Reports 13th March 2010
Men's 1sts draw with March Town 2
Men's 2nds make hard work of beating St Neots 2
Men's 3rds beat Newmarket 1 by 4 goals
Men's 4ths come back to claim a point against Rutland 3
Ladies' 1sts win again against Cambridge City 4
Cambridge South Men's I 1 - 1 March Town II
H/T: 0 - 1
Scorers: Matt Readman
MoM: Jim Thorpe, Chris Baker
In a match which never entirely shook off a slight end-of-season feel, South were easily the dominant side but were forced to wait until the last two minutes to break down a resolute March defence backstopped by some solid and at times inspired goalkeeping. On a rough count, South manufactured at least a score of reasonable and sometimes gilt-edged scoring opportunities but a combination of their own profligacy and the visitors' dogged resistance drove the game to the wire.
The first 15 minutes mainly belonged to South although March, showing no obvious signs of their 9-0 thrashing at the hands of Spalding last weekend, made occasional enthusiastic forays upfield which Jim Thorpe, with a succession of well-timed interventions, neutralised with aplomb. Matt Readman and Leo Tomita also got stuck in with some typically uncompromising tackles as South gradually gained the upper hand and tested the March keeper, who saved from Lukas Snetler and Mark Pears and then slid out hard to dispossess Snetler at the edge of the circle. However, from an unthreatening position on the right, March suddenly broke free and sliced into the D, slotting away neatly after a series of defenders had been nutmegged, wrong-footed or bypassed. South kept making good progress forward but somehow never quite managed to set up a target man in the right place; skipper Keith Hewitt and Mark Pears both failed to lay a stick on passes into the danger area and Chris Baker, who otherwise got through a good volume of subtle and unflashy work, was blocked in the D and then just missed connecting with a Pears cross. A swift March break caught South's forwards labouring up front and the home side were once more indebted to Thorpe, who cut out a two-on-one as the action thickened around him. The half finished with further chances going begging as Pears was twice denied by the March keeper and Al Sinclair flicked across the face of the goal. Baker and Pears both teed up shots nicely as well but one used a putter and the other scuffed his drive so, all in all, it was a below-par first-half performance by the attack.
After the break, the same pattern persisted, with South, despite too many giveaways, continuing to create good opportunities and then being thwarted by the well-organised March defence. Pears, admittedly suffering from super-man-flu, stubbed wide when Hewitt and Baker had combined to lay the goal wide open and then Readman, jumping into the play, flicked over the bar with glory in his sights. Frustration led to some ill-advised crossfield passes that were intercepted (and immediately regretted with robust epithets) and March's well-built playmaker, who shielded the ball effectively, took advantage to surge forward on a number of occasions. A mazy dribble from Sinclair attracted a fair degree of lumber, leading to a trio of short corners, but these brought no relief either. Pears was blocked, Sinclair's flick was stopped by a defender and the keeper made an excellent double save to deaden Hewitt's powerful strike and palm away the rebound from Sinclair. A slip to the left post just eluded Pears, who was then beaten out on the opposite post, and Readman tried an elegant reverse strike which caught the keeper off his line but narrowly failed to beat him as he recovered well to tip it over the bar. At this stage, Thorpe's whiskers were twitching as he edged forward into the opposition half but March were having none of it and, in fact, they came more into the game themselves as Steve Parker was suddenly called upon to save a booming shot from the edge of the circle, kick decisively to the wing and sweep away with his stick to clear in timely fashion from a lone winger. March also made a mess of a clear opportunity from a jiggled short corner and South were fortunate when an unmarked forward took a wild and fruitless swipe from close range with only Parker covering. As time ticked down, South pumped away, the keeper saving two shots from the left and a defender bravely blocking a Snetler thunderer from a penalty corner but, just when it seemed as though all South's efforts would come to naught, a short corner routine finally paid dividends and a neat slip from Hewitt via Baker released Readman who, exploiting the space perfectly, calmly picked his spot and rammed it home into the bottom corner for the long-awaited equaliser. Little further action ensued and, on South's part, there was by this time perhaps more relief at a point saved than disappointment at two lost.
Despite the consistent territorial advantage enjoyed by South, March never resorted to pure defence and South's rearguard of Readman and Thorpe, complemented by sensible contributions from Tomita, Ron Oren and Ian Glover, had to work hard to make sure that the visitors' lead was never increased to irrecoverable proportions. Nevertheless, South should have won easily despite the assorted scuffs, fluffs and muffs and it is partly this lack of goal-scoring bite (10 goals in the last 7 games compared to 36 in the first 13), allied to midfield and defensive unavailabilities, that has seen them slip down the table.
Following Sunday's defeat against the University, South have two games left in which to improve their placing. They are three points behind Peterborough IV, having played a game more, and must face champions Spalding, who narrowly edged them out before Christmas, and Peterborough IV, who lost by a large margin to the University on Saturday but are a very capable side, in their final two games. Peterborough have Nomads and Rutland to play (apart from South) so South will have a tricky task to climb to fifth. It would be good to end the season with the right kind of bang.
Team played: Steve Parker, Ian Glover, Ron Oren, Jim Thorpe, Leo Tomita, Al Sinclair, Matt Readman, Chris Baker, Lukas Snetler, Keith Hewitt, Mark Pears
St Neots II 1 - 2 Cambridge South Men's II
H/T: 0 - 2
Scorers: Rob Barton, Ali Ward
MoM: Dave Aston (Good running, great tackling back, superb linking play. Special mention to the St Neot's player who drove Jack and Manu back to Milton Tesco.)
LoM: Nick Bristowe (We haven't forgotten that he singlehandedly made us lose 2 games last week. Special mention to Dave A's girlfriend for making a pig's ear out of our travel arrangements.)
After last weekend's disappointments South 2nd XI travelled to St Neots keen to get back to winning ways. Things did not start well as problems on the A14 led to a huge traffic jam on the A428 and the team all arrived 15 minutes late for the pushback so it was straight onto the pitch and into play. Fortunately even this delay was not enough for St Neots and the home side started the game with only 10 players for the first few minutes.
South took full advantage of this and moved the ball about well from the off. The wide midfielders, Kev Rowland and Bhav Virdi were given ample space to exploit the channels and early pressure was rewarded after only 5 minutes when a superb cross in from the left by Dave Aston was expertly touched in by Ali Ward, darting in behind his marker on the right hand post.
If that was a good goal it was followed only a few minutes later by an equally great finish. Ali this time was the provider, receiving the ball from Dave Aston at the top of the D, turning and then putting in a great flick to the top right hand corner which was parried out by the St Neots keeper but only as far as Rob Barton lurking a few metres out who was able to turn it back just inside the post.
At two nil things were looking good and South could relax and play some expansive hockey. However St Neots had other ideas and over the rest of the first half they dragged themselves back into the match, stretching play and making a number of breaks through the middle to connect up with their 2 strikers. The central defence of Nick Bristowe and Dave Monck held firm and the only scares for South (not counting the threat from one player to Nick that he would “get his throat slit”) were a number of short corners won by St Neots but the few efforts not charged down by George Wych were mopped up by keeper Ben Buckley who had another exemplary game.
The half time talk was all about passing the ball out to the flanks, making use of the available space and not trying to run single-handedly through the whole defence. This is still an area where South need to improve, especially in the final third of the pitch, and there is no doubt that, with a little more emphasis on the pass-and-move game, South's superior skills and energy could have put the game to bed. However, it was St Neots who upped their game early in the second half and pressed forward with urgency. A number of short corners were forced in quick succession and eventually a good strike found its way into the goal.
For a period now it was all hands to the pump with the defence under the cosh but South withstood the pressure and built a number of attacks themselves; Manu Bhardwaj in particular linked up well with the evergreen Kev who once again was full of running right through the match and up front Rob and Ali forced some good saves from the home keeper. At times it was real end-to-end counter attacking hockey with chances coming and going for both side but South held onto their one goal lead and fully deserved the 3 points albeit that they had made it unnecessarily hard for themselves.
The match was not without controversy with a few niggles on both sides. In addition to the “throat-slitting” incident, a number of other St Neots players got a little heated and, not to be outdone, Bhav (who could probably get into an argument in an empty room) nearly got himself carded for a running battle with a couple of St Neots players. Finally right at the death St Neots made a vociferous claim for a short corner which was denied by the umpires, as a consequence of which the St Neots player refused to shake hands at the end of the match.
Fortunately however, the rest of the St Neots team did not hold any grudges. Due to Dave Aston's girlfriend dragging him away on holiday straight after the match (for which she earned herself a Lemon of the Match vote), there were not enough cars to transport the team back to Cambridge and Manu and Jack were very kindly given a lift back by one of the opposition!
Team played: Ben Buckley, Dave Monck, George Wych, Manu Bhardwaj, Nick Bristowe, Bhavdeep Virdi, Dave Aston, Jack Chalk, Kev Rowland, Rob Barton, Ali Ward
Cambridge South Men's III 4 - 0 Newmarket I
H/T: 2 - 0
Scorers: John Greaves, Rupert Espley (2)
Back to winning ways. A decisive victory achieved through an excellent team performance in a new 3-1-3-3 formation. Everyone played their part, sticking to positions, running off the ball to be available for a pass, using possession and pace wisely, and closing down the opposition. The fact that Newmarket got grumpier with the umpiring helped too, as CSouth managed to remain calm.
All the goals were team efforts; the first from an Andy Lewis cross to Rupert Espley lurking as planned near the post to poke the ball in. Espley got his second just before half time, again from a Lewis assist, as the ball was slotted into the D for Rupert E to demonstrate a reverse stick flick giving the keeper no chance.
After half time the good work continued. Skipper John Greaves, recovered from a bang on the jaw, received the ball from Paul South in space, and rounded the keeper before slamming it inside the far post for the third goal. By this stage CSouth, building on the rock solid TSouthSneadLee defence were dominant, and Shabhaz Ali made the few necessary saves as confidently as always. The defenders - particularly the deceptively skillful Tom South - even took turns to surge upfield whenever possible, providing attacking options, and helping to solve a perennial 3rd Team problem of insufficient support players available to receive passes. Tom's alter ego Paul South, hampered by most of his body parts seemingly creaking or siezing up, still managed to tackle ferociously, and distribute the ball calmly, assisting midfield maestro Tristan Knight to run the show.
Andy Lewis wrapped the game up near the end, placing his subtly paced reverse stick shot just inside the goal from the top of the D.
3 games to go, with a realistic hope of finishing in the highest ever position for the 3rd team.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Neil Sneade, James Lee, Tom South, Tristen Knight, Andy Lewis, Wilco Dijkstra, Paul South, James Hodge, John Greaves, Rupert Espley
Cambridge South Men's IV 2 - 2 Rutland III
H/T: 1 - 2
Scorers: John Parker, Boris Lossy
MoM: John Sharp (Quite literally putting his body on the line for the team)
It was a match that showed how well the team is playing together now. Rutland 3s is the team that neat us 7:0 earlier in the season and this was a match we could easily have won.
South started a little bit nervously and Rutland scored 2 early goals before South could even work up a sweat. Slowly, but surely, South got into it stride and eventually fashioned some chances of their own. South actually had the better last 20 minutes of the first half which saw Boris pulling a goal back for the team just before half time. It was well deserved after coming so close to getting his first goal for the club in recent games.
In the second half, South shaded it once more and created a number of chances which were saved or went narrowly wide. With 5 minutes to go John Parker came back on the pitch and with 3 minutes remaining he managed to score the equaliser. Rutland also had their chances and had a sequence of 4 corners in a row, but John Sharp was not to be beaten today and practically stopped the short corners single handedly. Worth mentioning that the combinations of Ian Evans and JJ Clark is working really well in the midfield and Boris and David Doupe are also proving to be an effective partnership up front.
After so many cancellations, The Corner House finally met us for the first time and realised that we are not some made up team who book teas and then cancel them for a joke :-)
Team played: Tim Dean, Josh Blanchard Lewis, Shahbaz Ali, JJ Clark, Ky Ho, David Bridge, Ian Evans, John Sharp, David Doupe, John Somerville, John Parker, Boris Lossy, Shahzad Ali
Cambridge South Ladies' I 4 - 0 Cambridge City IV
H/T: 3 - 0
Scorers: Georgie Hurford, Kirsten Fairfax, Alice Hug, Tash Cox
MoM: Georgie Hurford (For tireless defence and an awesome goal)
The South Ladies 1s didn't have far to travel for an away fixture at St Catz this week, but still had a frantic run-up to the match when the opposition announced a start time half an hour in advance of that we were expecting! So it was a case of getting shirts on, keeper clad and away. It was a marked contrast to the coach-drilled, multi-subbed City 4s team that we were facing.
The first half started with commendable enthusiasm and attacking play from South with goals justifiably following. The first was a testament to sharp reflexes as a rebounded ball was snuck onto the backboard by Tash, lurking on the right post. Not long after, a well timed lay-off from Georgie found Alice near the edge of the circle and she let no time go to waste, slapping it straight past the keeper in a stylish manner. The goal record might have suggested South had all the play, but that wasn't the case: City, encouraged by many and vocal supporters, put in some good attacks but were repeatedly thwarted by the defensive line. Kathryn, playing in defence for the first time this season and a debutante in the 1s, deserves particular mention for hard work and skillful play on the right, earning herself a man of the match nomination. After a slightly frenetic ten minutes of battling mid-field play, South got themselves properly organised and put pressure on the City D once more. Good passing play set Kirsten up for a strong shot on goal, duly finished, so that we were 3-0 up at half time.
Moving into the second half with Kendra injured (not that you'd have noticed) and no extras, South faced a gee'd up City team with some suspiciously good subs. With the knowledge that our keeper Sarah was somewhat inappropriately dressed (expensive new kickers popped off whenever she walked) the South defenders put in a committed performance to maintain a clean sheet. Kirsten deserves particular mention for finding a jet-pack to double back and save a particularly scary, fast piece of break-through play. Ultimately though, South dominated and sustained pressure on the D was rewarded by a goal: an awesome solo performance from Georgie, who weaved through opposition players to the edge of the circle before making space out of nowhere and scoring a straight strike into the back corner.
Another great result for the South ladies. Georgie was awarded Man of the Match for great work in attack and defence but the whole team deserved reward for this result.
Team played: Sarah Aves, Ellie Raffan, Julie Sadler, Georgie Hurford, Anne-Isabelle Richard-Picchi, Kathryn Mallett, Liles Dee, Kirsten Fairfax, Kendra Butlin, Alice Hug, Tash Cox
Bourne III OFF - OFF Cambridge South Ladies' II
Match cancelled.