Reports 7th November 2009
Men's 1sts beat City of Peterborough by 1 goal to nil.
Men's 2nds suffer a disappointing loss away at Wisbech Town
Men's 3rds come unstuck against a sharp Market Deeping side.
Men's 4ths suffer a frustrating home defeat against St Ives 5
Ladies' 1sts outclass Newmarket with another glut of goals.
Ladies' 2nds v St Ives 4ths match cancelled.
Cambridge South Men's I 1 - 0 City of Peterborough IV
H/T: 0 - 0
Scorers: Keith Hewitt
MoM: Chris Baker, Lukas Snetler
In a tight defensive battle where there were few clear-cut chances, South maintained their focus to the end and were rewarded by a late goal from Keith Hewitt, who gleefully banged the ball home after an electric surge round the left from skipper Rob Garrett had finally carved out the opportunity that South, slightly the more fluent in their attacking build-up, had probably deserved.
Chris Graveling had earlier had a slipped flick shot from one of South's three penalty corners well stopped, while Steve Parker came up with the goods when stonewalling a free attacker in his only glimpse of action. But this was in truth a good, solid all-round performance against one of South's closest rivals, who were equally determined in all areas of the pitch. Special mentions to birthday boy Chris Baker, composed on the right and belying all of his 32 years, Lukas Snetler, Eliot Read and Al Sinclair, who all tackled fearsomely and showed great two-way skills and stomach for the fight..
Team played: Steve Parker, Jim Thorpe, Chris Graveling, Chris Baker, Rob Garrett, Russell Johnson, Eliot Read, Matt Readman, Al Sinclair, Keith Hewitt, Mark Pears, Lukas Snetler
Wisbech Town III 3 - 1 Cambridge South Men's II
H/T: 3 - 1
Scorers: Graham McCulloch
MoM: Ian Glover (Stepped up from the 3s with a very strong performance.)
LOM: Kev Rowland (Didn't play but got Lemon for no reason - now that's harsh!)
After 3 straight wins, South were brought back to Earth with a second defeat of the campaign on a dark and misty fenny evening.
For the first 15 minutes, South had much the better of play and were unlucky not to take the lead when debutant John Hawkes beat the keeper from a narrow angle only to find his well struck shot flash inches wide. A few minutes later, a Bristowe short corner strike ballooned off the keeper's kicker and McCulloch was in the right place to slam the ball home as it dropped out of the night sky.
Unfortunately taking the lead angered the Fenlanders who proceeded to find three goals of their own. Wisbech's swift movement and accurate passing caused problems throughout and hurried South into several errors. Goalkeeper Buckley was forced on several occasions to lead the charge out to the edge of the D but could do little about any of the goals, all of which were close range strikes, one of which was from a melee after a short corner had been half stopped.
In past seasons, heads would have dropped, but instead Captain Aston, who had earlier claimed he might have had Swine Flu, rallied the troops at half-time and the second half, a rejuvenated South appeared and waves of Fenny attacks were kept at bay largely by the South backline sticking to the task well and by Jack Chalk keeping a close eye on the speedy Wisbech midfielder who had caused havoc in the first half. The Monckausarus, once again, sought to make his presence felt. His victim was later seen with his arm in a sling in the club house.
But, largely aided by a very capable Wisbech sweeper, and on a day where South simply didn't get the rub of the green, South found it difficult to fashion any clear cut opportunities of their own. The best chance of the second half fell to John Hawkes again, who was inches away from connecting with a ball at the far post. Man of the Match Ian Glover put in a particularly impressive performance at right back and constantly asked questions when he pressed forward, despite only been called up at the last minute As the misty night drew on, there was still time for Buckley to try and impress the judges with some celebrity come dancing style footwork which almost presented a Wisbech forward with an opportunity for a 4th, and for a Wisbech forward to almost put the ball out of the cage and into the Wash with a wayward strike.After the game Captain Aston praised the team of digging deep in the second half against a team clearly much stronger than the Wisbech IIIs team which had snatched a 1-0 win in the same fixture last year.Amazingly, this week's Lemon award went to Kev Rowland, presumably for not playing at all. Sometime even giving up the captaincy isn't enough to avoid the shame...
Team played: Ben Buckley, John Benedikz, Dave Monck, Ron Oren, Ian Glover, George Wych, Nick Bristowe, Jack Chalk, Dave Aston, Graham McCulloch, John Hawkes, Rob Barton
Cambridge South Men's III 2 - 4 Market Deeping III
H/T: 1 - 2
Scorers: James Hodge, John Greaves
MoM: Dom Nelson (...always a threat in attack, and helped out in defence when called upon. Led the fight back towards the end .)
Back to the bad old days, with too many enemy attackers unmarked and too many passes going astray. It was a game of four quarters, with Deeping capitalising on their dominance in periods either side of half time.
The first goal was scored by an unmarked Deeping attacker, after a smart right wing move involving a couple of their star players who appeared to be "guesting" for their 3rd team. South equalised immediately as James Hodge pounced on a Tristan Knight pass. Sadly Deeping scored again before the break as another attacker found acres of space, to shoot calmly into goal.
The third away goal was more of the same as South lost some team discipline and reverted to old habits of giving the ball away, and not tackling effectively - apart from Paul South and Dom Nelson, who kept on demonstrating how it should be done. The home side got a goal back as James Hodge got the ball in to John Greaves who slid the ball past the keeper just inside the far post from close to the penalty spot. This seemed to encourage CSouth to play like they have been doing in recent games, witht better passing moves opening up the opposition well. The ball found the Deeping net after one of the trademark GreavesLewis short corner routines, but was judged to have not left the D.
Indeed CSouth had previously had found the back netting a couple of times before that, from Tristan Knight and Paul South, but earlier infringements ruled out goals
Near the end Deeping wrapped up the points, with the somewhat talkative centre back scoring with a skillful flick off a short corner.
Ah well. The game showed that CSouth have sufficient skills and fitness for this league, but must stick to team discipline, and the basics of marking, tackling and passing throughout
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Dom Nelson, James Lee, Andy Passmore, James Hodge, Paul South, Andy Lewis, Stu Creed, Tristen Knight, Matt Kern, Rupert Espley, John Greaves
Cambridge South Men's IV 0 - 1 St Ives V
H/T: 0 - 0
Scorers: None
MoM: John Clark (Made some good saves after bravely volunteering to go in goal.)
South seemed to have gathered a team mostly called John and luckily one of them bravely volunteered to go in goal. The newly laid Abbey pitch resembles a beach, but without all the nice things you normally associate with being by the seaside (I shall leave it to the readers to fill in the blanks with their own imagination). The two teams were pretty even and there were not that many chances in the first half. What few chances there were, they were saved comfortably by the 'keepers although James Raikes deflection of a cross from the left wing probably deserved a goal. South's central midfield pairing of Clapp and Jelly held their own throughout against 2 good St Ives players.
The second half started brightly for South and the St Ives 'keeper promptly had to make 2 saves from Doupe and Raikes. They however scored on the break. South tried to even the score line, but the match played out evenly for the remainder of the half.
On a positive note, it was good to see the 3rds and 4ths had about 14 players available this week.
Team played: John Clark, Shahbaz Ali, Ian Evans, Ky Ho, John Parker, David Doupe, Boris Lossy, John Somerville, Simon Jelley, John Sharp, Tim Clapp, Shahzad Ali, James Raikes
Newmarket II 0 - 7 Cambridge South Ladies' I
H/T: 0 - 3
Scorers: Georgie Hurford, Anne-Isabelle Richard-Picchi (2), Alice Hug (3), Tash Cox
MoM: Georgie Hurford, Alice Hug
The Cambridge South ladies 1s travelled to Suffolk this week, but it was a journey worth the effort for a 7-0 victory over the Newmarket 2nd team. South dominated from the outset with smart, passing hockey. Georgie's natty dribbling made space for a smooth lay off to Alice who nailed her first goal without delay. More pressure followed and the same double act came good again with Georgie sharp on the rebound of Alice's strike and getting number two for the day. Newmarket rallied a little in the second quarter and spent some time in the Cambridge half, but their efforts were dealt with promptly by defence and midfield with Hayley, Liles and AI linking beautifully with the forward line and even passing the ball around the back from time to time! Back in the opposition half, there were plenty of chances for Cambridge who found depth with Kendra on the left Tash on the right, including some agonising near misses for Alice, lurking on the penalty spot and whizzing ball after ball millimetres wide of the right post. One of the smoothest goals of the match came from a super-hard strike from Alice, sneakily deflected behind the keeper by Tash on the right post. Three - nil to South at half time.
Newmarket came back with renewed vigour (and sharpened elbows on their defenders!) but Cambridge had more. Alice broke her duck and swept a lovely goal in from the penalty spot within the first minute of the half. Newmarket's hard through balls consistently failed to find a player to recieve them and, again, most of the play was in their half. New to the 1s, Lottie played strongly on the left, linking with Julie and AI who formed a great partnership, best demonstrated by a deadly accurate pass from Julie across the D, through the defenders' legs to AI who hammered it home. Having got a taste for scoring, AI got the next one too, a product of sharp reflexes on the near post. Newmarket gave the defenders some work to do, but Rhi did a great job to keep the Cambridge half safe. More pressure in the D, including a slightly disappointing set of unconverted short corners, led to the flashiest goal of the match: Alice's tight-angled uppercut ball was further deflected and whizzed into the top corner of the net. For all the impressive work in the opposition D, however, perhaps the most glorious play of the match came right at the end when a rare Newmarket break left keeper Lou down at full stretch having saved a 1-on-1 and Vicky swept the ball off the line in a heroic move that kept a clean sheet for Cambridge. The strength of the midfield and passing play with the forwards was what won the match and this was reflected in votes for Hayley and Tash and eventual crowning of Alice and Georgie as joint players of the match for this week.
Team played: Louise Tonkin, Rhiannan Williams, Ellie Raffan, Lottie Ayres, Julie Sadler, Georgie Hurford, Anne-Isabelle Richard-Picchi, Liles Dee, Vicky Lavis, Hayley Sharpe, Kendra Butlin, Alice Hug, Tash Cox
St Ives IV 0 - 3 Cambridge South Ladies' II
H/T: ? - ?
Scorers:
Match cancelled after St Ives fail to raise a team.
Team played: TBA
