The Midlands Indoor Tier 1 Tournament proved a fantastic experience once again this year. Having narrowly missed out on the finals last year, Towcester Ladies Indoor were keen to give it another shot.

The winner of this Tier 1 tournament qualify for the EH Super 6s Division 2 tournament in January, as such the teams entered in Tier 1 play in Midlands Conference & Midlands Div 1 outdoor League,

We initially had a super team lined up with a number of really strong players.
Unfortunately, as luck would have it ,we lost key players in the weeks leading up to the tournament. This left us with the bare minimum, and of these, ladies that had never played indoor before. One of these was 1st & 2nd team goalie, Imo Wakeford, who played superbly as an outfield player! Another newcomer, Iryna Thornton (Ladies 5s), was awarded a gold star in the form of a green card for her tremendous determination and enthusiasm. This was the only card our team received all tournament and was quite a feat to achieve as only minutes before Imo had "thrown" her stick at a player in a very committed tackle which the umpire found amusing,but did not card?!

First match vs Stourport. We held them off extremely well as our players, looking like Bambi's on ice, tried to adapt to the slippery indoor surface. Goalie, Isla McMillan, made an incredible p-flick save keeping the final score to 1-0 and triggering raucous applause from the crowd around the hall.

Second match vs Worcester. Cat Sherwood ,who had been really solid in defence ,sadly retired part way through with an injury. Fortunately I had added myself as a player bringing our team back up to six. A questionable umpire decision in the second half saw us end 1-0, but again we felt this match could easily have gone either way.

Our third match was against last year's winners, and this year's winner too, Cannock. We relaxed into our game and played some great hockey, going down a credible 2-0.

The last official match was vs Harborne. With a lack of subs and inexperience the fatigue was setting in but we played a good game. Cassidy and Elloise Jorritsma's superb stick skills and Isla's fantastic saves carried the team and kept the score to a 1-0 loss.

Our final team of the day was a friendly versus Repton, who play in the Indoor Super 6s Premier division. They had been invited to play to make up numbers for the round robin tournament. We went into the match thinking we were going to have a tough time, but our ladies were not going down without a fight. First half remained 0-0 with Imo and Isla keeping a tight lock down in defence. Cas and Elloise were switching between defence and attack making skilled runs through a frustrated Repton , with Iryna and myself lurking in their D to support our attack. The half time break was enough to finish us off though and we let two goals slip by in the last few minutes of the match.

All in all the ladies did Towcester Hockey Club proud. Each one showed resilience, grit and determination and proved we have what it takes to be competitive at this level in Indoor hockey.