Reports 26th February 2011
Men's 2nds beat top of table Peterborough to confirm their promotion credientials
Men's 3rds lose to a suspiciously strong Rutland
Ladies' 1sts narrowly beat Wisbech
Cambridge South Men's I 4 - 1 Cambridge City IV
H/T: 3 - 0
Scorers: Jack Chalk, Russell Johnson (2), John Hawkes
MoM: John Hawkes
LoM: Nick Bristowe
Cambridge South arrived at a chilly Catz pitch for their second local derby in two weeks champing at the bit after last week's ended in disappointment for South. The prospect of thumping Cambridge City was keenly anticipated as South had dominated the reverse fixture and recent results suggested City hadn't exactly improved. And sure enough, South dominated again right from the off, with Eliot, Nick and Dave nonchalantly smashing the ball around the back, generating attack after attack as City were forced to chase the ball.
Two early goals from the 'Terrier Attack' (Jack and Russell), courtesy of some slick moves from midfield and some less-slick football skills from the City defence put South in the driving seat, so to speak, and the game settled down with Mark, Jack and Jon combining in midfield and Simon, Russell and débutante Rich running rings around the defence to make sure South had the lion's share of the possession. It would be no exaggeration to say that if that last pass had been accurate or we'd put our short-corners away or if the pitch hadn't been so slippery with mud that some passages of play in the D resembled an ice-hockey match, then we might have gone in at half time eight or nine goals up.
As it was, we just made it 3-0 at half-time, as Jon finally unleashed his trademark 'only-in-training' blistering shot on a Saturday, the ball satisfyingly pinging off the inside of the post and back across the goal to nestle just inside the other post.
The start of the second half saw City playing with a bit more urgency as they made several useful attacks. Each one was unapologetically stopped in its tracks by either the scything reverse stick of George or a graceful shimmy and turn from Nick who had obviously decided that if he included enough step-overs, pirouettes and triple-lutzes, the opposition marker would eventually just fall to the ground from sheer dizziness. A sample video of Nick in his ballerina prime is on its way to the producers of Dancing on Ice as I write...
City meanwhile were rapidly losing the plot, with incessant arguing, complaining and abuse to anyone who would listen (I know - who would have thought...). So it was astonishing that this period of play resulted in their only goal, from a moment of relaxation in the South defence. But South responded well and kept surging forward with more attacks. Even Dave was spotted in the opposition's D on several occasions (and sharply reprimanded...). But as much as it pains me to say it, it was Jon's 'commanding' play from midfield that was the highlight; another scorcher of a shot hit from the edge of the D nearly bursting the top of the side-netting as it went agonizingly wide, and then a tidy dribble past some 'robust' tackles from City to put the ball on the proverbial plate for Russell to prod in his second of the match.
There was still time for South to miss a bucket-load more chances, and to watch as an opposition player that your HR dept. would describe as 'more experienced' threw his stick down and stormed off following a row with another team-mate. I'm pleased to report that all South players stuck to their game and played in a professional manner throughout. Pats on the back all round, eh. Its always difficult to play at your best when the opposition don't provide much of a challenge, but South will need to significantly raise their game in their remaining fixtures.
Still, some important lessons were learnt. In particular 'Always be prepared' - you never know when those old football boots might be useful in a hockey game, and (as a certain Mr Williams found to his cost) always carry a spare tyre in your car.
Team played: Steve Parker, Dave Aston, George Wych, Nick Bristowe, Jack Chalk, Russell Johnson, Richard Claes, Mark Williams, Eliot Read, John Hawkes, Simon Ta, Graham McCulloch
Cambridge South Men's II 4 - 3 City of Peterborough V
H/T: 2 - 1
Scorers: Dom Nelson, Mariano Rosenzvaig, Bhavdeep Virdi, Rob Barton
MoM: Manu Bhardwaj, Dom Nelson, Andy Passmore
LoM: Sanjay Agarwala (For being Sanjay!)
Clash of the titans: top of the league Peterborough 5s meets rising tiger Cambridge South 2s. What will happen in this epic battle? When these teams met previously in the season, South managed to shake off their disappointing start and won a hard-fought draw; would they improve on this performance in the rematch?
True to recent form, South started the game brightly, with forwards Rob Barton and Tristen Knight harassing the Peterborough build-up from the very start and especially the centre-midfield duo of Manu Bhardwaj and Mariano Rosenzvaig contributing to the attacks. Although play was more in P’boro’s half to start with, it was the away side that opened the score, when their right wing managed to get part South’s Tom Anns. Goalie Shahbaz Ali saved the initial effort, but the attacker beat the defence to the rebound and tapped in at short range.
To South’s credit, their heads didn’t drop - instead, the team tightened up its shape and went back on the attack, confident that goals would come. As they did: in a fluent move up the right-hand side, right-mid Bhav Virdi delivered his customary cracking cross into the D, where newly subbed-on Dom Nelson finished with an unstoppable first-touch slap. Soon afterwards, Tristen proved his mettle in midfield by dribbling through just about the whole P’boro team, only to see his shot hit the ‘keeper’s pads. Luckily, Mariano snapped up the rebound to give South the lead. At half-time, the home side were ahead, but conscious that the game was still very much in contest.
Now attacking with the setting sun behind them, South started the second half in good spirits again. A lovely subtle pass by Manu found Dom in the D. His shot being saved, only for Rob to what he does best and poach a goal. At 3-1 South were starting to relax, somewhat prematurely... When a South attack broke down in midfield, a few missed tackles let the Peterborough attack into Shahbaz’s D, where the attacker took little time to finish off his windfall.
Peterborough were now clearly scenting a come-back into the game and started chasing the equaliser hard. Scant minutes had passed when they seemed to get it: a short corner was won, returned to injector, who rammed it home off Shahbaz’s pads. Fortunately for South, the umpires ruled the shot on goal to have high, thus disallowing the goal, to P’boro disgust. South’s reprieve was short-lived, though: soon afterwards, a Peterborough surge after filching the ball in midfield found South in some disarray, allowing an unmarked attacker to flick from short range to get on level peggings.
With around 15 minutes left in the game, both sides knew everything was in the balance again. South’s first task, obviously, was to stop P’boro’s recent momentum, which they did in style. Again, the ball was played up the right-hand side of midfield, where Bhav found himself in the D with half a yard space. Reminiscent of footballing glory (well, for orange-loving Ron Oren, anyway), Bhav deceived everyone (himself included, probably) by playing a cross to close to the line, it actually went in. Rarely has anyone seen the little dude jump so high in the air with joy!
And still it wasn’t over. Peterborough refused to give up and pressured the home side to the last minute. Saving dives by everyone in the defence (most notably Andy Passmore, who’s clearly studied Chris Ashton’s recent showboating) couldn’t prevent one more short going to the visitors - as the final whistle went. To the agony of the midfield, this was repeated twice, as Peterborough managed to find feet of the out-rushing Ian Glover and Bhav. When the solid defence held against the third short as well and the final whistle finally went for real, such a huge cheer erupted one would be excused to think a championship was won. Once again, South showed its grit and determination, fighting hard to keep their campaign to reach dizzying heights on the rails.
Afterwards, skipper Ron may have got somewhat carried away when he said: “If we keep playing like this, we don’t only deserve to get promoted, but to secure a foothold in the league above too” (well, if one allows some paraphrasing to remove post-match overexuberation), but nobody can take away that this was an excellent performance to gain a great result. The juggernaut rolls on...
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Manu Bhardwaj, Dom Nelson, Ron Oren, Tom Anns, Andy Passmore, Ian Glover, Dave Monck, Tristen Knight, Mariano Rosenzvaig, Bhavdeep Virdi, Rob Barton
Cambridge South Men's III 2 - 5 Rutland III
H/T: 1 - 3
Scorers: Richard Marley, Tim Clapp
MoM: Richard Marley
Tim scored the first one, someone got a yellow card (I'm sure it's not important who...) and someone else (maybe Richard Marley?) got the 2nd. And Rutland looked a competent side somewhat unbefitting of their position near the bottom of Div 5.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, John Benedikz, Richard Marley, Ian Evans, Eric Critchley, Nishant Patel, Wilco Dijkstra, Tim Clapp, Paul South, Richard Yardley, Matt Kern, Rupert Espley
Cambridge South Ladies' I 1 - 0 Wisbech Ladies II
H/T: 1 - 0
Scorers: Sian Tomlin
MoM: Lindsey Berends
Awaiting Report
Team played: Lyn Wood, Louise Tonkin, Lindsey Berends, Julie Sadler, Sian Tomlin, Hannah Dillon, Caroline Molony, Liles Dee, Breeshey Harkin, Georgie Hurford, Alice Hug, Tash Cox
Cambridge South Ladies' II 4 - 0 Bourne Ladies II
H/T: 2 - 0
Scorers: Steph Drew, Anne Horan, Leonie Dickman (2)
MoM: Anne Horan
We were all a little soggy after watching the 1's play in the rain.
After their win we were optimistic and keen to get started. After our warm up the captains were called. Panic stations!!! We had a different line up this week, so quickly went through names and positions, and practised a few short corners. Bourne had first push back, but we put pressure on them from the start, and quickly started to gain more possession. Communication between the team was strong which resulted in some excellent passing play. Ash and Ley did very well at supporting each other up front and it was not long until we created shots on goal. We knocked 2 past the Bourne keeper in the first half, provided by Anne and Ley. Newbie Anne was a welcomed addition to our side. We was very confident on the ball and did a fantastic job in midfield. A well deserved player of the match. Although she thought it was a fix so that she would come back!!! Ingrid made a sterling effort up front and was awarded with a rest for the 2nd half when Steph came on. Bourne didn't seem to play with defined positions, and pushed up front a lot. This did not phase us. Jo, Liz and Anne dropped back to help the defence and stuck to their players. Our defence were pretty solid. Hit outs worked well when we used Vicky and Lou on the wings.
When Bourne did challenge us and get shots on goal, Loopy was there to save the day!! Tracey and Liz communicated well and managed to switch their marking. Poor Vicky was running all over the place after her player. Lou connected well with Jo up the left wing. When Bourne were on the break Pip was always there to pressure any free players. Ley got another goal under her belt in the second half. Steph's goal resulted from some textbook team play. Tracey hit the ball out to Vicky on the right, who hit the ball perfectly through the midfield for Ash to run on to. She passed to Ley who had run into space on the right. She hit the ball across the goal. Steph had made a run on the left and hit the ball in the back of the net from the left post.
Awesome!!! Overall, we played really well as a team and hope to take this forward to our game next week against a strong Peterborough side.
Team played: Louise Tonkin, Louise Gutteridge, Tracey Hunter, Pip Noon, Steph Drew, Anne Horan, Jo Read, Liz Harte, Vicky Lavis, Ingrid Perez, Ash Price, Leonie Dickman
