Ladies 2s beat Daventry 4-1!

In a very warm game the girls went behind to a breakaway goal with what felt like Daventry first real opportunity in the Saints 23 after 20 mins. Saints then turned the screw and dominated possession playing the right way by switching the play and changing the pictures. Their persistent game play meant the pressure eventually told on Daventry who despite playing a 10-1 hit 'n' hope defensive formation started to ship goals scored by Elsie, Maddie D,  Ruby and Anna.

Job well done from the young guns!

Men's 3s took a big step towards topping their league with a hard fought victory at Ashby 2s.

A tense first half saw Saints pegged back for long periods inside their own 23, with last ditch tackles, fantastic goal-line clearances from Wyn and Jez and determined goalkeeping somehow keeping Ashby at bay. Sweeping moves on the break and decisive finishing from Dan Rose deservedly took Saints into the break 2 up.

The second half saw the 3s taking control, but it looked like a tense final quarter was in store when Ashby finally converted one of their many short corners on a messy back post scramble. However, the result was put beyond doubt shortly afterwards, with Dan completing his hat-trick after a brilliant run from midfield by James B. 3-1 at the final whistle and a 3-point advantage to take into the league decider next week.

A fantastic team performance with every man deserving of the win.

Ladies 5s secured a  3-3 draw against Oundle in a fiercely competitive game. Despite a strong start Saints found themselves 2-0 down but the young side didn’t let this phase them. Katie Fidler then scored twice powering in a reverse stick shot off a short corner and then a well worked corner with Kushi Praveen.  Oundle then retaliated with a goal to make it 3-2 but Kushi scored a last minute thriller to make it 3-3! What a game, great team performance all round! A super afternoon in the sunshine topped off by great teas.

L3s drew 1-1 to R&EW. Goal from Kathryn Wallace. Big shout out and thanks to Caz for providing some pitch side support for the team.

Men's 6s had a 6-2 win against Old Silihilians 5s.
In a hard-fought win against a young and energetic side, Luke Perry earned Man of the Match for his calm composure on the ball.
Dicken of the Day goes to Micheal Dicken for turning up looking like a 1970s Martini advert.

Men's 2s lost 4-0 to top of the table Atherstone Adders. Man of the Match Nico Anserini saved a penalty stroke just before half time but it wasn’t enough to start a comeback.

Men's 5s travelled north to Atherstone under the captaincy of Dave Knight. With the absence of old stagers Jim, Jon, Karl and Tim, a new look 5th team was buoyed by the introduction of Ant, Ben and Jonny to add some youth – so much so, at the end of the match instead of the combined age of the back 4 totalling over 200 it struggled to top 100 – the captain contributing over half of that total on his own!

After a solid start Atherstone started to gain ascendency resulting in a scrappy first goal. Saints battled back winning a short corner which Dave Rose converted creating a stalemate for the rest of that half with neither team able to make a breakthrough. Our goalie Bash obviously thought we needed a bit of impetus so he decided to soft shoe the ball out to their attackers to have a free shot at our goal which they duly accepted, thus we went into half time a goal down.

This unilateral decision didn’t have the desired effect as despite piling more pressure on their defence in the second half we failed to make any headway until Julian (clearly incensed after his unjust(?) green card decision) had his shot on goal collected by an opposition players ‘gentlemen’s area’. The player spent some while counting his remaining plums. During this unscheduled break Bash called us together to galvanise the squad. I don’t remember what he said (nobody ever takes any notice anyway) but whatever it was it worked as when we recommenced we were all over them inhabiting their D. This sustained pressure in the last quarter bore fruit when Zac equalised after an assist from Jack, and lead in fairly quick succession to 2 more goals – a lovely flick on from the baseline by Julian which Jack finished himself this time and James from a short corner. A great comeback from everyone never giving up; a 4-2 win in the end was probably a fair reflection of our superiority, but looked a long way off at one point after Bash’s generosity.

A reflection of how busy their goalie was in the second half – he ended the game with heat exhaustion whereas Bash came off fresh as a daisy. Also it had to be noted that one too many runs by birthday boy left back Lochie into the opposition half, and almost their 23, lead to an altitude induced nosebleed!

DOD – that honour (in Tim’s absence) went to Zac for missing a (reasonably) open goal. MOM went to Ant with honourable mentions for Jack and Ben.

Overall a well-earned win – well done.

Finally, Men's 1 lost 3-2. It officially, "Wasn't very good"; onwards and upwards then for the last game of the season next weekend!