Reports 20th March 2010
Men's 1sts beaten by Division leaders Spalding 1
Men's 2nds beaten by Division leaders Horncastle 1
Men's 3rds beaten by Division leaders Boston 1
Men's 4ths v City of Peterborough 7 : Match cancelled as South fail to raise a team.
Ladies' 2nds narrowly beat Wisbech 3
Spalding I 6 - 2 Cambridge South Men's I
H/T: 4 - 0
Scorers: Rob Garrett, Keith Hewitt
MoM: Rob Garrett
Faced with a Spalding side determined to finish top of the league and having to field a somewhat diluted defensive corps themselves, South could perhaps be forgiven for wondering whether a reversal of the pre-Christmas result between the sides - a 2-1 victory to Spalding - was really on the cards and, indeed, after the first 20 minutes, the home side seemed to hold all the aces as they had already cruised into a 4-0 lead thanks to some ruthless finishing. Exploiting space at South's rear and running hard, they created several gilt-edged opportunities and unhesitatingly put them away with a compelling blend of power and accuracy. Though South struggled to match the pace, the evergreen Rob Barton, on his seasonal debut for the team, used all his experience to test the hosts' keeper on several occasions during this period and was unlucky to come away empty-handed.
After enduring the early onslaught, South recovered some of their equilibrium, with Rob Garrett as ever working like a Trojan in midfield and elsewhere and Lukas Snetler and Chris Heron making as much use of Ron Oren's feeds from left defence as they were allowed. Keith Hewitt helped to man the pumps, James Cobbe made a splendid interception on a fast two-on-one break and Steve Parker, given little chance earlier in the half, made a good diving stick tackle as Spalding bore in on the li-ne as the interval approached.
A much more coherent start to the second stanza saw Spalding less dominant, if not entirely on the back foot, and, after Leo Tomita had cleared one of the home side's long biffs in, Heron was brutally upended to earn South a short corner. Hewitt's strike was not cleared and Chris Baker's instant follow-up was not buried but Garrett formed a one-man third wave and lifted it home in textbook fashion. The defence and midfield had more concerted possession for a while and Hewitt, Snetler and Garrett, supported by Baker's silky skillsTM, all posed a threat going forward. After Parker had made a great short-range block on the doorstep, Spalding were lured into a couple of unwise passes, one of them well intercepted by Heron, and Hewitt took up the baton, forcing another short corner as the keeper cleared high. From this, the popular Aussie, playing his final game for South, sent a little ripper (you'll have to imagine the accent) right into the bottom corner to give the hosts a wake-up call ... which sadly they heeded, as less than a couple of minutes later they forged down the pitch and unleashed a snapshot into the opposite corner to make it 5-2.
South remustered and, after Tomita had wisely decided that heading the ball was not a trick worth repeating, Hewitt sent a fair dinkum pass (see, it's rubbing off) across the face of a largely untenanted D, where Russell Johnson, having got his skates on, was just beaten to the action by the advancing keeper. There was no let-up from Spalding in the physical stakes and the earth shook as Hewitt and the home side's big playmaker, neither candidates for the shrinking violet award, made sudden and close acquaintance with the turf. South stuck to their guns, with Garrett predatory in the chase and tackle, Cobbe feeding Johnson up the right and Oren sending an incisive diagonal ball through to Snetler, and a fifth short was gained. Hewitt's bonzer shot rebounded off the keeper and South kept the ball in action through Oren and Baker but Spalding ended the stronger, forcing two fine stops from Parker before creaming in an unstoppable short corner to restore the four-goal margin. There was still time for a shot past Spalding's left post, a fine interplay between Barton and the other forwards and a bit more argy-bargy to test the umpires but, in the end, South could have no complaints as the hosts' superior firepower won the day and, with it, the league title and a promotion which had in truth seemed likely from the early stages of the season.
Team played: Steve Parker, Leo Tomita, Ron Oren, Chris Baker, Russell Johnson, Chris Heron, Rob Garrett, Keith Hewitt, Lukas Snetler, James Cobbe, Rob Barton
Cambridge South Men's II 1 - 3 Horncastle I
H/T: 1 - 0
Scorers: John Hawkes
MoM: Ben Buckley (Great saves kept us in with a shout)
LoM: Nick Bristowe (For getting 10 of his teammates drunk before a match - 3 weeks ago!)
On a fine Spring morning, South set out looking to damage Horncastle's hopes of a 100% season. The away match had proved a tad disappointing for South, who were looking for revenge down at fortress Leys.
South started the game with aplomb, with some of their best passing and moving hockey of the season starting to trouble the league's best defence. Mark Pears, Tim Clapp and Rob Leigh were looking increasingly dangerous in attack, whilst Jack Chalk was linking the defence with the midfield well.
Up the other end, Horncastle were looking dangerous going forward, showing why they have scored over 130 goals so far this season. However, the defence were standing firm, being helped by the continuous running and tracking back of the four man midfield. When the defence was pierced, some excellent goalkeeping from Ben Buckley helped push a reverse stick effort round the post.
Then, towards the end of the half, South took the lead. Mark Pears raced on to a through ball from the left and attempted to bury a shot past the keeper. The shot was well saved, but John Hawkes was on hand to lift the rebound over the defenders sticks into the goal. On the balance of play at the time, this was a merited lead, and good further work by South ensured it stayed that way at half time.
Emerging after the break, Horncstle were almost level immediately, when a goalbound shot which beat Ben was stopped on the line by Manu. Unfortunately this was with his feet, so a penalty flick was awarded. Ben however was not to be beaten, staring down his young adversary to ensure that the flick only hit the back of the football net behind the goal, and not the hockey net destination for which it was intended.
Buoyed by this, South set about extending their lead. Again, the Horncastle keeper came to his side's rescue, smothering one on one attempts from both Robbie Leigh and Mark Pears. A further shot by Tim Clapp drifted agonisingly wide of the far post.
Unfortunately, South were pegged back, and then fell behind midway through the half. The skilful opponent's front line pinged a ball across the D at pace, where after an intitial save from Buckley, the Horncastle forward swept in from close range. This was soon added to from a short corner, expertly placed inside the bottom corner.
South refused to lie down, and expert keeping again came to Horncastle's rescue when further one-one-ones were thwarted. Short corner attempts were also charged down or saved, and the game started to become stretched. As South poured forward, a quick counter from Horncastle led to a game of pinball in the South D, with the opponent forward finally lifting the ball into the goal at the third attempt.
Despite one further short corner attempt being thwarted at the end, South were unable to come back, and the game finished 3-1. However, this was as good a performance as any this season and nobody should be downhearted- in fact most of the matches in which South have won the performance was nowhere near as good as Saturday's.
The final match of the season sees South travel to Spalding- and a repeat performance from this weekend should see South finish the campaign with 3 points.
Team played: Ben Buckley, George Wych, Manu Bhardwaj, Nick Bristowe, Matt Readman, Tim Clapp, Rob Leigh, Kev Rowland, Dave Aston, Jack Chalk, Bhavdeep Virdi, John Hawkes, Mark Pears
Boston I 3 - 0 Cambridge South Men's III
H/T: 2 - 0
Scorers: None
MoM: JJ Clark, James Hodge (Both displayed energy, skill, and commitment throughout.)
Boston is a long way away, and not exactly welcoming when you get there. It rained, and in almost every department of the game the home team were superior. That's why Boston have already secured promotion, so the 3rds wont have to go there for at least a whole season.
CSouth battled away for the whole game with an unfamiliar team trying to play good sensible hockey. Boston got two first half goals, the first with the aid of a fine deflection off a defender wrongfooting the keeper, and the second from a rebound after the initial shot off a short corner was saved. These were both unlucky, particularly for Shabhaz Ali, who produced his usual quota of dazzling saves, and the defence of BenedikzAgarwalaGloverEvans who were constantly trying to switch play with calm and skillful play across the back to change the point of attack. This initiated many good passing moves as everyone got the hang of passing and moving into space.
Unfortunately Boston normally got to the ball first, and their combination of speed , nous, and skill made real chances rare for CSouth. Those that Messrs Lewis, Greaves, and South particularly managed to prise out were saved by the excellent Boston goalkeeper and his beefy but grumpy defenders, who were equally effective in open play and from the many CSouth short corners. It was really good to win more short corners than in earlier games, through good incisive moves into the D, but sadly none were converted .
CSouth as usual didn't give up, with Hodge and newcomer JJ Clarke showing the way to the end, with Paul South and Wilco Dijkstra always making themselves available for the ball.
This was a game where CSouth probably played as well as they were allowed to, with nothing to be ashamed of. We go into the last weekend of the season needing, and expecting, good results in the final two games.
Special thanks must go to Muriel in the Boston clubhouse kitchen, for producing a fine combination of stew and dumplings with fabulous chips. There is one thing we will miss about Boston after all.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, JJ Clark, John Benedikz, Ian Evans, Ian Glover, Paul South, James Hodge, Andy Lewis, Wilco Dijkstra, Sanjay Agarwala, John Greaves
City of Peterborough VII OFF - OFF Cambridge South Men's IV
Match cancelled as South fail to raise a team.
Wisbech III 0 - 1 Cambridge South Ladies' II
H/T: 0 - 1
Scorers: Charlie Orrock
MoM: Lizzy Day
Awaiting Report
Team played: Lizzy Day, Lottie Ayres, Simone Vis, Tracey Hunter, Louise Gutteridge, Vicky Bittle, Sam Cooper, Lyn Phillips, Kelly Mawby, Bex Baker, Leonie Dickman, Charlie Orrock