Reports 12th January 2008

Men's 1st XI beaten 6-1 at Ely City I

Men's 2nd XI beaten 6-1 by Ely City II

Men's 3rd XI win 9-0 at Ely City III

Men's 4th XI beaten 6-0 by Letchworth VI

Ladies 1st XI draw 2-2 at Ely City I

Ladies 2nd XI win 5-0 at Ely City II

 

Ely City Men's I 6 - 1 Cambridge South Men's I

H/T: 2 - 1

Scorer: Mark Taylor

Cambridge South, proudly sponsored by PwC, suffered their heaviest defeat of the season away to Ely City in their final warm-up game before the league season restarts next week.

A bright and pleasant day provided good conditions for the match, and the first half was an absorbing game of hockey as two evenly matched teams probed each other, looking for a way through. Ely enjoyed good possession but were unable to create any clear-cut opportunities until they managed to force a short-corner, from which a lucky deflection gave them the lead.

It wasn't long after, though, that Forrest got in behind the home side's defence from a break-away down the right wing. After drawing the keeper he slipped it square to the in-form Mark Taylor to slot into the open goal. South continued to create good chances the rest of the half but were unable to find the back of the net, and were punished when Ely broke from defence and scored on the counter-attack. 2-1 at half time but anyone's game, or so it should have been. Ely, however, had other ideas.

The game continued to be a close fought battle until the home side forced a third goal and South, for once, struggled to get back into the match. A top-draw reverse stick sweep was the pick of the home side's goals, but South will be disappointed to have made it so easy for Ely in the second half.

A much-improved performance will be needed when the teams meet in the league in a few weeks time.

Team Played: Steve Parker; John Benedikz, Chris Graveling, Jim Thorpe, Leo Tomita, Chris Baker (c), Rupert Webb, Eliot Read, Russell Johnson, Mark Taylor, Robert Garrett, James Cobbe

 

Cambridge South Men's II 1 - 6 Ely City Men's II

H/T: 1 – 3

Scorer: Colin Singleton
MoM: Colin Singleton – tenacious in midfield, scored one and came mighty close to another.
LoM: Gareth Hebbron – for the removal of the infamous ‘Rolf’ beard. Pointless, really. He will always be the rolfaroo, whatever tonsorial options are selected.

Cambridge South 2nds, sponsored by PwC, put up a decent performance but were ultimately outclassed by a strong Ely side in this friendly match.

South began in sprightly fashion, moving the ball around nicely and exerting some pressure on the Ely backline. However, it was the visitors who were the first to make a mark on the scoresheet, from their opening short corner of the match. A straight strike took a deflection of Ron Oren’s stick as he chased out to block, which wrong-footed Dave Monck by the left post, the ball sneaking into a tiny gap.

South responded well to this set-back, continued to play their hockey and were level not long afterwards from their own opening short of the game. Dave M’s clean first-time strike was well saved by the Ely ‘keeper, only for Colin Singleton to react faster than the defence to loose ball, allowing him to sweep home. A few minutes later Colin came mightily close to giving South the lead. Gareth Hebbron went on a meandering run that began on the right wing and ended in the circle in the left channel. A shot didn’t seem to be coming until Col picked the ball off Gareth’s stick with a fizzing undercut that was heading for the top corner of the net until the Ely ‘keeper matched the quality of the shot with an equally good pad save to turn it over the bar.

South seemed to run out of steam in the last ten minutes of the first half. The passing suddenly lacked snap and was getting intercepted easily, and also the defence's marking was beginning to get sloppy. Ely took the lead when they exploited a large hole down South's right flank for a quick counter-attack. The initial shot was well saved by South ‘keeper Lino Di Lorenzo, but with the defence scrambling, Ely regained possession and put another attempt on the net. This looked like being cleared by Dave M on the goalline, only for Ron and Lino to also make desperate attempts to stop it, with the three South players all putting each other off and the ball apologetically finding the backboard.

Within a minute it was 3-1, as Ely’s pacy right winger went all the way around the outside of the South defence. Once again, Lino and the defenders managed to stop the original penetration but without getting the ball clear of the circle, and another secondary shot found the backboard with the help of a deflection. As if all this wasn’t bad enough, the dodgy period continued after the interval, with Ely’s fourth goal possibly the softest of the lot. A simple ball into the circle found a midfielder who had been allowed to make a twenty yard run forwards completely unmarked, and he had a simple task of scoring past an exposed Lino.

When in possession, South kept pressing managed to keep Ely honest, producing a few scares for the visitors throughout the second period. The closest to adding to the scoresheet was when skipper Kevin Rowland reacted quickest to a loose ball rolling across the circle, but his shot on the stretch was blocked by the ‘keepers pads.

Ely added two further goals from competant short corner routines during the second-half to give the scoreline it’s final complexion. The margin was a little harsh on South who had competed effectively throughout with an Ely side that play their league games one division higher. However the margin also demonstrated the value of sharp finishing, and of upgrading to shorts when you have a routine that you can rely on. An instructive experience, and a useful workout for the side. Overall a much better performance than last saturday, despite the respective final scores. Bring on the league games!

Skipper Kev's post mathc commet was, "We matched the level of hockey played by Ely, a league above us, in the first half and the last half of the second, but they took the advantage when we came off the boil. The score line wasn't important at the end of the day, that everyone worked really hard and played well to get back to league hockey pace was. I'm looking forward to the trip to Bourne knowing that the team are ready to restart the league with good hockey and confidence"

Team played: Lino Di Lorenzo; Jan Brynjolffssen, Dave Monck, George Wych, Ron Oren, Dave Stock, Neil Sneade, Gareth Hebbron, Colin Singleton, Stuart Creed, Kevin Rowland (c), Rob Barton

 

Ely City Men's III 0 - 9 Cambridge South Men's III

H/T 3 - 0

Scorers: James Pope (2), John Greaves (3), Paul South (2), Wilco Dijkstra, Matt Kern
Man of the match: James Pope - playmaker extraordinaire.

A delayed start for Cambridge South 3rds, sponsored by PwC, at a very cold venue with no chance to warm up inevitably led to a slow start. Luckily only the home team were affected.

The CSouth defence, with Steve Fleck in an unaccustomed sweeper position, supported by the excellent SneadeEvansPassmore, provided an impenetrable barrier enabling those further up field to prosper. Tom South (aged not-a-lot) buzzed away fearlessly up front against physical opponents and got his reward by making the right wing move that led to James Pope's first goal, a typical long range thunderbolt.

More goals were always likely as CSouth enjoyed good possession and used it well, up the middle and on both wings, to get to the danger area. Only two more came in the first half, with skipper John Greaves nutmegging the keeper from a couple of yards out. Greaves turned provider shortly after, selflessly passing back to Paul South at the top of the D from a melee, for South to tonk the ball into goal.

The floodgates opened after half time. Wilco Dijkstra, loitering close to the keeper, neatly place the ball into the corner, and then man of the match James Pope demonstrated how things should be done with a solo dribble ending with another corker. Paul South got his second, taking a knock back from the keeper after a free hit, again from range. Matt Kern, straight off the subs bench, rifled a shot in from a tight angle for the 7th.

By this stage CSouth had worn down the Ely team, who tried to keep going but were out played and outrun, by continued intelligent hockey from the away side. This enabled Greaves to notch up his hattrick, scoring two more goals; one from a Wilco Dijkstra effort which was thinking about not going into goal before Greaves swept it over the line from close range. The final goal was down to good work by the constantly dangerous Rupert Espley who hassled the keeper sufficiently to get a shot in, which Greaves got a reverse stick onto, ensuring it found the net.

Steve Parker, kindly filling in as GK, played well too when called upon to hoof the ball away from the D.

CSouth 3rds made this a convincing victory, kept going throughout, used the width of the pitch, and played as a team. Let's continue in the same vein for the remainder of the league season.

Team played: Steve Parker; Stephen Fleck, Andy Passmore, Ian Evans, Neil Sneade, Matt Kern, Paul South, James Pope, Wilco Dijkstra, John Greaves (c), Tom South, Rupert Espley

 

Cambridge South Men's IV 0 - 6 Letchworth Men's VI

H/T: 0 - 4

Cambridge South 4ths, sponsored by PwC, played Letchworth in their first game after a month off for Christmas.

With a scratch team featuring some new players, especially in defence, it was important that South had a chance to settle into the game. However, their visitors didn’t allow them this privilege, scoring three times in the opening ten minutes, effectively deciding the result this early. Some reshuffling by skipper James shored things up in the South rearguard, leaving fewer players walking straight through onto Shahbaz’s goal. However, Letchworth’s short corner routine was still effective and they added a fourth goal before the interval.

South pushed on in the second half hoping to test Letchworth’s young goalkeeper, but the final pass kept going astray as the team struggled to establish their pattern of play. In fact, over the entire 70 minutes, despite many incursions into the circle, South wouldn’t manage a single shot on target. At the other end Letchworth added two further goals from their efficient short routine to give the scoreline it’s final of complexion. Not a great start to 2008 for the team, however it was only a warm-up friendly so lets hope the league games go better.

Team Played: Shahbaz Ali; Martin Grove, Ky Ho, Joe Williamson, John Somerville, Lino Di Lorenzo, Tom Warne, Alex Scally, Shahzad Ali, James Raikes (c), Rob Barton

 

Ely City Ladies I 2 - 2 Cambridge South Ladies I

H/T: 0 – 1

Scorers: Claire Wylie, Helen Niblock
MoM: Caroline Dent

A lovely saturday morning for a game of hockey. This week both ladies sides had a game and numbers were a little stretched, with Hayley, Loopy, Vicky and Jodee doubling up, nevertheless we were able to give Ely a run for their money. Despite being a friendly Ely had something to prove having gone down to South 5-2 in the last meeting. Having said this South were the first to settle into the game. The sun made it quite difficult with Hayley performing some unintended acrobatics over an opponents stick and passes going askew. Pressure on the Ely goal soon gave South the lead, with Emma flicking on a pass toward goal for perfectly positioned Claire to slot home.

There were a few nice passing moves, but a lot was hindered by the bright sun. The first half ended with South having the upper hand at 1 - 0. Ely came back with a meaningful reply. Their midfield were strong and fast, connecting well with nippy forwards. They had most of the play and were rewarded with 2 goals to take the lead. South were not down and out..legs were beginning to tire Caroline's battling at the earned her the man of the match, not only breaking down Ely's plays but distributing the ball well to initiate South attacks. South won a penalty corner. A straight strike to the bottom left was cleared off the line into Emma who narrowly missed the rebound. A second penalty corner saw a strike to the right post where Helen was ready to skillfully net the ball. South came close to taking the lead but once again the ball was cleared off the line well.

The game ended a draw, a fair result on the balance of play and good warm up game for next weeks league clash with Cambridge City. Thanks to Vicky and Jodee who had storming games for both 1sts and 2nds.

Team Played: Lou Tonkin; Hayley Sharpe (c), Emma Clarke, Caroline Dent, Claire Wylie, Liles Dee, Jodee Webb, Vicky Lavis, Helen Niblock, Ellie Herbert, Ellie Raffan, Tash Cox

 

Ely City Ladies II 0 - 5 Cambridge South Ladies II

H/T: 0 - 3

Scorers: Cat Egglestone (2), Charlie Orrock, Vicky Lavis, Jodee Webb
MoM: ME!!! [Ed - that would be report writer Daisy Watts, then]

With next week seeing in the restart to the 07/08 season, Cambridge South 2nds, sponsored by PwC, took advantage of the opportunity to get a friendly in against Ely before their top of the table clash against Cambridge Ladies.

With 1st team ringer Hayley Sharpe kindly volunteering to play for Ely’s defence (thanks), the girls in attack knew they would have to have their work cut out if they were going to put some goals away today! Each team with only 10 players knew opportunities were available and, with some coaching from Hayley, Ely were prepared to take some chances.

South went out on the attack straight away and were soon rewarded with their first goal which goes to Cat after a hard fought battle between her and the Ely back four.

Ely struggled to break into South’s 25 and with excellent play from the defence and midfield battling for tackles, a superbly crossed ball from the left found Charlie in the D to put away South’s second. Barely 10 minutes into the first half and Cat fired home another excellent goal to make the score 3-0

South then seemed to sit back a bit, much to the delight of Ely who took chance to break through the midfield and put the defence under pressure. Fortunately the ladies were up to the challenge and excellent saves from Loopy Lou combined with great clearances from the backs ensured south kept a clean sheet.

The initial pace and communication from South was waning with frustration and scrappy tackles beginning to edge their way into the game. The match suddenly took on a “who can take out Hayley first” persona and the concern of injuring one of their own, shared with a motivational team talk at half time, snapped the ladies back into the correct mind set.

The second half saw South going out with their usual attacking flare once again, but Ely weren’t going down without a fight and the attack were struggling to increase their lead.

However, South’s 4th goal came from captain Vicky Lavis as a result of a well worked short corner routine. Finally, Ely hadn’t counted on the Webb goal scoring rivalry and Jodee picked out her spot and nailed a goal home by lifting the ball over the keeper and watching it strike the backboard to take South up to 5-0. (Only a few for Rupert to catch up with now)

Welcome to the new player to our team Sophie who put in a sterling performance for her first time out, along with Paula who is growing in confidence with her defending skills. I think we can safely say that the Christmas cheese and wine has been worked off and South are ready to face Cambridge Ladies next week in what will prove to be one of their most crucial games of the season – Watch this space…

Players: Lou Tonkin; Vicky Lavis (c), Daisy Watts, Jodee Webb, Louise Gutteridge, Paula Lynch, Cat Egglestone, Sophie Pickford, Charlie Orrock, Sarah Caldow, Hayley Sharpe (guesting for Ely)