On Thursday 26th May, our SVS U14s and U16s Boy’s Hockey teams had the opportunity to play fixtures against BHV Push, a Dutch touring Hockey club.
Angus Brown (Third Form) and Jago Ongley-Dellar (Fourth Form) have written reports on these games, which can be read below.

U14s

In the first half of the match, we played well as a team and our defence was strong, limiting any moves that the opposition made and limited the number of shots at our goal. Our passing was very strong, and we used the wide areas of the pitch to attack and created many good chances, however, we struggled to score in the first half, although we did dominate possession. In the second half of the game, we strengthened our central midfield as they had multiple strong players in that area and although we did concede a couple of short corners, we defended well and managed to launch multiple counter-attacks which lead to us eventually scoring our first goal in which we lobed the keeper. Our second goal followed the same pattern and, by then, we were in control of the game and the rest of the game played out calmly with no chances for either team. The final score was 2-1 to SVS.

U16s

The U16s had the pleasure of playing against BHV Push from the Netherlands on Thursday evening, with a team made up of Third to Fifth Form students. In the first five minutes, we had a harsh start as we began to adjust to the new pitch and the opposition playing style, they attacked well and managed to score two goals, meaning they entered the second half 2-0 up. With the new style of play and some great advice from our coaches, we began to fight back as we pushed them further away from our goal. Our defence held up the back as our midfield worked hard to get the ball over to the attackers. At this point, we felt we had our mojo back, with SVS now adjusted to the new pitch and the team began to attack hard, making it difficult for the opposition to score another goal.

Continuing on through the game, Samuel Laird (Fifth Form) made a run for the D as he got the ball off to the right and was able to flick the ball through the roof of the net – managing a fantastic goal! After this goal, we began to become more confidently in the team as Push began to lose their cool, we continued to challenge them by making great runs from the forward line as we controlled the midfield and defence. Due to these runs, we managed to gain a short corner, which we worked well – Laird deflecting a hard pass from Callum Baker (Fifth Form), scoring a great goal and putting us at an equal 2-2.

We continued to play well through the game as we pressed the opposition hard and forced lots of turnovers. Although they managed to make a few runs up the pitch, they were quickly stopped by the defence as we made some great tackles. As they began to press our defence and put pressure on us in the final minutes, we decided to throw aerials to remove the high attackers from the game making them chase back to defend the ball. This led to Archie Burden (Third Form) gaining possession of the ball and, using his outstanding skills, drove the ball towards the D, beating the defenders and then making a cracking shot from the top and scoring! As the final whistle blew, the game ended with a victorious 3-2 to SVS.