U12 bring home the Bronze at the U12 In2Hockey Tournament

The Petersfield Hockey U12 Boys did superbly well to reach the semi-finals of the In2Hockey tournament, not conceding a single goal along the way in open play. A different format where matches were two halves of 8 minutes each on a smaller size pitch took some getting used to. We started slowly in the first match against New Forest, going in 0-0 at half time before a late flurry of goals in the second half as confidence grew to win this match 3-0. The second match against Camberley & Farnborough seemed easier as the boys cruised to another 3-0 victory and then a guaranteed a place in the quarter finals. The final match in the group stages was a tough one against Winchester, but we eventually ran out 2-0 winners which gave us top spot in Group D and a match against the runners up of Group C – City of Portsmouth.
Already we had seen some great goalkeeping from Weller and sterling defensive performances from Shavick and Hegan in not conceding any goals throughout. Some superb play in midfield and on the wings by Cullen, Gibbon, Rushin and Bardoe and finally great performances from strikers Young and Hulme.
The quarter final against Portsmouth was a close game, but Petersfield edged it and were unlucky not to win the match outright having to settle for a 0-0 draw, we then faced a very tense penalty shootout. At 2-2 in the shoot-out a great save from Weller meant as long as we scored our last penalty we were through – which was duly put away for a 3-2 victory on penalties for Petersfield.
The semi-final against Fleet & Ewshot was a very tough game, we had our backs to the wall a lot of the time but defended well against a very strong team. Fleet were unlucky to miss several scoring opportunities. So we went into another penalty shoot-out as it ended 0-0. We were quickly down 2-0 before a great save from Weller and Fleet missing a penalty gave us hope at 2-1, but the final round of penalties ended with us losing the match 3-1. Disappointment for the boys, but with a third place play-off match against Haselmere coming up the boys were ready to fight on. However, Haselemere had gone home so were given third place in a very strong county tournament of 16 teams, a great achievement for the U12 boys, well done everyone and many thanks to Steve for some great coaching.