Reports 18th November 2006
Men's 1st XI are beaten 7-4 in a high-scoring encounter with March Town II
Men's 2nd XI lose 3-0 in a scrappy match with Bourne III
Men's 3rd XI win again, 5-0 over Ely City IV
Ladies' 1st XI are 4-1 winners away against Bourne III
March Town Men's II 7 - 4 Cambridge South Men's I
H/T: 4 - 2
Scorers: Chris Baker (2), Finn Johnson, Mike Thorogood
A member of the defence recently quipped that winning hockey matches is all about out-scoring the opposition. Well, Mr Webb, that's all very well but I'd nonetheless appreciate it if we don't concede seven goals again this season.
The match was going well at the start with the South with intelligent runs from Eliot on the right wing and Forrest on the left. The defence was comfortably keeping March at arm's length and Psycho, in his come-back appearance for the side, was in an unfamiliar role at left mid but made it look easy with some solid tackling and energetic support of the front line. Mr Webb himself started the game on the right side of midfield and produced some intelligent balls up the wing. The cut and thrust out wide was ably supported by Cheggers and Mikey bursting through the centre.
Things started getting exciting when the March forwards wriggled through the South defence and put a couple of goals on the scoreboard. It was harsh on South, as not only was it against the run of play but additionally one of the goals never actually touched an attacker's stick inside the D.
This South team never knows when it's beaten, though, and bystanders were impressed with the response shown by South after conceding the two goals. Within minutes, Forrest had jinked his way into the March D and tripped over the goalkeeper, intelligently forcing a penalty flick (next time mate, just score). Cheggers stepped up to do the honours. And moments later a short corner was planted into the back of the goal as Cheggers bagged a brace for the first time in this league campaign. And it was so nearly a hat-trick as a second penalty flick (foot on the line) was awarded to South but the ball slipped away from him (it's the ones that don't move that are tricky) and the ball passed the wrong side of the post.
Cheggers later commented that this miss was "probably the defining moment in the game" as it would have levelled matters at 3-3 (another lucky bounce). Instead, March grabbed a fourth and at half-time it was 4-2 to the home side. It's difficult to argue with his comment, as March maintained a 2 or 3 goal cushion throughout the second half and never looked in serious trouble.
Not that the away side didn't have a good go at it. In the first half Webb found himself unmarked at the top of the D, ball on his stick and the situation begging for a shot. Those with keen memories will recall Webb's attempt last season from a similar position - let's just say that he's still got room for improvement. Cheggers had another opportunity when he was through on goal but the keeper was out smartly to smother the shot. Psycho was putting in useful crosses from the left and Mikey distributed the ball intelligently from the middle of the park.
The second half saw goals flying in at both ends and Johnson added to his tally for the season with a true predator's strike, flicking in Chegger's shot from a short corner. A fourth goal came courtesy of Mikey when the ball broke loose from a short corner and he calmly lifted it over the prone keeper. And it could have been so much more as Forrest played through first Psycho and then Johnson. Unfortunately the latter was suffering some mild concussion and impaired vision at this stage of the game after a collision with a March player and frankly it was impressive that he was running in the right direction at all, let alone getting on the end of through balls. Now at right mid, Eliot was running tirelessly and the constant harrying forced errors from the March players which helped keep the pressure on the home side. Johnson had another opportunity near the death when Forrest's reverse stick cross found him in front of goal but the keeper managed to scramble across.
Johnson was the second person to pick up a knock for South as The Organ capped an unfortunate day by colliding with Mikey's stick after only 20 minutes of the game (and only about 21 minutes after arriving in March) and had to come off with a dead leg.
With all the opportunities to score we were unlucky not to get more goals, and frankly the defence played well too. Parker pushed a short corner flick over the bar, made an excellent stop at the feet of an advancing March forward, Wallace and Thorpey were solid at the back and 'Chopper' Oren was, well, let's just say that he made it difficult for players to get past. And so it's a shame really that they scored all those goals. One of them was unstoppably good, another should have been disallowed and we should have scored that flick. So all in all I think we can claim the… er… moral draw.
Team played: Chris Baker (c), John Benedikz, Rob Garrett, Chris Graveling, Finn Johnson, Rich Morgan, Ron Oren, Steve Parker, Eliot Read, Mike Thorogood, Jim Thorpe, Rupert Webb
Cambridge South Men's II 0 - 3 Bourne Men's III
H/T: 0 - 1
Scorers:
MoM: Suk Pannu - calm and controlled in midfield
Bourne deserved to win a scrappy game, as they played well as a team and scored goals when they needed to. Cambridge South again conceded early on, allowing a Bourne attacker free rein through the defence, although the final touch was a home player deflecting the ball away from keeper Jon Price.
South could have got back into it with a penalty won by Stu Creed who was felled when in on goal, but his effort was saved by the irritatingly excellent Bourne keeper. The home team had opportunities from short corners - pleasingly all resulting in shots on goal, and Samin Ishtiaq narrowly failed to score after a great shimmy along the line.
The second half began as the first with a Bourne goal, again outfoxing the defence. South didnt give up and could have had a goal as a trademark Greaves-Lewis short corner routine saw the keeper block John Greaves's near post deflection.
Bourne still had most of the possession, too often given to them as South failed to pass well or find players in space. Andy Bleach again was a man mountain in defence with frequent last ditch tackles, but attacking moves broke down too easily, with too many of us not copying Suk Pannu's cool ball winning and easy early passing approach.
South weren't helped by two injuries, to Leo Tomita (hamstring) and Tim Clapp (foot), so the defence ended up rather makeshift, although generally solid (thank you Kevin Rowland and Stu Creed). Indeed the team played their best after Bourne had got a third goal as a shot from a short corner rebounded to a waiting attacker to push it into the net.
The final fifteen minutes were much better with South using the width of the pitch, and passing early to unmarked teammates, but the damage had been done.
The skills are there, but the 2nds were let down by holding on to the ball too long, poor passes, and insufficient team play… against an admittedly strong Bourne team playing well as a… team.
Team played: Jon Price, Andy Bleach, Jan Brynjolffssen, Gareth Hebbron, Simon Harper, Leo Tomita, Samin Ishtiaq, Suk Pannu, Stu Creed, Tim Clapp, Kevin Rowland, Andy Lewis, Rob Barton, John Greaves (c)
Cambridge South Men's III 5 - 0 Ely City Men's IV
H/T: 1 - 0
Scorers: Mark Jackson, Wilco Dijkstra, Simon Ta (2), John Horsley
MoM: Ky Ho - it may seems odd to give it to a defender after a comfortable win, but Ky's assurance in the middle at the back gave South a crucial platform throughout the game
Cambridge South 3rds, sponsored by PwC, got the win they were after to nicely set-up next weekend’s top of the table clash at unbeaten leaders Wisbech 5ths.
South totally dominated territory in the opening half, with keeper Ian Evans comment at half-time being "It has to be going well, I’m bored". Ely were finding it difficult to break out of their own half of the field, often foundering on the assured tackles of South centre-back Ky Ho. But their defence was well organised, and despite the near constant pressure, South were not fashioning many clear chances.
One element that characterised the game was the honesty in which it was played. The two opening half incidents which saw the ball end up in the Ely net exemplified this. First, John Horsley appeared to have deflected a driven ball high into the net, only for him to admit the height on the ball had come via his foot. Then Ely returned the favour. Mark Jackson followed a mazy dribble with a shot from the top of the D that found the back of the net, via a deflection off an Ely foot. When the umpire tried to award South a short corner, instead of a goal, the Ely defence told him not to be so silly and to give the score.
Ely's half-time team talk resulted in them showing more aggression in keeping their forward players in the South half of the pitch. Whilst admirable in intent, this stretching of the game gave South more space to fashion chances.
With the score only sitting at 1-0, despite the almost total hold South had had on the game, there was an element of nervousness on the sidelines. An Ely goal back wasn't likely, but it was possible and whilst there was just a solitary goal in the game, the threat was real. So it was a relief when South took the pressure off themselves by scoring a second. A short corner produced a direct strike at goal, that the Ely keeper could only kick away as far as Wilco Dijkstra. Wilco flicked the ball waist-high towards goal, but straight at one of Ely's adult players, standing on the line. He tried to control the flying ball with his stick, got an edge into his own midriff (so South knew it would be a penalty flick at worst), and then despite valiant further attempts to knock the ball away as it appeared stuck in his shirt, couldn't prevent it dropping behind the line.
With the points now essentially secure, South began to play with a bit more freedom. Goals were coming at regular intervals, with top scorer Simon Ta's persistence earning himself a tap in after the goalkeeper had saved his initial shot, which he followed by a fourth of the day, and personal ninth of the season. The scoring was complete when John Horsley deflected a driven ball from outside the circle home, legally this time, without the use of his foot.
Credit to the young Ely team, whose heads never dropped, and who ended the match on the offensive, spending much of the final five minutes in the South 25. Ian E had to show some of his keeping skills in that time to earn himself a clean sheet.
Team played: Ian Evans; Ian Glover, Ky Ho, John Sharp, Wilco Dijkstra, Tim Waller, Mark Jackson, Joe Williamson, James Raikes (c), John Horsley, Tom Rosselli, Michael Woolley, James Cobbe, Simon Ta
Bourne Ladies' III 1 - 4 Cambridge South Ladies' I
H/T: 1 - 3
Scorers: Tash Cox (3), Julie Sadler
MoM: Tash Cox - for her hat trick
Cambridge South Ladies, sponsored by PwC, bounced back well after their defeat last week, despite looking nervous for the first few minutes. Having left Cambridge bright and early they were on the pitch, before the home team, warming up under the guidance of Harry Potter complete with magic purple book.
But as ever things didn't quite go to plan initially. Bourne were awarded a short corner early on in the match (reminiscent of last week). The ball was missed by the lady at the top of the D but was retrieved by the foot of the player backing up, who passed it into the D where it was shot a goal. Reports of what happen next vary depending on who you ask. Ball few past Loopy only to be stopped at waist height, on the line by Jodee who cleared the ball OR ball flies straight into the goal. Unfortunately for South the umpire saw the ball in the goal and South were 1 - 0 down.
But unlike the previous week, their heads didn't go down, indeed it had the complete opposite effect: South were determined to right the wrong. There followed a period of play where South push forward, Hayley in particular had some great weaving runs, demonstrating some excellent close stick control which rattled Bourne so much so that they felt the need to hook her back by the ankle. Unfortunately the resulting short corner was fired just past the left post.
Undeterred, South got the goal they deserved after some fine interplay by the midfield and forwards Tash tucked the ball home. Moments later along came the second goal; Gemma picked the ball up in the middle of the park ran forward, slipped the ball to Tash who dinked it past the keeper and South had a second.
It didn't stop there, the first half contained lots of short corners for South and many shots of goal. One such shot from Hayley was initially saved for the keeper but in the mêlée that followed Tash managed to poke the ball home for her hat trick. So South were looking good and had adapted well to their new look line up, with players out of position due to Tuesdays demonstration that keeping you head up is a good idea.
The second half was again dominated by South. Hayley was unlucky not to score after her short corner, which flew past the keeper was ruled not to have come out of the D. Despite having amazing vision for infringements at short corners the umpires did nothing about the extremely physical game being played by Bourne until Sarah had had enough of being barged off the ball and turned to face the Bourne player and asked if she could "stop pushing people …. please". Just goes to shows how polite South are.
Anyway South finally scored the fourth after Liles shot at goal only for Tash to save the goal but. thankfully. in doing so directed the ball into Julie's path for her to get her second ever goal. South well deserved to win the game and the margin reflected their possession and dominance over Bourne. South find themselves in third going into the Christmas break.
Team played: Lou Tonkin, Gemma Thomas, Bek Rhodes, Ellie Raffan, Jodee Webb, Hayley Sharpe, Liles Dee, Sarah Martin, Liz Tattersall, Tash Cox, Julie Sadler, Pip Noon