The Nannas begin their cup run in style

Sunday 6th November 2016. The Newcastle Masters ‘Road to Lee Valley’ begins again with a long away trip to Pendle Forest. Except that this wasn’t even nearly the beginning, oh no! The furious checking of the weather forecast, the reminiscing about past campaigns, the discussions about team line-up, and of course, the review of previous match teas (thanks, Baz) makes the build-up to each game the Nannas’ equivalent of a child’s build-up to Christmas...but much more exciting.

The arrival of the Nannas at Marsden Heights can only be described as a game of two halves. The blue van arrived first, to the amazement of, well, everyone. Including Debs, who had to check several times; ‘Are we first? We’re never first? We are, aren’t we?’ Crofty and the South side crew rolled in shortly behind, but the Heaton massive took a wrong turn and ended up on the wrong side of the fence. After some heated discussion, Helen, desperate to get in the zone, suggested dumping the car, climbing the fence and trekking across the field. Thankfully, she was persuaded to stay buckled in her seat and the final car was talked in by Kev.

Suited and booted (and it must be said, with A LOT less strapping than those young’uns use), the team tuned in for some pre-match tactical inspiration from Helen, which went something like this; ‘A few quick words about ‘BEEEEEEEP’ and then I would like us to set up like ‘BEEEEEEEP’ so we can concentrate on ‘BEEEEEEEEP. No, not an X-Rated team talk, just that someone had forgotten to switch off the school bell.

Amazingly the rain had let up, so Zoe was able to remove one of her 15 layers to warm up. Undeterred by the weather, the usual, noisy crowd of Pendle supporters gathered to watch Kev clear the pitch of firework debris, bringing back fond memories of our days at Westgate Road, where most us met around 15 years ago!!! Newcastle won the toss and after a small and civilised huddle and er...no shout, we were off.

Expecting a tough game, the Nannas attacked hard and fast straight from push-back. Some great passes between Hannah, Helen and Debs in the midfield, to Bobi and Fran up front, put pressure on the defence from the start. 10 minutes in, a great pass through from Hannah at the top of the D to Sue at the far post, led to the first shot on goal, which Sue swept in on the rebound. Just what was needed to settle the nerves.

From the re-start, Pendle attempted to make some progress down the centre and right of the pitch but found themselves continually frustrated by strong tackling from Crofty and Hannah. An early Pendle short corner was blocked by Crofty running out to slip and was cleared out to Nikki in the left midfield. Helen had to observe the Nanna’s well-disciplined short corner defence from afar, as one too many Weetabix for breakfast meant she was told to ‘trot on’ back to halfway for breaking early. Not once but twice.

Newcastle began to take control of the game, particularly in the centre of the pitch, where Hannah had time and space to distribute the ball out wide. Baz employed her steam-roller manoeuvre to great effect down the right sideline, forcing the tackle and creating loads of space for Fran in the bottom corner. Baz’s opponent got so fed up of this tactic, that she stopped bothering with her stick and used her feet instead. The Nannas continued to push forward and when Bobi’s fancy footwork in the D proved far too complicated for anyone to cope with, Newcastle were awarded a series of short corners.

Once we had all agreed that Nikki placing the ball a quarter of an inch outside the mark to avoid a divot in the pitch did not constitute a serious infringement of the rules, the Nannas tried a number of unsuccessful straight strikes, which were saved by the on-form Pendle keeper. A lovely shot from Bob at the top of the D was narrowly missed by Sue and Fran on the left post, but with Baz and Hannah peppering the D with passes, a further short corner soon followed. Nikki pushed out strongly to Debs who played the ball deep into 5-yard box where Helen flicked the ball into the side netting to make it 2. Not a single whisper of complaint that it didn’t hit the backboard. Game on.

Increasingly confident, the Nannas continued to press high and use the full depth and width of the pitch. Emma came on to make her Masters debut and fitted in well at the back, allowing Crofty to push up. A good set of passes, all the way from Zoe and Baz, through Helen and Hannah led to a ball across the D from Fran to Helen ‘Usain Bolt’ Croft, which unfortunately whizzed past the post. A final short corner close to half-time was pushed out to Debs who started a ‘chuckles.’ Helen managed to thread back through a ball-sized gap to Debs who struck the ball cleanly for goal number 3.

3-0 up at half-time and the Nannas celebrated in style with a nice cuppa, courtesy of Kev, and some Meerkats, courtesy of Zoe (£1 from B&M and bovine free, don’t you know.) Resolved to stay strong and to keep a clean sheet, Newcastle started the second half in buoyant mood.

Obviously lacking the calming effect of a hot beverage at half-time, Pendle set out in the second half in a rather more aggressive style. Bazi was sent flying by the other Bazi, but somehow managed to foul her in the process. Both teams were warned that the next stick tackle would receive a card (it didn’t) and there was a lot of post-watershed chat between Pendle and the umpires. One such ‘discussion,’ about whether the ball had travelled 5 from a Pendle long corner, was still ongoing when Debs, seized her opportunity, and managed to dribble the length of the pitch before anyone noticed.

Both keepers were called upon to make some great saves but it was Amy, who was the truly intimidating presence in the Newcastle D. A couple more Pendle shorts came to nothing, much to the disgust of their defence on the halfway line. Even Kev joined in, distracting the opposition by performing some sort of war dance whilst urging Newcastle to push further up the pitch, thus answering the question of Crofty’s opponent, who wanted to know ‘what men know about hockey.’

After a few ‘Nanna moments’ including from Nikki who took things one step too far and decided to steal not just an inch but a whole couple of yards on a shortie push out, from Crofty who thought that she could start beside a player taking a free hit, travel 5 yards alongside them, then put in a giant-stopping tackle, from Bob who has not yet caught up with the ‘no ball straight into the D’ rule, and from Baz and Emma who executed a perfect ‘double dummy’ to let the ball through to Amy to clear, Newcastle regained control.

Fran, Bobi and super Hannah, surging through the centre midfield, all had shots on goal from open play and Debs and Nikki both broke into the D with mazy dribbles. The deserved fourth goal came, thanks to Sue’s speed and amazing ability to keep the ball in play, which led to a beautiful one-two on the backline with Helen, who attempted another flick, but instead got a tiny touch to bobble the ball through the keeper’s pads. The pea-rollers are the best, eh Hels?!

The match finished with a satisfying and confident 4-0 win for Newcastle, whose pace and fitness prompted Pendle to consider checking the dates of birth on the team sheet!

After a quick team photo in our BLUE hoodies (Baz), it was onto the clubhouse for chip butties and (more) tea. It is testament to the teamwork on the pitch that the Player of the Match was shared between two players, Debs and Hannah (although I think Debs may have edged it as she procured the chocolate biscuits?....)

As attention turned towards the next fixture, it became clear that despite Bob over-coming hit and run injuries, several members engaging in complicated childcare arrangements and a number players in varying degrees of health, Supermum Sarah had, in fact, missed the match to go on a baking course. Looking forward to the cakes, next time, love. Roll on 27th November, and haste ye back Sarah and Meg. Until next time........