Ladies 1st XI 2-3 Leamington

 

From the start Saints put leamington under pressure and through a well worked piece of play from right to top d bang goal!!
Saints on top despite brave defending and few great shots, saints concede penalty corner. In off brim stick in second phase. 1-1. Saints continue to pile on the pressure up the right side of the pitch and despite some wood chopping being penalised nothing came of some excellent work. Sniper attacked small child on opposition which gave time for a team talk. Sniper attack annulled small child fixed with magic water and man up pill match continues. 
Saints concede a goal with ten to go which excited the baying home support into a false frenzy, you would think they had won the World Cup! Strong work in the last 5 mins led to a penalty corner for saints, no score. Breakdown ball again led to a saints breakaway through the middle where Dani skilfully stole a penalty corner. Brim hit the back of the net like a knife through butter 2-2. 
Second half. Saints have all the pressure and a break out lucky ball splits our defence and leamington scored from the top of the d. Score saints 2-3 leamington. Saints get it together and the movement starts to happen, brim sends a great pass into the d which suzi dived on but just nudged wide. Saints continue to pile on the pressure forcing the play our way. Pressure eventually leads to another short, no goal. Saints slowly start to rebuild and look stronger but another break out lucky ball from leamington led to a penalty corner. No score. Brim wins another penalty corner, no score. Frustration obvious at decision being made stairs continue to pile pressure on and win another short. Still no score saints keep piling on Pressure and turning the screw on leamington. Our superior skill shines through and it surely should be just moments before we score. A dubious decision led to dani being carded for chuntering. Yellow cone of shame. Picture included. Despite leamington having several sending offs saints continued to be frustrated by lack of goals. A high state of anxiety overtook saints and we continued to pile pressure on leamington and their defence held strong to keep the score 3-2 to Leamington. Well done saints just no luck on our side today. 

 

Men's 2nd XI 1-1 Warwick University 2nd XI

Goals: Alex Clark

Saints 12 man squad travelled to newly promoted Warwick for what they'd already pinpointed as a '6-pointer' game! Captain George Roberts returned to the squad after a weeks absence and Nick Card made his 2nd XI debut.

The game started at real pace with both teams intent on attacking. After only 10 minutes Saints lost Dave Haggan to injury after he took a nasty fall, landing on his ribs. This left them with a bare 11 to see out the rest of the game!

After the initial rush it was Saints who began to dominate with forward Stuart Clark and Jack Knight causing the Warwick defence great problems with their leads.

It was Northampton who took a deserved lead through a penalty corner routine. Stuart Clark striking to the near post for brother Alex Clark to deflect the ball into the goal. The pressure continued for the rest of the half and despite several chances, Saints couldnt convert this pressure into goals.

The second period continued in much the same way, but gradually Saints 11 tired against Warwick's 15 man squad. But a superb defensive effort led by centre backs Ben Northedge and Nick Card kept Warwick comfortably away from the Saints D.

With just 10 minutes to go Warwick equalised after a momentary lapse at the back by Northampton. Saints tried their best to get a deserved winner towards the end, and as they won a penalty corner with the last touch of the game, it looked like they might just do it. Sadly this effort went wide to leave the game at 1-1.

 

MOTM - Ben Northedge (closely followed by Nick Card).
DOTD - Jack Knight and Dave Haggan.

 

Squad: Will Powell (GK), Ben Northedge, Alex Blunt, Nick Card, George Roberts (c), Matt Gausden, Dave Haggan, Alex Clark, Pete Comben, Sam Mitchell, Jack Knight, Stuart Clark.

 

 

Men’s 3rd XI 4 – 2 Boot’s 3rd XI

Goals: Rob Tee, Luke Pibworth, Steve Morris, Max Wilkinson

 

Saints 3’s returned home after a tough game the previous week against a very strong and organised Birmingham University. Captain Simon Chapman urged the squad to focus in what was a very winnable game against a fellow promoted team.

Saint’s started brightly, however against the run of play Boots took advantage of a rare slip by stalwart James Miller to score past Sam Biddle into his right hand corner of the goal.

Saint’s new they had to focus and not let their heads drop Tom Lewington and Ian Macilwane helped marshall the midfield which led to a period of good pressure which eventually told Athiq Thamby produced an excellent back post cross to find a diving at full stretch Rob Tee who connected with it to level the game.

Saint’s then found themselves in the ascendency and pushed forward looking to go in front they thought they had after a quick free hit taken from Richard Whorton which was met by Rob Tee who produced a clever touch to send the ball past the oppositions Goalkeeper however this was eventually ruled out due to the ball not travelling the required distance from the free hit.

Saint’s continued to be unlucky a shot which was destined for the backboard was stopped on the line by a oppositions foot for which the penalty flick was given Jon Noble was given the task of converting however after watching the goalkeeper dive one way he went the other and hit the post.

This would not stop Saints however and they eventually took the lead as Luke Pibworth broke his man and finished a cross cum shot into the corner of the goal.

Saint’s now with their tails up after taking the lead starting playing with more attacking intent Steve Morris was brought on in place of Luke Pibworth as the former returned from injury he didn’t take long to influence the game and put the saint’s 3-1 up after calmly lifting the ball over the prone goalkeeper.

Half Time Saints 3’s 3 – 1 Boots 3’s

The Second Half got underway Saint’s playing in the same vein as this had finished the first half with great attack intent Rob Tee failing to convert a cross by Jonny Moore when it was easier to score.

Boot’s had the next word though when they grabbed a goal back another clinical finish for 3-2. A minute after the goal went in Saint’s pressed forward the ball eventually falling to Max Wilkinson who produced a clever turn and shot to beat the goalkeeper his first goal for the Saint’s.

Saint’s finished the game the stronger and will be very happy with the win, next week they host Leek in another potential 6 pointer.

MOTM: Nick Beattie.

DOTD: Jonny Moore.

 

Squad: Sam Biddle (GK), Richard Whorton, James Miller, Jon Noble, Tom Lewington, Ian Macilwane, Simon Chapman ©, Jonny Moore, Nick Beattie, Max Wilkinson, Athiq Thamby, Luke Pibworth, Steve Morris, Rob Tee

 

 

Cannock 4th XI 6 - 0 Men's 4th XI

 

Always a tough place to visit and this encounter was no different with a strong Cannock outfit waiting for us. With a youthful look to the team this week we went into the game with the no pressure against the team top of the table and really frustrated them for long periods while showing attacking threats and carving out some good chances.

 

The game started with the pressure instantly being piled on the Saints and our defense were really tested very early on which bar the heroics of Scott Bashford in goal diving low to save with his stick early on would have resulted in an early goal. The next 10 minutes consisted of plenty of defensive work from Saints with counter attacks being the main form of attack using the youth on the wings and up front. Unfortunately first blood went to Cannock via a solid shot from top of the D. Less than 5 minutes later we had a chance to even things up but with my (Sam Robinson) shooting boots not on the chance went  awry as the ball slipped past the left hand post. For the remainder of the half we showed real signs of getting back in to the game however left a few gaps further back and with the defense splitting a Cannock player grabbed a second from the top of the D.We went into half time at 2-0 down.

 

Second half started and with tiring legs we were under the cosh and conceded more than we would have liked however the 3 out of the 4 goals in the second half were of real class. With a lot of debuts for players in this league we gave a strong side a game and with fitness and squad size being a massive contributor to the loss the debutantes can be very happy with how they played.

 

MOM - Scott Bashford - Had a busy day and kept the number down

 

DOD - Aiden Walker - paying for match fees with a voucher!

 

Squad: Scott Bashford (GK), Joe Wightman, James Ruse, Aiden Walker, Adam Wright, Connor Wright, Nigel Down, Sam Robinson (c), Alistair Bowden, James Clifton, Toby Clifton