Michael Jordan is often quoted as mentioning the 9000+ shots he missed during his career, rather than the ones that made him the Basketball icon he became. For Thirsk's U14 boys' playing Silcoates on Saturday in an U14 friendly, this fixture was one of those "9000+" related moments.

The team, a mixture of boys who play regularly in the YYHL squad and others who are not able to do so, set out on a bitterly cold and increasing wet Sat to test themselves against a school who have players within the Wakefield HC and Slazenger HC recruiting territory.

The preceding U13 friendly held the hour before, had been played in a true friendly spirit and had been very equal in abilities and opportunities, despite the 2-0 loss for Thirsk's U13s.

Heartened by the fabulous U13 performance immediately before, the U14 team captained by Jacob, were ready for the whistle. Silcoates started with an explosive pace; so much so that the Thirsk U14 lads were left standing and Tom in goal left with a 1v1 situation and an immediate danger situation to deal with. A gutsy and decisive clearance by Tom, saved an almost certain goal, however a Penalty Flick was awarded to Silcoates, and we had just reached the 33second of play! The team clearly reeling were gathered to the 23 line by Jacob and all eyes on Tom. Sensing an early scoring opportunity, the Silcoates forward took the flick with confidence however, Tom pulled off an incredible save of the flick, to the surprise of Silcoates, and sent the ball flying out of the D toward the 23 line, with the force of a baseball player hitting the ball.

Some re-composure occurred but the Thirsk team struggled with the clearly much higher fitness levels, and playing intensity of Silcoates; coupled with the fact they were able to keep possession much better than Thirsk.

Lily playing her first match for the boys' team, in her first substitution, commented on how much faster and physical, boys' hockey was compared to girls' hockey, "but great to play".

Despite Tom pulling off a large number of saves, the first half ended 4-0 down to Thirsk; the half-time team talk focused on the need to keep possession and not trying to take on players unnecessarily.

The second half was an improvement on the first, slightly, but by now the deteriorating weather was adding to the challenge faced by Thirsk who physically were being pushed to the limit. Guy kept the candle of hope glowing with a goal that has to be a candidate for goal of the season, where he simultaneously, singlehandedly took on a defender and the Silcoates' goalie to lift the ball so that it went just under the bar into the Silcoates goal. The loud roar and applause from the sideline supporters that ensued ringing in the team's ears. Just when Thirsk seemed to be getting back into the game, and playing a good deal of hockey in the Silcoates half, JackD had an unfortunate slip during one of the games' physical challenges, which left Tom facing 4 Silcoates attackers advancing at pace from the half-way line. The silence of apparent despair at what was seemingly inevitable, was dismissed by Tom timing his first run perfectly, to challenge the first forward, guessing correctly the ball would be passed to the second forward who he challenged with a Usain Bolt like sprint, and then a ground slide save to stop the 3rd forward doing anything with the ball so that Tom's stick hit it away from the 4th forward's stick as the hit was being lined up.

Ben, who is not a regular YYHL U14 player, was putting in a good shift in the midfield so that he was increasingly frustrating the Silcoates players and helping Thirsk win back possession; alas, a rather unfortunate head-butt stopped Ben in his tracks and left him stunned for the rest of the match, with a lump to the side of his head, and understandably slightly off his game.

This coupled with Will sustaining an ankle injury forcing him to retire for the rest of the game, weakened the team further and with exhaustion the end result was 7-1 to Silcoates.

So not the result we wanted, truly awful weather but lots of learning points; to quote JackD's godfather Peter, who was cheering on from the sidelines, "this Thirsk team just isn't giving up and despite the score, their heads are not going down; incredible".

Players'Player:

Tom for: putting in a top class performance all match and having the fortitude to pull off classy save after classy save, despite the end match result.

Manager's Player:

Hannah, a regular in last year's U14 Boys' mixed team, who clearly had the highest fitness levels of the Thirsk squad and put in a consistently gutsy performance in a quite physical game.

Thanks to David for umpiring.

Team photo:

Angus, Oliver, Guy, Jacob(Capt), Matty, JackD, Tom(GK), Will, Ben, Owen, TomC, Lily & Hannah