Welsh Cup Finals reports
UC Swansea
Whitchurch
Whitchurch Saints
UC Swansea v Bridgend (Men's Welsh Shield)
UC S retained their Shield title with a comfortable 2-0 victory over seemingly perennial runner-up Bridgend.
In a repeat of the previous two years finals, UCS started brightly and came close to opening their account with shots just going wide of the Bridgend goal. After 13' some swift interpassing allowed Charlie Lester time to strike the ball home to give the University side a deserved lead. Bridgend were now beginning to find their feet and pushed forward in looking for the equaliser. However it was the students who took control of the game when Lester scored his second to give his team a 2-0 half time lead.
Bridgend certainly thought they were still in with a chance of and following a period of prolonged pressure nearly pulled a goal back. In an entertaining remainder of the game both sides had chances but failed to convert and when a period of ill-discipline in the last 5 minutes left Bridgend with just 9 players on the pitch the students knew the trophy was, once again, theirs.
Cardiff & UWIC v Whitchurch (Men's Welsh Cup)
The long-standing rivalry between the two Cardiff based teams came to a head again today. Whitchurch took early domination of the game, with great pressure on the Cardiff & UWIC circle leading to a goal in the 3' minute from current U18 Welsh International Rhys Gowman, who also got one up on his father, Andy Gowman, assistant coach to Cardiff & UWIC. Both teams soon picked up the pace and the rivalry began to show with a lot of scrappy play towards the end of the first half, climaxing with a yellow card award. Half time score stood at 1-0.
The high pace stayed in the game for the start of the second half, with another tidy open-play goal 9 minutes in for Whitchurch, scored by Neil Potter. Some loose play around the Cardiff & UWIC circle allowed Laith El Khatib to power Whitchurch's third goal high into the left corner of the goal 21 minutes in. The game took another scrappy turn with two more yellow cards given out, this time split between the two teams. Whitchurch then had to face a short corner with 2 minutes to go, which Cardiff & UWIC's Tim Jones managed to put away, bringing the final score to 3-1 in Whitchurch's favour.
Bridgend v Whitchurch Saints (Women's Welsh Shield)
The Saints very quickly took control of the game with the vast majority of possession in their opponents half, but struggled to finish off their early penetrations into the Bridgend 'D'. In their fifth short corner in the 20' minute, Whitchurch midfielder Emily Williams, wife of Whitchurch Men's Captain and senior Welsh International GK Iwan Williams, took the ball past the Bridgend press and slotted the ball home in the bottom corner. In the final minute of the first half Whitchurch were awarded their sixth short corner, in which a slick, well-timed routine allowed Junior International Emma Gowman, sister of scorer in the previous game Rhys, to score the second goal of the game, bringing the score at half time to 2-0.
After a slow start to the second half, Saints' player Alys Price managed to flick the ball high into the roof of the goal past the Bridgend goalkeeper, bringing the score to 3-0. Whitchurch held firm and closed out the game securely to retain the Welsh Shield.
Whitchurch v Cardiff & UWIC (Men's 2XI Cup)
The sun came out again on the second day of Welsh Finals at the National Hockey Centre when the rivalry between the two teams from the Capital met again, this time for the Men's 2nd XI Cup. The game started well and very evenly paced with lots of end-to-end play. After 10 minutes, Whitchurch striker Doug Young managed to connect a sweet deflection from a pass outside the 'D' to beat the Cardiff & UWIC keeper. The goal was quickly backed up by another when loose play from the Cardiff & UWIC defence allowed Whitchurch's Rhys Thomas to hit a clean strike from the top of the circle bringing the score to 2-0. The game continued very evenly but Cardiff & UWIC failed to make any decent connections in the 'D'. The losing team had their chance when Robin Lovegrove was awarded a penalty flick, which he slotted home in the left side netting, bringing the score now to 2-1 with 10 minutes left on the clock. With 2 minutes to go, Whitchurch managed to reinforce their lead with some slick passing play around the Cardiff & UWIC circle allowing Rhys Welsh plenty of time to face an open goal, taking the half time score to 3-1.
Again the second half started very evenly, but Whitchurch managed to put a little extra pace in some great passing play from the back to give Thomas a first time strike on the Cardiff & UWIC goal and his second of the game, giving Whitchurch another edge in goal difference. A yellow card to Whitchurch's Gareth Thomas gave Cardiff & UWIC a slight advantage, which they utilised along with some very neat play from their forward line to give Matthew Grey a chance for a sliding deflection around the back of the keeper. Cardiff & UWIC now set the pace for the next part of the game, flooding the Whitchurch circle. With 1 minute to go, the Cardiff & UWIC keeper left the pitch to allow the team to play with 11 outfield players. Whitchurch soon picked up on this and manufactured a final goal for striker Adam Baker bringing the final score to 5-2 denying Cardiff & UWIC the chance to defend their title.
UWIC LHC v Penarth LHC (Women's Cup)
Thankfully, the sun continued in full force keeping spirits up for the Women's Cup final. The two ladies teams produced a tight first half, with the ball being played dramatically from end to end, with both teams missing multiple efforts on the goal line. Some great play all round kept the crowd entertained as the goal attempts came thick and fast. Unfortunately neither team were able to convert their chances, leaving the score at 0-0 at half time.
The second half was equally as thrilling as the first, with many more near missed chances. Still though, neither team managed to put the ball in the goal, so the game went to extra time, 10 minutes each way.
Still with no change to the score after 20 minutes of extra time, the game then went to penalty strokes. After 5 strokes for each team, the score stood at 2-2, so strokes then went to sudden death. After two penalty strokes in sudden death, a winner of the game and the cup was finally produced; Penarth Ladies took the cup home.
Howardian LHC v Cardiff University LHC (Women's 2nd XI Cup)
Last year's runners up, Howardian faced Cardiff University in this year's Women's 2nd XI Cup. The game started well for Howards, with an early goal from Welsh Hockey staff member Vicki Kovacs, when she managed to force the ball over the line from some scrappy play in the University circle. 22 minutes in, Cardiff player Jemma Winterbottom levelled the score to 1-1 with a diving reverse strike into the Howards goal. With 2 minutes left on the clock, Howards were awarded a penalty corner, which they successfully managed to convert to create a 2-1 lead over half time, with a clean strike from the top of the 'D' from Anne Barratt.
2 minutes into the second half the University squad equalised with a near post deflection from player Jo Tabor. Shortly after the equalising goal, Howards were given another penalty corner, which was again successfully converted to create another lead. The goal came again from Vicki Kovacs with a slip from the top of the 'D' and a neat first time strike past the Cardiff keeper. With less than 5 minutes to go, again Howardians were awarded a penalty corner, which was converted again to bring the score to 4-2, giving centre midfielder Anne Barratt her second goal of the game to win the game for the 'Pinks'.
