Slough's Harriet Ward Looking To Make The Most Of 'Second Chance'

A serial indoor winner, Harriet Ward of Slough HC spoke to Rod Gilmour from The Hockey Paper ahead of her seventh Super 6s Finals Day appearance this weekend.

Despite being part of many Super 6s Finals Days, Slough women’s Harriet Ward couldn’t bring herself to watch the culmination of the Premier Division.

“I sat in the cafe,” said the 35-year-old. “I thought we had blown it by not winning our last game. I was sure Hightown would win.”

As it turned out, Bowdon Hightown could only muster a draw in the final game of the Premier Division weekend, as perennial winners Slough - who drew their last game against Buckingham in the penultimate match - squeezed through to another Championships finale. “We were lucky to get a second chance,” added Ward.

A former Sunbury HC and Hounslow & Ealing HC (now Barnes) player, this will be Ward’s seventh Finals Day. Having joined the club as a 17-year-old in 2003, she will be the oldest member of the squad at the Copper Box Arena. “I’ve been through the highs and lows and transitions ever since and I feel loyal to the club,” she said.

Ward has mixed with the best indoors too, playing with the likes of Slough greats Mandy Nicholson and Jane Smith.

“It was great to play with them in the early days and then manage to keep successes going in the indoor and remain competitive,” she added.

“We have always committed to indoors. It’s helped from the early days when it was always deemed an important part of the club. We’ve learnt from the players and have carried that through in the subsequent years. Success breeds success.”

Ward works as a GP and had managed to avoid contacting Covid-19 throughout the pandemic until the first weekend of the Super 6s. After missing the opening weekend she was, according to team-mate Laura Puddle, “back with a bang” on a second outing at Repton as she helped Slough edge through to Finals Day.

“It’s been a challenge for everyone [working in the NHS],” said Ward. “It’s been difficult at times and it was nice to have something else to think about when hockey returned.”

Slough celebrated its 100th anniversary in September while Ward says that the club is growing in numbers as it also bids to add a second hockey pitch, despite a current stand-off with the adjacent cricket club.

When Ward joined the club there was only one women’s team - the 1st XI having won the inaugural Women’s Premier Division in 1989/90.

“The club numbers have really changed and increased dramatically over the years,” admitted Ward. “We have five women’s teams, a big junior section and there is definitely a need for another pitch.”

Ward will be one of six returning players who last lifted the trophy for Slough in 2017, while they have experience in spades. “We have had a settled team over the last eight years of indoors. The experience, knowledge and tactics of how to play indoors is there. We may not be as spritely as before but we are certainly competitive!”

Slough play East Grinstead in the women's semi-finals on Sunday. Ward is hoping the club can atone for defeat against the West Sussex side at the same stage in 2019, while their edgy 0-0 draw in the recent Premier Division suggests a tight tussle is in the offing.

“We believe we can beat anyone in a one-off game,” said Ward. “They have been very successful in the league but if we play well we’ve got a good chance.”