Reports 26th November 2011

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Men's 1sts draw against Wisbech Town 2

Men's 2nds beat Wisbech Town 3 for their first win of the season

Men's 3rds lose to St Neots 4

Men's 4ths lose to March Town 4

Ladies' 1sts lose to Cambridge University Ladies 3

Ladies' 2nds lose to St Ives Ladies 3

Cambridge South Men's I 2 - 2 Wisbech Town II

H/T: 1 - 1

Scorers: Richard Claes, Graham McCulloch
MoM: Richard Claes (Great goal)
LoM: Tom Howell (Forgot to bring his butler along to open gates for him)

In the match after the match before Cambridge South suffered a hangover as they let slip their 7 match winning streak.

Jon Hawkes, ever an astute student of Sun Tsu, started South’s rolling midfield substitutions after 30 seconds so he could rearrange his protective shin-pads - a tactic that earned him several votes for Lemon. With order restored South started to boss the midfield and control the game. The makeshift defence of George Wych, Chris Graveling, Finn Johnson and Jack Chalk filling in at right back was looking secure. Upfront an unfamiliar front line with 3 of 4 from Chris Pearson, Richard Claes, Tom Howell, Graham McCulloch was gelling nicely.

With South in control it was no surprise when Graham McCullough opened the scoring with a goal that seemed eerily familiar. So familiar in fact that I’ve just copied & pasted a description from a previous match report … Alice Hug retaliating with one of her infamous hits - that Graham deflected into the goal, despite it heading in the left bottom corner already. Or as Graham described it in the pub afterwards: “Graham scored a wonder goal from a short corner.”

In the unfamiliar right back position Jack Chalk unleashed an ariel bombardment that had Wisbech defenders (and on one occasion cheering supporters) wishing they had brought hard hats to the match.

In the 2nd half South faded and Wisbeach took control in the middle. The action moved towards the South goal and I couldn’t see who made which telling contribution - but these are the points the team remembered in the pub.

· Finn’s wonder save from a penalty corner (definitely missed this, must have been chatting)

· Dave Aston - slow and had a bad game as left back (In fact he was totally anonymous. I don’t remember applauding or castigating Dave once. Something’s not right here!)

· 2 good balls into the D (Only 2? No wonder South didn’t score more…)

The pressure grew as Wisbech started to find their rhythm, scoring to equalise and then again to take the lead. However, South weren’t going to roll over without a fight. In a memorable moment Tom Watson tackled the Wisbech ‘Stone Cold Austin’ double. The move, more often seen in the wrestling ring, involved Tom starting with flat stick tackle before helping ‘Stone Cold’ over his shoulder. The Wisbech player took exception to this and received a yellow card to help him cool off.

Staring all sorts of lazy defeat based clichés in the face Richard Claes embarked on a mazy run. Somehow he avoided a series of last ditch tackles before rounding the keeper and dispatching into the goal. Parity! Just minutes later Richard embarked on another mazy run. Once again he evaded the defenders’ last ditch tackles, rounded the keeper and… missed. And that was as close as South came to the winner that they’ve recently become accustomed to. Although they were awarded a last short corner this time it wasn’t to be.

The final point to mention was Tom W’s effort to unquestionably claim Lemon by trying to climb under an open gate. I missed this but from the description in the pub it sounds comedy gold.

Team played: Steve Parker, George Wych, Chris Graveling, Tom Watson, Jack Chalk, Chris Pearson, Bhavdeep Virdi, Richard Claes, Tom Howell, Finn Johnson, John Hawkes, Russell Johnson, Graham McCulloch

Cambridge South Men's II 1 - 0 Wisbech Town III

H/T: 1 - 0

Scorers: Ron Oren
MoM: Colin Troll (Rock solid play at the back)
LoM: Nick Venner (Squaring up to an opponent twice his size)

A South side still awaiting their first win of the season journeyed the hour northwards, past the Fenland Yellow Arrows - March’s tractor answer to the fleet of RAF show planes - to the Capital of the Fens. Wisbech is amusingly described as “A fine, historical Georgian market town (established in 1996)”.

Arriving slightly too early to use the pitch was a good sign. There was a general sense of preparedness and focus for the first time this season. Once the pitch was available the team took to a good warm-up, clearly focussing on the task at hand.

Captain Ron Oren’s announcement that South will be lining-up with 4-4-2 was met with cheers of jubilation, mostly because this formation has proven itself as the best fit for the M2s on more than one occasion in recent times.

South started the game the more energised, testing the home side’s defences a couple to times in the opening exchanges. It was on eight minutes that one of these forays paid off: Dom won the ball in midfield and squared left to Nick who made a penetrating run into the circle to earn a short corner. Ron pushed the ball out for Colin to strike only for the skipper to touch an unstoppable deflection into the net. One-nil South. Game on! Will that change everything now there is something to play for?

Traditionally taking the lead this season has meant uncertainty, nervousness and a deep, mousy retreat into the 25 metre area. But this time was different. Things were looking up and everyone was buoyed by the breakthrough. Genuine belief that there was more gold in them there hills was clear for all to see.

South were using both flanks well to attack. A good interchange between Tom and Ally - the Movember-moustached “Mario Brothers” of the side - saw a further threat up the left channel. And then another clear chance, this time forged by Ron and Ian on the right, found Jimmy who squared for Rob for a tap-in in front of goal. Unfortunately, the umpire had already blown for another short.

By this point the match had opened considerably and there was an ebb and flow to the contest. Whilst South were looking the more ominous, Wisbech were finding a lot of space on their right side.

Half time. The narrowest of leads and plenty of work still to do.

At the break, skipper Ron decided to rest the ever-ready Jimmy for a few minutes at the start of the second half. A couple of frailties in the defensive tactics were also identified and looked to be closed. But the general message was to keep going and keep believing. Wise words.

With the second half underway, it was the hosts who took the game by the horns and managed to concentrate play in and around the visitors’ 25. This was the toughest period of the game for South along with the biggest test for the back line. Further up the field, Nick was involved in some mild argy-bargy with an opponent which could have seen them both green carded. There were a few other bumps elsewhere - the match was becoming a physical affair.

So it was somewhat against the run of play when Dom fired a low, cross-field strike to Ally at the back post. Ally did everything right to deflect the ball into the goal with a low, reverse stick but somehow - implausibly - the Wisbech keeper managed to smother it. Nonetheless, good play all round.

At the other end, the home side sensed that time was ticking away and pressed ever more liberally. One of their strikes blazoned over the bar. The others were resiliently foiled, mostly by brave challenges from Ian and Ron in particular. In one tackle, Ian injured himself - taking a blow to that ankle again - and South were briefly down to ten men before Ally realised that he needed to get on the pitch. (A lemon-worthy neglect in its own right, if it were not for Nick’s fracas.)

With Colin, Tom and Andy too, the whole defence was still looking pretty impenetrable and safely mopping any leaks. Indeed, goalkeeper Steve was well protected and saw little action. The home side was getting very frustrated and at one point a player in red saw the red mist and was lucky not to get carded for dissent.

The last few embers of the game saw South keep possession of the ball well and even manage a last ditch attack from a free hit close to the D. In the end, the travellers had done enough. Time was up and South had held on for the first win of the 2011-12 campaign. Finally!

The closing whistle was met with a sense of relief, and possibly a slight twist of disbelief. This wasn’t the best performance - and indeed the game could best be described as a mostly even yet scrappy affair - but realistically it has always been a matter of time before South reaped the rewards of their plenty-good-enough recent form to clinch all three points on a Saturday.

South can, and should, regain much confidence from this result. After all, it’s a result which proves that they are playing well enough to win fixtures in this division. There’s no reason why South can’t get used to successful trends again if the current level of hockey is maintained, continuing next week when they host Rutland M2s at St Catz.

After the game, a relieved skipper Ron Oren was heard uttering: “Yay!”

Team played: Steve Parker, Ian Glover, Tom Anns, Andy Passmore, Dom Nelson, Ron Oren, Colin Troll, Chris Walsh, Nick Venner, Ali Ward, Jimmy Liu, Rob Barton

Cambridge South Men's III 0 - 2 St Neots IV

H/T: 0 - 1

Scorers: None
MoM: Jan Brynjolffssen
LoM: Alasdair Edge

This was the second of two crunch games for Cambridge South 3rd XI. Having slipped up at Newmarket the previous weekend a result here was vital to preserve South’s lead at the top of the division.

A reshuffled defence saw Simon Jelley dropping to fill in at left back while Neil Sneade moved to sweeper to make room for Benjie Groom at centre back. At the back, old member Phil Le Gouais was appearing for one night only in the keeper’s pads.

St Neots were close behind South in the league and featured a strong mix of experience, skill and power. It quickly became apparent this would be another challenging game for South, particularly with their makeshift defence still finding its feet.

Despite this South gradually began to assert some dominance, pressing the St Neots defence and pushing up the pitch. St Neots remained dangerous with accurate balls out of defence to their strong attackers and some skilful midfield play. The balance of play was favouring the home side but, with echoes of the previous weekend, South were having difficulty converting pressure into goals.

As half time approached, South’s worst fears were realised when a ball not properly cleared from defence was promptly returned into the D with a slight lift that bounced it through Neil, the covering defender, to fall neatly for the St Neots forward who slotted it past the advancing Phil in goal.

The second half followed a similar pattern, South pressing hard for an equaliser while St Neots defended resolutely and threatened with break outs. As with the previous week, South won a succession of shorts but were unable to get the equaliser. South were playing dangerously high up the pitch in search of a goal, with even their centre back taking the odd corner.

The killer blow came from a free hit out wide just inside South’s half. The St Neots taker spotted a gap in the home defence with an unmarked forward lurking by South’s keeper and quickly sent a hard, accurate pass straight through it, requiring the simplest touch from the attacker to divert the ball into the goal.

So for a second week in a row, dominance in possession and chances was to no avail for South as they were outwitted by a smarter and more clinical opposition. Two defeats to their main league rivals have seen South surrender their once-commanding league lead and slip down the table. Good individual qualities need to be more effectively combined and marshaled to produce the results the team are capable of if the promotion push is to get back on track.

Team played: Phil Le Gouais, Jan Brynjolffssen, Neil Sneade, Benji Groom, Simon Jelley, Tristen Knight, Paul South, Stu Creed, Wilco Dijkstra, Tim Clapp, David Doupe, Alasdair Edge

Cambridge South Men's IV 2 - 5 March Town IV

H/T: 2 - 1

Scorers: Shahzad Ali, Dave Monck
MoM: Ian Marshman
LoM: Boris Lossy (Texting 5 mins before the game starts to say you can't make it. Just remember we don't normally carry the mobile phones when we play.)

We were actually 2:0 up at one point but then an injury to one of the March players meant that they had to use a much better player. Changed the game just a little. The team is getting playing together better and better each week.

Team played: Shahzad Ali, Ky Ho, David Bridge, Dave Monck, Owen Vaughan, James Siddorns, Ian Marshman, John Sharp, Andrew Fraser, Jake Davis, Rupert Espley

Cambridge South Ladies' I 2 - 4 Cambridge University Ladies III

H/T: 1 - 2

Scorers: Kylie Beasley, Kate Nustedt
MoM: Alice Hug (For tenacious and energetic performance in attack)

Awaiting Report

Team played: Louise Tonkin, Ellie Raffan, Anne Horan, Julie Sadler, Lou Cantwell, Claire Sherwood, Serin Dabb, Kylie Beasley, Georgie Hurford, Kate Nustedt, Alice Hug, Bex Baker

Cambridge South Ladies' II 3 - 4 St Ives Ladies III

H/T: 1 - 3

Scorers: Birgit Bekkers, Kylie Beasley, Leonie O'Donnell
MoM: Hannah Colby