Reports 27th November 2004

Men's 1st XI lose 3-1 to Cambridge City III

Men's 2nd XI lose 5-2 to Market Deeping II

Men's 3rd XI lose 3-1 to St Neots IV

Men's Veteran XI lose 5-1 to Chelmsford Evergreens

Ladies' 1st XI win 2-0 against Cambridge City IV

Mixed XI lose 7-1 against St Ives

 

Cambridge City Men's III 3 - 1 Cambridge South Men's I

H/T: 1 - 1

Scorers: Ryan Thomas

It was time for the merry-go-round again at St Catz astroturf on Saturday as six of South's squad from the previous week dismounted and Messrs Agarwala, Fleck, Garrett, Hay and Simpson all clambered aboard to take up the reins.

Considering the positional changes required, South did well to contain the thoroughbred City attack in the first ten minutes as the home side used the full width of the pitch and, though there were some giveaways and elementary errors from dead-ball positions, defensive linchpin Chris Graveling and the pragmatic Keith Simpson generally held their opponents in check. Doug Leckie dribbled nervelessly out of a tight corner on more than one occasion and, by the time South had won their first short after eight minutes, they had already had a good chance to score courtesy of a quick-thinking move involving Ryan Thomas, Rob Garrett and finally Andy Rose, who just skimmed the keeper before City averted the danger. Neither South's short nor City's first, which soon followed, came to anything but South continued to play positively despite some queasy moments at the rear. Veejay Agarwala was tenaciously skilful at left-half, Richard Morgan distributed crisply, and Rose and Thomas found each other with pleasing regularity to set up several promising situations.

When City threatened near the D on twelve minutes, Graveling's intimidating presence caused the ball-carrier to fall over spontaneously in a shower of arms and legs, but there were no such mistakes a couple of minutes later when City, adept throughout at drawing the foul, won the second of their eleven penalty corners. However, keeper Steve Parker, braced as ever for hard-core action, read the switch and made a good block to his right from a hard low strike to maintain the zero. South then launched a swift counter-attack after City's third short, and a slick sequence of passes from Agarwala, Simpson and skipper Jim Thorpe set the hard-running Thomas up for a shot which deserved more but just went wide. After Parker had calmly neutralised a sharp City attempt with a clearance to the wing, Thomas was on the warpath again and, after feeding Garrett, whose shot was half-stopped by the keeper, he slotted smartly into the second wave and stuffed away a close-range effort to notch his third goal in four games.

The play went coast-to-coast for the next ten minutes, with Parker putting in a pinpoint clearance to Agarwala before watching an angled cross deflect narrowly past a post. Garrett's extra pace - profitably used in his former right-wing mode - created chances up front as he interpassed with Thorpe and Thomas, and he nearly doubled the lead on twenty minutes as the City keeper was almost rounded. Then Parker effortlessly absorbed and despatched a piledriver from his right before diving up and across to parry a goalbound deflection. City continued to be difficult to dispossess in the D, but Morgan, Simpson and Graveling sensibly kept their heads and gradually wormed the ball out.

Rob Hay won a key tackle on the twenty-five and South had a golden opportunity when Rose, taking Hay's excellent pass, was clumsily fouled in City territory. But Thorpe's slip from the resulting short was not fully exploited and the keeper was able to clear safely. Although Rose, Graveling and Leckie all stood their ground in the face of mounting attacks, the fake gunshot from the local bird-scarer seemed to be a harbinger and, on thirty-three minutes, a snappy four-man move originating from City's left midfield had the South defence chasing shadows as an unmarked man raced in to finish clinically. After Garrett had been robbed at the death by a desperate diving tackle and Agarwala had once more spirited the ball out of a tricky spot in the left corner, Graveling and Parker between them ensured that there were no further problems before the break, Parker thwarting a City short with a fine diving stick-and-glove save for a long corner and Graveling tackling on the turn with devastating sleight of foot.

South, who according to at least one of the City subs were still leading 1-0 at this stage, started the second half with a series of simple, sensible moves initiated by Morgan and Graveling but conceded an ugly short after forty-one minutes and, from this, the home side took the lead when a direct strike, momentarily obscured from Parker's view, skimmed a glove on the way in. South came nerve-janglingly close to an equaliser almost immediately when super-sub Steve Fleck, scourge of many a local defence over the decades, burnt up the middle after great work by Thomas and Rose and courageously managed to get a firm shot off despite an imminent flattening from the City keeper. The ball was inches wide, to City's obvious relief, but this miss - and the set of bleeding knuckles which went with it - did not deter the terrier-like Irishman from injecting a welcome dash of devilment into the attack for the rest of the game.

South continued to try and build steadily, with Morgan in good touch and getting stuck in, but there were too many unforced errors, particularly from set plays, for the right sort of possession to be maintained for the necessary length of time. Nevertheless, Leckie came close to that elusive second goal when firing a flick into the side netting after forty-seven minutes, and the spirit was clearly good since City's subs were anxiously urging their men on to "want it more". Hay, Graveling and Parker firmly repelled a determined assault near the right-hand post, Morgan kept his purple patch going and City's seventh short was neatly snuffed out on each of the three occasions it was taken. A Graveling drive upfield nearly secured the breakthrough in the fifty-third minutes as he moved forward and Thorpe back, and Hay's interception gave Leckie the opportunity to demonstrate the fancy stuff before igniting Fleck, whose cross just missed the onrushing Thomas. A further two shorts were seen off, to City's evident frustration, before Leckie embarked on another juggernaut run which left five opponents trailing in his wake. But after Garrett and Thomas had successfully funnelled the ball up the left, City took advantage of a two-man collision in the South midfield to create a cast-iron chance just inside the D which was again coolly slotted away despite Parker's best efforts, to give the home side a 3-1 lead with ten minutes to go.

South, though refusing to panic, could make little headway over the next five minutes as Thomas and Fleck, working overtime to get a result from good ball from Thorpe and Agarwala, were stymied by the resolute City defence whenever they threatened to make inroads. Simpson, returning for the final phase, tackled with good sense and judgment, as did Morgan, but, in the dying moments, it was once again left to Parker to keep the scoreline respectable as he beat out two stinging shorts, one with a resolute diving block and stick clearance and the other with an inch-perfect raised pad save on the whistle.

 

Cambridge South Men's II 2 - 5 Market Deeping Men's II

H/T: 1 - 3

Scorers: Andy Lewis, John Greaves
MoM: Nick Wong - an effective bundle of energy, defending and attacking heroically. Unlucky not to score

Things looked ominous when we spotted that Market Deeping all had identical new shirts, socks and shorts on. The away team dominated from the start, and only solid defending, particularly from John Benedikz at sweeper, kept them at bay. The opening goal came against the run of play from a slick Greaves-Lewis short corner routine, with Andy Lewis rifling his shot in from the edge of the D. Sadly this only served to irritate Deeping, who scored three goals in quick succession, mainly due to their quick thinking forwards and the home team being unable to clear the ball rapidly and effectively.

The second half was a similar story. Deeping got a fourth goal and were only prevented from scoring more by some great goalmouth stops from newcomer Nik Oettle and Steve Lane. South came back strongly towards the end, inspired by MoM Nick Wong, who buzzed around in defence, midfield and attack, and the catalytic effect of a couple of substitutions. Wong almost got on the scoresheet a number of times before he managed to pass decisively across goal for John Greaves to turn the ball neatly past the keeper for a trademark three-yarder.

This was not enough to get back into the game, and Deeping got a lucky final goal via a deflection wrongfooting the otherwise solid keeper, John Bartram.

It was good to see CSouth keep going to the end, not giving up, and exploiting different attacking avenues, but inability to win enough 50/50 balls, too frequently giving the ball away in our own half, from set and open play and not covering sixteen yard hits cost us dear.

 

St Neots Men's IV 3 - 1 Cambridge South Men's III

H/T: 2 - 0

Scorers: Matt Murray
MoM: Ky Ho - for solid defending, strong tackling to dispossess attackers, and plenty of encouragement. Honourable mentions: James Bridge - for ably stepping into the captain's role and being a strong midfield presence; Matt Murray - for providing a lift to the whole team, as well as a splendid goal

Cambridge South 3rds arrived at St Neots in good spirits despite the encroaching darkness due to a late afternoon push-back, little knowing that the approaching game would be remembered more for its injuries than for its hockey.

It didn't take long for South to start hurting themselves. Practising short corners with both attack and defence during the warm-up, defender Sam Lansdell rushed out towards receiver James Bridge, then came around the wrong side and found his head connecting with the end of Bridge's swinging stick. Blood began to flow from a cut on Lansdell's right eyebrow, and it was apparent that hospital treatment was required. Following some negotiation, captain David Bridge took Lansdell to hospital, where he had six stitches and is now recovering well. This left South a man down: umpire Andy Lewis stepped into the team, and St Neots kindly provided a second umpire. James Bridge took over the captaincy.

The match began after a short delay with South starting with only ten men, as Lewis was still getting changed, and joining soon after. The sides were fairly even to begin with: St Neots played a good passing game, with South focussing more on dribbling the ball up the pitch and trying long passes towards the forward pair of Wilco Dijkstra and David Scott. Both sides had a number of attacks: one South attack resulted in a long corner, which unfortunately hit a St Neots defender in the leg for the second injury of the match, although the player was able to continue after a short rest. Similarly, a St Neots passing attack up the centre involved a strong tackle by midfielder Chris Clegg, during which the attacker's stick whacked solidly into Clegg's knee for yet another injury, although he could also continue playing after a pause.

The South defence of Steve Morrell, Sam Carr, Ian Evans (taking injured Lansdell's place) and led by a strong Ky Ho, stood firm against St Neots attacks until a freak goal after about twenty minutes. A long fast ball into the centre of South's D was miscontrolled by a St Neots attacker, to fly up off his stick into the top right corner of the South goal. The South pain was doubled less than a minute later: St Neots regained possession after the restart and immediately passed the ball up to their attackers, who neatly slotted the ball away for a second goal. South were understandably dismayed by this sudden two goal deficit, but managed to hang on for the rest of the first half.

Following the restart, Dijkstra and Lewis changed positions, with Dijkstra dropping back to left wing and Lewis moving up as a striker. St Neots restarted strongly, putting pressure on the South defence and gaining a series of short corners. One of these resulted in a shot on goal, which defender Ho got a stick to, but unfortunately only enough to deflect the ball past keeper Tom James and into the goal, for St Neots' third of the afternoon.

With fifteen minutes of the match left, Matt Murray arrived to bolster the team following a phone call from departed David Bridge, and came on to replace Lewis (who had already played one match today). The arrival of Murray served as a catalyst for South to lift their game, showing no signs of tiring (which has been a problem towards the end of matches earlier in the season).

The South midfield of Tim Gass, James Bridge, Chris Clegg, and Wilco Dijkstra produced some good link-up play and attacked the St Neots defence with renewed vigour, which culminated in a short corner. Dijkstra pushed out to Bridge, who, in a pre-arranged routine, passed the ball left to Murray, who unleashed a shot that found the St Neots goal. South continued to press hard for the last five minutes, but in the end the pressure had simply come too late.

 

Chelmsford Evergreens 5 - 1 Cambridge South Men's Veterans

Scorers: Williams

No report

 

Cambridge South Ladies' I 2 - 0 Cambridge City Ladies' IV

Scorers: Tash Cox, Gemma Thomas

No report

 

Southerners (Mixed Team) 1 - 7 St Ives (Sunday 28th November)

H/T: 0 - 1

Scorers: Rupert Webb

A late collapse by the Southerners ultimately gave this scoreline a lopsided feel to it, and though it probably accurately represents the margin between the two sides, for a good while this match was much closer than 7-1.

The opening passages saw St Ives exerting pressure, with South struggling to get the ball clear. However, Souths defence of Caroline Bucknall, Jodee Davis, Rich Morgan and Jan Brynjolffssen held firm, letting only a few shots on Cassie Ragnauth in goal, to which she was well equal.

South then began to get a foothold, and though Ives maintained the territory and possession advantages, they were beginning to look slightly vunerable on the counter-attack. One such saw South come close to taking the lead when good work down the left wing by Gemma Thomas, Emma Clarke and George Bucknall drew some frantic scrambling by the St Ives keeper, costing a short corner, a good deal for him considering the probable goal that looked on. From the resulting short, Gemma flashed a shot just wide.

Unfortunately, a few minutes before half-time, South shot themselves in the foot when a breakdown of communication on our sideline hit saw St Ives played clean through two-on-one. A good driven shot, and a deflection from the spare player gave Cassie no chance.

The second half opened with South hopes high, but St Ives began to work the ball around neatly, and a few minutes into the half they added a second, breaking from midfield, working the overexposed defence around before sweeping home. Two more goals came in similar fashion, as South attacks were broken up, leaving the Ives midfield breaking away behind South's. Neat passing twice worked the South rearguard out of position to give free shots to St Ives forwards, and Cassie not a prayer.

The only enlivening part of this period for South was the play of Hugh Bucknall, on the left wing. Only problem was, by this point Hugh was guesting for St Ives, so was giving the South defence the run around! Also worth a note was the umpiring of 2nd half volunteer Stu Creed. The decision-making was spot-on (the important bit, lets be fair), but the signals were all over the shop. Goals indicated by short corner signals, and such like. Confusion abounded…

With fifteen minutes remaining, South registered on the scoreboard themselves. Rupert Webb produced a driving run down the right wing, and pulled a good ball back for Raph Mis. When Raph's shot was blocked, Liz Tattersall reacted smartly to prevent the loose ball running dead, returned it back to the centre where the late arriving Rupert’s shot was half blocked. Rupert reacted to the loose ball in spectacular fashion, diving full length to force the ball home, thus nabbing the goal from arch poacher, Wilco Dijkstra, who was lurking with intent nearby.

A couple of minutes later South nearly pulled another back when a slipped pass by Jan gave Rupert the space to run through into the D. His shot was well struck but wide, and St Ives punished the miss by scoring in their next move to make it 5-1, the finish coming from a sharp reserve stick shot from a late arriving midfielder, the best finish of the match.

At this point, South's heads went down, and two further goals were conceeded, partly due to weight of the St Ives numbers, aided by some slapstick defending.

The final whistle, when it came (instantly following the seventh St Ives goal), was a relief to the South team. As with so many other teams in the club, the mixed side need to work on extending a good opening fifty-five minutes to the full seventy.