The girls had won the North Yorkshire round in convincing fashion but we knew this was going to be a lot tougher. Although the girls have played well in the Yorkshire League all season we have never managed to reach our full potential, so this was the time to try and put things right.
We started off against Wakefield Panthers, effectively their B Team, and within seconds the ball had been moved to the right wing of Holly Riddell who drove down the wing, crossed across goal for Naomi to slot home the first goal, nerves settled nicely. The girls moved the ball around beautifully, they were passing and communicating better than ever and they were ultimately too strong for Wakefield, running out 4-0 winners in the end. Next up Driffield, another commanding performance from the girls where they had to work harder but we still managed to win 2-0. Sheffield next, probably our bogey team of the season, I told the girls they are all easily talented enough to do this just believe, work hard for each other and you will win. Sure enough they worked their hearts out in this match, it was tough end to end action, both teams losing their shape and a lot of ball going up the middle of the pitch where we had Poppy Lawson running the show but in the end we managed to get a goal and that was the difference, 1-0 at the end to us and we’d topped the group, great effort.
Now the semi’s where we faced the runners up of the other pool, Hull. They have some big girls with big hits and they were determined. However, Thirsk weren’t going to surrender but they had to battle hard. We were looking tired and were missing some tackles which allowed a great attack from Hull who burst in our D and fired an incredibly hard shot high at our goal keeper Evie, my head was in my hands firstly I thought it must go in and secondly I thought Evie was going to get injured. Thankfully neither happened, she did an INCREDIBLE save, cleared the ball and was only slightly bruised! Awesome work, we did concede one goal but managed to get 3 at the other end so all was good, 3-1 and we’re in the final.
We had Wakefield in the final, their team and manager we like a lot and have a lot of respect for, this was going to be hard. We knew we’d qualified for the Northern Finals but wanted to finish the day off in style. Well I think it’s fair to say it was end to end action, both teams working so hard. Wakefield got one early break, straight into our D and scored a cracking goal. One down and I thought we can still get this back but then unfortunately Wakefield got another goal and the girls were looking tired. I told the girls we have 3 minutes to go, you can still do this. They drummed up some energy from somewhere and suddenly started throwing everything at Wakefield, it worked and Minnie managed to sneak one goal past Wakefield, she wasn’t sure how as it seemed to go in slow motion over the line. Then with time nearly up, Daisy Auckland took a quick hit out up the middle to Minnie in the D who flashed another one past the goalie and it was unbelievably 2-2. Straight away after we had the full time whistle and we had to go to penalty flicks, the stress was far too much! Three of my girls put themselves forward to take and we had Evie in goal. First was Wakefield, they pushed it wide, now Holly Riddell stepped up for Thirsk and she fired into the far left corner, awesome. Next Wakefield, they got this one. Now Minnie stepped up (with no practice) and didn’t quite get enough power on it and it was saved. TENSE! Now Wakefield again, she flicked the ball to the right, Evie basically did the splits in a flash and SAVED THE GOAL, an incredible effort that any first class goalie would be proud of, we were going slightly crazy at this point. Last up for us, Alexa, if she could get this we’d done it. With all the excitement she fired it in and we were all celebrating but the umpire hadn’t blown the whistle, so she had to go again, oh my lord this was too much. She stepped up again and with no hesitation got it in the back of the goal, we were winners and all the girls and parents went wild. A tough way for any match to be decided and I felt for the Wakefield team who deserved much more but we were very happy to be crowned Yorkshire Champions. Anyway, we have agreed with Wakefield to try and do some training together before the Northern Finals to try and push the girls on #hockeyfamily.
I’m not picking anyone out for special treatment as this was a proper team effort – every single one of them stepped their game up and should be incredibly proud of themselves. If they keep that belief in themselves, they will be incredibly hard to beat. Also big thanks to Paul Barlow for umpiring, gave me more time with the girls between matches and it is a huge help.

Team Left to Right Standing: Daisy Auckland (c), Holly Pears, Minnie Pollock, Holly Riddell, Alex Waiter-Westgarth, Yasmin Marshall.
Left to Right sitting: Naomi Cooke, Evie Haigh (GK), Poppy Lawson