Last weekend, the Ipswich Hockey Club U14 Boys took part in the Mizuno Cup, held at Surbiton Hockey Club.
The tournament provided a fantastic opportunity for the boys to get some valuable pre-season match time together, but the outcome ended up exceeding expectations for this newly formed squad.
On Sunday, the boys opened their campaign against Surbiton 2nd XI and produced a confident performance, securing a comfortable 3–0 victory.
Their second fixture saw them face Wimbledon, who provided tougher opposition. However, as the game progressed, the Ipswich squad began to really gel, putting together another strong performance and coming away with an impressive 3–1 win.
Then followed another very important part of the weekend… 35 players, coaches and family members heading to a local pub for some well-earned food, refreshments and plenty of socialising for young and old!
On Monday morning, Ipswich faced Old Cranleighans, who had also won all of their fixtures up to that point. It proved to be an incredibly tight game, with the Ipswich boys having to dig deep and show plenty of determination. Eventually, they found the goal they needed and held on for an excellent 1–0 victory.
Their final group game was against East Grinstead, a big, strong side containing a number of very skilful players. Ipswich were not quite playing their best hockey, but they continued to battle until the final whistle. East Grinstead eventually came away with a 3–1 victory.
The good news was that Ipswich had done enough to reach the final of the Plate competition. The slightly less good news… they would be facing East Grinstead again!
Coaches Bale and Southgate helped reset the boys and prepare them for the rematch.
The final was another tough, end-to-end contest, but Ipswich dug deep and struck first to take a 1–0 lead. With only minutes remaining, East Grinstead began to apply increasing pressure and eventually managed to break quickly and find the equaliser.
That meant the tournament would be decided by shuffles.
What followed was an incredibly tense shootout, with both teams eventually having to take eight shuffles each before a winner could be found. Ipswich finally held their nerve to win 3–2 and claim the Plate!
A special mention must go to goalkeeper James, who only started playing in goal last winter. Throughout the weekend he produced countless outstanding saves, regularly keeping Ipswich in games when the pressure was on.
Remarkably, James had never faced shuffles before the final, but performed with the composure of his namesake, England goalkeeper James Mazarelo!
Congratulations also go to Will S, who was named Player of the Tournament after an excellent weekend of hockey.
It was a superb start to what promises to be a very exciting season for this young U14 squad.
Congratulations to all the boys, coaches and supporters involved — we look forward to seeing what else this team can achieve over the season ahead.
