Reports 5th March 2011
Men's 3rds conceded as a Walkover
Ladies' 2nds lose against Peterborough
Cambridge South Men's I 3 - 0 Wisbech Town III
H/T: 1 - 0
Scorers: Nick Bristowe, John Hawkes, James Cobbe
MoM: Steve Parker (Kept South in front with some excellent saves)
LoM: Dave Aston ("Mr Positivity")
South welcomed back Rob “blast from the past” Garrett for their clash against mid-table Wisbech, keen to keep the pressure up on 2nd place Cambridge Nomads in the hunt for promotion.
It was South who started the brighter, being alert and first to every loose ball. James Mark and Jack controlled the midfield, and in front of them the forward three were making intelligent runs in front of them to cause the Wisbech defence problems. A quickly taken sideline ball lead to Tom Watson feeding James Cobbe inside the D, and, with the time and space to pick his spot, James calmly drove the ball into the bottom corner. One nil.
However, instead of settling into their passing game as they had done last week, South began to give Wisbech a foothold in the match. A quick ball into the D was deflected towards the goal by the Wisbech forward, and was only denied by an expert save from Steve Parker. “Wis” were also looking dangerous on short corners, with two excellent saves from Steve preventing the opposition actually going into the break in the lead, never mind level.
At half time, captain Dave stressed the need to press home South’s advantage and that the Wisbech chances should serve as a wakeup call. However, the opposition started the second period in an assertive manner, and only a combined goal line clearance from the Wych-Bristowe central defensive partnership prevented an equaliser.
Slowly but surely though, South began to find their feet. Quick incisive passing from Mark Rob and John led to a South short corner. An expert push out was cleverly pushed back to the taker, and Nick finally proved that he could indeed “hit a barn door with a banjo” and doubled South’s lead. More overdue than the new Cambridge South shirts I’d say, but nevertheless a very well taken goal, which settled South’s nerves (or most people’s aside from the lunatic that is Dave Aston- who bellowed at the top of his voice that South in no way deserved the goal, much to the amusement of the opposition and dismay of most of his teammates).
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| Dave Aston - Mr Positivity |
After this goal, South began to look again like a side who belonged at the top of the league. With Cobbe Watson Ta and Chalk tearing down the flanks, and Garrett Williams and Hawkes easily having the beating of their men the home team looked certain to add to their lead. In fact, before John Hawkes expertly lifted in a third following a goalmouth melee, the Wis keeper made what was a contender for save of the season. A dynamic, mesmerising Dave Aston run (or a complete lack of interest from the Wisbech defence depending on which way you look at it) was thwarted by an outstretched toe (or the middle of a foot planted ten seconds earlier) of the keeper, to keep the lead down to two.
In the end though, South ran out deserved and [reasonably] comfortable victors, and will look to keep the pressure up on 2nd place Nomads (who host 4th place Rutland), when they travel to St Neots next weekend.
Team played: Steve Parker, Dave Aston, George Wych, Nick Bristowe, Tom Watson, Rob Garrett, Mark Williams, Jack Chalk, Eliot Read, John Hawkes, Simon Ta, James Cobbe
Cambridge South Men's II 4 - 1 St Neots II
H/T: 2 - 0
Scorers: Dom Nelson, Manu Bhardwaj, Ian Glover, Mariano Rosenzvaig
MoM: Manu Bhardwaj, Bhavdeep Virdi, Mariano Rosenzvaig
LoM: Tom Anns (for dangerous toilet habits)
The latest challenge to Cambridge South 2s’ post-Christmas surge in the league was St Neots 2s, who are fighting to stay out of the relegation zone. Although the first match between these two resulted in a comfortable 4-1 win to South, St Neots is always a tough but to crack at home, so the visitors paid due attention to their preparation. For one player (who shall not be named), that included so dangerous toilet-action that he needed his shin pads on, “just in case anything goes wrong”. Lemon-awarding complete, the team turned their attention on the game.
As always, South started brightly in the game, taking the ball into St Neots’ D from every possible angle, but couldn’t find the backboard. In fact, it was St Neots that made the first real impact on the game, when a ball was lifted into an onstorming Tim Clapp, hitting him right in the “vulnerables”; every man, on and off the pitch, cringing in sympathy. Luckily, no real damage was done, as Tim could inform us soon (and with a surprising lack of falsetto). No such luck though with South’s second casualty, Bhav Virdi, who charged down a short corner with his ankle. Latest news on this front is that he’s fending off junior doctors at Addenbrookes, bent on amputation; limping off the pitch, he gained himself the epithet of “little fallen soldier” (although some might say this would be more applicable to Mr Clapp...)
Meanwhile, Tim’s replacement Manu Bhardwaj was commanding the midfield with strong tackles and calm distribution. It was the same Manu who got a cross (dubiously dangerously, one might add) across the D to attacking back Ian Glover, who dispatched it with poise into the net to give South the lead. Soon after, it was Manu himself that got onto the scoreboard: a short corner was deftly slipped left, where Manu took a touch, a look and flicked it right past the flabbergasted goalie. In the remainder of the half, St Neots started to put some pressure on South’s defence, but found themselves scrambling back when the visitors countered, mostly through Rich Claes’ fast and mazy running; neither team, however, found the opportunity to change the score.
In the second half, the home team seemed to have changed tactics, defending stolidly and always keeping plenty of men behind the ball. Undaunted, South took up the challenge and kept probing into St Neots’ half, although sometimes more rashly than they should. Nevertheless, the ball spent plenty of time in the home D and it couldn’t be long until this resulted in something tangible. Chilean superstar Mariano Rosenzvaig started his campaign for Player of the Season when he insinuated the ball past a few defenders into the D, survived a swiping challenge at his feet and with consummate style deposited the ball into the top corner.
St Neots kept going forward, making forays into the visitors’ D and gaining some short corners. But the defence held fast and when anyone got through, goalie Shahbaz Ali was always on hand smother any attempts. Unfortunately, one of those was struck well enough that - although Shahbaz got a hand to it - it disappeared into the top corner after all. At merely 3-1 up, captain Ron Oren exhorted his team to get another score on the board and equal the 1s’ result for Southerners League. Always obliging, Dom Nelson took it upon himself to slip the ball past the goalie and get South back to bonus points territory. It’s an impressive game when only at the 5th goal the ball actually gets to hit the backboard...
In the end, the team realised there were some moments where concentration seemed to waver, but overall the team played quite well. A deserved win keeps the streak - and South’s hope of promotion - alive for yet another week.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Dom Nelson, Manu Bhardwaj, Ron Oren, Tom Anns, Andy Passmore, Ian Glover, Tim Clapp, Richard Claes, Bhavdeep Virdi, Mariano Rosenzvaig, Rob Barton, Alex Stafford
Cambridge South Men's III 0 - 3 Alford & District I
Match conceded as South failed to raise a team.
Cambridge South Men's IV v St Ives V
Men's 4ths match postponed as St Ives fail to raise a team.
Cambridge South Ladies' I 2 - 2 Sawtry Ladies
H/T: 1 - 0
Scorers: Alice Hug, Kendra Seed
Yet another early start for South. After some confusion as to where the pitches were and then which pitch we were on, we finally started our warm up and pre-match talks. We were missing our trusted Captain George who was on the road to attend a wedding. Tash and Liles stepped in as sub-Captains. We focused on our strengths for the day and went on the attack. The match started well with the whole team working together up and down the pitch, with plenty of runs for passes and triangles. The whole match went at a fairly fast pace, with the umpires rushing to keep up with play. The first goal came in the first half as Caroline M passed to Liles who passed in to Tash who found a goal hungry Kendra. Half time and we were 1-0. The second half continued the swift play, with Sawtry putting more pressure on South. A short corner that looked well rehearsed put us at 1-1. Caroline D did well to cover the back under continued pressure alongside Julie and Serin. The last quarter started becoming a bit more frantic, but South again managed to work its way forward, with more passes eventually finding Alice at the top of the D who smacked in a second goal. Sawtry remained undeterred, with the midfield working hard to clear the ball, with the help of a recent recruit Hannah often finding Sian ready. Sawtry levelled with another short-corner, much to Lou’s frustration. Loopy then went on to save some strikes on goal that impressed the opposing side’s crowd so much that they all cheered. The final score was 2-2. A good match.
Team played: Louise Tonkin, Caroline Dent, Julie Sadler, Sian Tomlin, Liles Dee, Hannah Colby, Caroline Molony, Siren Dabb, Alice Hug, Kendra Seed, Tash Cox
Cambridge South Ladies' II 0 - 4 City of Peterborough Ladies III
H/T: 0 - 3
Scorers: None
MoM: Anne Horan
South ladies headed to Peterborough hoping to continue last week's winning form but lost out to a Peterborough team with some young and nippy players. New member Ann gave another strong performance with some determined tackling and running in midfield which won her a well deserved man of the match vote.
Team played: Lyn Wood, Tracey Hunter, Louise Gutteridge, Pip Noon, Anne Horan, Liz Harte, Jo Read, Vicky Lavis, Leonie Dickman, Ash Price, Ingrid Perez
