Shetland see off champions to continue impressive league start

SHETLAND Ladies continued their impressive start to life in hockey’s North District league with a brilliant victory over the reigning champions on Sunday.

The blues, featuring a number of new caps, narrowly lost to Aberdeen University 2s on Saturday before turning over league winners Bon Accord MBC 3-1 a day later.

Following two victories on their opening league weekend seven days prior, Shetland again fielded a very different line-up across the weekend.

Five junior players travelled, five players made their senior Shetland debuts and only three members of this summer’s inter-county squad were involved.

Saturday provided an immediate test against a strong and well-drilled Aberdeen University 2s side.

Shetland took a little time to settle into a new formation, with the university enjoying plenty of possession during the opening half.

As the blues became more compact through midfield, however, they became increasingly difficult to play through and grew into the game.

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Experienced player Emma Michael excelled in a new position and scored Shetland’s goal from a well-worked penalty corner.

Having only recently returned from a serious ACL injury, Shetland coach Derek Leask said Michael produced an excellent performance – “adding something new to her own game while providing experience and leadership” to the new faces.

Aberdeen eventually edged the contest 2-1, although Sanna Forsyth came close to grabbing a late equaliser during a goalmouth scramble as the blues pushed strongly in the closing minutes.

Michael was voted Shetland’s player of the match.

On Sunday, Shetland faced the defending champions Bon Accord MBC and produced their best performance of the campaign so far.

Leask said the mixture of juniors, new caps and experienced players gelled superbly, with “Shetland playing with confidence and producing some excellent team hockey”.

He singled out captain Megan Hibbert for being “outstanding at the heart of the defence”, and praised the five junior players Ava Anderson, Shannon Burgess, Lori Smith, Maddison Jozwik and goalkeeper Meryn Carter for all making a big contribution.

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Sadie Fox, who made her debut for the senior side this weekend, opened the scoring before one of the best moves of the weekend put Shetland 2-0 ahead.

Starting from deep inside their own half, the blues worked the ball through a succession of players before Anderson finished off an excellent team goal.

Bon Accord responded to reduce the deficit to 2-1 but Anderson eventually made the game safe with her second, completing another excellent team move after Olivia Wardle picked her out with a clever reverse pass to seal a 3-1 victory.

Her overall performance earned Anderson the player of the match award.

Coach Leask said the weekend had underlined just how much playing depth there was within Shetland hockey.

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“We had five juniors and five new caps involved this weekend and they fitted in brilliantly alongside the more experienced players,” he said. “What probably surprised me most was just how well everyone played.

“Saturday was a really good performance and we probably deserved a draw. Then on Sunday everything seemed to come together. To beat the league champions 3-1 was a fantastic result and showed just how well this group had gelled.”

The victory leaves Shetland with three wins from their opening four matches in their first North District league campaign.

“The really pleasing thing is seeing players getting an opportunity and taking it,” Leask said.

“These first few weekends are already showing us that we’ve probably got much more depth in Shetland hockey than we realised.”

Shetland now have a break before returning to league action against Gordonians Merlins 2s on Saturday 31 October and Aberdeen Hockey Club on Sunday 1 November.

The team also thanked Northwards and NorthLink Ferries for their continued sponsorship and support.