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It’s Carrick Ladies on ice!

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

The Barnfield Sports Complex synthetic pitch was unplayable for yet another weekend due to heavy overnight frost. SL0513

WITH yet another overnight frost decimating Carrick Ladies Hockey Club's weekend hockey programme, club officials might well consider seeking some useful playing tips from the Belfast Giants as their league season remains firmly on ice for another frustrating week.
Saturday's first and second team matches against Parkview and Cookstown were the latest in a rapidly growing list of postponements for Carrick Ladies, taking to eleven the total number of outstanding fixtures now stacked up for re-scheduling by the club's hard pressed match secretary, Ashley McConnell.
“We've certainly had occasional problems in the past due to adverse weather conditions," said Ashley.
“Last season for example, it took until the end of April to complete our first team programme whereas we should have been completed in mid-March. This year is already a lot worse however. If we played all our remaining matches only at weekends, we'd be well into May before we finished! So I reckon we'll be working with the Ulster Hockey Union to now include mid-week matches in our scheduling or else the situation will be virtually un-manageable.
“I'd guess the players would be happier to include mid-week games even though they're far from ideal as it means having to go straight from work, college, or whatever, to fulfil the fixture. And it certainly wouldn't suit games against clubs like Raphoe or Kilkeel where the distances involved would make an evening game totally impractical.
“The biggest problem we're experiencing from these ongoing postponements is the impossibility of establishing any sort of momentum in our game play," continued Ashley.
“Believe it or not, our first team hasn't managed two consecutive weekend league fixtures since October! Their extended run in the Irish Hockey Trophy took up most of November and just when we should have been settling down to resume our normal league programme, the frost and snow arrived in December. It's been stop start ever since. Our seconds have if anything fared even worse. They've only managed to play one single match since December 12 while both they and our third team are still waiting to play outstanding cup and plate matches which should have been completed in early January," added Ashley.
Carrick first team captain Christine Waide echoed Ashley McConnell's comments in relation to match play disruption.
“We were really looking forward to Saturday's game against Parkview but yet again we've ended up kicking our heels over another lost weekend. One small consolation is that we've a couple of our first team regulars, Lorna Hill and Kerry McIlroy out of action at present, so with yet more match postponements, there's more chance of them coming back into fitness for the remainder of our season.
“Saturday's postponement must have been particularly disappointing for both Jennifer Rogers and Amy Cross who were selected for the first squad against Parkview. Jennifer actually came on for us in the second half of our game against PSNI and scored on her debut which was excellent. And we were looking forward to Amy joining the squad as she's been scoring regularly for the seconds.
“We're very happy also with Caris Greenwood's input to the first team since she recently joined our squad from the seconds. She's been bold and imaginative and that's exactly what we're looking for in a front runner. It's understandably difficult for all three of these players, Caris, Jennifer, and Amy to come into the first squad when we're struggling to find our form. Moving up from the lower reaches of Junior League to Senior Two is a big ask of anyone at any time, but all three have already proved their worth in our lower teams.
“And from what we've seen of them, they'll fit perfectly into the squad. So fingers crossed we'll have a match this coming weekend, but at this stage we just have to wait and see," added Christine.
This coming weekend's fixtures for Carrick Ladies Hockey Club are:
1st XI to be announced
2nd XI to be announced
3rd XI home to Grosvenor (Junior league fixture sponsored by Fulmac Print and Design)

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