U12 Boys - National Finals Success

Magpies U12s Boys travelled to Nottingham for the In2Hockey National finals. Here they would have the opportunity to pit their skills against the other 7 regional winners and the chance to be crowned National Champions 2024.

With no team having any prior knowledge of the quality of their opponents, no one could really predict the outcome of the competition but drawn against Wimbledon, City of York and Havant Hockey Clubs, all winners of their respective regions Magpies knew there were going to be no easy matches. And that was the case.

Magpies first game was against Wimbledon, Magpies started brightly but failed to capitalise on a number of early shots, whereas Wimbledon scored from their only shot of the half and went into half time 1-0 up, very much against the run of play. In the 2nd half the strength in depth across the Wimbledon squad began to shine through and for long periods of the half Magpies were under pressure but it was Magpies turn to surprise against the run of play. A spectacular deflected goal was ruled out for playing the ball above shoulder height, however this inspired the team and they forced an equalizer but Wimbledon's swift counter attack was too much for the team and with seconds to go Wimbledon scored a 2nd and hung on for a hard fought win.

The boys were clearly disappointed as the left the pitch but with wise words from the coaching team of Debbie Francis and Nat Olivier 40 minutes later the boys were back on the pitch to face City of York who had also lost their first match. Magpies raced into an early lead, City of York struck back but Magpies had found their goals scoring form going into half time 3-1 up and by the end of this match extending the score line to 6-1.

So to finish 2nd in their pool and ensure a 3rd/4th play off game they just needed a positive result against Havant in their final match. With less than 30 seconds played a positive result felt a long way away, Magpies were a goal down. 3 minutes later and Magpies were 3-1 up a score line they held up to half time but thereafter was slowly reduced as Havant thought back bringing the score line back to 3-3. With a nervous team and crowd until Magpies top goal scorer JJ secured the victory for the team with a fabulous strike late in the game from which Havant did not recover.

Magpies had secured 2nd spot in their Pool, growing into the competition as the day progressed setting up a 3rd/4th play off match against Cheltenham Juniors. With confidence high and Magpies back in goal scoring mode they sensed a podium finish and a medal! They raced into an early lead slowly adding to the score line throughout the game and a 5-0 win and earning themselves 3rd place nationally as well as being the highest goal scoring team in the competition.

Congratulations to the squad, I hope there will be many more occasions like this to come. With half the team able to compete in next years U12 competition and some talented youngsters moving up from the year below the future is promising for boys hockey at Magpies.