Reports 28th October 2006

Men's 1st XI go down 4-1 against St Ives I

Men's 2nd XI put on a good performance but go down 4-2 to March III

Men's 3rd XI triumph 6-4 in a see-saw thriller with Bourne IV

Ladies' 1st XI win comfortably, 4-1 against Cambridge Ladies II

 

Cambridge South Men's I 1 - 4 St Ives Men's I

H/T: 1 - 3

Scorers: Chris Baker

Cambridge South, proudly sponsored by PwC, met another high-flying team in the division and were unable to shut out the visitor's confident and fluid attacking play.

The fixture list has pitched newly promoted Cambridge South against the top five promotion chasing teams in the first five games of the season and against St Ives on Saturday they were undone by some confident passing and energetic running.

Both sides started brightly and the home team had the better of the chances in the opening ten minutes, but when St Ives scored against the run of play it tipped the balance towards the visitors. The home side found themselves pinned back as St Ives looked to extend their lead and by half time it was 3-1 to the visitors, returning captain Chris Baker getting a goal for the home side off a short corner.

St Ives added a fourth goal soon after half time to effectively kill off the game and there was little more of note from either side the rest of the half. South skipper Baker's post-match summation was "St Ives were simply too strong for us today, but the situation was not assisted by a number of senior players underperforming. The team has to improve and maximise our undoubted potential if we want to do ourselves justice in this new division."

Team Played; Steve Parker, Chris Graveling, Rob Hay, Rupert Webb, Rich Morgan, Mike Thorogood, Chris Baker (c), Eliot Read, Lukas Snetler, Tim Clapp, Finn Johnson, Rob Garrett

 

March Town Men's III 4 - 2 Cambridge South Men's II

H/T: 1 - 1

Scorers: Rob Barton, John Greaves
MoM: Russell Johnson - human dynamo

Cambridge South's confidence from last week's victory was apparent from the start. Right away the team immediately got into the groove, with some good attacking play using the width of the pitch. Bossing the midfield through the Johnson/Hebbron/Pannu combination, the team was backed up by solid defending.

Sadly this early pressure didn't result in goals, and March were first to score as an unmarked centre forward slotted the ball into goal. CSHC 2nds responded quickly with the best move of the game as Andy Lewis found Samin Ishtiaq on the right with a defence splitting pass. Samin's pinpoint cross was swept home by striker Rob Barton for the equaliser.

South took the lead soon after half time, mainly due to man of the match Russell Johnson's mazy run to the byline. Russell pulled the ball back to the lurking John Greaves who, after some deft footwork, planted a firm reverse stick effort wide of the keeper.

The game continued evenly but South were unable to convert possession into goals, unlike March, who scored three times from well worked short corner routines.

A rather flattering scoreline for March belied one of South's best performances this season, in which many of their previous frailties - indecision, lack of width, panicky passing - were expunged.

Team played: Jon Price, Jan Brynjolffssen, Dave Monck, Simon Harper, Gareth Hebbron, Samin Ishtiaq, Russell Johnson, Suk Pannu, Andy Lewis, Rob Barton, John Greaves (c)

 

Bourne Men's IV 4 - 6 Cambridge South Men's III

H/T: 2 - 3

Scorers: Simon Ta (2), John Horsley (2), Dave Scott
MoM: Simon Ta - for his hatrick

Cambridge South 3rds, sponsored by PwC, won a thriller against Bourne 4ths in a game played in Market Deeping.

South's strike partnership of Simon Ta and John Horsley combined well throughout the match, with Horlsey setting up all three of Ta's goals for a first half hat trick. Bourne had some strong players in their attack as well, and reacted to Ta's goals by pulling the score back to 1-1 and then 2-3 at half-time.

Then, early in the second half, the home side went further, adding the next two strikes to get their noses in front for the first time, 4-3.

South stayed patient in the face of this set-back, and got themselves back on terms when Horsley made sure of Wilco Dijkstra's goalbound shot. David Scott got his first of the season to edge the visitors back into the lead, and the final strike came when Ta and Horsley cominbed again to give Horsley his brace.

South remain in 2nd place in the table after the game, with three wins from their four matches so far, all secured on the road. They'll look to take this form into matches at home next week, when they host City of Peterborough 8ths, having already beaten that club's 7th team 3-0 on the opening day of the campaign.

Team played: Ian Evans, Ian Glover, Phil Le Gouais, John Sharp, Wilco Dijkstra, James Raikes (c), James Pope, Dave Scott, Joe Williamson, John Horsley, Simon Ta, John Somerville

 

Cambridge Ladies II 1 - 4 Cambridge South Ladies' I

H/T: 0 - 2

Scorers: Hayley Sharpe, Gemma Thomas, Bek Rhodes, Tash Cox

Under the guidance of Lady Tottington, South made the epic journey to play Cambridge Ladies away. Another game and another new look team, this time we welcomed Hayley and welcomed Pip back into the action. After beating them in the cup, hopes were high of a repeat only this time Lady Tottington requested at least four goals.

Right from the start, when South were generously given the push back, they were on the attack, camped in the oppositions half as Cambridge Ladies struggled to clear the ball. Shots were firing in from all angles and Hayley pounced on a rebound to put South 1-0 up on her debut. While South's attacking play was causing trouble for Cambridge Ladies keeper, the home teams supporter was keeping Loopy entertained in the South goal. Never has such rhyming talent been heard: "You suck we're going to win the golden duck" and "Cambridge Ladies rule you drool" and the ice cream van was so tempting….

Despite these taunts South kept the pressure and were awarded several short corners. A well worked move coming from a short pass to Tash who squared the ball enabling Gemma to push it into the corner. Loopy, managing not to run away for an ice cream was called into action only once during the first half when their forward made a long run into the D only to be put of by the lemon bearing down on her and so she hit the ball off the end of the pitch.

Some of the best flowing hockey South had played and there was no let up for Cambridge Ladies during the second half. South were quickest to the ball and took every opportunity to run at the defence and cause all sorts of trouble. One such mazey run saw Tash pick the ball up on the base line pull it back towards goal where Bek dinked it past the keeper and South were well and truly in control.

Their lead was extended further when Gemma struck a short corner straight at the keeper only, to the dismay of the defence, Tash popped up to smash it home. All was looking good and then one moment of tiredness saw a Cambridge Ladies player generously given the ball in the middle of the park and Cambridge Ladies managed to score past Loopy.

Great game and lets continue this team performance into next week.

Team Played: Lou Tonkin, Pip Noon, Julie Sadler, Louise Gutteridge, Sally Spencer, Becca Lumb, Jodee Webb, Hayley Sharpe, Gemma Thomas, Bek Rhodes, Tash Cox, Jo Cobbe