Men’s 1st XI 5-4 Telford & Wrekin 1st XI

 

Goals: Joe Kopka (2), Gareth Parker (2), Ben Scott (pc)

 

A young Saints side took the field against Telford hoping to start the season on a high after a positive pre-season. The opening ten minutes were fairly even but Saints started creating a lot of chances only to be wasteful in front of goal. Despite the pressure from the home side it was Telford who took the lead from a short corner. Slack defending allowed Telford to break into the D and after the initial shot was saved, the away side scored a deflected finish after the ball was fired back across goal. This seemed to kick Saints into life and immediately went up the other end with Joe Kopka scoring a great solo effort. Two minutes later Saints were in front as Gareth Parker cleverly rounded the keeper and added a second five minutes later, coolly firing home after a mistake by the Telford defence. With Saints completely on top, Joe Kopka scored his second, a reverse stick shot which the Telford keeper found too powerful to keep out.

 

A 4-1 lead going into the second half should have proved enough for a comfortable win for Saints but this was not the case. The home side seemed to lose concentration and Telford slowly started to claw their way back into the game. Defensive lapses saw Saints conceding two quick goals in the middle of the second half and Saints started to panic. More mistakes from the home side led to Telford winning a short corner. With two minutes to go they equalised to leave Saints in shock after seemingly being in control of the game. A never say die attitude saw Saints break towards the opposition D and win only their third short corner of the match in the dying stages. With less than 40 seconds left in the game Ben Scott drag flicked the ball home to end a very dramatic last five minutes and seal all three points for Saints.

 

A very positive first half followed by a lacklustre second. Saints will have to improve when they travel to new boys South Nottingham next week.

 

Ladies 1st XI 0-7 Durham University

Saturday the 17th of September saw the debut of newly promoted Saints Ladies 1s in the North Conference league. The team arrived buzzing with anticipation, not only for the tough game ahead but for their first glances at the new kit! Trying-on session over and the team looking professional in the new attire, coach Gavin gave an encouraging team talk and the girls were ready to go.

The half started off at an intense pace, with the noticeably fit Durham University taking full advantage of their speed to attack the Saints defence.  Amy Tufts, Charlie White, Caroline ‘Bird’ Avery and Lisa Coe produced some memorable performances at the back but even this wasn’t enough to stop a skilful Durham and they opened the score line with 2 goals in quick succession.  A determined Saints side continued to attack, with some skilful play up the lines by Jessica Lovell, but were unable to slot the ball home. Durham continued to pressurise the Saints defence, scoring another 2 goals from open play and one from a drilled penalty corner sequence, finishing the half 5-0 up.

The 2nd half arrived quickly and a refreshed Saints side returned to the pitch after another inspirational team talk from Gav. Our dick of the day moment arrived when Rachel ‘keeno’ Jones decided to forget the 11 aside ruling and join the girls on pitch. 5 minutes into the half it was pointed out that Saints were playing with 12 and she returned embarrassingly to the bench!

Saints started the half encouragingly and began to look a more determined side. Despite injury, Captain Amie Hone dominated the middle and leads from forwards Ellie Bleech and Lottie Tulley opened up play in the Saints attacking half. Durham responded with 2 fantastic goals which even the skills of keeper Abi Fitzgerald, couldn’t save.

Despite a final score of 7-0, the girls demonstrated fantastic team effort throughout so well done!

MOTM: Birdy, for some fantastic defensive play.

DOTD: Rachel Jones, for forgetting the 11 aside rule.

 

Ladies 2ndXI 5-2 Nuneaton Ladies

Goals: LA Chacksfield (4) , Caz McCabe

On a particularly sunny day Ladies 2’s travelled to Nuneaton for our last pre-season friendly, hoping to win another confidence boosting goal fest of a match.  All started off well with every car negotiating the one way system and therefore getting to the pitch on time.  Once changed, appropriate pre match pain meds had been consumed and interesting articles up nose stories had been swapped, the ladies were ready to warm up and get in the zone.

This zone proved more difficult for some than others to find as in the first 5 mins LA “my goal” Chacksfield had found the net with a beautiful piece of skill.  Saints 1-0 up.  Then it all went a bit wrong for about ten minutes as “the Nuns” came back and scored two in quick succession.  I put this down to some of us still trying to get in the competitive zone and this seemed to be that case as not long after we fought back with some excellent skill from the midfield of Alice “confoosed” Kilner and Clare “rollerskate” Noble which led to Chacksfield wiping another goal.  Score levelled at 2 all.

 

Soon Saints were into their stride and the older generation were passing the ball round smoothly and letting the youngsters run about getting themselves into great field positions to disrupt the habits of the Nuneaton players (poor, but I couldn’t resist).  Chacksfield then decided to try warm up the Nuneaton keeper as they played to you to me on the goal line for a few minutes before Chacksfield shovelled it in for goal number 3.  Still no goal for Ness “my turn now” Kingston, much to her dismay.

Second half arrived very quickly after Jonno’s inspirational team talk and some well deserved fruit pastilles and the ladies looked as if they owned the very sandy pitch.  Some fine work in the back three of Ferne “suntan” Sanders, Nicki “eggs for sale” Stringer and Clare “ pass and Doh” Sibley led to the ball doing all the work and trundling up the midfield and another goal from LA “needs to buy her own jug every week” Chacksfield leaving the scoreline 4-2 to Saints.

 

Not to be outdone, Caz “ forget to defend in the middle” McCabe waited her turn and eventually pounced on a beautiful delivery from Beca “Can’t read a map” Wilkinson to split the nuns defence and score a lovely goal making the score 5-2 to Saints.  This is how the scoreline finished despite valiant efforts from Ness and LA to score even more.

Well done to all the girls for a fantastic team effort.

 

MOTM: Clare Noble who for the first match in a few seasons didn’t fall over!!

DOTD: Ness Kingston for tripping over her own feet and thought no one saw

 

 

Ladies 3rd XI 3-1 Rugby Ladies

 

Goals: Hanna Wilkins, Jane Ogden, Laura Thomas

 

On Saturday the 17th of September, and to what looked like controversial weather, the ladies 3s took to the Moulton school pitch for the first time in the 2011/2012 season. 

With a good warm-up under their belts, the ladies began their first game with an impressive attack which involved excellent play from the forwards Laura Thomas, Sophie Herring and CJ Thompson. However, after Saints pressing high up the field, Rugby found a gap in the defense and even after Powell's excellent goalkeeping, they were able to slot the ball into the goal. 

However, the ladies did not give up, and remained on the attack for the majority of the game. Excellent midfield play by Hanna Wilkins saw her score a goal, Jane Ogden and Laura Thomas also worked well to score their goals. The score-line could have been written as 4-1, after a penalty flick was given against Rugby, however, Tunni stepped up to the plate and threw a lovely aerial into the fence. 

Very well played by all girls on the pitch!

MOTM: Hanna Wilkins, for excellent midfield play and a sweet goal.

DOTD: Tunni, for an aerial instead of a flick

 

 

Men’s 2nd XI 2-4 Peterborough 2nd XI

 

Goals: James Knibb (2)

 

With some of the senior players missing due to a wedding and 1st team call ups, a young inexperienced Saints side travelled to Peterborough in this pre-season friendly hoping to continue their recent good form.  George Roberts and Adam Croutear made their 2nd team debuts whilst keeper Scott Bashford made his first 2nd team appearance in more than 5 years.

Unfortunately they came up against a strong Peterborough side who came out 4-2 winners. This was harsh on Saints as they twice hit the woodwork during the match. James Knibb scored both goals for Saints, including one drag flick from a penalty corner.

Squad: Scott Bashford (GK), Pete Riches (c), Adam Croutear, George Roberts, Josh Hawkins, Lee O’Donnell, Max Heaphy, Sean Henry, Tom Wightman, Scott Mahoney, Tom Scott-Collins, Dan Rose, James Knibb. 

 

 

Men’s 5th XI 1-5 Peterborough 5th XI

 

Goals: Gareth Voss

 

Prior to the match, captain Dave Henry reminded the team how tough the match was last year, and this years’ match was to prove a much tougher proposition. The first half was close, with chances going begging either end of the pitch. Gareth Voss was working hard in midfield, covering a lot of ground until he managed to sustain a blow to one leg, leaving him crawling off the baseline. The ever versatile Rob Tee rushing to Gareth's aid shouting loudly for a medic and calling on the umpires to hold play! In spite of this setback Gareth soldiered on. It was end to end for much of the half, and it was Saints that finally broke the deadlock, with a great break lead by forwards Ed Arnold and Tom Dysko, who worked the ball into the D and then laid the ball back for the now recoverd Gareth Voss to blast the ball into the top right of the net (according to Gareth.....). The rest of the team saw Gareth hit the ball into the goal at just below waist height, catch the keepers pads then just trickle over the goal line. Either way it was 1-0 to Saints.

 

This initial goal brought Peterborough to life and they put Saints under pressure to gain the equalizer within a few minutes. The rest of the half played out and both teams hit halftime feeling they could do better. It was unfortunately Peterborough who managed to make the best of things in the second half. After some heavy pressure Peterborough managed to get a second goal. Shortly after this Peterborough managed to pick up an unexpected break from a mis-hit midfield pass and scored their 3rd goal. Saints were working hard, but the pace of the game was beginning to take its toll. Many players were struggling to keep pace, and the defensive line up set about entrenching themselves around 23 metre line. Callum Scott-Collins managed to defend a shot with his knee and give away a short corner in the process. The pressure from Peterborough even managed to force a rare mistake from Steve Morris who decided to pass a 16 metre hit directly to one of Peterborough's forwards. Peterborough managed a further 2 goals before the end of the match to finish the game with a 5-1 win. The score-line is not a completely fair reflection on the play, Saints had some great periods of play in both halves, and the younger players Jeremy Wan, Jacob Pryce and Harry Stobart injecting some much needed life into the 5th team ‘old guard!’

 

MOTM: Rob Tee for some great work in goal

DOTD: Jon Keep - First game of season and it showed - spent the match one step behind play!

 

Squad: Rob Tee (GK), Owen Jones, Steve Morris, Callum Scott-Collins, Jeremy Wan, Jacob Pryce, Harry Stobart, Dave Henry (c), Gareth Voss, Jon Keep, Ed Arnold, Rob Cary, Tom Dysko

 

Peterborough 6s 0-8 Mens 6th XI

The match was a pretty much one-sided affair, with Peterborough running at the Fighting Sixes from the start to the end. There were some signs of hope from the F6s with some nice runs by man of the match Luke Howard, who linked well with Joshua Pibworth and Alex Jeffery. But, the majority of the work being done by the defence.

All 8 goals were well worked and the Peterborough team never looked like once letting one in. Peterborough exploited poor man marking and a rather large midfield gap to work brilliantly executed 1-2 passes down the field.

Squad: Tony Brennan(c); Paul Crawford (GK); Karl Flowers; Rob O’Donnell; Karl McGregor; Alex Jeffery; Luke Howard; Richard Smith; Alasdair Townsend; Joshua Pibworth; Mark Shepperd; Pete Malpass and Lee Thompson.