Hockey heats up as finals draw near

Marion Rose Solicitors: After a shaky start and a quick goal by Glass, Rose gathered themselves and put in an enormous effort to keep Glass from scoring again as well as giving themselves many chances to equalize - ala this did not happen but it wasn’t for the want of trying.

Starting in the goal, Wolfgang repeatedly displayed his talent as a goal keeper performing some huge saves and was totally committed to keeping Glass out. He was faithfully supported by one of the best backs running around, Annastasia.

She swooped in on all loose balls and tackled like a demon.

Aiding and abetting her were Ashleigh and Jessica who ran down the Glass attack and foiled their attempts at a second goal - defence like this keeps a team in the game.

Brodie reappeared after his day off last week and ran himself ragged in defence and attack putting great balls through to the forwards of Josh, Nikita and Zane.

Hayden and Daniel lifted their games this week to even greater heights taking the ball many times up field, passing between them and Brody to put enormous pressure on the Glass defence.

Mitch got involved in many forays up field and put in a number of strong tackles.

It is never easy playing short but Rose had a great team game this week and gave themselves a genuine chance to take a win - keep it up next week.

Cowra Glass: Best players were Julian Garling, John Clarke and Gerald Smith. Best for Rose were Daniel White, Josh Dunk and Annastasia Francis.

Intermediates’ draw: There are errors with who is playing whom listed on the draw from August 7, through to season completion - check the paper for details - timeslots remain unchanged.

Seniors: LJ Hooker 4 v The Valley Hotel 1

The Valley Hotel: Faced with a formidable opponent and down a player we went into this game with a determination to give it a good shot.

Jill was put in goal and took on the opposing team making a number of good saves making particularly certain that son Josh didn’t get bragging rites at home.

Jainee took one, two, possibly three hits for the team - maybe the goalie gear should be handed to you next week.

A huge effort by her, and JL who was dynamite in the backs and had many clearing shots to take the pressure off the defence.

Alex had turns up front and in defense and played strongly in all positions. Maxine, Rhee and Dodee had many charges up field and gave us a real chance of scoring more than one goal.

Alan’s goal was well deserved after a huge run over halfway, ducking and weaving into the circle to put a neat shot past the keeper.

Scott had a huge game - he tackled hard, cleared the ball decisively and was involved in many attacking runs up field.

One more game for us this year - let’s make it the winning one.

Best players were Jill Dunk, Dodee Ryan and Scott Bryant.

LJ Hooker: Best players were Jack Baker, Bronwyn Dowd and Mitchell Gray

Railway Hotel 6 v Aussie Hotel 2

Aussie Hotel: Best players were Pete Landon, Tim Tarrant and Cindy Ward

Railway Hotel: Nice come back after last week’s ordinary performance.

Aussie was quite short so while this should have made winning fairly straight forward, they weren’t going to go down easily.

It took a while to hit our straps and with all forces moving forward, we found ourselves caught off guard by a number of big hits from the opposition finding their up-high wing who showed some good stick work to bust our line and hit our circle a number of times.

Glen “Spoon” Falconer was working his coaching magic with our goalkeeper Jackie Williams who showed some nice speed of foot to bust off the line and put pressure on the Aussie attack to force mistakes.

Spoon had Jackie running amok in the circle and had to scramble to scrape the ball off the goal line a couple of times before succumbing to the odd peppering of the line.

A good effort by Jackie, not so by Spoon who struggled to maintain control of the old girls down the back.

Not that this was anything new.

The rowdy Railway spectators also put in their two cents worth.

Annie Garlick showed plenty of style and a great eye for the ball in the 23 area, plucking ball out from attackers on the burst and clearing nicely.

Her usual counterpart in crime, Carole Brown had the chance to sit quietly on the hill today - and took it. Good on you Caz.

There was a big line up of players for the forward line and with Jack Nobes back today we had 4 bibbed males on the card.

With so many up front and plenty of ball it was unfortunate that we made a meal of scoring opportunities and it was some time before points were finally posted.

After the half-time break, Ben Cooley opted to help the opposition by adding to their numbers and we finally kicked into gear and lifted our work rate.

Ben was given the customary warning before changing shirts that once you cross that line you better have all your insurances up to date; we’re not known for our own field gentilities (Fortunately, by end of match everyone came through unscathed- even Ben.).

Le Manton at right half was in fine touch with the ball and showed some good turn of speed to clean up the opposing attack and keep us moving forward.

The Hannan triplets, Dana, Brody and Kyle, all took a goal a piece.

The umpire seeing fit to chide the mother into scoring one of her own was reminded that Brenda only has a scoring quota of one a season (if she’s lucky) and that was achieved a couple of weeks ago when all Hannans were on the score card.

Jesse Elger, in the front line, demonstrated his development as a player and moved quickly and easily through the opposition, the ball clinging nicely to his stick, he earned us a number of corners and was unlucky not to post points of his own.

The draw card this week was the on-field banter between Andy Brown and Jack Nobes who gave each other a verbal pasting throughout and saw fit to steal each other’s goals. Was that two to Andy and one to Jack or the other way around?

We saw some pretty strange moves from both blokes who had plenty to say about each other’s talents or lack there of.

Nice to have you back again Mr Nobes. Best players were Andrew Brown, Brodie Hannan and Anne Garlick. Townhouse Hotel 3 v Canowindra Country Energy 1 Canowindra Country Energy: Best players were Jackie Kinsela, Amara Flannery and Roxanne Breen. Townhouse Hotel: Best players were Terina Johns, Tracey Farley and Sarah Brydon

This Week’s Draw: August 28

Minkey/Juniors: 11.15am

Intermediates: 12.30pm - F1 Marion Rose Solicitors v ANZ Arrows - Ump: 2 x Cowra Rugby Eagles. F2 - Cowra Glass v Bryant’s Packaging Ump: 2 x Railway Hotel Seniors:

1.45pm: F1: Cowra Rugby Eagles v Railway Hotel Ump: 2 x Townhouse Hotel. F2 - Canowindra Country Energy v Aussie Hotel Ump: 2 x LJ Hooker.

3.10pm: F1 Townhouse Hotel v LJ Hooker Ump: 2 x Aussie Hotel. Bye: The Valley Hotel.

Canteen: 12:15pm - Marion Rose Solicitors; 1.45pm - Bryant’s Packaging; 3.10pm -Canowindra Country Energy.