Ladies 1s V Ely. Won 2-0

On a hot and sunny day, the Ladies 1sts took on Ely 1sts in what turned out to be a seriously intense game.
From the first whistle, Ely were determined to get on the ball at every opportunity, often swarming around it with numbers and making for a frantic first half. The Dragons had to work hard to keep their shape and battle through the pressure.
Thankfully, Ellie had other ideas and put the Dragons 1–0 up with a straight strike on a penalty corner, giving us a much-needed boost.
In the middle of the pitch, Becky was having a particularly eventful afternoon. Regularly finding herself in 2-v-1 situations, dealing with stick tackles and very little in the way of advantage, she battled on.
Ella H was quite simply everywhere. Defending, carrying the ball up the pitch, supporting in midfield and somehow still appearing in the D when needed. Her all-round performance earned her a well-deserved joint Man of the Match.
At the back, Jenny was a constant presence at the back, clearing balls up the pitch and doing whatever was necessary to keep Ely at bay. There was even a small incident involving gravity, but Jenny picked herself back up and carried on regardless — earning her a joint DOD with Becky for her efforts!
And then there was Lizzie in goal, who was outstanding. Calm under pressure and pulling off some incredible saves, she kept her cool throughout and cleared out anything Ely managed to throw her way, keeping the Dragons' sheet firmly clean. Her performance deservedly earned her the other joint Man of the Match award.
After half time, the Dragons continued to battle, but Ely were beginning to show signs of fatigue. As their energy levels dropped, the Dragons increased the pressure and finally settled into their own style of hockey.
The pressure paid off, with Sophie finding the back of the net in the second half to make it 2–0.
From there, the Dragons kept their heads, worked hard and saw the game out to secure a well-earned 2–0 victory.
A tough, frantic, and occasionally chaotic game — but a clean sheet, two goals and three points. Not a bad way to spend a sunny afternoon!

Scorers
Ellie Smith – 1
Sophie Brittain – 1

Ladies 2s. Beat Spalding 2’s 4-1

Bourne Deeping Ladies 2’s travelled to Spalding Hockey Club for a local derby, greeted by glorious sunshine and perfect conditions for a morning of hockey.
The Dragons made a strong start, taking control of the game with confident driving runs through midfield from Murray, Collins and Badham. Their positive approach quickly paid off when a lovely pass from Murray found Havemann’s stick, who made no mistake in finding the back of the net to put Bourne Deeping ahead.
Spalding looked to respond, but the Dragons’ defensive line of S Oakley, Greenaway and Bowser stood firm, shutting down attacks and clearing the danger effectively. Turning defence into attack, Badham drove powerfully down the middle before delivering a solid strike into the D, finding Havemann. After being tackled, a penalty flick was awarded, which she confidently converted to double the Dragons’ lead.
Bourne Deeping continued to dominate possession and apply pressure, with Havemann adding another goal to complete her hat-trick and further extend the advantage. The Dragons showed no signs of easing off, and just before half-time, Martin found the back of the net to send Bourne Deeping into the break with a commanding 4–0 lead.
The second half began with an early setback for the Dragons, as Martin received a green card for not retreating the required five yards, leaving Bourne Deeping temporarily down to 10 players. Despite being a player short, the Dragons remained focused and continued to work hard across the pitch. The game became increasingly competitive, with Spalding also receiving a green card following a badly timed tackle on a Bourne Deeping player. Both sides continued to battle for possession, with Bourne Deeping maintaining control of much of the play.
Spalding did have their moments, putting the Dragons under pressure and winning several short corners. However, the defensive unit remained resolute, with goalkeeper Hoile making important saves to keep the opposition at bay. Out wide, wingers Curtis and C Mann produced some lovely runs, linking up well with forwards L Mann and Martin to keep the Spalding defence on their toes and create further attacking opportunities. As the final whistle approached, Spalding made one last push, forcing the Dragons into a spell of determined defending. McShane battled hard to clear the ball, but with the D becoming increasingly congested, Spalding were awarded a short corner in the final minute. They capitalised on the opportunity, slipping the ball into the net to claim a late consolation goal. Despite the late setback, the Dragons delivered a strong all-round performance, combining attacking flair with disciplined defending and teamwork to secure a well-deserved 4–1 victory. Man of the match goes to Jan Havemann for her superb goals

Scorers
Kirsty Martin - 1
Jan Havemann – 3

Mens 1s. Beat Newmarket 2-1

The Dragons remain top of the league with maximum points after a close encounter against Newmarket.
Bourne Deeping’s press caused problems from the start, forcing Newmarket into errors. We lost Kindy’s defensive prowess to a back injury in the first half — a literal setback for the defence.
Angus opened the scoring with a drag flick into the middle-left of the goal, exactly where captain Jallen had told us to aim. Tommy “Tuna” Fowkes then made it 2–0.
Newmarket kept sending aerial balls over our press and trying to use their pace. In the final five minutes, their persistence eventually beat the Dragons’ resistance. They won a short corner and scored through the oldest-youngest man we’ve ever seen.
The Dragons dug in and held on to secure the win. Top of the league, maximum points.

Scorers
Angus Macbeth
Thomas Fowkes

Mens 2s Beat Pelicans 2s. 5-2

On an unreasonably warm Saturday for October, Bourne Deeping M2s headed east to King's Lynn for a clash against the Pelicans team promoted with them.
The dragons started strong, controlling possession and were camped on Pelis circle, not making the most of a couple of penalty corners. Against the run of play Pelicans broke forward with their centre forward executing a perfect rainbow flick somehow unspotted by the umpires before slotting it in to give Pelicans the lead. Mark Cox then paid tribute to the missing Treve Wagstaff, picking up where Treve left off last week by talking himself into a green card. Calm heads were required and whilst the Dragons were still playing a man down Graham Brewer glided past the Pelicans midfield from left back, stepped into the circle and slotted home the equaliser. Brewer, 2s debutant Andrew Mumford and captain Scott Downie formed a solid defence repelling Pelicans attacks forward and distributing well from the back providing a platform for the dragons to attack and earn themselves the Penalty corners from which they then took advantage. Ben Hunt slotted home from a rebound of one penalty corner before Downie at another penalty corner unleashed possibly the slowest shot of the day which James Watkins proceeding to tap in at the back post which definitely did not upset the Dragons' captain. Paul Byrne was slotted in behind with only the keeper to beat, he attempted an audacious lob however only succeeded in dribbling the ball wide. 3-1 at half time was a respectable score as the dragons regrouped and looked to ensure they would take 3 points home.
James Risebrow alongside Cox and Hunt in midfield pushed the dragons forward well with Ethan Foster and Chris Mann providing width to the dragons attack. Aaron Waters was played in behind, the Pelicans centre back attempted and failed to chop him down and after his shot was saved Watkins followed up smashing the ball into the goal for his second of the day. Waters then earned himself the honour of DOTD by sprinting half way across to the pitch to keep a long ball played forward in play on sideline before proceeding to simply tap the ball out of play with a miscontrol.
Pelicans proceeded to follow Cox's earlier example earning themselves a green card which they promptly upgraded into a yellow by continuing to chat back to the umpires. James Risebrow stepped into the D and unleashed a flick destined for the top corner. However Waters was determined to solidify his DOTD "win" and claiming that he was trying to get his head out of the way of the shot got a touch on it before the shot rifled it's way into the netting.
Pelicans proceeded to grab a late consolation goal with what could have been a difficult away trip for the dragons squad of 12 on a balmy day ending in a well deserved 5-2 win. Cool performances from Brewer and Mumford (in more ways than one rocking his sunglasses) at the back saw them share MOTM.

Scorers
Graham Brewer
Ben Hunt
James Watkins – 2
James Risebrow

Mens 3s. Beat Newmarket 3-0

Bourne Deeping men’s 3s welcomed Newmarket to Glinton for this Div4NW fixture, full of confidence that the new additions would create a strong performance and continue their fine start.
Newmarket were stubborn though and even when their defence breached the travelling goalkeeper was in fine form.
Numerous squad changes took some time to bed in and with quality across the whole bench Newmarket were offered little break from the onslaught.
0.0 at halftime but with all the play, the home side just needed to remain calm and make good decisions to carve out the chances.
Matt Goodwin continued to carry attacking threat, Bernie an imposing lead attack, and the pace of Luke Joyner couldn't be matched.
De Souza, Barden and Stainsby were assured in their midfield roles with Andrew Dodds finding good possession on the baseline looking for a teammate to finish.
Into the second half and talented Harry Dodds' flick was parried by the keeper only for Purllant to seize the rebound and calmly find Goodwin for the opener.
Dodds junior then found his mark with the next penalty corner drag Fick doubling the advantage, before Matt Goodwin rounded the day off with a third goal and probably reflect the dominace of the home team.
At the back, incoming Gray & Wagstaff were relatively untroubled, and a return from injury from Briault ensured that threats to Josh Kenny back in goal were minimised but then efficiently repelled to keep his clean sheet.
Away at struggling March next week is an awaiting banana skin.

Scorers
Matt Goodwin - 2
Harry Dodds - 1

Mens 4s Drew with St Ives 1-1

Scorer- Ben Staff

Mens 5s Drew with Ely 0-0