Men’s 1st XI 6-3 Rugby & East Warwick 1st XI

 

Goals: Joe Colantonio, Alex Press (2), Gareth Parker, Christian Howard, Joe Kopka.

 

Saints attempted to get back to winning ways at home to rugby on Saturday. Without a win in 5 games Saints faced their bogey side who they haven’t beaten for two seasons. From the first whistle Saints put a lot of pressure on Rugby, pinning them back in their own half and creating a lot of early chances. Saints made the breakthrough when Joe Colantonio ghosted into the D and smashed the ball into the corner. Saints quickly doubled their lead when Alex Press finished a great move down the right and a sneaky deflection. Two more goals through Gareth Parker and Christian Howard cemented Saints’ lead, both close range finishes after fantastic attacking movement by Joe Colantonio and Dave Saunders. Rugby pulled a goal back through some slack defending down the right hand side but Saints soon restored a four goal lead when Press grabbed his second.

 

A great first half.

 

Early in the second half Saints stood strong when Rugby inevitably came out all guns blazing. After ten minutes the game then opened up and included some cracking end to end action. It was mid-way through the second period when Rugby pulled a goal back. A controversial short corner was allowed to continue after striking an attackers foot. Saints did create chances themselves but were unable to find the net and Rugby scored another. A second short corner in a row for the away side coolly deflected home. With time ticking on and the score now 5-3, Saints broke away and kept the ball in the Rugby half. After a swift passing move on the left the ball was left to Joe Kopka to cleverly reverse stick the ball home after Howard had struck the bar. 6-3 and game over.

 

A great all round performance especially Seb Jones making his debut in defence.

 

A great win for Saints who host top of the league Khalsa next week. Khalsa beware...

 

 

 

 

Men’s 2nd XI 3-4 Barford Tigers 2nd XI

 

Goals: Dan Rose, Andy Smith, Tom Scott-Collins

 

With just 24 hours recovery from their previous game, Saints hosted Barford Tigers in this re-arranged league match at a windy Moulton Sports Complex.

The game started off with Saints on the back-foot as Barford pressed for an early goal. The Northampton defence held firm and after riding the early storm, Saints then settled into their rythem and started to move the ball around nicely. They lacked a cutting edge upfront though and time and time again needlessly gave away possession around the half-way mark.

Barford took the lead in this match following the award of a penalty corner. Shortly before half-time they doubled their lead by converting another penalty corner, after Saints had needlessley given away possession.

 

The second half saw a much improved performance from Saints, although against the run of play they fell a third goal behind, once again from a penalty corner. This spurred the home side on though as they then camped themselves in the Barford half for the rest of the game. This pressure led to what seemed to be a great come-back. Dan Rose got things started as he deflected a Scott Mahoney drag-flick into the roof of the net from a penalty corner. Ten minutes later it was 3-2 as Tom Scott-Collins got in front of the keeper to deflect the ball into the net following a swift team move. And it looked as though the come-back was complete with minutes to go as Andy Smith reacted quickest to a rebound corner to tuck the ball past the keeper. 3-3 and only a few minutes on the clock, it looked as though the game was going to finish that way, but it wasn’t to be as Saints conceded a pointless penalty corner, and from this they again fell for the same routine as Barford stole the winner!

A harsh result on Saints, however they only have themselves to blame for not closing the game out, and for gifting Barford a 3 goal lead.

 

MOTM: Dan Rose – great goal to get Saints back into the game

DOTD: Dan Whittaker – for 2 epic fails at aerials! (both of which went about 2cm off the ground!!)

 

Squad: Ed Holt (GK), Guy Roberts, Lee O’Donnell, Matt Gausden, Tom Wightman, Jon Noble, Dan Whittaker, Andy Smith, Max Heaphy, Scott Mahoney, Dan Rose, Athiq Thamby, Tom Scott-Collins, Sean Henry, Matt Wilde.

 

 

Men's 3rd XI 4-2 Burton 3rd XI

Scorers: Pibworth (2) Morris, Whitfield (pc)

Saints travelled to Burton, for a league friendly still waiting to continue with the league campaign after last week’s abandonment.

Saints started brightly with Mo unluckily diverted his stretched dive just wide. Saints took the lead after Rowlands and Pibworth combined for Morris to connect with the ball. The second goal came courtesy of confusion in the D with Pibworth the grateful recipient. After the positive start Saints started to lose the plot, allowing Burton to string some passes together. Soon this brought about a goal through a penalty corner. After more indecision in the Saints ranks, Burton found the equalizer and could even have taken the lead.

Half time, Saints were urged to do the simple stuff well , i.e. pass, not a one man assault. Dispite this warning Saints seemed to play worse and worse as the cobwebs and un oiled cogs seemed to take there affect on the team. Despite this Saints retook the lead after Mo and a defender missed the ball giving Pibworth the chance to score past the oncoming keeper. He was then completely flattened by a defender who clearly had a faulty satnav. While Saints did show flashes of what they are capable of, it was Danny Whitfield who scored the fourth with a lovely low drag flick from a penalty corner. 4-2 was as good as it got, but Saints will feel satisfied to have gotton a game under their belts as they prepare for the visit of Nottingham University next week

Squad: Andy Dale (c), Simon Thompson (gk), Nigel Down, Evan Morris, Ian Mcilwaine, Luke Pibworth, Adam Croutear,George Roberts, Danny Whitfield, Chris Rowlands, James Miller , Mo

 

 

Men’s 5th XI  0-3  Men’s 4th XI

 

The time had once again come for the 5ths to play the 4ths, and after their victory over the 4ths earlier on in the season, were hoping to move further up in the table.

 

The game began with both sides having good time on the ball, however, the 4ths just began to edge ahead with the number of attacks.  Fortunately Steve Morris was solid, as always, at the back. With a few attacks the 5ths looked as if they had one or two chances that couldn’t quite find the final player to score from. As the first half wore on the pressure at the back began to mount up and a short while later a poorly marked man and a scrambled goal effort trickled through Bash’s legs and into the goal.

 

The second half began and the 5ths had some good passing plays as well as some good individual efforts that unfortunately didn’t account to anything. They the 4ths had some good counter attacks and after a lot of pressure in our D they scored another trickling goal. As the second half wore on the tensions began to rise, as people weren’t passing when there was a call or an easy ball to play. This lead to Saints 4ths countering again and unfortunately scoring another goal. The 5ths heads were well down by this point and this forced Steve to try an aerial that failed spectacularly. As the game neared the conclusion the 5ths began to tire as this was their first game back after Christmas, however, Steve still had the energy to wipe out Ross Mclean as they both battled for the ball.

Shout out goes to Jacob Pryce for bringing the wrong shoes.

 

 

MOTM: Steve Morris

 

DOTD: Rob Tee

 

Squad: Scott Bashford, Harry Stobart, Steve Morris, Jeremy Wan, Gareth Voss, Antony Pearce, Luke Howard, David Henry, Tom Dysko, Matt Kerr, Ed Arnold, Rob Tee, Jacob Pryce, Rob Cary

 

Loughborough Town 0-1  Men’s 5thXI (Sunday)

 

Goals: Tom Dysko

 

The 5thteam bounced back with an excellent win against a strong Loughborough team. just 24 hours after the disappointment of losing to the 4thteam  at Moulton. With a slightly altered side due to availability, the 5thteam showed great character to withstand a lot of pressure from Loughborough to come out on top.  Northampton started brightly but despite a lot of possession, created very few chances in the Loughborough D. Bash was barking out orders from the back as Northampton aimed to improve their marking; a feature which had led to their downfall on the Saturday. Steve Morris, James Ruse and Antony Pearce were soon kept busy at the back as Loughborough came more into the game and won a series of penalty corners. Gareth Voss was doing an excellent job of harrying in midfield along with Max Dymond.  Tom Dysko went on a few surging runs and Luke Howard was getting the better of his opposite number on the left flank as Northampton started to enjoy more possession. Neither side could create any clear cut chances although Loughborough probably came closest in the first half.  The half ended with a head injury to Luke (given by his own player) who played no further part in the game.

 

In the second half Saints took the lead with a well worked penalty corner which was flicked high into the roof of the net by Dysko.  Northampton went pressing for the second goal and were denied by a goal- line clearance from a Loughborough defender after Max Dymond had a shot.   Northampton survived a series of late penalty corners to hang  for a memorable victory which takes them into joint second place in the league. Next up, a game against the leaders West Bridgford 5thXI.

 

 

MOTM:  Gareth Voss ( great determination in defensive midfield)

 

DOTD: Rob Tee (forgot his astro shoes and turned up late)

 

 

 

Mens WFF 6th XI 2-0 Nuneaton 4th XI (Away)


Goal Scorers: Tony Brennan and Dave Kelly

In an incredible display of hockey, the World Famous Fighting 6s pulled off a great victory.

In the first half, the game was typified by many attempts by the WFF6s to flummox the Nuneaton side, for example a Dean Gibson kick to the Nuneaton Striker with no defenders in support provided some laughs. The game was heavily in WFF6s favour with most of the possession and territory.

The score of the half, came from a short corner scramble with a Nuneaton player knocking it in. Many people have come forward to claim the goal. The match scorecard shows Tony Brennan to be the scorer. Richard Smith’s claim was outright rejected as he wasn’t even playing.

The Second half saw some of the best hockey that the WFF6s have played all season. Total dominance did not result in scores though. A brilliant diving goal from Dave Kelly, rushing from top of the D to the back post to put a cross from Joshua Pibworth away.

Navigational difficulties by Jon Keep and prolific bean eating by Alex Jeffery resulted typified the journey to the club house for post match teas.

MOM: Dave Kelly (Brilliant goal) - Special mention to Aidan Walker who won it, but was vetoed.
DOD: Jon Keep (Navigational ability of a mole)

 

Squad: Tony Brennan(c); Dean Gibson (GK); Karl Flowers; Rob O’Donnell; Darren Thorpe; Pete Malpass; Phil Adams; Ryan James; Alex Jeffery; Jon Keep; Dave Kelly; Aidan Walker and Phil Adams
 

 

U11s Tournament

 

The Black team played three games the first losing 5-0 to a very good long buckby side . The team picked themselves up and thrashed Kettering 7-0 with a brilliant team display with some great passing dribbling and finishing. The last game was a hard fought affair with saints coming from 2-1 down to earn a well-deserved draw at the death.  The team worked hard all three games with goals coming from Rhys (7) Sam (2) and Katy (1) All in all a very good performance with Holly Adams and Rhys Noble between them being man of the match.

 

The Gold team played extremely well with what was there first match as a new team. Leading from the front was the new captain Harmony with some impressive and strong defence work from Lauren and Louisa. Jessica worked hard with Dylan.

Running  around tirelessly. The soon to be goalkeeper Tia looked good and we await her performances in goal. A big thanks to Ollie who had played for the under 9's earlier and then played for the  under 11's.

 

U9s Tournament

On an extremely cold and blustery day at Moulton, the Mighty Nines regrouped for the first time this year.

 

Unlike their sideline ‘coach’ it was clear that none of them had over indulged in too many mince pies during the break as they roared into their first tie against an undermanned but very determined Wellingborough squad.  After a closely fought opening few minutes, our good passing work soon took it’s toll on the stretched opposition defence and Emma and Ewan both took their chances well to give us a great start to the day.

 

With barely pause for breath, we were straight into match 2 against Long Buckby.  With a full squad, the opposition offered us no numeric advantage this time and the spectators were treated to a well matched battle covering the whole pitch and testing both defences. With just a few minutes remaining, however, an epic goal mouth scramble ended with Oliver persuading the ball to finally visit the backboard to give us victory by the slimmest of margins.

 

A quick sprint up the turf to the second pitch later, we were lined up against Welford.  Always a tough game due to their attacking skill, my assistant coach-for-the-day (Holly) came to the fore and gave the troops a few motivational words and tips for putting up a strong defence... and a few words of warning to keep an eye on their speedy centre forward.   The message was definitely taken on board and we put on a great show with Oliver once again putting the finishing touch on some good attacking play by William and Ewan.  Alas,  despite some great holding midfield work by Ben, debutant George, Emma and Trinity, Welford eventually split the defence and with a clear view of goal, their centre forward made no mistake to square the match.

 

Finally we had a pause between games and we enjoyed the spoils of our Kettering tournament victory, and topped up our reserves of energy  with a few mouthfuls of chocolate before facing our collective bête noir.... Rugby!  As expected, an epic battle ensued and despite a chorus of support from the sidelines we found it difficult at times to break out of our own half and we’re subjected to a number of short corners, which we battled bravely to defend. Eventually, however,  Rugby broke the deadlock and the thud of defeat left a few glum faces at the end of an otherwise great day.

 

Final results:

Saints 2 Wellingborough 0

Saints 1 Long Buckby 0

Saints 1 Welford 1

Saints 0 Rugby 1

 

Overall standing: 3rdbehind Rugby and todays winners, Welford.

 

Congratulations to Alex, William, Trinity, Ewan, Oliver, Emma, Ben and George – who played well in his first tournament for the club....  and thanks to the clubs Young Umpires for braving the cold to support our tournament.