Reports 27th March 2010
Men's 3rds awarded a win over March Town 4
Men's 4ths lose to City of Peterborough 8
Ladies' 1sts beat Rutland by 5 goals to nil
Ladies' 2nds v City of P'Boro 4 : Awaiting Result
Cambridge South Men's II 0 - 4 Spalding II
H/T: 0 - 2
Scorers: None
MoM: Ben Buckley, Dave Aston, Rob Garrett
LoM: Sanjay Agarwala (Don't take a 16 from between the posts!)
South's final match of the season pitted them away against a strong Spalding side on a warm Spring afternoon.
South began the match determined to finish the season on a high, with the central midfielders spraying passes out to Rowland and Leigh on the left and right wings. The makeshift defence of Aston, Glover, Bristowe and Agrawala were held firm in the opening minutes, before a strong shot from the Spalding attacker nipped under the keeper's despairing dive to give the home team the lead.
Soon after, another Spalding attack led to a home short corner. Despite the intitial shot being charged down, the rebound was flicked goalwards, and unfortunately stuck the foot of defender Ian Glover - giving the home team a flick. Ben Buckley's flirting looks towards the Spalding attacker did not give the same desired effect as the previous weeks against Horncastle, and Spalding went into the break two up.
South re-emerged after the interval determined to have a positive end to the season. Suddenly, the midfield quartet were linking up well with the strikers, and the defence appeared more confident in dealing with the opposition attacks, with Ben Buckley on fine form to thwart any moves which did get through the back four.
Unfortunately, midway through the second half, South were undone by two defensive errors. The first - a delayed clearance following a Spalding short enabled the attacker to lift the ball into the unguarded net, and the second, a wayward pass in defence was picked off by the centre forward who calmly slotted past the keeper. This was not in keeping with the season for the defence, who have excelled this year and have been key to the strong finishing position of 5th in the league.
Despite one or two promising openings up the other end and a few thwarted short corners, the game finished 4-0 to the opposition which flattered them somewhat. This however, fails to take away from a great season from the Men's 2's, who have defied expectation in finishing as high up the league as they have. South should look to kick on and establish themselves as one of the top teams in the division next year, which is definitely achievable if the commitment and team play continues from this season.
Team played: Ben Buckley, Manu Bhardwaj, Ian Glover, Nick Bristowe, Sanjay Agarwala, Dave Aston, Rob Garrett, Kev Rowland, Rob Leigh, Jack Chalk, John Hawkes, Rob Barton
Cambridge South Men's III 3 - 0 March Town IV
H/T: 0 - 0
Scorers:
MoM: Shahbaz Ali (The usual quota of fine saves, and confident throughout )
An unrecognisable March 4th team finally squeaked past a battling CSouth with a single scrappy goal near the end to leapfrog the home team and banish their own fears of relegation
The first half was relatively even, particularly when the March playmaker number 18 was off the pitch after various verbal and physical misdemeanours had tried the patience of the umpire once too often. CSouth kept calm in the face of much provocation and overly aggressive opponents, and were able to put together good attacking moves using the wings and centre of the pitch well, and supporting one another effectively. Half chances were created, a goal proved elusive. That number 18 was being well marked by Tristan Knight, which constrained CSouths attacking options, but kept us in the game.
In the second half the younger, fitter, faster, more skillful, angrier, quicker thinking March team, obviously used to a higher league, got the ascendancy. The home defence of BenedikzSneadePassmoreLeeSouth, stood firm notably with many thumping clearances from JB and diving tackles from Andy P, until the fateful moment as John Greaves was realing at the top of the D from a whack on the thigh (that man number 18 again). Most players stopped, expecting a whistle, except for a couple of March forwards who combined to scramble the ball over the line.
CSouth did get the ball into the net via a Lewis rasper, but above the back board from a short corner. Other chances from Creed and South went close, and Shabhaz kept the March hordes out with some effective blocks and saves
It was clear that March really needed this result and had brought along a team to get it.
Tea at the Earl of Derby was good as always
The CSouth thirds again played well, and demonstrated that much progress has been made since the previous season, our first in 5NW, but could only hold out against superior opponents for so long on this occasion.
*** UPDATE *** Cambridge South were awarded this match after the League discovered irregularities in the March team.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, John Benedikz, Neil Sneade, James Lee, Andy Passmore, James Hodge, Tristen Knight, Paul South, Andy Lewis, Stu Creed, Tom South, John Greaves, Rupert Espley
Cambridge South Men's IV 2 - 5 City of Peterborough VIII
H/T: 2 - 3
Scorers: Boris Lossy (2)
MoM: Simon Jelley
Final game on a sunny afternoon and South was hoping for a good end to the season, but alas Peterborough had other ideas and had a couple of players that could play above where the our current first team's league.
South did have a good start with Boris scoring before Ky has finished putting all the practice balls away. Peterborough came back equally quickly and scored from a short corner to make it 1:1. Boris was on fire and scored with a classic deflection from a David Doupe cross to make it 2:1. Again Peterborough came back and made it 2:2. after 18 minutes it was 2:3 from another short corner.
The second half saw South pushing for an equaliser, but was never allowed to settle. 2 more scores from short corners made it 2:5.
It is worth mentioning that the season has probably finished a little too early for Boris as he seems to be on goal scoring streak. Tim Dean ran his heart out and didn't deserve to be on a losing side.
Team played: Tim Dean, Shahbaz Ali, JJ Clark, Ky Ho, David Bridge, Ian Evans, John Somerville, David Doupe, John Parker, John Sharp, Will Jones, Shahzad Ali, Simon Jelley, Boris Lossy
Cambridge South Ladies' I 5 - 0 Rutland
H/T: 3 - 0
Scorers: Caroline Dent, Hayley Sharpe (2), Alice Hug, Tash Cox
MoM: Hayley Sharpe
The South Ladies 1s met Rutland for the second week in a row in their penultimate league match of the season. As last week, the Rutland team were well drilled with strong stick skills and a determination. This led to a somewhat flustered first ten minutes during which the South defenders had to work hard. However, before long South regained their composure and it paid off well when sharp passing from all in midfield and landed Alice with the ball in the centre of the D which she duly hammered home. Shortly after, sustained pressure was rewarded with a short corner and a lovely move sent the ball to Liles on the right then back to the penalty spot for Hayley to fire past the keeper. Rutland kept coming back strong but good marking, hard work from the midfield, and (yet again) a heroic swoop onto a threatening ball by Julie, meant they couldn't convert any of their chances. South were guilty of keeping to the centre and right of the field during the first half. Towards the end, however, Caroline provided a persuasive argument to use the left when she dribbled the ball into the D, around several defenders, past the keeper then calmly slotted it into goal.
In the second half South maintained strong pressure on the opposition D and held the midfield more strongly. Goals were slow coming, despite some lovely crosses (persistently whizzing millimetres from players heading towards the left post) and other unconverted opportunities. Liles and Hayley continued their short corner masterclass with a matching goal to that scored in the first half and Tash finished the match with a stylish goal which once again was the product of quick reflexes and accurate passing around the circle.
Another excellent result from the Ladies 1s who continue on course to promotion. All credit goes to Rutland for putting up a strong fight and giving the defence lots of work to do. There were well deserved player of the match nominations for Caroline, AI, Julie, Kathryn and Georgie but Hayley was the well deserved recipient of the award for her combined sweeping and goal scoring game.
Team played: Louise Tonkin, Ellie Raffan, Rhiannan Williams, Caroline Dent, Julie Sadler, Anne-Isabelle Richard-Picchi, Kathryn Mallett, Georgie Hurford, Liles Dee, Hayley Sharpe, Alice Hug, Tash Cox
Cambridge South Ladies' II - City of P'Boro IV
Awaiting Report
