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| Invicta Ladies Beat Bristol |
| Invicta Ladies Beat Hucknall |
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| 27/11/06 - Martin -
Invicta Ladies continue their progress The Invicta ladies team playing in Div 3 of the women’s National League have taken all six points following three wins out of three at Hucknall this weekend. Hucknall on home ground with a strong squad and plenty of local support was a difficult first game for the ladies. Fortunately, Invicta, as with the men, travel with their own supporters club made up of family and friends. This support was called on more than once during this game and proved extremely helpful during later games over the weekend. Hucknall play a pressing game make it difficult to gain position or move the ball, the girls handled this very well for three periods before the team started to tire due to the pressure applied. With only one substitute on the bench players enjoyed limited rest other than between quarters. With Leanne and Michelle marshalling the back and Lois offering a threat from the pit the team maintained a slender lead throughout the game. The younger girls got plenty of water time and accredited themselves very well; this is where the progress this year is most evident, Bex in particular showing the promise in the pit we can look forward to next season. The second game on Saturday against Bristol was reasonably comfortable; we did not play our best but secured the win. Karina arrived in time to make up the ninth player for this fixture, with Jenny and Chelsea arriving for the Sunday game against Manchester B. Problems with accommodating 26 players had been resolved earlier in the week and the evening meal was late due to the large numbers, however everyone enjoyed the evening and the focus switched to the Sunday game. The extra two players available gave us a bench of four allowing for a more expansive game plan which the ladies played to. The best game of the weekend gave a score line that flattered us a little. We were only two in front at the start of the final quarter but two quick goals took the pressure off and allowed us to close out the game comfortably. Manchester, a young side improving each weekend could have presented a bigger threat had we not played so well. Overall a very successful weekend for the ladies team. Head Coach - Martin Burke |
| 9/1/07 - Fred - Ladies at Walsall After the evening at Ashford I wended my weary way Walsall to watch the Ladies in their penultimate National League week-end and I was so impressed that I want you all to hear about it. What a team of fighters ! Despite this only being their first season together and with very little coaching and a very, very young team they went into the week-end facing three hard matches against the first(Otter), second(Penguin B) and third teams(Sheffield B) the League. First match against Otter was lost 12 – 5 deservedly to a stronger team. (Coached by an old Marlin – Nick Buller. Were they downhearted, did their heads drop, NO. In the second match (Sheffield B) they clawed their way back from 5 – 1 down at the end of the first quarter to win 10 – 9. Maybe a lesson for us all there. What do you do if you lose the first quarter 5 – 1. Win the last quarter 6 - 1. Self belief, character and a real fighting spirit won them that one. I was so excited by that win that I tried to make a joke about Chelsea’s left handed flick round the goal keeper by saying to her ‘your googly would have been a credit to Shane Warne’ but unfortunately as there were no cricket fans in the team that fell flatter than England’s batting averages. Then blow me down if, after a very pleasant evening in a local pub they didn’t go and do the same thing next morning to Penguin ‘B’ knocking them off second place and a possible play off spot. Score at the end of the third quarter was down 5 – 3 but they clawed their way back to win 6 – 5. Well done to them all. They were a credit to the Club and themselves. Team. Amy, Sarah, Becky, Michelle, Leanne, Chelsea, Charlotte, Lois and Adel |
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| 11/6/07 - Fred - Invicta Ladies Win London League
Congratulations to the Invicta Ladies team who won the London League Ladies Championship at Whitgift’s School on Sunday 10th June. They won the Tournament over three week-ends finally beating a London Select team 6 – 5 and then immediately beating Haywards Heath 10 – 6 in the Final. It is difficult to pick out or name any star players because everybody played well but is it was very exciting to see so many very young players come in and play with a maturity way beyond their years and that certainly bodes well for the future. It was just a magnificent achievement by a very young team (average age 19) to play eight continuous quarters of hard competitive polo and still beat a team that play in Division 2 of the National League. Congratulation to Lois and Kevin who coached the team in the absence of the usual coaches. (Who needs Martin and Steve anyway ?). Once again – Congratulation to all the players |
| Back row: Kevin, Lois, Becks, Amy, Adele, Charlotte, Michelle, Leanne
Front row: Nicky, Chelsea, Jenny, Daisy, Emma, Jacqui Absent: Karina, Sarah |
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| 04/09/07 - Fred - Ladies appoint new coach New coach, Alastair Roberts, is one of the top coaches in the South East and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Club. He has been the South East Regional Ladies Coach for some time and in that capacity has already worked with most of the Invicta Ladies.This is another big step in the Clubs development and now means all the Invicta squads have their own dedicated coaches. On a lighter vein it means that all the squads have their own coaches instead of Martin acting as a mini bus for all squads. |
| 16/07/07 - Alastair Roberts - Manchester Aquatic Centre, 15/16th September.
- Women's National League Division 3 - Tournament Weekend 1
The first event of this year’s campaign saw the team travel north to the Manchester Aquatic Centre to play 3 demanding matches. Unfortunately we were only able to play with a squad of 9 on the Saturday and 10 on Sunday and this was always going to test the girls fitness throughout the weekend. Match 1. - Invicta 6, Cardiff 6. Ultimately, a disappointing result against a team who were relegated from Division 2 at the end of last season. This was a match that we really should have won having taken a 2 goal lead with under 5 minutes to play. A combination of poor defending and fatigue resulted in Cardiff scoring twice to draw level but we still had a chance to win the match after we called a time-out with 1 minute of the match remaining. The resulting attack saw the Cardiff goalkeeper produce a fine save and each team had to settle for a share of the points. This was an exciting match but all the girls realised that we really should have won. We defended well until the final few minutes but we contrived to miss far too many of the good chances we created. This was partly due to the Cardiff goal-keeper who made a string of good saves but we missed far too many opportunities. Quarter Scores; - 2-3, 1-1, 2-0, 1-2. Scorers; - Michelle Cave 3, Charlotte McMahon 2, Rebecca Anderson 1. Exclusions; - Sarah Tollefson 1, Rebecca Anderson 1, Charlotte McMahon 1, Michelle Cave 1, Roxanne Hargreaves 1. Match 2. - Invicta 5, Manchester C 9. After the excitement and efforts of the previous match, it was always going to be tough to play the second game of the day against a young, but very fit Manchester team. The girls played well in the early stages but it was obvious as the game went on that the efforts made in the match against Cardiff were beginning to take their toll. The squad of only 9 just couldn't sustain the level of performance late in the match and the final quarter saw the opposition pull away. Once again it was several missed chances, particularly in the early part of the match that cost us. We needed to build a lead that would put the opposition under pressure but we missed too many opportunities. Quarter Scores; - 1-1, 1-2, 1-1, 2-5. Scorers; - Michelle Cave 2, Charlotte McMahon 2, Roxanne Hargreaves 1 Exclusions; - Rebecca Anderson 2, Sarah Tollefson 1, Roxanne Hargreaves 1, Nicki Macdonald 1. Match 3. - Invicta 22, Sunderland 2. Our match on Sunday resulted in an easy win against a poor quality of opposition who struggled to deal with our full press and counter attacking game. We rotated the squad of 10 (Jenny Hodkinson had travelled up to play in this match) and all the girls played well. We had 8 different scorers and it looked for a long period that we would keep a clean sheet. Quarter Scores; - 4-0, 7-0, 6-2, 5-0. Scorers; - Rebecca Anderson 5, Charlotte McMahon 4, Michelle Cave 4, Roxanne Hargreaves 2, Sarah Tollefson 2, Chelsea Hodkinson 2, Jenny Hodkinson 1, Nicki Macdonald 1. Exclusions; - Chelsea Hodkinson 2. Squad in Full; - Amy Boughton (GK), Sarah Tollefson, Rebecca Anderson, Charlotte McMahon, Michelle Cave (Captain), Roxanne Hargreaves, Jackie Walker, Chelsea Hodkinson, Jenny Hodkinson & Nicki Macdonald. The program continues this coming weekend at Gloucester when the team have fixtures against Hucknall, Bristol and Manchester University. |
| C McMahon - 13 |
| M Cave - 9 |
| R Hargreaves - 8 |
| R Hargreaves - 5 |
| 27/9/07 - Patrick - Invicta Ladies take 4 points from their second weekend For match report Click Here |