Reports 19th September 2009
Men's 1sts post a stong 5-1 victory against Nomads 2
Men's 2nds come from a goal down to beat Nomads 3 by the odd goal in 5
Ladies' 1sts have a good day at St Ives 3, winning 2-1
Ladies' 2nds awarded a walkover as March Town 2 have disbanded.
Cambridge South Men's I 5 - 1 Nomads II
H/T: 2 - 0
Scorers: Rob Garrett, Keith Hewitt, James Cobbe, Mark Pears (2)
In a painfully early push-back local rivals South and Nomads resumed hostilities once more in the final pre-season friendly before the league campaign kicks off next week. The game started evenly, with Nomads creating some good early chances before South came back into the game with their own opportunities to take the lead - Keith Hewitt putting the second over the bar after fine work from Chris Baker down the inside right channel - but the match turned when South scored 2 goals in the final 10 minutes of the half. James Cobbe opened the scoring from close range before Mark Pears buried a cross from the right into the bottom corner.
From here it was always going to be difficult for Nomads to get back into the game but they stuck to their task gamely and kept South pinned back in their half as the second period began. Pushing more players forward left gaps at the back, though, and South were able to take advantage. In their only short-corner of the game Keith Hewitt struck to make it 3-0, before Rob Garrett added a fourth when he capitalised on a defender's miss-control in the D.
Nomads were able to pull one back at this point when a loose ball in the South defence was quickly pounced upon and dispatched past Shahbaz with nothing he could do to prevent it. But South had the final say when Mark Pears grabbed his second of the game with a handy finish from close range.
Nomads will rue their missed chances in the first half, but after South took the lead they never looked like losing and fine performances throughout the team gave a well-deserved victory. Next week the league fixtures begin and they can look forward to the game against Peterborough in confident mood.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Leo Tomita, Jim Thorpe, Chris Graveling, Rich Morgan, Matt Readman, Eliot Read, Chris Baker, Rob Garrett, Keith Hewitt, James Cobbe, Mark Pears
Cambridge South Men's II 3 - 2 Nomads III
H/T: 1 - 1
Scorers: Graham McCulloch, Rob Barton (2)
MoM: Jack Chalk
LOM: Dave Aston (For sending Lino a text message by mistake saying how much he missed him. At least we hope it was sent by mistake!)
Awaiting Report
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Manu Bhardwaj, Ron Oren, Neil Sneade, George Wych, Bhavdeep Virdi, Jack Chalk, Tim Clapp, Kev Rowland, Graham McCulloch, Ali Ward, Rob Barton
Ely III 3 - 1 Cambridge South Men's III
H/T: 1 - 0
Scorers: Dom Nelson
MoM: Shahbaz Ali (Lots of saves as usual.)
Ely and the temperature were both too hot for CSouth to handle, as the superior composure and skills of a wily Ely team, bolstered by some players obviously used to playing at a much hgher level. CSouth kept the score down to 1 - 0 at half time with committed defending and some intelligent attacking play to keep the home team stretched. Ely could only get through form a short corner, clinically dispatched
After half time Ely gained the ascendancy as CSouth tired, and scored from two more short corners, Dom Nelson grabbed a consolation, bundling the ball in after a forceful Stuart Creed move, and was unlucky not to get another with a deft flick into the top corner, deflected just over the bar by guest Ely defender, John Greaves
A fair result, but good practice for the forthcoming league season.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Dom Nelson, James Lee, Ian Evans, Andy Passmore, Wilco Dijkstra, James Hodge, Andy Lewis, Stu Creed, Jake Lewis, Sam Lansdell, John Greaves
Ely IV 4 - 1 Cambridge South Men's IV
H/T: 3 - 0
Scorers: Rob Barton
MoM: John Parker (New to the game. Took to it like a duck to water.)
The score line perhaps flattered Ely a little as it was not a bad performance and this is the first game the real 4th squad actually played together. It was a relatively even game except for the 10 minutes in the first have when the team felt the humid conditions and stopped running.
There were a lot of positives including drawing the 2nd half, John Parker, Dan Lam and Manish Verma showing real potentials. It showed what we can do when we decide to be competitive and there are a number of players with good fitness levels.
In the first half we never really got beyond the midfield and the second half we switched things around a little and ended up with more possession and got more of the play.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, David Bridge, Ky Ho, Dan Lam, John Parker, Boris Lossy, Manish Verma, Shahzad Ali, John Sharp, Rob Barton, James Raikes
St Ives III 0 - 2 Cambridge South Ladies' I
H/T: 0 - 0
Scorers: Tash Cox, Alice Hug
MoM: Georgie Hurford (Anchor in Midfield)
The ladies firsts travelled on Saturday to St Ives, hoping to beat them twice in as many weeks following a 1-0 cup win the previous weekend.
With captain and vice-captain returned from holidays, the South ladies started in a positive mood and with an attacking 3-4-3 diamond formation. The experienced back line of Ellie, Becca and Rhiannon provided a solid base behind the midfield diamond of Caroline (defensive holding mid), Georgie (attacking centre), Hayley (left mid) and Liles (right mid) who channelled effectively into the strong attacking trio of Tash, Alice and Kelly up front. This formation was quickly effective, with the middle third of the pitch being dominated by South players harrying for the ball, and often being able to steal passes at will to launch swift attacking moves into the opposition D. Within the first 2 minutes South had drawn a short corner, and taken another shot quickly after. This pattern continued throughout the first half, with South players rattling shots at the St Ives keeper, and then smothering any break-outs from the opposition team in response only to return to the St Ives D for more of the same. Half way through the first period, with South clearly on top (though still goalless) a left mid substitution allowed Ley to get a taste of first-team ladies hockey, and by the time the half-time whistle was blown South had notched up 9 shots on goal, and 4 further short corners - but were still at 0-0. St Ives, meanwhile, had yet to take a single shot, having only reached the South D twice in the entire half.
With Hayley back on for the start of the second period, South once again laid siege to the St Ives goal. With the new self-pass rules in mind, the forward players began to truly harrass the opposition defence, resulting in even more possession and attacking chances. The left side of the pitch was proving bountiful hunting-ground for South, with Hayley and Alice firing shots at the impressive (in skill and stature) St Ives keeper, and the attack drawing 5 more short corners as a result of their fluid ground play in the D and hitting the target 5 more times from open play. However the ladies left it late in the game to break the deadlocked scores, with Tash eventually putting them ahead on 67 minutes with a simple and effective strike in open play, and then Alice tapping home to make the final score 2-0 to the visitors.
Overall South played excellent hockey across the entire pitch, disrupting the St Ives possession, and as a result taking the ball early and high up the pitch. The statistics of 15 shots on goal, 9 short corners and only 2 goals give a reasonable indication of the ladies' primary areas for improvement, namely effective shooting and short-corner practice - but the general picture is encouraging and bodes well for the season. Special mention must go to Lou "Loopy" Tonkin for a performance in goal that was so impressively intimidating that the opposition declined to take a single shot at her goal, and to Georgie Harford for a "Man of the Match" performance in which she showed an exceptional work-rate, intelligent overlapping with her central midfield partner and steely dedication to her team - some evidence for which might be found in the St-Ives players' bruises following her tackles.
The ladies will approach the next match at home against Hunts 1 in an optimistic mood.
Team played: Louise Tonkin, Rhiannan Williams, Ellie Raffan, Caroline Dent, Liles Dee, Georgie Hurford, Hayley Sharpe, Tash Cox, Alice Hug
Cambridge South Ladies' II 3 - 0 March Town II
H/T: ? - ?
Scorers:
Ladies' 2nds awarded a walkover as March Town 2 have disbanded.
Team played: TBA