HBU U13 team faced a busy start to the New Year with two tournaments and 8 matches without one of the team, Noah, who will be out of action for a couple of months with a broken wrist.

Saturday, the team played four matches in the Eastern Counties U13 league with HBU second in the table and hoping to challenge for the title.
HBU began with a convincing win over host team Letchworth with u11 players Archie and Sian playing their part in a solid start to the day with HBU running out victors 5-1 with Jamie and George scoring the goals.
The next game was always going to be a tight game against league favourites Kings Lynn, following an unlucky draw earlier in the season HBU hoped to improve on that result. In a close game Kings Lynn scored a second goal late in the game to secure victory 2-0. This was a good game for spectators but neither side played well with HBU creating very few chances and unable to trouble the Kings Lynn keeper.
HBU needed to put this disappointment behind them against Cottenham and the players responded well winning the game comfortably with Jamie, George, Oli and Luke scoring regularly and Rhys keeping a clean sheet with the final score 13-0 to HBU.
The final game of the day against a strong Norwich side meant HBU needed to maintain focus and again the team responded positively winning 13-1 with Archie scoring his first goal for the U13 team and all the out players scoring much to the delight of the supporters.

4 games, 3 wins and one defeat. These results leave HBU second with a chance of winning the league.

Squad: Rhys Young (GK), (C) Jamie McVey (12), George Daly (10), Luke Huckstepp (3), Oli Hudson (4), Sian Emslie (1), Archie Issacs (1).

Another early start on Sunday to compete in SECRHA U13 saw the team scheduled to play four games at the Herne Bay Arena beginning with a match against HBU ‘B’ team, a team of under 11 players featuring two of the u13 squad from the previous day.
In an entertaining and enjoyable match the u13 were too strong for their younger club mates and won the match 6-1 with goals from Jamie, Oli and George with Sian responding for the HBU B team. Louis Clarke made his debut for the U13 ‘A’ team

The next game against local rivals Herne Bay was expected to be a closer affair but with HBU ‘A’ showing greater fluency in their play, HBU quickly went a goal up and never looked back with the final score 9-2 through George, Jamie and a couple of own goals.
Two more games against inexperienced sides from Invicta and Maidstone ended the weekend on a positive note with HBU ‘A’ recording two more wins 8-0 and 12-1 with good team play finished off by George, Jamie, Oli and Luke.
In the last game Louis put on the keeper’s pads and played in goal making a number of saves to the delight of the crowd. These victories put the team top of the table and a good way to end the day’s competition with all teams, players and supporters enjoying competitive hockey played in the right spirit. Thank you to the Invicta, Maidstone and Herne Bay clubs for contributing to an enjoyable day’s play.

Squad: Rhys Young (GK), (c) Jamie McVey (14), George Daly (14), Oliver Hudson (2), Luke Huckstepp (3) and Louis Clarke.

This busy weekend of hockey saw this team produce some great play on the way to 7 victories in 8 games, congratulations to the team on their performance and behaviour. The whole team wish Noah a speedy recovery!

The HBU’ B’ team played three matches in the same tournament and after the early defeat by their club mates they went on to beat Invicta 7-2 and lose narrowly to Herne Bay 4-2, Sian and Archie with all the goals. This tournament is development for all of the ‘B’ side and provides them the challenge of playing against older opponents and they responded positively playing some great hockey and enjoying the matches.

Squad: Harrison(GK), Dylan, Fionnbar, Archie, Sian, Lewis, Max, Millie.

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