Reports 22nd September 2007

Men's 1st XI lose 5-1 to Kettering I in a friendly

Men's 2nd XI are beaten 3-0 at Kettering in a friendly

Men's 3rd XI beat Ely City III 5-0 in a friendly

Men's 4th XI lose 5-0 at Bedford Town V in a friendly

Ladies 1st XI beat City of Peterborough III 12-0

Ladies 2nd XI win 2-0 at St Neots IV

Mixed XI's game with St. Ives was cancelled

Men's Indoor side draw 1-1 with Perse U18b

 

Cambridge South Men's I 1 - 5 Kettering Men's I

H/T: 1 - 2

Scorer: Rob Garrett

Cambridge South, proudly sponsored by PwC, finished their pre-season friendlies with a poor performance against Kettering. South took the lead early in the game when Rob Garrett exchanged neat passes with Tim Clapp and then slid the ball under the on-rushing keeper with a pleasing reverse-stick sweep. But this was as good as it got for the home side, as Kettering gradually got into the game and scored twice before the break.

The pace of the South front line had caused problems for Kettering in the first half and opportunities fell to Forrest, new boy Mark Taylor and Finn Johnson, but they weren't able to put the ball in the back of the net. Kettering made them pay for this profligacy in ruthless fashion; carving open the South defence 3 more times in the second half.

With 14 players turning up on the day, it was unsurprising that Cambridge showed a lack of fluidity at times. Swapping players on and off the field was useful for getting players back into the game after the summer lay-off, but it put a strain on the cohesion that we're used to seeing in this side. And with Kettering having their own coach on the sidelines to adjust their tactics and organise the substitutions, it was no surprise that they played with structure and great organisation.

In the end, South were unable to cope with the movement and passing of Kettering and will be disappointed to concede so many goals with only 1 in reply. Next week the league season begins and they will need to show a marked improvement if Captain Chris Baker's vision of promotion is to be fulfilled (or even threatened).

Team played: Lino Di Lorenzo; Chris Graveling, Rupert Webb, Leo Tomita, John Benedikz, Jim Thorpe, Chris Massey, Chris Baker (c), Mike Thorogood, Russell Johnson, Tim Clapp, Rob Garrett, Finn Johnson, Mark Taylor

 

Kettering Men's II 3 - 0 Cambridge South Men's II

H/T: 1 – 0

MoM: Jointly to Jon Price for some good saves and Colin Singleton for a strong debut as a defender.
LoM: A unanimous vote for Jack Chalk for sidefooting home a goal. For the opposition!

South 2nds completed their phoney war with a trip along the A14 (usual traffic jams and all) to face Kettering 2nds. The game represented a chance for those in the squad who hadn’t yet had a pre-season run to get a game, and also gave a chance for new recruit to the club Rupert to show what he could do.

From the whistle, South attacked Kettering, holding the ball inside their half, and often inside their 25 for most of the opening fifteen minutes. Samin on the right wing was finding space, and fired in some dangerous crosses, Rob was sniffing around the circle, as was strike partner Tristen. Best opportunity came from a mazy Tristen dribble that saw him beat three men, only for a lunging block to take his final shot up and over the bar.

Kettering seemed shocked in the opening period, as they have had much the better of recent encounters between the sides, and may have been expecting an easier ride than South provided on the day. However, they slowly adjusted to the level that playing South 2nds now requires, and the game became more even. South were still pushing on, but with the Kettering forward line playing very high, space was on offer in the midfield with the match swinging end-to-end. An even half saw only one goal, an annoyingly soft one. It came from Kettering’s first short, with the visitor’s defence passing up ample opportunity to clear the ball, which eventually was bundled home despite the efforts of Dave on the goalline.

The second period opened hosts who were now working really well as a team, playing triangles and supporting each other. They were soon two up in even more frustrating circumstances than the opener, when a cross that was going nowhere ended up unfortunately hitting Jack’s feet and deflecting home. 3-0 came from a short corner, switched right and crisply struck home. Despite the match now being gone, South kept plugging away, and Rob came very close with a trademark reverse stick sweep following a good move up the right wing, just seeing the ball miss the near post.

Kettering even added a fourth “goal”, after a challenge on the edge of the South circle prompted a whistle. The Umpire appeared to signal a free hit to South, when he had apparently meant to signal a free hit to Kettering. As South prepared to take what they thought was their hit, Kettering took it, and swept passed a very surprised Jon. Initially the goal was given, with South taking centre to restart the match, only for the Umpire to inform South’s defenders a couple of minutes latter that on reflection he had sold them a wrong ‘un there, and so wouldn’t be counting it in the final score!

Jon had made some fine saves between the South sticks to keep the score down, and would make one final one, rushing out to block a fiercely struck shot. Unfortunately the part of his body he elected to use to block the shot was his knee. His unpadded knee... Cold spray, ice packs ahoy! A medical examination from Kev and Stu diagnosed no break, just a very bad bruise on the side of the kneecap that will have Jon limping for most of the week. He was definitely in no fit state to continue, and with Kettering clear winners of the match, and less than five minutes left to play, the Umpires and captains decided to call the match over then and there rather than delay to pad up a new ‘keeper.

Skipper Kevin Rowland was in upbeat mood despite the result, prefering to see the pre-season campaign in toto rather than just this game, saying "The final score didn’t for me reflect the effort put in by every team member to play quality hockey against strong opposition throughout this game and the previous friendlies, if we continue to play like this we will be a real challenge to beat and we will stand a great chance of promotion this year"

Team: Jon Price; Jack Chalk, Jan Brynjolffssen, Colin Singleton, Dave Bartram, Gareth Hebbron, Kevin Rowland (c), Stuart Creed, Samin Ishtiaq, Rupert Espley, Rob Barton, Tristen Knight

 

Cambridge South Men's III 5 - 0 Ely City Men's III

H/T: 3 - 0

Scorers: Tim Waller (2), Stephen Fleck (2), John Greaves
MoM: Tim Waller - always dangerous, two classy goals

Cambridge South 3rds, sponsored by PwC, dominated this friendly game from the start, as an enthusiastic Ely side, bolstered by 3 CSouth players, were given the run around by some intelligent hockey. The home team found space easily, especially on the wings, with MoM Tim Waller, and Paul South enjoying the freedom to roam upfield. The first goal came from Steve Fleck with a master blast from the top of the D after working space for himself. Skipper John Greaves followed this with a long-range curve ball that deceived the keeper, who obviously thought it was going wide like most of the centre forward's other efforts.

Steve Fleck grabbed another shortly before half time in a similar manner to his first, with another spectacular tonk from distance.

At times CSouth had too much time and space and were tempted to dribble into trouble, but this was corrected, and much good interpassing resulted in a flood of chances, many saved by the Ely keeper, who was their best player. He was not good enough to prevent Tim Waller getting a brace of goals, both by drifting in from the right and being picked out by good passes, before whacking the ball confidently into goal.

Eventually we saw the fearsome sights of rock solid backs Jim Thorpe, Rob Barton, and Ky Ho bounding up field to join in the fun.

The loyal band of fans present were able to enjoy some open hockey, good goals and glaring misses against an Ely team who had good skills, but lacked the speed of thought, enthusiasm, and (relative) pace of the CSouth side.

Team Played: Lino Di Lorenzo; George Wych, Jim Thorpe, Ky Ho, Rob Barton, Paul South, Suk Pannu, Wilco Dijkstra, Tim Waller, Stephen Fleck, John Greaves (c), John Benedikz (guesting for Ely), Tom Rosselli (guesting for Ely), Tom South (guesting for Ely)

 

Bedford Town Men's V 5 - 0 Cambridge South Men's IV

H/T: 1 - 0

MoM: Ian Glover - A sterling performance in an unusual position, kept the score respectable.

Cambridge South Fourths, sponsored by PwC, fought hard, but were ultimately beaten by a Bedford side who play in a division equivalent to at least one higher than South.

South weren’t helped by a degree of disruption in their team planning. First issue was a 30 minute wait after the scheduled meet time for the last player to appear. But hey, why should the captain get there for the time he arranged… ;-) It’s quite possible that the delay in James’ arrival was due to an unwanted phone call from the second team up in Kettering; their ‘keeper Jon was meant to be doubling-up between the two matches, but he had got injured playing 2’s and was now unfit, leaving an unsuccessful late search for a replacement. With an outfield player having also dropped out late, the 13 originally selected for the game was now pared to a bare 11, with volunteer/short straw drawer Ian G going between the sticks.

Things didn’t get easier once we arrived at Bedford. Despite setting out from Cambridge a good hour and a half before push-back, come 3pm only 7 players were on the field. Joe, who was travelling up from London, had been caught up in the football traffic around Arsenal’s ground, and James B and the Ali brothers had stopped for petrol (how does that take half-an-hour?!?). Bedford seemed relaxed and getting the match going, their players drifting pitchwards with no great rush, so we could delay until 10 South players were there to start, with Joe running on to the pitch after five minutes.

With all this disruption, it’s little surprise that the South side was disorganised in the opening fifteen minutes, as James had had no chance for a proper teamtalk or to explain to players where they should now play following the loss of two people. Bedford held South in a press, and it need some good ‘keeping by Ian to keep them out. One goal did come as a player was allowed to turn and shoot six yards out. South showed signs of life in attack as they settled down, Joe, James B and James R were combining well, keeping Bedford on their toes, with the team turning around only one in arrears.

The opening stanza of the second period was likely to decide the game, and unfortunately for South their fitness and organisation collapsed. Four goals were added in little more than ten minutes, shots raining on Ian from all angles. Some were soft, like the second were a ball was stolen of a defender in our own 25, worked to an utterly unmarked forward in the circle, who had loads of time to get really close and hammer in. Others were good Bedford play, like the fourth which was a deflection in off the bar from a ball fired in from outside the circle.

Following the collapse, a fightback of sorts. Or at least the remainder of the match saw more determined play, marking in defence, chasing in midfield and some action up front. Some short corners were forced, and the Bedford ‘keeper was giving something to do after an extremely quiet twenty minutes, but no consolation score was forthcoming.

Despite the final score, there were positives to take from the game in the performances of Joe and James B, and the knowledge that Bedford will probably be the strongest side South 4ths are going to face all campaign and we could compete with them for spells.

Team Played: Ian Glover; Neil Sneade, David Bridge, Ian Evans, James Lee, Jack Chalk, James Bridge, Joe Williamson, Shahzad Ali, James Raikes (c), Shahbaz Ali

 

Cambridge South Ladies I 12 - 0 City of Peterborough Ladies III

H/T: 5 - 0

Scorers: Tash Cox, Claire Wylie (3), Emma Clarke (2), Ciara Metcalfe (3), Gemma Thomas (2), Julie Sadler
MoM: Ciara Metcalfe

Another scorching September day saw the South Ladies 1st team, sponsored by PwC, play their first Premier division league match for many a year (or indeed possibly their first ever). South were taking on a Peterborough 3rds side that they had beaten in a friendly at the end of last season, so hopes were high of a good start to the new campaign. This was further boosted when it was pointed out that Peterborough had only brought 10 players, but given the sterling performance that South put up with 9 players against Newmarket last week, they were taking nothing for granted.

Well, what can I say, there’s not enough room to describe all the goals in detail and to be honest, there were so many that afterwards no-one could really remember what order they were scored in. CF Tash Cox definitely got the first after only 10 minutes, picking up a rebound and putting the ball neatly past the keeper. RW Claire Wylie got into a great position in the ‘D’ for the second, her shout was heard by CH Gemma Thomas who found her with an inch perfect pass that Claire smacked past the on-rushing goalie.

From then on the goals went in regularly. South were 5-0 up at half time, thanks to further goals from LW Emma Clarke, LH Ciara Metcalfe and Claire again.

Meanwhile the rest of the team were doing great work passing the ball around and feeding it through for the many attacks. Unfortunately on-pitch captain Hayley, who had been causing Peterborough plenty of problems in midfield, received a nasty knock to her hand and had to go off. However, South barely broke stride with Liles Dee, sporting two healing black eyes from last week’s match, slotting neatly into the RH position. Hayley contented herself with shouting from the sideline and it was remarked afterwards that she could be heard from all corners of the pitch, which meant that no-one dared to try and take it easy, even when we approached double figures.

After half time it was more of the same. The first attack brought a short corner, courtesy of Claire kindly stopping a ball that came out of defence at shoulder height, with luckily not too much damage done. For once the South corner routine worked perfectly and Gemma’s shot hit the backboard for goal number 6.

Other goals of note included Ciara’s full stretch sweep shot and a great pick up by Julie Sadler at the far post after the ball had ping-ponged between most of the forwards who all managed not to score. In the end the tally was 3 for Ciara and Claire (although Claire did admit to poaching one that was already going in), 2 for Emma and Gemma and 1 each for Tash and Julie.

To their credit, Peterborough never gave up and battled hard all the way through, but the slick passing and one-touch hockey of the whole South team meant that Peterborough could never keep the ball for any sustained length of time. Cassie in goal had only 3 saves to make which she did with great confidence to keep another clean sheet while Louisa, Becca, Jodee and Ellie combined brilliantly in defence and even got the switching round the back working which shows how much confidence the team were playing with!

Special mention must go to man of the match Ciara, who had a storming game in midfield including her hat trick, and dufus of the day, umpire Rob Garrett for locking his keys in the boot of his car. Nice one Rob – thanks for umpiring though – much appreciated!

So a 12-0 win to kick off the league campaign – what a fantastic start to the season - our goal difference is through the roof and we are top of the table until next Saturday at least!

Team Played: Cassie Woodfin; Jodee Webb, Becca Graveling, Ellie Raffan, Louise Richmond-Coggan, Julie Sadler, Ciara Metcalfe, Gemma Thomas (jc), Hayley Sharpe (jc), Emma Clarke, Tash Cox, Liles Dee, Claire Wylie

 

St Neots Ladies IV 0 - 2 Cambridge South Ladies II

H/T: 0 - 2

Scorers: Cathy Oates, Bex Baker
Player-of-the-match: Ellie Herbert, with honourable mentions for Cat Egglestone and Sarah Caldow

Cambridge South Ladies' second team, sponsored by PwC, started their first league match a little nervously with much of the team never having played together before. However, we soon found our stride and started to work well together as a team. This included Sarah A, who despite having never played in goal volunteered herself for this position (much to everyone else's relief).

Our first goal came from some hard battling by the midfield and forwards and was eventually slotted away by Bex. There was some excellent work from Ellie who drove the ball forward and set up a lot of our attacking phases. Ellie, who is a pupil at the Perse School, was unanimously voted as outstanding player of the match for her excellent input. It was Ellie who hit an excellent ball into the D for her school team mate Cathy to put into the back of the goal to double South's lead.

The match saw a lot of effort from the team as a whole and this was evident in the voting for the player who had input the most effort as this was a tie between Cat E and Sarah C. Suzanne unfortunately sustained a muscle injury close to the end of the first half but luckily Pip was on hand to take over at left back.

Cambridge South dominated much of the second half with St Neots struggling to clear the ball off the 16. There were times when we were put under pressure and the defenders dealt with this well including Kat and Vicki (captain) who proved very reliable, and Sarah who made an excellent save to protect her clean sheet.

Team Played: Sarah Aves; Vicky Lavis (c), Bex Baker, Cat Egglestone, Cathy Oates, Ira Federspiel, Pippa Noon, Jenny Smith, Suzanne Robinson, Helen Niblock, Sarah Caldow, Ellie Herbert, Kat Strattan

 

Southerners c - c St. Ives Mixed

Match cancelled as St. Ives fail to raise a side. Instead a 8-a-side Blues vs. Whites practice game was played, which finished 5-4 to the Blues.

 

Perse U18b 1 - 1 Cambridge South Men's Indoor (Wednesday 26th September)

H/T: 1 - 1

Scorer: Chris Graveling

We played against Perse U18b tonight. They were well drilled by the England captain, Glenn Kirkham.

Having stuck to our game plan of defending with a half court press, we kept it very tight at the back. Up front we created more chances than the Perse and Chris G finished off one attack to put us one nil up. It had been 0-0 for 15 min! Just before half-time it was 1-1.

The fear was that our fitness and discipline would suffer in the second half, but we worked hard to make sure it didn't. We went very close in the second half and deservedly drew the game 1-1. A winning draw on chances created and earned due to South keeping our structure through the whole 40 mins. This was a very successful start to the indoor season.

Team: Steve Parker; Chris Graveling, Rupert Webb (c), Mike Thorogood, Rich Morgan, Finn Johnson, Chris Massey