The Isle of Man Hockey Association’s junior girls squads travelled to Sedberg school in Cumbria recently some early pre-season fixtures.

Sedbergh is a very well renowned ‘hockey’ school so this was always going to be a very tough outing for the island girls, a large number of whom were playing in the UK for the very first time.

Transport limitations meant that only small squads were able to travel and this impacted the teams in each match, especially on a hot day.

The under-14 girls faced a tough Sedbergh u15 team.

Many of the u14 girls are new to full-pitch hockey so it was a great opportunity to play with many learning points taken.

The score of 9-1 was not a true reflection of the match in what was a spirited game played by our very young team.

The tireless work of the girls showed their potential and lots of positive points came from the game. A great effort all round although special mentions to goal-scorer Rhea Maher and joint Players of the Match, Scarlett Compton-Heavy and Eve Martin.

In their first friendly of the season IoM u16 girls played a strong and physical Sedbergh u18 B side.

A tough fixture for a young team with lots of new players.

The Manx started the game strongly with some good possession in defensive areas, but they struggled to build up the pitch to create any real goalscoring opportunities.

Summer Ritchie (GK) made numerous saves throughout the first half to keep the girls in the game but despite this Sedbergh were able to grab two impressive goals to put themselves 2-0 up at half-time.

With some team changes the girls set up to attack with intensity and aggression for the final two quarters of the game, as a result of this the islanders won several short corners which they were very unlucky not to convert.

The side’s attacking ambitions meant it left the team open to Sedbergh counter-attacks, which ended up with the hosts adding a further three goals as the game ended in a 5-0 defeat.

While the Isle of Man didn’t get on the scoresheet, there were plenty of positives to take from the game against an older side.

Player of the Match, as voted for by the opposition, was captain Eva Moore, who had a great game in midfield, working hard both on and off the ball all game.

The u18 girls faced an early season test with an outing against Sedbergh girls senior A team.

The team started very positively and matched the very strong Sedbergh group.

The Manx team worked extremely hard, but Sedbergh’s considerably larger squad size paid off as the match progressed.

The score of 8-1 was not a true reflection of the match as many of the goals came in the latter stages with tiredness of IoM girls being a contributing factor.

There were some very positive elements to the game to take forward to training and future matches.

Special mention to Poppy Gerard who had an outstanding debut in goal and Ela Blakemore who was voted Player of the Match by the opposition.

The Isle of Man Hockey Association and the junior squads would like to thank sponsors Oak Group for its continued support