Mens 1st XI 1 - 5 Litchfield

Goals: Tom Hewitt

Saints were eager to start the new season well and with the exception of their Player of the Season from last year, Ross Gillanders, fielded a full strength side for their opening game. Unfortunately all did not go to plan and Saints slumped to a 3-0 deficit at half time following some ragged defending which gave the visitors the chance to put away some clinical short corner routines. Despite trailing 3-0 Saints did have more possession and did create chances to score. Unfortunately they were not as well drilled in an attacking sense and could not convert their possession effectively into corners or goals.

After half time Saints continued to work hard and again had more possession than the visitors. This led to Tom Hewitt getting the team's first goal of the league campaign when he converted a rebound from his own short corner. The defending didn't improve however and Saints shipped two more goals before the final whistle from a well drilled attacking opposition. We all hope for an improvement next week.

 

Mens 5th X1 2-2 Peterborough  5th Xl

Scorers: Marcus Spencer Brown, David Henry

The 5th team were robbed of a third straight victory by a late equalising goal from an experienced and well drilled Peterborough XI. To be fair, a draw was probably a fair reflection on the game with both sides enjoying good spells of possession and chances at either end.

The 5ths welcoming back James Ruse into defence but they were still without Luke Pibworth who was on wedding duty yet again. (4 Weddings and a Puncture)  The game began in glorious sunshine and Peterborough were soon putting us under pressure with some well worked passing movements. An early short corner needlessly given away led to the first goal, a well struck shot from the top of the D beat keeper Ed Holt low to his left hand side. This spurred on the 5ths who were beginning to venture more into the oppositions half. One such attack led to a short corner and when the ball broke to Marcus Spencer Brown he managed to get a shot away on the reverse which went in off the post   - 1-1.

Later in the half Saints went 2-1 up also from a short corner.  After good work from Rob Cary the ball went right to Marcus again who put in a hard cross into the goal mouth, David Henry then guided it goalward with an angled stick and it was 2-1 to the 5ths.

For much of the 2nd half Peterborough enjoyed a lot of possession and were passing the ball around in midfield well. However, the Saints defence (Ed Holt, Adam Shepherd, George Roberts, Callum Scott Collins and James Ruse) were excellent and   successfully restricted Peterborough to a few half chances.  Steve Morris and Joe Cliffe were working hard in central midfield closing down the opposition, whilst Marcus, Ed Arnold and Jon Keep were using the width well to attack. Saints were much more composed in the second half and were working the ball around well. Rob Cary was having an excellent game holding up the ball up front and laying off passes.

Late in the game Callum picked up an injury and had to go off. This proved to be a turning point as -with a reorganised defence  -a moment of confusion at a 16 yard hit let to a  soft penalty corner to Peterborough, from which they scored the equaliser.  The goal will be remembered for Ed Holt’s impersonation of a `log’ after the initial save which cost him the DoD vote!  Never mind Ed!

MOM: Adam Shepherd –great defending and surging runs!

DOD: Ed Holt

 

Ladies 3rd XI 1-2 Leighton Buzzard

Goals: Fran Warburton

Yet another bright and sunny morning for the ladies 3’s to play their final friendly of the pre season warm up to the league starting next week! The weather was to play a huge part in our match but more of that later.  As we have come to expect the pre match warm up consisted of many an “ooh” and an “aah” as the none to young team warmed up slowly in the tennis courts, followed by a rousing game of catch a small ball, where I am convinced there was a vast amount of cheating going on.  Anyway back to the match in hand.  Ladies 3’s started very strongly and had most of the possession for the first 50 minutes, then the overriding want to stand and sunbathe and let the opposition have a go for a while kicked in and we might have leaked a goal.  Apparently there was another goal in the first half but unfortunately I had a call of nature to attend to so had to be subbed off and missed the goal.

 

Saints pulled one back from an excellent piece of play involving all players, whether they were just standing watching Fran Warburton pinch the goal, or actively involved in the buildup.  But in all honesty we didn’t deserve to lose that match.  I would just like to highlight some of the more entertaining moments that happened in the sunshine at Moulton.  We had a few suntan injuries remedied by baby sun tan lotion kindly supplied by Poppy Dale.  Nicky Milford saving a penalty corner, I assume off her defensive line and not “doing a Steph”.  Annie Holt having some mint shots on goal and as Jonno said “any shot is a good shot”.  Some random defensive decision making leading to Claire Baker doing some fine goal putting off (the Centre forward missed by a mile). At that point I think someone shouted “swing and a miss” I wonder who that could have been?  We had great positional play and using a favourite quote “we made the ball do the work”.

 

A big thank you must go to our supporters for their efforts on the sidelines to encourage us, however, this week it wasn’t to be. 

As usual we have our list of names this week, some more obvious than others:

 

Claire “scary feet” Baker

Karla “need a wee” Tate

Nicky “I’m captain of course I can do it” Milford

Chloe “off for a jog again” Arnison

Nic “close to vomit” Holton

Sally “Forrest Gump” Adlen

Annie “had another fan club” Holt

Nat “need a wee too” Raca

Amy “wrong end of the pitch” Decaro

Steph “clown feet “Brennan

Hannah “try to get a tan” Wilkins

Fran “goal poacher” Warburton

 

Ladies 2nd XI 5-1 Lutterworth

Goals: Ness Kingston (3), Ferne Sanders, Caz Whitehouse.

Team: Claire Leech (GK), Claire Dale (c), Clare Noble, Kate Barnetson, Tara Doyle, Alice Kilner, Ness Kingston, Sarah Walker, Ellie Bleech, Caz Whitehouse, Molly Ogden, Ferne Sanders, Laura Wychgel, Courtney Thorpe.

 

Saints Ladies 2s continued to show improvements in the last friendly before the start of the league. 2s debutant Tara Doyle impressed from the start with strong tackling & determined runs from right back frustrating the Lutterworth defence. She was well supported by Kate Barnetson returning from injury at centre back.

 

Saints first goal game from the infamous ladies 2s in-out short corner. Ness Kingston receiving the ball top D, passing out to Caz Whitehouse, then receiving it back on the  P spot to clinically convert.

 

Lutterworth were soon to equalise from a short corner. The shot was deflected off a defenders stick over the top of keeper Claire Leech. Claire Dale was unable to save it off  the line despite her confident call, once again earning herself the title of Dick of the Day!

 

Dale’s blushes were spared shortly after half time when Ferne Sanders put Saints back in front, neatly converting another short corner. Lutterworth were tiring in the September sun & Saints were quick to capitalise. Great interplay between Kingston & Molly Ogden set Whitehouse up & she ‘buried it’!

 

Kingston soon made it four, deftly converting a penalty flick. Lutterworth looked down & out. In the final play of the game Saints were awarded a short corner. With the whole team surrounding the D, Kingston coolly slotted home her third to finish off a great team performance.

 

Man of the Match: Ness Kingston

Dick of the Day: Claire Dale – again!!

 

Mens 2nd XI 1-7 Peterborough 2nd XI

Scorers: Chris Brimyard

 

Where's Dad's Army when you need them?! 

With a few unavailabilities and last minute withdrawels from the Dad's Army members of the squad, Saints went into this game with a young squad. (an average age of 19!). Fortunately they persuaded Jon 'Captain Mainwaring' Noble to help them out, nicely boosting the average age! There was also the welcome return of student Kyle 'Hobbit' Taylor who'd returned from Middle Earth for the season!

Pre-match team talk was lead by new coach Colin Biddle. The talk was about keeping your shape, repeat what we did at training on Thursday and whatever we do, "dont panic!!".

The game started and all the hard work of training and the team-talk went out the window as Saints ran around like a group of headless chickens! Peterborough raced into a 4-0 lead at half-time. The second a rather dubious goal, but none the less well deserved from a well drilled, more experienced side.

Half-time, back to the drawing board? Coach Biddle reminded everyone what they were supposed to be doing! And when you get your chance to attack, make the most of it! "They don't like it up um you know"!

This inspiring team-talk seemed to do the job as for 15 minutes Saints controlled the game. The defence held firm, the midfield dictated the play and the forwards started to get into some promising positions. It wasnt look until Saints got a goal. A well worked short corner resulted in Chris 'Pike' Brimyard firmly (or was it a bobbler?!) placing the ball in the bottom corner. A couple more chances fell Saints way, including a 3 on 1 which they badly wasted. This was then as good as it got, as the bad habits of the 1st half crept in and Peterborough were allowed to score 3 soft goals. All as a result of Saints needlessly giving away possession.

With half the team disappearing after the game, there wasn't much to report from after the game, other than George Mellor eating half the teas as usual! However James Knibb will definitely regret missing out on the MOTM and DOTD voting!!

MOTM: Liam Cassidy - a commanding display from centre midfield. And he was on a date that night! Could the day get any better for him?!

DOTD: James Knibb -  Bad afro hair, an ear piercing, throwing a strop on the pitch, need we say more?!

 

Squad: Sam Biddle (GK), Matt Gausden (c), Jon Noble, Matt Wilde, Kyle Taylor, Alex Mcindoe, Liam Cassidy, George Mellor, Andy Smith, Chris Brimyard, James Knibb, Tom Warburton

 

Mens 3rd XI 2-6 Peterborough 3rd XI
 
Goals: Danny Whitfield, Max Heaphy
 
Team: Scott Bashford, James Miller, Jason Hillier, Danny Whitfield, Jon Holland, Kieran Lane, Max Heaphy, Ian MacIlwaine, Sean Henry, Matt Swansborough, Dan Rose, Patrick Pacheco
 
 
The 3s travelled to Peterborough to play what they thought would be a good challenging encounter, and where not disappointed. With a few changes from last week’s fixture, and the introduction of a new defensive system, the focus of the game was on fitness and discipline.
 
The early exchanges were fast paced, with the home side enjoying the better of the possession; it didn’t take long for them to open the scoring from a penalty corner.  Saints heads didn’t drop however, and some good attacking passages of play were led by Max Heaphy and Kieran Lane. The home side doubled their lead midway through the first half, again via a penalty corner, and a third PC followed shortly after, which again lead to another Peterborough goal. Throughout however, Saints maintained a good level of effort and continued to play attacking hockey. Unfortunately, before halftime the home side made it 4-0. However, on the stroke of halftime, Saints pulled a goal back from a penalty corner, when Danny Whitfield converted a sublime drag flick.
 
Halftime and the score at 4-1, the visitors could desperately have benefited form some oranges, mince pies or even some fresh plums, however, Captain Miller provided none of the above. The focus of the halftime team talk was continuing to work on the shape and to keep the effort up.
 
The second half was a much more even affair with both sides enjoying a more equal share of possession. The home side extended their lead mid way through the half, and added a sixth not long after that. Max Heaphy pulled back a consolation goal with 5 minutes to go, when he went on a foraging solo run, and via a deflected pass he volleyed the ball into the net to make the score 6-2, and it remained at that until the final whistle.
 
Post game, the food offerings of pizza and chips were gratefully received, however as is becoming the norm, a disappointingly small number of players maintained their hygiene levels by showering.
 
MOTM: Max Heaphy for some goal attacking play and a great individual goal
DOTD: James Miller for a) overtaking a lorry, just to be stuck behind two other lorries, and b) to see the original lorry turn off 100 yards later!!!!

 

Mens 4th XI 0-2 Peterborough 4th XI

 

 

It was expected this week that the 4th team would have a very difficult game
against the well drilled Peterborough 4s. Before the match the team had one of Gary (gosh aren’t my shoulders big) Paterson’s old school warm up’s alongside some genius one liners coming in from the Jim Phipps School of Comedy.

Once the team were all drilled and ready to play they stepped onto the field of
play ready for the task in hand.

Right from the whistle it was a real eye opener as Peterborough played some
silky one and two touch hockey, unfortunately running rings around Saints,
and within 20 mins were 2-0 down. If it had not been for some galiant
defending by Aiden Walker and Tom Wightman it could have been more.

At half time the talk was all about being patient and not to panic on the ball,
but right from the off the second half carried on the same pattern with
Peterborough’s insistant pressure and even though Saints did string together
a few avid attacks Peterbourgh came out worthy winner.
This game has been a good test for the 4s as made them realise that when
they have their backs to the wall they do have some fight in them.
Here’s to the next match and hope the 4s will use this game as a stepping
stone to greater things in the future.