First up on Saturday was an early start for the Ladies 2s as the away side against Nailsea, playing at Gordano. As the Ladies 1s had already started their Christmas break some had braved the conditions to come and support. The game was fairly even in the first half with lots of movement around the pitch and use of all areas, but unfortunately Nailsea managed to sneek one in just before half time. The second half started with a bang as Nailsea put another in the net before we knew what was going on. We pulled one back through Jo Withers, but we had to withstand alot of pressure from Nailsea as they poured forward with the strength and skill provided by two players dropped from their first team. The game was getting more and more heated with the umpires having a challenging time with the players getting very niggly in the local derby. Nailsea got another to go 4-1 up, but Jo got another goal from close range to have a final score of 4-2 to Nailsea.

Next up were the Men's 1s in their league game yet again down in Exeter against ISCA B, report as usual by Steve Proctor.

North travelled down to face ISCA B in the final league game of 2018 at a rain drenched Exeter Uiversity.
Charlie Dangerfield made a welcome return to the side recovering from a hamstring injury and Sam Aldridge boosted the squad. Patt Tanner (knee) & Brad Krone (ribs) failed to travel.

The game started well for North, adapting to the water based pitch nicely and stroking the ball around the back and into midfield well, ISCA were reduced to trying disrupt the away teams flow and could not get a foothold in an important match for both sides.
ISCA changed their tactic and pushed a third forward high in an attempt to rattle North but with Darshane Theara sitting deep it opened space higher up the field for the industrious Scott Voisey & George Priestner to craft opportunities to play in Lewis Francuz and Charlie Mott, unfortunately poor touches in the later stages of the pitch prevented any chances being taken.
Mid way through the half, up stepped Scott Voisey, a mazey dribble across the top of the shooting circle crafting a lovely self made chance to fire home high across the keeper and into the back of the net to get North rolling.
Sitting back after the goal North were the architects of their own downfall and the lead didn’t last long. ISCA picked the ball up in midfield and danced through several weak challenges into the D, placing the ball past the despairing dive of Steve Proctor.
North clearly shaken by this setback came out of the traps with renewed vigour and some lovely interchanges in midfield saw the ball drop to captain Francuz in the D, from that position he was never going to waste the opportunity and put the ball onto his reverse and fired low into the bottom corner.

A strong talk at half time from Francuz and Lee Chambers and the final 35 mins of 2018 league hockey was underway.
The heavens then opened on Exeter and the driving rain and wind saw the game become error strewn with both sides throwing away possession in key positions on the pitch.
North drove forward and a blind under arm attempted pass from Francuz saw the ball gifted to ISCA, who drove forward hard at the exposed North defence. The resulting melee and scramble saw ISCA somehow roll the ball over the line.
At 2-2, North now knew they were in a game against bottom of the table ISCA and threw caution to the wind pushing forward and pinning the home side into their half, a surging run from centre back Daniel Ball into the ISCA D resulted in him being dispossessed and his resulting robust challenge saw a yellow card and a trip to the sin bin.
North set themselves deep with a man deficit and rode the storm for the 5 mins until Ball could return to the fray and once up to the full compliment again started to probe for weaknesses at the back.
A rapid break into the North D from Isca saw their centre forward presented with an easy tap in but for a full length diving recovery save from Proctor to keep honours even and give North the impetus to drive on for the win.
North won a succession of shorts and eventually Scott Voisey came up with the goods, a low skidding drag flick going in via a touch from the home keeper. Boom! 3-2 time to dig in and keep the ball.
Francuz was next into the sin bin for some over exuberant protesting and again North dug deep in their reserves to stand firm. ISCA then lost some momentum, earning 2 cheap green cards and this helped North see out the game, even a late James Moseley yellow in the final minute couldn’t prevent a vital 3 points on the road.

Hughes carpentry Man of the Match. 2 goal Scott Voisey

The Men's 2s had the only home game of the day and just before the game started I arrived to watch what I hoped would be a good game against bottom of the table Firebrands D, but the heavens opened and I hobbled to the dugout to join the two repeat supports of the twos, Lucy and Georgia, to find shelter.

The game started and appeared to be quite even, but the weather was playing it's part with no-one playing how they wanted to. I got plenty of photos and it showed just how wet the game was and if the pitch hadn't been done last year there was no way this game would have gone ahead. There were few opportunities in the opening 15 minutes, but one long clearance looked destined to go off the pitch on any normal day, so Harry Croker gave up on it, then didn't, then did, but a little vocal "encouragement" saw Harry eventually sprint for a stationary ball 10 yards from the edge of the pitch and fashion a chance which we were unable to convert. The rain finally gave in just as Callum Black turned up from playing football, I then counted and realised we had been playing with 10! Callum joined the fray and we looked better for it with the ball starting to be moved around better, not surprising now we had the extra player in midfield. Somehow against the early play Brands scored the first goal and spurred North into action.
The play started to be a little more in North's favour and we took a bit more control using both wings to better effect until we could get a drive into the D and leave Harry with a little work to do, but a solid finish under pressure saw us back level. Only a few minutes later and Harry had another drive into the D, but was a little bit isolated, so drew the keeper into taking him out and being awarded a penalty flick. Callum stepped up to take it whilst others were deciding who it should be. His confidence was well placed as he put it into the side of the net and out of the keepers reach. Halftime and 2-1 ahead!

The second half saw Brands coming out with a renewed vigour and some desire, they kept the pressure on for long periods, partly because we defended in such numbers that we had no real outlet when we cleared. When we did get the ball moving Sam Down on the right wing was strong and made a good drive down the right and into the D, pulling it back for lone striker Croker to take a shot at goal, missing by a little way to the left, but thankfully Chris Welsh had shown some speed down the left and was alone at the back post to tap in Croker's wayward effort! Harry had another opportunity after a little run of his own and went to the same place as his previous one - just left of the goal! Firebrands then put us under pressure again for a little while and gave us some nervous moments as we found ourselves passing across the back three in front of goal a little too frequently, earning club captain Tim Graham the least wanted award at the end of the game (that won't be mentioned in public). The pressure eventually told as Brands scored again and also had one disallowed for an earlier infringment. Callum Black then showed why he earned the man of the match award as he went on a mazey solo run across the top of the D and then fired a low shot across the keeper and into the bottom corner to get a final score of 4-2.

The Men's 3s were last up for the day with a report from Jon Venn:
The Men's 3rd team knew it was going to be a tough day at the office when their goal keeper fell ill 15 minutes before push back. With just 10 players and no goal keeper. What could they do? Up stepped spectator and member Charlie Colling to be the 11th man.
With 11 outfield players and no goal keeper the 3rds took on Bristol and West. The first 15 minutes were very even and North played the better hockey but eventually Bristol and West got a couple of short corners which they converted with some style without the kepper to get in the way. North came back strong and good play resulted in a short corner. The goal keeper saved the first shot but Jack Colling converted the rebound for his first senior goal. Bristol and West scored 2 more before half time as they knew they could shoot from less easy opportunities and have a better chance of converting them. North came out strong in the 2nd half and kept Bristol and West down to scoring only another 2 goals. The team displayed great determination in their performance and felt that it would have been a very close game under normal circumstances.

Sunday Cup game for men's 1s as written by Steve Proctor:

North Somerset were back in action on Sunday with their second game In 24 hours in a cup match against Bath Buccaneers at Gordano school.

Injured Patt Tanner and Brad Krone were still absent, right back Charlie Dangerfield and midfielder James Moseley also unavailable for the tie.
With forward Tom Appleford returning, Sam Aldridge retained his place in the squad and stepping up to make his 1st team debut was Toby Cox.

Coach Martin MacBlain shuffled the pack for this game, a slight change in formation to fit the players available, George Priestner adopting a deeper role and Lewis Francuz becoming to lone focal point in attack.

The rain stopped just before pushback and under the floodlights the game was underway, North instantly got into their stride zipping the ball around confidently with Lee chambers and Daniel Ball able to pick decisive passes from the back.
The home side did not have to wait long to open the scoring, after winning a short corner from a promising attack, reliable set piece specialist Darshane Theara fired the ball home to reward North for their attacking endeavours.
Minutes later it was 2-0 to North, regular goal getter Scott Voisey on hand to slot home from yet another well crafted move into Bath territory, the change in formation definitely looking like a master stroke at this point.
Daniel Ball then picked up a hamstring injury whilst firing a pass out wide, slipping awkwardly on the greasy surface, he was able to continue but was definitely not at 100% from there on.
A badly timed tackle saw left back Rich Pugsley make his way to the sin bin for 2 minutes, North were able to regroup during this period and he was soon back into the action.
Bath Bucaneers were beginning to assert themselves on the game now and despite going 2-0 down quickly, they were beginning to cause North problems with some very neat link up play around the field.
They won a succession of short corners and the pressure finally told as a well worked routine was fired in and although post man Chambers got a touch he was unable to prevent the ball crossing the line.

The second half started at a frantic pace, North again looking to dominate a younger Bath side, more smooth passing and patient build up play drew some smart saves from the visiting keeper from Francuz, Voisey and Charlie Mott.

The 3rd goal for North was a result of some excellent vision from Darshane Theara, seeing an opportunity he lofted an aerial pass from the top of his own D almost into the Bath 23, the tireless Lewis Francuz letting the ball bounce before running onto it, cutting into the D and slipping a reverse stick effort under the keeper. 3-1.
Francuz again came up with the goods minutes later marauding into the D and slapping home a fine finish on his open side to put the scoreline at 4-1, this should have been game over for Bath.

North Somerset never like to do things the easy way and rather than see the game out this became a real cup game of end to end hockey. This seemed to suit Bath who really came back into the game and started to move the ball around and make some excellent individual runs deep into North territory.
A robust challenge in the D from Daniel Ball saw him receive his customary card of the game and from the resultant short corner Bath scored to make it 4-2.
From the restart North were now looking shaken and Bath capitalised scoring again quickly to make it 4-3 and put North on the ropes.
The last 15 minutes saw North really struggle to retain the ball as Bath smelling blood started to turn up the pressure on the home side, fatigue from 2 games in a weekend may also have been playing a part.
A short corner was initially saved by Steve Proctor but the rebound was snapped up by Bath and put past the stricken keeper to make it 4-4.
The final minutes of the game saw North try and push for the win but neither side could create the chance needed to seal the tie, Bath fired a ball into the D in the last seconds only for Proctor to sense danger and clear as the final whistle blew.

With normal time over, the tie moved straight to penalty flicks, 5 players from each side were chosen to decide the outcome.
North had experienced campaigners Lee Chambers, Darshane Theara, Scott Voisey, Lewis Francuz and Daniel Ball ready to take the pressure flicks.

Chambers stepped up first firing home, Theara was next seeing his effort saved, Voisey, Francuz and Ball and put the ball into the net, Bath missed their 5th flick seeing the completion move to sudden death.

Lee Chambers confidently went back to the spot and sent the ball high into the net, advantage North. Bath has to score now to keep the tie alive but a poorly taken flick was saved by Steve Proctor.
Cue celebrations as North progressed into the semi finals of the cup competition and closed out 2018 with a victory, a narrow one!!!

Many thanks to those who came and braved the cold and support us, we appreciate it.

Hughes Carpentry Man of the Match. Debutant Toby Cox