Reports 26th January 2008

Men's 4th XI are beaten 5-1 by Boston III

Ladies 1st & 2nd XI's both had a bye week, so held an internal match / training session

Long Sutton Men's II 0 - 6 Cambridge South Men's I

H/T: 0 - 4

Scorers: Eliot Read, Chris Baker (2), Robert Garrett (2), Russell Johnson

Cambridge South, proudly sponsored by PwC, achieved a comfortable victory against bottom of the table Long Sutton, despite never hitting top gear. The home side are without a point this season and it never looked like this would change against a Cambridge side currently sitting in 4th place in the league. This was Cambridge's first clean sheet for 10 league games, the previous coming against the same opposition in the reverse fixture at the beginning of the season.

Although Long Sutton battled hard in this game, they lacked the cutting edge up front to cause the away side any serious problems. And the fast movement from the front two of Cambridge South always looked likely to create goals. The ever lively Eliot Read scored a classic poachers goal, flicking in Jim Thorpe's hit in from outside the D. Chris Baker scored from a short corner and Robert Garrett poached two goals to give a 0-4 scoreline at half time.

Long Sutton fought hard in the second half and forced Cambridge to up their game, but two further goals ended any doubts that may have remained about where the points were going from this game. Chris Baker scored a second, and Russell Johnson capped a fine performance up front with a goal.

Captain Chris Baker commented that "We played well in places but at times were dragged down to their level. However, we raised our game when neccesary to come out worthy and convincing winners"

Team played: Steve Parker; Chris Graveling, Jim Thorpe, Leo Tomita, Ron Oren, Rupert Webb, Chris Baker (c), Russell Johnson, Eliot Read, Mike Thorogood, Robert Garrett

Cambridge South Men's II 1 - 0 St. Ives Men's IV

H/T: 1 – 0

Scorer: Rob Barton
MoM: Dave Bartram (honourable mention to Samin Ishtiaq) for solid tackling and strong on the ball despite the pressure
DoD: Jan Brynjolffssen (with the mandatory dishonourable mention for Gareth Hebbron) for too much shouting at teammates rather than encouragement / incessant moaning [whoever voted for me is not going to be too happy with the report that follows, are they? :-)]

Cambridge South 2nds, sponsored by PwC, edged a victory out of a scrappy game at the Leys on Saturday.

With South 2nds once again having started the league programme with a blank weekend (Bourne’s floodlights are broken, so last Saturday’s game was called off), it perhaps wasn’t surprising that the side didn’t begin with the sort of passing hockey that vice-captain Gareth Hebbron had called for. However, that this malaise lasted longer than the opening few minutes, all match in fact, was disappointing. Fortunately for South, visitors St. Ives seemed just as far from piecing together their game.

With the match relying on individual skill and dribbles, South generally had the upper hand, and went on to force the better chances throughout. In fact, this reporter doesn’t recall South ‘keeper Lino Di Lorenzo having to deal with a single shot on target, a testimony to the efficiency of the South rearguard.

South came close to opening the scoring with their first short corner of the match, when Tim Clapp’s shot pinged back off the St. Ives post, and it was from a set-piece routine that South got the decisive score. Gareth received the injection and slipped right to Rob Barton. Rob’s shot wasn’t the cleanest contact of his career, but sometimes these are the hardest for goalkeepers to save, as the ball went up over the legs of the ‘keeper and then dipped back down again to find the backboard. Samin Ishtiaq made an attempt to steal the goal, swiping at the ball as it went past him by the near post, but missed it totally, meaning the strike stays credited to Rob. Somehow the goal summed up the game!

The second half continued in similar vein, with South players trying to dribble through on their own, usually to be stopped around the 25 yard line, and St. Ives employing similar moves ending in similar ways. South were having trouble clearing their lines from 16 yard hits, with the ball being shifted around in ever tightening spaces and no-one seemingly willing to put a stick through the ball to get it upfield and away. Again, this pattern was repeated at the other end, with South often breaking up St. Ives 16’s. One such interception created South’s best second half chance. From the steal and a quick ball into the circle, Rob got a shot off that was saved, but with the ball still in play under the ‘keeper. Samin had to drag it away before trying to lift it over the prone stopper, but couldn’t quite get enough elevation allowing the ‘keeper and a defender on the line to smuggle the ball to safety.

The value of a victory to South was summed up by the green card given to South captain Gareth midway through the half. The card wasn’t specifically for Gareth, it was in his role as skipper of the side, and was therefore for the entire team, who had been appealing excessively to the match officials. We were on all notice to keep a bit quieter... The last ten minutes of the game were frantic, with the scores so close. However, the quality was no higher in this period than it had been in the previous 60 minutes, neither ‘keeper being tested, and so the match ended with South still in front. A win, but not a game that will live long in anyone’s memories.

In many ways this game was all about South 2nds, as it clearly demonstrated both the strengths and weaknesses of the side. On the positive side of the ledger, the marking was decent and everyone worked their socks off to harry the St. Ives players and stop them creating chances. On the negative side, there were few passing options for the player in possession, with little movement off the ball and calling, and as a result once again a cutting edge was noticeable by it’s absence. As Gareth had pointed out before the match, we have the 2nd best defensive record in the division, but also are the 2nd lowest scorers!

Skipper Gareth’s post-match comment was, “As always our defence did an excellent job, ensuring that St. Ives never really threatened our goal mouth. However our performance outside the 25 really highlighted where we need to improve our game. St Ives did a good job at keeping us on the back foot, but we didn't do much to prevent them forcing us back. Fortunately we took advantage of the chances we created on the break, generating short corners, which we were then able to capitalise on.”

Team played: Lino Di Lorenzo; Jan Brynjolffssen, Neil Sneade, George Wych, Dave Bartram, Samin Ishtiaq, Gareth Hebbron (c), Tim Clapp, Colin Singleton, Matt Kern, Rob Barton

March Town Men's IV 3 - 7 Cambridge South Men's III

H/T 1 – 4

Scorers: Simon Ta (3), James Pope (2), Paul South, John Greaves
Man of the match: Shahbaz Ali - commanding in goal

Revenge was sweet for Cambridge South 3rds, sponsored by PwC, as they sought to wipe away memories of a dismal draw against the same opposition earlier in the season. Unfortunately this was not enough to fire the team up, although 4 quick goals in the first half helped to make it feel a bit too easy. Simon Ta started things off, with his pace always causing problems, as he pounced to score the first. The remaining goals in the first half were all scored from short corners, with James Pope and Paul South producing a couple of serious tonks, and Ta sneaking another. CSouth were dominating play with confident attacking moves splitting the defence, although too often available players were not used, and chances were spurned. March grabbed one back to keep the away team alert.

Shortly after half time James Pope scored another blaster, which was immediately pegged back as some sloppy play let March in to give them a glimmer of hope. Normal service was resumed when Paul South, running his socks off throughout, and a constant threat on the left side put in an angled shot, which John Greaves touched in to Paul's great irritation, as it was steaming towards goal. Simon Ta got his hattrick as another tricky run ended with him flicking deftly past the keeper.

March got another goal, which raised their spirits, and demonstrated to CSouth that complacency can be costly. Luckily Shahbaz Ali was playing a blinder and kept them from really getting in to the game with some timely and effective dives, and one spectacular save.

In truth CSouth could have had many more goals, and their general play deserved it, but some comical misses and not quite accurate enough passes close to goal kept the score down. Nevertheless there was much to be proud of, in terms of teamwork off the ball, commitment to the end, and some lovely moves and scorching goals. Attacking dead ball moves were sound, with every short corner producing a shot, and the midfield constantly breaking forward well.

This was enough to keep CSouth in the promotion hunt, but we will need more clinical finishing and tighter defending to maintain the recent results against stronger teams.

Team played: Shahbaz Ali; Steve Riches, Ian Evans, John Sharp, James Pope, Rupert Espley, Wilco Dijkstra, Paul South, Tim Waller, Simon Ta, John Greaves (c)

Cambridge South Men's IV 1 - 5 Boston Men's III

H/T: 1 – 3

Scorer: James Raikes
MoM: TBC
LoM: James Cobbe - for injuring stand in 'keeper Ian Glover during the warm-up. Helpful...

Cambridge South 4th team, sponsored by PwC, turned up with a strong looking team on paper and not for the first time with a forward line up consist mostly of players name James.

South started the game reasonably well, but somehow, Boston were able to control the midfield and had more of the possession and play. It was all pretty tight until out of the blue James Raikes was able to score with the first real chance for South with a finish that looked like he learnt something from one of the opposition's forwards from the previous game at Spalding, 1-0. Boston equalised through a strong pass from the right and their left-winger was able to deflect in from close range. Boston then went ahead via some close control from their deep playing centre forward. South however felt that the game was still there to be won and continue to press forward, but alas Boston got a third before half time and the score at the break was 1-3.

South shuffled things around for the second half, but it was one of those days when nothing seems to come off and Boston was soon 1-4 up. South continue to press via Steve Fleck, James Cobbe and Joe Williamson, but chances were few and far between. The day was summed up when James Hodge and Sava Cornegrata collided and clashed their heads half way through the second half and made even worse when Boston scored a short corner after the final whistle.

Target for next week - keep a clean sheet.

Team played: Ian Glover; Stephen Fleck, David Bridge, Ky Ho, John Somerville, James Hodge, Sava Cornegrata, Keith Simpson, Joe Williamson, James Raikes (c), James Cobbe

Cambridge South Ladies I vs. Cambridge South Ladies II

With both teams on a bye week, and a pitch booked and available, a friendly game come training session was played out. However, as it wasn't played to strict hockey rules (not exactly 11-a-side, and an element of "We need to practice that, so try it again") no report or stastistics will appear.