What an amazing morning, nothing but blue skies and surprisingly warm, a great day for round 7 of the Hampton Rovers Under 8’s Pink team v East Sandringham held at Boss James Ground.
We were told that no one could stand on the ground during play which seemed to raise obstacles that meant it was pretty much ignored. This would have meant that the writer would have been stationed next to the coffee van, not much of a report would have been produced from there.
Snakes were served in the club rooms before the match to try and get the upper hand, as it was an early start. Hopefully the upper hand attempts just stay with snakes?
East Sandringham got off to a flyer early, Hampton Rovers showed good defensive tackling in particular Josh Edmunds efforts to snuff out a couple of East Sandy’s movements to the posts.
Fraser Peterson stopped a sure goal with a committed effort and then cleared down field a couple of times in short succession. Hudson van der Venne cleared out to the wide open spaces beautifully where the ever present Hunter da Silveira was waiting who ran with set determination and punted down field.
Play was contested well with both teams very committed. Hunter da Silveira found himself well placed in front of the goals and his determination would produce goals if close enough and the East Sandy defence surprisingly dropped off. The quarter ended with an injury to Fraser Peterson, who shook it off like a trooper and charged ahead into the second quarter.
All areas were being contested well with HR’s not being swayed by the 2 quick goals to East Sandringham, the HR defenders were on light duties for a short spell which brought out a quick “flossing” practice only to be quickly discouraged by the HR coaching staff, and supporters. But brought a light moment to the match.
The supporter impetus brought on a couple of good clearing kicks by Josh Edmunds and Thomas Edwards and some great tackling by Hudson Dieter-Eves. The half time team talk saw several positional changes and some timely encouragement from Sam.
The second half began with clearance by Fraser Peterson who had recovered from his earlier sting, to Jack Bartley and then Thomas Edwards appeared in the thick of it once again.
The inevitable happened and Hunter da Silveira found himself within range and lining up for a goal after a good midfield push and he followed through brilliantly to give HR their first goal, which lifted spirits hugely with high fives all round. Jack Bartley followed shortly after finding the posts also.
Fraser Petersen took a great mark which fell short of the posts and was cleared to touch right on the stroke of ¾ time. This caused Hunter da Silveira to think quickly and took a punt at goal from the sideline to score. Fantastic piece of skill. The sideline went wild.
The team work was clearly improving as points were coming but the East Sandy team were defending well. Good marks were taken by Carter Knight, and some determined tackling by Owen Colombo and Jack Bartley. Hudson Van Der Venne punted down field with some good interplay between Poppy Ryan and Jack Bartley.
Harvey Harris hand balled well and Hudson Van der Venne put in a huge kick that was marked by Owen Colombo. Poppy Ryan had put in 4-5 top attempts in the tackle by this point. Jack got the team moving down field with Hannah Bogue putting in another great tackle which brought closure of the game.
Great effort by all with deserved awards to Thomas Beasley, Hunter da Silveira, Josh Edmunds and Poppy Ryan.
Can’t wait till next week!
Thomas Bentley and Dad.
