Match Reports from 8th & 9th December

Men’s 2nd XI 2-0 Worcester 2nd XI

Goals: Dan Whittaker, Tom Wightman

So came to the last fixture of 2012 with Saints recent winning form putting them in prime position to remain second in the league, and in the last promotion spot over the Christmas break. From the push back both teams tried to settle into their own style of play but unfortunately for Saints, Worcester with their very strong, physical approach saw them gain a slight dominance in the opening quarter to the half.
 
Pushing for the first goal of the match, Saints were creating bundles of chances with Ally Rose throwing a few balls down the line finding Jack Pogson, and Scott Mahoney a number of times behind Worcester’s defensive line. Also both holding midfielders Chris Reid & skip Dan Whittaker were linking up well with the three forwards.
 
Starting to control the 1st half Saints created there first goal of the game with a strong run into the ‘D’ by Jack Pogson causing a goal mouth scramble. The ball loosely fell to Dan Whittaker nearing the outside of the ‘D’ who struck high into the back of the net. 1-0 Saints!  
 
After Saints took the lead the game heated up with a number of players green carded on both sides. The score remained 1-0 lead to Saints at the break.
  
The second half came and Saints where off to a good start replicating wise words from the coach at half time. Saints continued creating many chances forcing Worcester back looking to push themselves further in front. With energetic performances from Dan Rose, Scott Mahoney and Ally Rose, Worcester’s defence were being stretched, a second goal looked to be in sight. With 20 minutes to go Saints had Worcester pinned deep into their right corner when Alex Blunt was struck down with a ball to the ankle. On came Tom Wightman who had run from deep behind the midfield to find himself running onto a loose ball into the ‘D’. A low drag flick to the bottom right corner gave Saints a 2-0 lead and a tight grip on the game.
  
Worcester attempted to get back into the game but Saints were in control and played out the last quarter of the game with good composure and concentration resulting in a 2-0 win leaving them second in the league over the Christmas break.
 
MOTM: Jack Pogson: for a strong solid performance thought the game.
 
DOTD: Alex Blunt: for rouge outbursts and retaliations. (He had a hard game alright!)
 
Squad: Robin Sawyer (GK), Lewis Ward, Matt Gausden, Chris Reid, Ben Northedge, Alexander Rose, Dan Whittaker (C), Alexander Blunt, Tom Wightman, Scott Mahoney, Dan Rose, Jack Pogson, Ian Tipples, Sam Mitchell.

   
Men’s 3rd XI 4-4 Men’s 4th XI – Written by the Men’s 3s

3rd XI Scorers: Pibworth 3, Whitfield (ps)

The last match of the year, and nothing better to wet the appetite for Christmas than an inter-club cracker against the 4th team. Seemingly nothing to gain, and pride to lose, an undefeated 4th team was always going to be a potential banana skin.

The 3’s started lively with several attacks on the 4’s defence. However gaps soon appearing in their own defence and after Powell misjudged the flight of a shot, the 4’s were ahead. Soon after this became 2. The 3rd team remained calm, save Dale who got a talking to from the umpires, and as the half wore on they pushed back to gain a foothold in the match. This finally came after a Danny Whitfield penalty corner struck a player on the line, and Whitfield stepped up to convert the stroke. The equalizer came shortly before the break, not before Pibworth had comically hit the deck with cramp. Minutes later he was played in to score from the top of the D.

The second half continued the 3rd team fight back. There was some great play, including great skills from man of the match Beattie in particular. After Phillips misjudged the bounce, Pibworth pounced to squeeze the ball past the oncoming Preen. The 3’s joy was short lived as once again the topsy-turvy game changed. The 4th team scored twice, with Captain Dave Henry rounding the keeper to steal the lead much to their delight. However there was one final twist. Miller did well to get behind the defence squaring the ball to Pibworth to turn in for his hat-trick. 4-4 the final score, a fitting end to a rollercoaster of a match.

All that was left was for the 3’s amigos to come 4th at the quiz night. This may well turn out to be the team’s final league destination too.

MOTM: Nick Beattie – Good composure and skills

DOTD: Andy Dale – For forgetting the balls, and then getting another talking to

Squad: Danny Whitfield, Adam Powell , James Miller, Andy Dale, Andy Wade, Harry Stobart, Ian McIlwaine (c), Lewis moran, Nick Beattie, Luke Pibworth, Will Gamble, Nigel Down

Men’s 3rd XI 4-4 Men’s 4th XI – Written by the Men’s 4s

4th XI Goals: Lloyd Atkinson (2), Chris Godman, Dave Henry

Still undefeated…

The ‘Invisible’ Saints 4’s started strongly against the 3rds with some great fluid play across the team, proving why they are top of the league with 50+ goals scored before Christmas!! The first goal coming from Lloyd Atkinson firing a reverse stick shot after a quick counter attack led by Ant ‘Bolt’ Condon & Luke Howard.

4’s continued to press hard with the defence soaking up lots of pressure particularly Steve Morris and Jim Phips, not to mention the outstanding performance from Phil Preen making some astonishing saves.

The second goal came from some strong attacking play from Chris Godman and Disco Tom who found Lloyd Atkinson ready to slam the ball in the net 2 – 0 4’s.

From this point 3’s realised they need to pick up their game and did so, they continued to pressure the defence through good midfield work and were rewarded with a couple of goals to put them back on par. 3’s scored again with an unlucky aerial bounce that found the ‘Pibworth poacher’. 3-2 3’s

Great skills from Robert Tee (who had already played) & Luke Howard led to a short corner that enabled Chris Godman to unleash a super strike (after yelping like a little girl as he was crunched by the defence) 3 – 3.

Momentum was with the 4’s in the last qtr as the game and Skipper Dave Henry dance the ball round the keeper to capture the lead… however this was short lived with a good goal from the 3rds who made the final score 4-4. Both teams played well, a fair result in the end – thanks to all who played and enjoy the Christmas holidays J

Points of note:

Luke’s Mum – Relentless support on the sideline, and buying the jug (although Luke contests this 😉

Jim Phips –

1. Saved the ball on the line but unfortunately hit his thigh after and conceded a flick. Oh and missed an Aerial 😉
2. Jim’s shoes win games (a 7 game winning streak)

Luke Howard –

1. Doesn’t tell his Mum where the game is and proceeds to Moulton instead of Caroline Chisholm School.
2. Forgets his shin pads, and sends his poor mother to get them. Phil Preen offered his old ones “Actually those shin pads are older than you”
3. “I nearly made a goal”
4. Flicking the ball in to Steve’s knee

MOM – Luke Howard – awesome play in midfield

DOD – Luke Howard For the 4 reasons above (Jim dodged a bullet 😉

Men’s 6th XI 2-2 Loughborough 5th XI

Goals: Phil Knight (2)

An evenly contested last match of 2012 for the 6’s against a team only one point below us in the table and that situation remains the same after this tough and enjoyable match.

Only having 11 players available hindered the 6’s in this match which meant that Loughborough had far too much space to play the ball out from the back and the 6’s failed to defend effectively from the front of the pitch. However in the first half the 6’s did put together some flowing moves that opened up the Loughborough defence on a number of occasions only for chances to be squandered with a poor or speculative final pass. In the end the pressure did pay off when Phil Knight slotted away a short corner to give the 6’s the lead and he later doubled this after carrying the ball out of defence and combining well with a number of players to score a second.

At that point the 6’s were in control however they let Loughborough back into the game with some weak defending in the D to see the half time score at 2-1.

The second half started evenly but after a while Loughborough started to look the more threatening and grabbed and equaliser at the far post with a well taken goal. The game then really began to open up,Mark Shepherd had a strong game on the left frequently breaking up attacks and making some valuable interceptions and Harry was tireless in midfield making some strong attacking runs to support the strikers.Finn Pickard tried hard to talk his way into the umpires bad books. This resulted in one umpire instructing yours truly to have a word with him only for me to point out that the hat covers his ears and he cannot hear anything I say. This almost got Finn DotD but this award went to others who were not present.

Joshua Pibworth had made the unfortunate mistake of being too honest with his reason for not being available after he admitted he was running a childrens xmas party, we could only speculate as to which celebrity he was replacing at the event and while this is not the saddist reason for not playing hockey so far this season (Lee Magic Man Thompson takes that award) we did then wonder if Dermot Cassidy was actually appearing as Santa at the event until it was discovered that he was rather pathetically trying to recapture his youth at a Green Day concert.

At the half way stage the 6’s are 7th in the table, ten points clear of the drop zone and in a strong position to consolidate their mid table position.

MotM Phil Knight for his two goals
DotD Josh Pibworth for being too honest for his own good.

Thank you to all of the players who have contributed to a good first half of the season.

Men’s 7th XI 7-0 Players 5th XI

Goals: Charlie Harte (4) Nigel Riches (1) Tim Warburton (2)

This week the almighty 7s traveled up to Beeston for a final friendly before the Xmas break, and wanted to finish the year on a high note.
7s started well, and were moving the ball around the pitch well. The scoring was opened by Charlie Harte who ran into the D and slipped the ball under the keeper. The defence and midfield were playing strongly, with Joe Whiteman passing the ball nicely to wings, where Tim Riches and Michael Dicken were again, doing their fantastic runs up the right side of the pitch to lead the attack. A great pass was slapped into the D to Nigel Riches who turned and hit the backboard to score the 7s second.
Tim Warburton was attacking strongly and had several of 1 on 1’s with the keeper and while he took the ball round the keeper, he over hit his shot and missed the mark.

7s started to lose their shape a little and Players 5s were having a more break throughs from their 16 yard hits. Against the run of play Tom Woodhouse passed to Tim Warburton who ran into the top of the D, and mis-hit his shot, the resulting bobble was too much for the keeper to handle has he watched it bounce over his stick and into the goal. 7s continued to pressure the opposition and Charlie Harte finished the half with a powerful hit into the right corner to give the 7s a healthy 4-0 lead.

In the second half the 7s continued to use the width well in attack and the forwards were finding space in the D for some clean passes. Charlie Harte reproduced a carbon copy of his first goal and again slipped the ball under the keeper. The 7s defence were still holding strong, pressing the opposition hard and breaking down their attacks early. Players 5s managed to win a short corner, but the resulting shot was deflected by Ian Street over the crossbar. The clearance went to Owain Mahoney who ran up the pitch, and passed to Tim Warburton, Tim then ran into the D and slapped an early shot squeezing ball straight through the keepers feet. With a dominant score-line the team pushed up pitch – Charlie Harte again capitalised from the pressure and added yet another goal to his tally. As the final whistle approached and Michael Dicken made a last ditch run into the D along the base line, Owain Mahoney was waiting in space on the P-spot to claim a goal but unfortunately the keeper managed to intercept the pass. A 7-0 final score was a great finish to the year for the 7s.

Note opposition were convinced the 7s had scored 8 against them but none of the 7s were able to remember scoring that one…..

MoM- Joe Wightman And Charlie Harte

DoD- Owain Mahoney

Squad: Dean Gibson, Tim Riches, Ian Street, Rob Golding, Joe Wightman, Martin Skinner, Tom Woodhouse, Tim Warburton, Charlie Harte, Owain Mahoney, Michael Dicken, Nigel Riches

Men’s Masters 3-1 Worcester Masters

Goals: Guy Roberts (2), Jon Noble

Saints masters cruised into the 3rd round of the National Masters cup with a well-deserved victory over a resolute Worcester side. The first half was dominated by the Saints in terms of possession and chances – and they could consider themselves unlucky not be at least 2 goals ahead at the break – with the saints forward line of Deeks / Darby & Askew looking lively with excellent service from the Saints midfield, The half time message of “up the pace” , don’t panic and keep the movement paid off in the 39th minute when a well worked short corner routine was finished by Guy Roberts. The lead was doubled just 5 minutes later when an identical routine bought about a carbon copy goal for Guy again. At this stage the Saints were in complete control of the game and it came as a shock when Worcester reduced the deficit with 10 minutes to go again from a short corner routine. The composure that had been demonstrated throughout the team started to wobble as Worcester gained more belief they could rescue the game and the Saints defence started to be put under more pressure. With 3 minutes to go Trev fidler demonstrated great skill to round the Worcester keeper only to find a Worcester foot on the line of his goal bound shot. Penalty stroke awarded – 2 minutes left – would Trev Fidler be allowed to take it…………..certainly not…up strode Jon Noble to convert comfortably to round the game off.

Kahlsa await in the 3rd round !!

Squad: Adam Powell (GK),Steve Morris, Jim Phipps (capt),Trevor Fidler, Andy Dale, Mike Darbyshire, Gary Paterson, Jon Noble, Richard Darby, Guy Roberts ,Ian Mcilwane, Jez Deeks, Max Darby, Nigel Downs. James Askew

Manager Jason Hillier

Thanks to those who came up to support.