Greens grab point, Mere draw and GB international visits Windermere School

It was a testing task to travel south with a depleted squad to take on an in form home side, but the Greens showed a great determination and deservedly took a share of the spoils.

The home side set the pace of the game, dominating possession from start to finish.

But though Kendal faced attack after attack, they defended admirably as a unit and held out, with Chris Woodman, Nick Davis, Simon Millington and stand in right back Alex Hyman putting in a flawless display.

They worked hard to continually close down their opponents and limited Bolton to just two shots on target in the entire game, both of which were comfortably saved by in form keeper Rob Cartwright.

In addition, midfielders Mark Addison, Aaron Screen and John Stanworth ran their socks off throughout, tracking Bolton attackers all over the park.

And despite Bolton dominance, Kendal very nearly caused an upset when Noah Ross, Jim Marsten and Stephen Olliver combined to set Jack Kerr through on goal.

With the goal beckoning, Kerr lined up a strike but it was smothered by the Bolton keeper who came flying off his line to prevent the goal which would have handed an unlikely victory for Kendal.

To their credit, even after this the visitors continued to defend well and keep their concentration, and they held out with the scoreboard still showing 0-0 when the final whistle eventually sounded.

The Greens' final pre-Christmas encounter sees them on the road again on Saturday when they travel to Urmston.

Liverpool Sefton came from behind three times to frustrate Windermere’s hopes of going into their Christmas break with a win.

But Saturday’s thrilling 3-3 home draw still sees Mere remain sixth in North 2 West at the hockey season’s half-way mark.

Will Dolman fired Mere ahead with a well placed drag-flick but expansive play by Sefton had Mere in all kinds of trouble and the first equaliser came as no surprise.

Back came Mere and a charging run by Ben Williamson after the break allowed skipper Adam Whitehead to convert at the far post.

But Sefton were quick to respond again and soon bagged another leveller, and at 2-2 the game was finely poised with both teams battling hard for ascendancy.

A dipping reverse stick effort by Dolman gave Mere the lead again but his side but still could not hold their advantage. Sefton levelled and nearly grabbed all three points with a last gasp short corner strike that was edged round the post by goalkeeper and man of the match Rob Curme.

It was also a big hockey week for Windermere School as Great Britain and England vice captain David Ames put pupils through their paces when he conducted a coaching session.

Ames was in the England team which finished fourth in the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup and, more recently, played in both play-off legs as Great Britain qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

This is the fifth time Ames has visited but the first time since the installation of the school’s new playing surface, an England hockey category 2 all-weather pitch.

He was very complimentary about the surface and during the session, Ames worked with the students to develop their skills in a variety of areas, primarily focused on hitting and goal scoring.

“David has always said what a pleasure it is to come up here and how attentive and hard-working our students are, and this visit was no different,” said the school’s head of PE Dan Reid.

"This was a great opportunity for the students to take some guidance from such an experienced athlete.

" Those who attended thoroughly enjoyed the session and left feeling more confident and certainly inspired.”

And afterwards, the students commented on how they had enjoyed the session and how they felt their confidence had grown as a result.

“That was hard work, but hugely enjoyable,” said first team player Archie Dalzell. "We got a brilliant insight into the types of training professional players do each day.

“I’m hoping some of the new skills I’ve learned will come in handy in future fixtures.”