Arran hockey team get year off to a flier
Following a nine-week hiatus, Arran Ladies travelled with a squad of 12 players to Troon on Saturday to kick-start the second half of the hockey season.
Goalkeeper Alison McKie was joined on the backline by sweeper Faith McKelvie and the strong defensive team of captain Elyse Aitken, Ellie Wood and Jenny Stark. Susie Murchie, Mia Walker and Annie McKelvie welcomed Hazel Malakoty back into a speedy midfield line up, whilst Hannah McCartney, Lorraine Hewie and Judith Ross assumed the solid attack upfront.
Facing a 16-player strong team, with two sideline coaches, Arran Ladies went out determined from the off. Just six minutes into the game, Susie collected the ball from deep in defence to make a lovely long pass up the pitch to Lorraine, who skilfully manoeuvred around Troon’s forceful sweeper and fired the ball into the back of the goal. Arran’s lead was shortlived, as Troon responded swiftly with their attack. Just a minute later, the opposition executed a perfect short corner taking the score to 1-1.
As both teams settled into the game, play continued evenly across the field with beautiful set plays, accurate passing and a number of short corners. Troon upped the pressure in the 26th minute as they finally broke Arran’s defence to take the lead.
Undeterred, Arran rapidly positioned the ball back into their attacking ‘D’ where several players took shots on goal only to have it fired back to them by the keeper’s pads. The team are trained to never give up and, true to form, Lorraine collected a rebound and fired it into the back of the net, equalising the score once again. The last 10 minutes of the first half were tense, with Arran being awarded two short corners right up until the final whistle blew.
Heading into the second half, both teams had all to play for. Troon had several long passes up the field, however, Arran’s high defensive line had some fantastic steals, running onto the balls before they reached their target and firing them back up the field to Arran’s attacking line.
Solid strike
Both teams had attempts on goal, but superb goal-keeping prevented any from crossing the line. Heading in to the 26th minute of play, Ellie strongly passed the ball up field to Hazel, who fired the ball into a space Lorraine was running into. Although Lorraine’s solid strike was deflected by Troon’s keeper, Susie was primed for the rebound and walloped the ball past the keeper’s blind side to take Arran into a 3-2 lead.
Buoyed by their efforts, Arran dominated the final 10 minutes with all play occurring in Troon’s defending half. An amazing arc run from Judith in the final few minutes set Lorraine up for a one-to-one with Troon’s keeper. Spinning round to wrong-foot her, Lorriane reverse-flicked the ball into the back of the goal, giving her a hat-trick and bringing the final winning score line of 4-2 to Arran.
Following match teas kindly arranged by the home team, it was announced that Troon had chosen Mia as dame of the game for her excellent multi-position play on the field in the mid and forward positions she was covering. Returning on the ferry, the team were in high spirits and agreed it was a great match with excellent umpiring all round. A huge thanks goes to Arran’s umpire Pauline Reid and extended thanks to Rhoda Howe of Troon.
Finally the team would like to offer a round of applause for the mini-cheerleaders on the sidelines, who gave encouragement cheering on the team.
Arran Ladies return to their home pitch at the Ormidale in Brodick this weekend for a double header against Uddingston Clinetix 3s today (Saturday) and GHK 4s tomorrow (Sunday), with a passback time of 2.30pm on Saturday and 2pm on Sunday. All support is welcome.