Reports 25th September 2010
Men's 2nds lose away to St Ives
Men's 3rds narrowly lose to Wisbech
Ladies' 1sts narrowly lose to Cambridge City
Ladies' 2nds lose with 10 players to Rutland
Cambridge South Men's I 1 - 0 St Ives II
H/T: 1 - 0
Scorers: Rob Garrett
MoM: Dave Aston (No respecter of age, he bullied a pensioner into submission.)
LoM: Simon Ta (Wants to wear ladies' clothes.)
Awaiting Report
Team played: Steve Parker, George Wych, Nick Bristowe, Mark Williams, Dave Aston, Matt Readman, Rob Garrett, Jack Chalk, Russell Johnson, Graham McCulloch, James Cobbe, Simon Ta
Cambridge South Men's II 1 - 2 St Ives III
H/T: 0 - 1
Scorers: Bhavdeep Virdi
MoM: Ron Oren (For stepping up as a captain when Bav chickened before the start of the season), Bhavdeep Virdi (For scoring the goal and good game down the right of the field.)
LoM: Bhavdeep Virdi (For chickening before the start of the season and stepping down as the captain.)
In a bid to confuse and surprise the opposition, Cambridge South II started their league campaign against St Ives III in the novelty formation of 4-5-1. With the team fired up and ready to go, we came out of the blocks all guns blazing: incisive passes from Chris Heron (who kindly joined us from the Is) and good runs up the line by Bhav Virdi and Tim Clapp resulted in frequent incursions into the home D; surely it would only be a matter of time until we went all the way and put the ball behind St Ives’ decidedly large and skillful ‘keeper?
Soon, however, it became clear that confusion was not limited to the opposition. Especially when Chris had to step off the pitch with an unexpected injury, the mid-field duo of Sanjay Agarwala and Ron Oren somehow managed to leave a gap the opposition could drive a guided bus through. Good things Andy Passmore played the role of Cambs county council and kept the busroute firmly closed... With St Ives not really threatening and only winning a short thanks to ‘keeper Shahbaz Ali getting lost and kicking the ball outside his own D, it felt against the run of play when the home team’s striker slipped away from his marker and tapped in a goal at the far post.
Reverting to the old, familiar 4-4-2 during half-time, with Tristen Knight joining Rob Barton up front to harass the St Ives defence should’ve made things easier. It would’ve even, if the umpire had been so kind as to wait for our whole team to be on the pitch before starting the half. With half the visitors’ team still putting away their water bottles, it’s hardly a surprise that St Ives started in a better fashion than us. Reluctantly, we have to admit they did textbook hockey: first incursion into the D was converted into a short and duly dispatched. 2-0 and South was staring defeat in the face.
Not for long, though. Within minutes, South had found its feet and set up camp in the home half. When play broke down just outside the St Ives’ D, the indefatigable Bhav drove the ball into the D, burst past a defender or two and sweetly struck the ball straight into the far corner. Cunningly, Rob distracted the goalie with an attempted tap-in, but gallantly conceded that the only thing he tapped was the goalie himself. 2-1 and South was back in the game.
With 25 minutes to go, play was well and truly kept at the St Ives end of the pitch, frequently cramming all but one player into their end. With backs Ian Glover and Tom Anns joining into the fray, attacks from South came thick and fast down either wing. Several textbook-situation were engineered: 3 on 2s, 3 on 1s, even a 1 on 1 with the goalie; but South’s traditional weak point showed itself again: we just couldn’t convert.
The final whistle found a relieved St Ives snatching a win from a rather disappointed South. But the team has nothing to be ashamed of: they played well, especially in the second half, and were very unlucky not to come away with one point to start the season!
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Ian Glover, Dave Monck, Andy Passmore, Tom Anns, Ron Oren, Tim Clapp, Bhavdeep Virdi, Chris Heron, Tristen Knight, Sanjay Agarwala, Rob Barton
Cambridge South Men's III 0 - 1 Wisbech Town IV
H/T: 0 - 1
Scorers: None
MoM: Tom Watson (Never gave up tormenting the opposition, tackling, passing, dribbling with energy and skill right to the end)
The ten men of Cambridge were on the rack for the first quarter of the game, but managed to keep Wisbech out until the home skipper netted a fierce effort from a short corner past the otherwise impregnable stand- in keeper and heroic V/c, John Benedikz. His defence were equally heroic, and hardly allowed any shots, with Neil Sneade the pick of them at centre back, ably supported by the returning Matt Kern and jack in the box Tom Watson.
Thereafter the game fluctuated, the eleventh man arrived, and CSouth had some good passing moves and some skillful dribbles often from the WatsonCritchley right side combo. Battling midfielder SouthRiggeCreed kept things moving forward, but that final killer pass proved elusive, and could only muster a few shots of their own, with John Greaves unlucky to see one shave the post, and another goal bound effort deflected by an oblivious defender safely wide.
The CSouth spirit was epitomised by Wilco Dijkstra, never giving up, always ferreting away disrupting Wisbech moves, and looking to start attacks with straightforward passes.
Towards the end both Chris Rigge and Jonny Deacon came close to snatching an equaliser, but overall we just didnt get the ball into the D under control often enough. Although the result was not what CSouth wanted, the team played well, and deserve much credit, against a skillul Wisbech side playing controlled hockey, led by a core of 3 or 4 players obviously used to a higher level.
Team played: John Benedikz, Neil Sneade, Tom Watson, Eric Critchley, Jonny Deacon, Chris Rigge, Stu Creed, Matt Kern, Paul South, Wilco Dijkstra, John Greaves
Cambridge South Men's IV 1 - 1 St Neots IV
H/T: 0 - 0
Scorers: Shahbaz Ali
MoM: Chris Collinson (Played a major part with some amazing saves.)
On a sunny if a little chilly morning, South found ourselves started with 10 men and 'wife going into labour' could only be the reason why our 11th player didn't turn up. St Neots then didn't have a goal keeper and ended up playing with 11 out field players.
Despite only starting with 10 men, South started brightly and were certainly on top for the first 20 minutes and it was St Neots that looked more like the team with 1 player short. Rupert Espley controlled the mid-field with Ian Glover stepping out of the defence to help out and Nishant was dominant of the left hand side. A number of chances were created and South just couldn't find the finishing touch. St Neots, numerically superior finished the half stronger, but Chris Collinson was equal to the task.
Both sides played to win in the second half and once again South didn't look like 1 man short as the good team work kept St Neots out and again had chances of our own. St Neots went ahead after about 15 mins in the second half after some persistent pressure. South came under a fair amount of pressure after the goal, but the team's confidence was boosted by 2 outstanding saves from Chris Collinson and from that platform the team attacked and equalised about 10 minutes later after winning a penalty from a deliberate 'foot'. Shahbaz put it away calmly to make the score 1:1. South went for the win, but the final touch for the winning goal never came. South finished with a feel-good 1:1 draw in a game which everyone played a part and played as a team.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Chris Collinson, Ian Glover, Ky Ho, Boris Lossy, Shahzad Ali, Nishant Patel, Jake Davis, James Raikes, Rupert Espley
Cambridge South Ladies' I 2 - 3 Cambridge City Ladies III
H/T: 2 - 2
Scorers: Alice Hug (2)
MoM: Hayley Sharpe
Cambridge South ladies provided a thrilling start to the match with two goals in quick succession against a shell shocked City side.
Excellent passing up the right hand side of the pitch via Lindsey and Sam resulted in a slap across the D, culminating in Alice tapping the ball in at the left post.
City didn’t know what had hit them with South sustaining their attacking form with some superb dribbling through the middle by Hayley and a powerful reverse stick sweep by Alice in to the goal at left post.
As half time began to draw closer however, South appeared to lose their heads slightly and again tiredness began to take its toll. City scored their first goal from a short corner and followed this not long after with a break (following a South attack which then left a depleted defence) resulting in a second goal just before the half time whistle.
South appeared to gain some more drive and determination in the second half and had several chances with some near misses by Kendra at the left post and Alice from the top of the D. Ultimately though City managed to gain a series of short corners which resulted in their final goal with a slip to their left and a shot into the back corner.
So an encouraging first league game of the season for the ladies 1s (despite a perhaps unrepresentative result), hopefully in future matches as the team becomes more consistent we will be able to continue our attacking momentum throughout the game and achieve some well deserved victories.
Team played: Cassie Woodfin, Ellie Raffan, Rhiannan Williams, Julie Sadler, Lindsey Berends, Georgie Hurford, Vicky Lavis, Sam Cooper, Hayley Sharpe, Lyn Phillips, Alice Hug, Kendra Butlin
Cambridge South Ladies' II 0 - 3 Rutland Ladies I
H/T: 0 - 1
Scorers: None
MoM: Hayley Sharpe
Awaiting Report
Team played: Rhiannan Williams, Siren, Ash Price, Catherine Anthony, Lyn Wood, Sam Cooper, Kathryn Mallett, Hayley Sharpe, Charlie Orrock, Leonie Dickman
