Reports 24 Sept 2011
Men's 1sts put 7 past Ely City 2 without reply.
Men's 2nds lose to Cambridge City 4
Men's 3rds beat Bourne Deeping 5
Men's 4ths beat Rutland 4 by walkover.
Ladies' 1sts lose to Wisbech Ladies 2
Ladies' 2nds lose to Ely Ladies 2
Cambridge South Men's I 7 - 0 Ely City II
H/T: 3 - 0
Scorers: Jack Chalk (3), Richard Claes, John Hawkes, Graham McCulloch, Russell Johnson
MoM: Jack Chalk (Hat trick)
LoM: Tom Watson (Card trick)
Cambridge South set out for the new campaign hoping to eradicate their inconsistent pre-season form against newly promoted Ely 2’s. South had put their various social plans on hold, with key members of the squad travelling home from Norwich and even Cornwall (but not Spain?) for this critical opening encounter. Captain McCulloch stressed the need from the off for South to be focused, intelligent, and first to the 50-50 balls.
However, for the first ten minutes it was South who still seemed to be on holiday with Ely winning a series of short corners from some suspect South defending. Fortunately these were dealt with by the disciplinarian himself, George “Ledley King” Wych.
As the half progressed it was South who took the game to their opponents, with their performance ironically befitting of the famous albescent sporting colour their opponents were wearing. Wheels (Russell) was beginning to gas his marker, and it was no surprise when he raced on to a slipped through ball from Matt “Emanuel Adebayor” Readman to speed away from his marker and slip the ball under the keeper’s dive for one nil.
The goal relaxed South, who grew in confidence as the half wore on. Two quick goals from Graham “Roman Pavlyuchenko” McCulloch and the midfield maestro Jack “Luka Modric” Chalk saw that South took a deserving 3-0 lead in at half time.
The message from el capitain was for more of the same- and South duly obliged. Further pressure lead to an early short corner; with the unscripted move of pass to stopper/stopper nail it in the bottom right being performed to perfection for Luka to get his second. Rich “Gareth Bale” Claes soon pitched up with another from a quite mazy run, very much reminiscent of an October night in Milan, as he bamboozled past numerous defenders before slamming the ball into the far corner from the left.
There was still time for two more goals- one, an excellent finish from the top of the D by Luka to earn himself the match ball and a jug (its amazing he still had money left over for his match fees), as well as a thunderbolt from John “Tom Huddlestone” Hawkes which left the keeper with no hope. Special mention must go to keeper Steve “Brad Friedel” Parker for an excellent save late on to ensure the proverbial icing very much stayed on the South cake. Unfortunately, there was a late yellow card for Tom Watson for a couple of over-enthusiastic stick tackles which earnt him the lemon award in the absence of any real comedy gaffes from the remainder of the team.
All in all, an excellent performance, somewhat resplendent of last Sunday lunchtime in North London. South will run into tougher matches over the remainder of the season, no more so than next weekend at promotion favorites Bourne Deeping, but performances like this will mean they will be right in the promotion shake-up at the end of the season. Well done all.
Team played: Steve Parker, George Wych, Dave Aston, Eliot Read, Jack Chalk, Mark Williams, Tom Watson, Matt Readman, Richard Claes, Finn Johnson, John Hawkes, Graham McCulloch, Russell Johnson
Cambridge South Men's II 1 - 2 Cambridge City IV
H/T: 1 - 2
Scorers: Chris Graveling
MoM: Ian Glover (Solid in defence and going forward at every opportunity.)
LoM: Dom Nelson (Sustaining the most dramatic injury this side of Italy, especially as he recovered within 2 minutes.)
Cambridge South M2s started their campaign in Div 3 with an arduous away game at... St Catz, in a derby against Cambridge City M4s. Despite the last-minute drop-out of their captain (paying the price for doubling up the previous week with an injury), the visitors brought a strong team and were anticipating a good fight for first points. It was City, however, that got out of the blocks best: a simple movement down their right flank and a run to the far post saw ‘keeper Shahbaz Ali powerless to avoid an early set-back for the visitors.
Quick thinking on the sideline prompted a change of plan, dropping the team back to a more comfortable 4-4-2 formation. With the central duo of Bhav Virdi and Colin Troll stamping their authority on the pitch, South started to press City more. Soon enough, the pressure resulted in a short corner, slickly dispatched with the good ol’ Chris Graveling special. South were back in the game. In fact, one might be excused to say that South were the better side. The next 15-odd minutes saw play mostly consigned to the home half, where the South attack was ably supported by flying wingbacks Ian Glover and Tom Anns. It was quite against the run of play when City managed to break out and convert a short corner into a 2-1 lead at half-time...
At this point, the team wasn’t feeling too bad, even though they were behind. They rightly felt things were coming together and City was being contained. All that was needed, was composure on the ball and tenacity, and the goals would surely come. But it was not to be. The second half saw the midfield disintegrating (not helped, undoubtedly, by the unseasonably warm September sunshine). Despite valiant efforts by Chris Walsh, distributing the ball beautifully, and Tim Clapp, making himself available at all times, both sides slid down into a game of long balls and isolated attacks. City’s large complement of subs began to tell, as did their skilful centre forward: it was the home side that got most of the chances to increase the score line; luck more than skill kept the deficit to a single goal. For all their hard work, South couldn’t find their way into the opposition D and the game ended with the score line unchanged.
Reflecting on the game gave a mixture of frustration and relief. The team clearly has enough ability to beat a side like City, as shown in the second part of the first half. But yet again, the lack of fitness and cohesion as a team made itself felt. At the same time, we were lucky not to concede more goals and start the season even lower on the league table. Once again, there were spells of promising play and nobody could fault the team’s commitment, but hard work will be needed by all to improve our performance in upcoming games.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Ian Glover, Tom Anns, Dom Nelson, Chris Graveling, Alasdair Edge, Chris Walsh, Colin Troll, Tim Clapp, Nick Venner, Bhavdeep Virdi, Rob Barton
Cambridge South Men's III 3 - 0 Bourne Deeping V
Scorers: Dave Monck, Tom South, Rupert Espley
MoM: Matt Kern (His usual unflappable mix of calm defending, terrier-like tackling and sensible distribution to start attacks)
Scorers:
- Rupert Espley - a fine effort with great skills displayed to beat the keeper, with Barton-esque reverse stick touches
- David Monck - direct thunderbolt off a short corner
- Tom South - one on one with the keeper. No contest
A comprehensive victory to kick off the league season, with many encouraging signs:
- solid defending, backed up by the ever-more authoritative Chris Collinson in goal. Full backs Bridge and Brynolfsen launching attacks up the wings whenever possible
- midfield interplay...particularly once we had worked out that the opposition number 18 shouldnt be allowed near the ball
- variety of attacking moves, using the wings with some neat passing to set up enough chances for a more emphatic scoreline. Good to get players into the D, providing options
- debutant Andrew Fraser the focus of many good moves up the right wing
- the 4-3-3 / 4 - 5 - 1 formation worked well, with players sticking to positions and finding space
...and the usual quota of "injuries" to John Greaves, this time ball-to-head, and opposition foot treading on arm.
We need to learn when to dribble and when to pass , and move into good positions to be available for the ball when teammates have it. There is more time than we often think, so the tendency to panic is not necessary
Next week, the intra-club duel with the 4ths
Team played: Chris Collinson, Jan Brynjolfsson, Dave Monck, David Bridge, Paul South, Stu Creed, Matt Kern, Tom South, Andrew Fraser, Rupert Espley, John Greaves
Cambridge South Men's IV 3 - 0 Rutland IV
Men's 4ths beat Rutland 4 by walkover after Rutland fail to raise a team.
Cambridge South Ladies' I 2 - 4 Wisbech Ladies II
H/T: 0 - 2
Scorers: Lindsey Berends, Alice Hug
MoM: Georgie Hurford
The L1s turned out at St Catz this week to play a strong substitute rich Wisbech 2nd team. Our opposition stamped their domination on the match within a minute of the start with a well drilled short corner routine, a ploy which worked twice more in the match, exploiting weakness in the South defence at penalty corners. Their opportunities came from some sustained pressure on the South D, reflecting that there were gaps in marking in midfield. After a change in formation to a more defensive set-up, we managed to put in some nice passages of play. Despite this Wisbech managed another goal on the break from open play.
Both South goals came in the 2nd half from great passing moves on the break from defence with Alice smartly finishing the first and Lindsey's goal coming courtesy of a Wisbech defender smartly finishing a great cross initially targeted to Serin. Good points were a great work ethic from the whole team, notably to improve a lot in the second half to produce some sustained pressure in attack, and some nice passages of passing play from defence and midfield. Georgie well deserved her man of the match award for hard work and creative play in midfield. New player Birgit did a great job carrying the ball down the right and Serin is looking increasingly at home in her new role as a forward.
Team played: Louise Tonkin, Ellie Raffan, Lindsey Berends, Julie Sadler, Caroline Dent, Lou Cantwell, Claire Sherwood, Birgit Bekkers, Georgie Hurford, Anne Horan, Serin Dabb, Alice Hug
Cambridge South Ladies' II 0 - 1 Ely Ladies II
H/T: 0 - 0
Scorers: None
MoM: Ali Graham
What a game! We had a flying start with all the pressure on the Ely goal, short corner after short corner and a few near misses. Carla Fitzachary was everywhere in the centre of the pitch ably aided by Katie Walland (playing her first game for the club) and we dominated possession moving the ball round well. Ash and Jo Read also had a few close misses. Then Ely started to come back into the game, with some skilful runs putting pressure on our goal. We defended hard and made some timely interceptions and a half time score of 0-0 was fair. The second half unfortunately was all about Ely. We struggled to clear out from the 16 and there were wave after wave of Ely attacks. Ali was absolutely amazing in goal - saving from all angles whatever was thrown at her. Then Ely were awarded a penalty flick where a ball heading for goal hit a defender’s foot with Ali in front of the last defender. The Ely captain placed the ball on the p spot and it was her vs Ali G……. Boyakasha! Ali saved the goal off her right leg so the score remained 0-0. The Ely wave continued and a break through the middle led to a tap in goal for their centre forward with about 5 mins to go. We tried to come back but unfortunately ran out of time. We’ll get them next time though!
Well done to all those who played - in particular to Katie, Jo and Clare who were drafted in right at the last minute on Friday night and despite not having played hockey for a considerable length of time really got stuck in, ran their socks off, played really well and I think they’re all available next week too!
Team played: Ali Graham, Lyn Wood, Louise Gutteridge, Emma South, Jo H, Clare Dalby, Sam Cooper, Carla Fitzachary, Catherine Anthony, Katie Walland, Jo Read, Ash Price
