University Of Nottingham Women Are Relishing Prospect Of The Top Eight League Finals

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Vitality Women’s Premier Division newcomers University of Nottingham are relishing prospect of the top eight League Finals, reports Rod Gilmour of The Hockey Paper 

As December took hold, University of Nottingham women’s coach Matt Taylor gathered all the video of his side’s first 11 games in the Premier Division season and clipped together every single one of the 41 goals they conceded.

Leaking nearly four goals per game in Phase 1, Nottingham had conceded the most of the top flight sides. However, the former England international’s detailed analysis proved a masterstroke.

Katie Curtis, Nottingham’s captain and defender, hailed Taylor’s painstaking analysis, defensive statistics and identifying the breakdowns of play as “massively important”.

She said: “It helped us identify where we need to improve, visualise it and then work on it at training. We put a real emphasis on our defensive play in training and it has clearly been reflected in our results, specifically goal difference.”

In the Lower 6, they plugged the goals against, won their last four matches, finished top and secured one of the two vital berths on offer for the top eight, coupled with the chance to make Finals Weekend at Surbiton in April. Now they are set for three matches, starting with England Hockey’s match of the weekend away to Wimbledon, to test themselves in a rising debut season.

According to Taylor, Nottingham simply recognised their faults and became more competitive. 

“Since Christmas, we have not turned anything around but found our feet as well as being more relaxed,” he said. “The alarming thing was that we were the fourth highest goalscorers in the league but highest conceding team in the league at Christmas.

“Out of scoring or preventing goals, which two things would we prefer to work on? Preventing goals. To score is hard work but to coach the team to stop the ball going into the net is an easier task.”

And so Taylor took on the task of putting all of Nottingham’s conceded goals into a presentation and went through all 41 when the squad returned in January. 

“We worked out how many players were in the circle, which side the attacks came down, whether they were from PC or open play, where the turnover was,” explained Taylor. 

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The forensics allowed for a plan to be put in place to stop the goals, with an additional aim of now being the team which conceded the least goals. Nottingham only shipped five goals in the second phase - after an opening loss to Loughborough Students, they hit form with successive wins over University of Birmingham, Reading, Holcombe and Buckingham - as Birmingham also won through behind Taylor’s outfit to join the top eight finals. 

In their BUCS campaign, they made it nine from nine on Wednesday with victory over Durham, as they reached their fourth BUCS Wednesday final in the last six years.

“Every game we played after Christmas we were the better team,” added Taylor. “So I wouldn't say there was a turning point. It was more reflections which led to the analysis and being more competitive. But I have been absolutely delighted with them and I can’t praise the girls enough, particularly being a young squad.”

Having battled in the Lower 6, Taylor says of the new phased league structure: “I think the format is really clever and I like it alot.

“The phasing in the season is helpful for teams new into the Premier Divisions. The first phase is almost your preparation phase and the second one is the crucial one. 

“It is certainly better for the league in the bottom end as we haven’t played it as the top and seeing the competition amongst the teams, yet the pooling for Phase 3 is so important as to who plays who.”

On the league format and the March fixtures ahead, captain Curtis said: “I am really keen on this structure, it's super exciting and offers us an opportunity to have competitive games against really strong sides. It also puts more on the games, but resetting the points, and this makes each match even more thrilling and fun to be a part of.”

Taylor simply told his side - with an average of around 19 ½ - that the three upcoming March fixtures represent “three free hits for the team”.

He added: “We’ve done our bit in securing our place in the Premier Division for next year which is crucial so we don’t lose too many players, most of the squad will be here and there are some talented girls who want to come in. These three games are all about experience and whether we can get closer than Phase 1.”

Saturday: Wimbledon v University of Nottingham, 2pm