Reports 5th February 2005
Men's 1st XI take a 2-2 draw away at St Neots II
Men's 2nd XI suffer a 7-1 defeat at the hands of St Neots III
Men's 3rd XI are beaten 7-0 by Bourne IV
Men's Veteran XI draw 1-1 with Bishop's Stortford Veterans
Ladies' 1st XI also draw 1-1 with March Town II
Mixed XI lose 6-1 against Wild Geese
St Neots Men's II 2 - 2 Cambridge South Men's I
H/T: 0 - 2
Scorers: Chris Baker, Alex Pooles
A disappointing draw for Cambridge South but the team only has themselves to blame. The first five minutes were dubious as South were lucky on a couple of occasions not to concede an early goal. However, it was South who did net first after Chris Baker wound his way round a couple of defenders to deftly flick the ball past the oncoming keeper.
St Neots were rattled and stayed rattled for the rest of the game. South strengthened in midfield, took control in the rest of the first half and doubled their lead through an Alex Pooles special, having been worked into a scoring position by the silky skills of Douglas Leckie.
The second half was a different story. South lost their shape and composure and St Neots came on strong. The first goal of their comeback came when a striker was left too much time at the top of the D and slotted one home from fifteen yards past a totally unsighted keeper. The second came not long after and again the keeper was helpless when the defence lost the ball from a sixteen and St Neots pounced.
From there South defended slightly better against increasing pressure from the home side. South keeper Lino Di Lorenzo put a particularly impressive performance making several athletic saves to ensure the visitors left with at least a point. Richard Morgan also deserves praise for turning a big penalty corner strike round the post to avoid what was otherwise a certain match winning goal.
A point will do for now but Cambridge South need to register another win soon if they're to pull themselves off the bottom of the table.
Cambridge South Men's II 1 - 7 St Neots Men's III
Scorers: Raphael Mis
No report
Bourne Men's IV 7 - 0 Cambridge South Men's III
Scorers:
No report
Cambridge South Men's Veterans 1 - 1 Bishop's Stortford Men's Veterans
Scorers: Roger Craigen
No report
March Town Ladies' II 1 - 1 Cambridge South Ladies' I
H/T: 0 - 1
Scorers: Emma Clarke
South travelled to March on Saturday knowing that they faced a very tough match. Their win over March before Christmas was the only points that the league leaders had dropped all season and they had beaten everyone else with depressing ease.
However, South were not overawed and knew that they had a strong team, despite the absence of captain Rachel Moyes and also stalwarts Caroline Bucknall and Tash Cox, who were both recovering from flu.
The match started well with both sides trading attacks. Gemma Thomas made some fine attacking runs and put in several good crosses that the South forwards were just unable to get their sticks on. Meanwhile, the defence was also strong, with sweeper Ruth Jempson and goalie Cassie Woodfin doing plenty of shouting and making some good saves and tackles when called upon.
Twenty minutes in, and slightly against the run of play, South managed to break the deadlock. Right half Liz Tattersall, who had an excellent game, put in a great through pass to free left wing Emma Clarke, who ran on to it and beat the goalkeeper, much to Emma's surprise. March immediately came back strongly but South comfortably held out to half time.
The second half looked like being hard work for South, with March determined to score and making repeated attacks. Some good tackles and strong defence of numerous short corners kept the score at 1-0 until fifteen minutes from the end. A March forward struck a solid shot into the D which smacked straight onto the end of Ruth Jempson's hand. As she yelled and dropped her stick, with a lot of blood immediately evident, all the players of both sides naturally stopped also. Unfortunately the March umpire had other ideas and as he shouted 'play on', a March forward reacted first and pushed the ball into the goal. South were naturally upset, feeling that this was unsportsmanlike play at the very least, even while agreeing that it was not perhaps against the letter of the law.
However, there was a match to finish and after Ruth's wounds were tended to, with no sub available there was a certain amount of reorganization to do. Gemma dropped back to sweeper, with Emma moving to centre half, leaving the mother and daughter combination of Anne Swinney and Rosie Dias up front. In this formation, South managed to hold out until the end of the match, despite March desperately pushing for a winner and another injury scare to left back Sue Snape.
All in all, South had to be pleased with this result, although less happy that several of their players came away with injuries. Everyone in the team worked extremely hard and put together some quality passing moves, coupled with first-rate defending. Special mention must go to Jodee Davis who had an excellent game at centre back, sticking to the March centre forward like glue, and Claire Roberts at right back who made some vital tackles, especially in the last ten minutes when South were down to ten. Jo Read also worked tirelessly at left half and managed to support most of the attacks as well as defending with determination.
Wild Geese 6 - 1 Southerners (Mixed Team) (Sunday 6th February)
H/T: 2 - 1
Scorers: Gemma Thomas
MoM: Gemma Thomas and Lino Di Lorenzo
South's mixed team's first match after christmas ended in defeat by the Wild Geese (aka Pelicans of Kings Lynn).
The first half saw the Geese exerting a lot of pressure, with South struggling to clear their owns lines. However, when they did, the counter-attacks looked dangerous as John Benedikz loitering around as centre forward caused the Geese defensive problems. Indeed he got through one-on-one on the keeper twice but was denied by good saves.
This pattern continued for thirty minutes until South forced their first short corner. Gemma Thomas took the push-out, drove right of a runner a cracked a drive across the keeper into the far corner. The question from here was could South hold onto their lead until half-time. the answer was an emphatic 'no' as the Geese scored twice in a minute to lead 2-1, which if we are honest was a truer reflection of the game.
The second half continued in a similar vein, with South looking to hit on the counter and the Geese pushing on. Playing with so little of the ball inevitably saw South tiring (and the knocks from Saturday's league matches beginning to ache), exposing keeper Lino Di Lorenzo to more and more work. This include one spectacular flying stick save as a shot was arrowing towards his top corner. However, despite his efforts, the Geese added four more strikes, two in the last ten minutes.
Player of the match has to be shared between Lino and Gemma. Lino for a number of flying sves to keep the scored down, and Gemma for not just being South's most dangerous attacker, but for also repeated dispossessing the Geese captain, an East League Premier A player.
Overall this was a good match played in the right spirit, by both teams, but noticeably by the umpires, who were excellent.
Also, thanks to Lottie and Erica for coming along to play to give us the full compliment of players. And well done to Jodee and Rupert for recruiting them.