Boyne nets winner to maintain Canterbury’s pressure

Canterbury men’s 1sts backed up their win over leaders Reading with a 3-2 success away to struggling Havant in Division 1 South on Sunday. They had to quickly acclimatise to a slippery pitch and tricky conditions.

An early green card saw Canterbury go a man down and Havant had some early pressure, however it was the away side who scored first with a penalty corner being converted by Tom Bean. Another card, this time yellow, for Canterbury allowed Havant to level through a back-hand strike which Canterbury keeper Chris Rea could do nothing about and, soon after, they added a second to take the lead at half-time. Canterbury battled in the second half, and they soon found themselves level through a deflection by manof-the-match Hamish Roberts. Canterbury continued to press and chances came, although Havant’s goalkeeper made some fine saves.

But when Craig Boyne found himself unmarked on the top of the circle, Havant’s defence had no answer as Boyne put the ball high into the net. The 2nds lost 6-1 to Old Georgians on Saturday despite

Josh Prebble’s consolation goal. Hugo Corteen-coleman was named their man-of-thematch. Canterbury’s 5ths were beaten 4-2 by Gillingham Anchorians. Ethan Filmer and Simon Downes netted for Canterbury whose man-of-the-match was Pete Ratcliffe who put in a solid performance on his debut.

The men’s Friars beat Gore Court 5ths 2-0 through manof-the-match Jonny Devereux and John Aikin.

Efforts by man-of-the-match Riley Holness and Ashley Hooker saw the men’s Millers draw 2-2 with New Beccehamian.

The ladies’ 1sts finished the year on a high with a 6-0 success against Harleston Magpies in Division 1 South. Dom Masters (2), Alice Brett, Lara Wilkinson, player-of-thematch Chloe Plumb and Lizzie Jenkins were all on target. Canterbury under-12s boys were involved in a triangular tournament at Gore Court. The tournament saw them take on Gore Court in their first match of the day as excellent play by the team resulted in a 2-0 victory with both goals scored by Will Pattison after good work from Teddy Ridings.

The second match was against Sevenoaks and, although the game was a fairly even contest, Canterbury were defeated 4-1 as they played without a keeper. Ridings scored their goal.

Against Holcombe their third match was a similar tale, as yet again playing without a goalkeeper, Canterbury went down 3-1. Pattison and Ridings combined well again for Ridings to score.

After battling hard , tired legs in the final match against the other Canterbury side involved saw them lose 5-1. Canterbury battled hard throughout all of their matches, with special mentions to Pattison and Ridings, although the whole team worked hard.

The under-8s also played in a tournament at Dartford. Archie James and Willow Allen netted against Maidstone B before James got a hat-trick while the other goal was scored by Maeve Gorman in their second match against Maidstone A.

Against Burnt Ash Flames, James (2), Allen, Gorman and Tilly Nicholls struck for Canterbury. James again impressed, getting a hat-trick, against Burnt Ash Sparks in their fourth match of the tournament.

James was named Canterbury’s Shooting Star with nine goals.