9 May 2018
The girls travelled to Lee Valley Olympic Park to represent Kirkham Grammar school in the U14 Investec National Hockey Finals. KGS were one of eight teams at the competition who had qualified through county, regional and north competitions.
Prior to the event, KGS travelled to Lee Valley to familiarise themselves with the new water-based pitch and to experience their playing surroundings.
The first match of the day was against St George’s, Weybridge. Kirkham dominated throughout the first half but failed to convert chances in front of goal. The girls continued to work hard and maintained their positivity throughout. In the second half KGS applied more pressure with the majority of play, however, a fast break from St George’s resulted in a short corner. The girls defended well but couldn’t keep out a well worked corner to go down 0-1.
In the second game KGS met Framlingham College. The girls had a slow start off the back of their early loss conceding an early goal. In a very fast paced game, KGS remained focussed but struggled to break down a strong attacking Framlingham side. A further two goals took the girls into the half time break. After a positive team talk the girls were ready to go and picked up the pace when in possession of the ball. KGS applied pressure and had various shots on goal resulting in a conciliation goal from Bo leaving the final score at 1-3.
The final group game was against Dean Close with the girls unfortunately aware that a place in the final was out of their reach. Despite this, they walked onto the pitch with pride demonstrating togetherness as a squad. A great, face-paced game saw each side have their chances, but an exceptional short corner resulted in a well struck shot and goal from Beth Dowbiggin.
Boom..... GOAL!!! What an amazing day for an amazing U14 squad!
Very close games and a nice 1-0 win against Dean Close to finish the day! pic.twitter.com/yquxTOouTy
— KGS Sport (@KGS_sports) May 2, 2018
This means that KGS are now ranked 7th in the country at U14 level - an incredible achievement which everyone is extremely proud of!
#amazing @EnglandHockey @Investec_Sport @KirkhamGrammar @kirkhamhead pic.twitter.com/H8Ow8uo32e
— KGS Sport (@KGS_sports) May 2, 2018
