quick warm up we got underway.  

Loretto started with the majority of possession and dribbled with real intensity to get by our midfield and defence. Loretto opened the scoring with their striker lurking in the D to put the visitors in front in the opening 5 mins. The early goal conceded was a wakeup call and St. Marys stepped it up a gear, moving the ball with accuracy, pace and one touch passing opened up Loretto. After winning a short corner the boys got together before executing the plan. Ruben injected the ball to find Will who was closed down quickly, he got the pass away to Magnus just intime for him to get a reverse shot away which was blocked and fell back to Will, he got down low and flicked the ball low and hard to find the corner of the goal to level the score at 1-1.   

Loretto took the lead again through their midfielder, where there was contact on a St. Marys foot, the advantage was played and put in the goal. The boys’ heads didn’t drop after this setback and kept playing the same high energy style of hockey. Geordie turned into prime Thierry Henry with his pace in behind, stretched the defence and pounced on their errors. Just like at Highbury, Thierry (Geordie) took his chance to bury his shot in the far corner to tie the game 2-2.  

As the game entered its final quarter the game opened up even more, St. Marys stuck to their basics and got the ball through the lines on multiple occasions whilst putting in the work when we lost the ball. The ball fell to Ruben who was a little isolated, he drove towards the edge of the D, shrugging off the challenges and fired a shot into the back of the net, giving St. Marys the lead with 10 minutes to go.  

The boys got the rub of the green as late on Loretto missed an open goal to at least secure a draw late on. When the full-time whistle went, it was the perfect end to the term for the 1st VII hockey as every match that we played the boys learned another lesson and this came to fruition against Loretto. Doing the basics well will put you in contention against any opposition no matter how strong. 

Harry played a superb game in his debut season for the 1sts, in the first half he made a number of crucial saves, including a save where he went sully horizontal to save a shot that would’ve scored in the far corner. Will and William continued on their dominant partnership that started last year, they distributed the ball to the wide channels effectively and if Loretto were able to clear the ball, they put the ball straight back in the mixer each time. Magnus put in a massive shift in the midfield, staying close to his opposite number and disrupting Loretto’s build up. James started on right mid which now means the only position he hasn’t played this term is GK, his link up plays in tight areas with flicks round the corner to Geordie and Magnus kept the attack flowing and generated some good chances. Ruben turned into prime Messi on the left mid throughout the season, being given a bit more freedom to run at the opposing the back line and get a shot away quickly, scored us a lot of goals this season. Geordie led the line for most of the season and his pace in behind, made the Loretto defence back off which opened up space for our wingers. Caleb came off the bench in the first half and acted as a prime wing back, constantly working up and down the touch line, he kept his side of the pitch in command.  

Looking at the season as a whole, it has been very positive. At the start of the term, the patterns of play and performance were there but we struggled for confidence in front of goal under pressure. The boys got into the belief where if they are able to get any kind of shot away, do it. With the top results against Strath and now Loretto, it is a shame that the term has come to an end. The boys now look forward to their match against the staff on Wednesday. 

One massive thank you to the F8 parents for your amazing support over the last 2 years in Rugby and Hockey. You have set the bar very high with your energy and numbers and will be missed on the sidelines next year.  

Mr S Rooney MH