At least, that's what our bare 11 over 35s squad did this weekend. A 300mile round trip for their first away fixture in the England Hockey Masters Trophy.

It had been dubious as to whether the game would go ahead for the previous 10 days or so, with injuries and childcare an initial squad of 14 quickly depleted to just 9.
Thankfully, the team were able to find some guest players, resulting in the bare 11.

Keen to play, Heather Hooper and her car poolers arrived super early, so descended on a local cafe for tea and cinnamon swirls, others were fueled by Greggs and Macdonald's and some had to settle for a service station chicken on a stick............let's hope they're not all ill tomorrow!

A quick team talk and a lesson taught from Karena on how venturing up the pitch can result in bras snapping and the team of defenders (exception of Meg and Heather) headed out to the pitch.

As always spirits in the O35s were high and Emma Chapman led the squad in her warm up choreography of "Five- Keep on moving" et al

With the bare 11, and most of the squad being defenders, it was always going to be a tough game, but the squad were determined to go out fighting.

A positive start led to a flurry of forward momentum for the first 10 minutes.
Chesterfield won a Penalty corner but unfortunately the strike was above the backboard.

Shortly after Newcastle warmed up into the game and challenged the Chesterfield defense, again and again, resulting in the first half ending 2-0 to Newcastle.

The game felt in reach so Chesterfield went out in the 2nd half to try and claw the game back.
Unfortunately, a mixture of tired legs, players out of position, and very well disciplined and competent opposition meant Chesterfield struggled to get out of their own half.

There were a few strands of hope when Jo and Meg managed to link the ball up to the forwards, but the gap between forwards and midfielders ( who were all defenders bar meg ) meant that the attacks were squashed quickly.

Newcastle won a Penalty flick, a confident Charlie Calderbank held strong between the pegs, read the flick well and saved the very well executed flick.

Newcastle managed to score a further 2 goals, meaning that Chesterfields debut cup run is over for this year, good luck to Newcastle, and don't worry, we will be back next year!

The squad are super proud of what we have achieved, from a random idea of someone who just wanted to play more hockey, to a squad of players across all 3 women's teams who came together and gave their all.