Match Reports from 16th & 17th February

Men’s 1stXI 5-2 Telford & Wrekin

Goals: Grant Carlin, Joe Kopka, Alex Press, Andy Peters (2).

After being held to a 3-3 draw on Saturday away at Harborne, Northampton returned to winning ways with a convincing win at home against Telford. The game started off with both teams looking to suss one another out. A goal-a-piece after 10 minutes and it looked as though it could go either way.

However Saints then stepped up a gear and proceeded to dominate the rest of the games. Goals from Andy Peters (2), Grant Carlin, Joe Kopka and Alex Press sealed the points for the home team, and despite Telford pulling one back, it never looked in doubt. This result sees Northampton move up to 6th in the table.

Ladies 1st XI 1-2 Towcester 1st XI

Scorers: Sarah Brimyard (47m)

In a very even match Saints came out a poor second again against local rivals Towcester. In a first half where Towcester held the edge but managed to miss two open goals before opening the scoring on the 29th minute. Towcester increased their lead to 2-0 when they scored in the 33rd minute to take a strong lead into the second period

Despite an improved performance the second period and a fine individual run from Sarah Brimyard as she drove her shot over the Towcester keeper to keep Saints hopes alive, Saints were not able to capitalize on their pressure to earn any points. The defeat sees Saints drop to the bottom of the table with four games left.

The Saints are away to top of the table Beeston on Saturday.

Team: Jo Askew, Caroline Hossack, Sally Adlen, KJ Wilkins, LA Chacksfield, Emily Kilner, Caz McCabe, Sarah Brimyard, Lottie Tulley, Sally Cory, Emma Cooper, Ellie Bleech, Georgia Linnell

Men’s 2ndXI 3-2 Edgbaston 2ndXI

Goals: Tom Wightman (2), Scott Mahoney.

The game against Edgbaston was one to forget for the Men’s 2ndXI. Despite managing to scrape a 3-2 victory, the performance was lacking in many areas.

The first half started slowly and before long they found ourselves a goal down, keeper Robin Sawyer helping out their forwards by passing the ball straight to them, not once but twice.  A goal was then disallowed after a reverse slash from Alex Blunt was deflected in by Ian Tipples…. using his head!!! There was very little else to mention from a lacklustre first half.

Fortunately less than a minute into the second half a great lead from Ian Tipples saw the oppositions defence open up for One Direction lookalike Tom Wightman to penetrate into their D.  A silky pirouette saw Tom put himself in a position to bury the ball into the back of their net. 

The ball was constantly changing ends, neither team managing to maintain possession for long.  The saints stole it just long enough to get ‘Harry Styles’ in a position, where a lucky reverse shot sneaked past their goalie on the near post (Wightman later admitted it was a cross).  A third was put away by Scott Mahoney from a well-executed short corner. Unfortunately the opposition managed to get the score back to a worrying 3-2 just 5min from time.  Chris Reid then gave away a short corner in the dying seconds of the game, after arguing with the ref: Fortunately number one runner Sam Mitchell charged down the ball and sent it flying off the pitch to signal the end of the game. A sigh of relief was breathed by all of the Saints players.  Hopefully lessons will have been learned from this performance.

MOTM: Tom Wightman – could turn out to be 2 massively vital goals during this promotion campaign.   
DOTD: Ian Tipples – for expertly lobbing the ball over his own head.

Squad: Robin Sawyer (GK), Matt Gausden, Guy Roberts, Nick Beattie, Dan Whittaker (C), Chris Reid, George Roberts, Sam Mitchell, Scott Mahoney, Alex Blunt, Ian Tipples, Tom Wightman.

Men’s 4thXI 6-0 Lichfield 4thXI

Goals: Lloyd Atkinson (2), Steve Morris, Hugo Day, David Henry, Chris Godman.

Following a strong away performance against Belper 4s the previous week, Northampton 4s were looking to further build on their lead at the top of the league, taking on Litchfield 4s at home.
 
Saints had a lot of early possession, despite a lacklustre warm up led by Rob Tee, and largely controlled the game but failed to capitalise until midway through the first half, with Lloyd Atkinson converting a well worked short corner.
  
Litchfield continued to resist the Saints pressure, largely due to a strong performance by their goal keeper. However the Saints forwards soon had the measure of him, with a series of well worked passes leading to the 2nd goal, again from Lloyd Atkinson.
 
Saints birthday boy Max Darby brought his experience to the fore, setting up both the 3rd and 4th goals in quick succession, scored by Steve Morris and Hugo Day respectively.
 
Litchfield provided stronger opposition early in the 2nd half, with Scott Bashford making some crucial clearances in order to keep a clean sheet.
 
Saints fought back with little luck thanks to some wayward reverse stick attempts from Lloyd Atkinson, and David Henry using his feet to clear the ball off the Litchfield line following a Hugo Day strike.
 
Once again Max Darby turned provider, this time slipping the ball to David Henry who flicked it through the keepers’ legs. This was quickly followed by Saints final goal, with Chris Godman turning the ball in at the back post following another slick passage of play.
 
Goalkeeper Bashford and the 4th team back wall of Jim Phipps, Rich Wharton, Mat Candler and ‘utility player’ Rob Tee helped provide the 8th clean sheet of the season, with the game ending Northampton Saints 6 – 0 Litchfield.
 
MOTM – Mat Candler, strong tackling.
DOTD – David Henry, helping opposition defence.
 
Squad: Scott Bashford (GK), Lloyd Atkinson, Rob Tee, David Henry (C), Mat Candler, Ant Condon, Richard Wharton, Steve Morris, Chris Godman, Gary Peterson, Jim Phipps, Max Derby, Hugo Day
 
 

Ladies 4th XI 3-2 Towcester 3rd XI
 

Goals: Liz Woods, Becky Mellor (2).

Saints ladies started the match all at sea as they struggled to find any rhythm until out of the blue they opened up the scoring. Liz Woods took the ball form the 23 meter line straight in to the circle and worked her way through the defence and scored with a strong push towards the goal which the Towcester goalkeeper failed to deflect away from her line. The 4ths then started to work forward with Eloise Blincow & Rebeccea Easton working well together down the right hand side with Sophie Burnham backing up giving the team a further chance of scoring the 2nd by Becky Mellor hovering on the left hand post to deflect the ball straight into goal.

The second half resulted in Towcester getting back into the game by starting very strongly giving them their 1st goal. Saints then pulled themselves back into the game with another goal from Becky Mellor. At the final minutes of the game Captain Jannine Sanders gave away a penalty with an awful stick tackle resulting in the opposition getting a short corner and scoring.

MOTM: Eloise Blincow.

DOTD given by the captain (Janine Sanders) has to go to herself!!!

Rugby & EW 4-2 Men’s 6th XI

Goals: Colyn Biddle, Darren Thorpe

A tough weekend for the 6’s with a visit to a strong Rugby side pushing for promotion. It was a hard game with both sides creating chances however in the end the larger squad that Rugby had proved decisive as they scored two late goals to take the points.

Upon entering the dressing room guest players for the day Colyn and Sam Biddle both observed that they significantly raised the average age of the team with Sam feeling like he was a vet in the team and so it was that a reasonably youthful side faced a typically robust Rugby side who played some very free flowing hockey.

Defensive frailties were to cost the 6’s in the end however the team also tested Rugby on a number of occasions, easily amassing more corners than their hosts and managing to convert one of them in the second half to give the chance of a point.

In the end though, Rugby just about edged it on chances created and converted. For the 6’s Phil Adams was Tenacious D in defence alongside Ricard Pryce; making a number of great tackles and Mark Shepherd created problems for Rugby on the right.

Throughout the season there have been some pretty lame reasons for not being available for a game and Dermot Cassidy pitched in this week claiming that he needed the whole day to pack his bags and a get a blue rinse for his Saga holiday next weekend to Portugal. DotD was therefore a slam dunk for the teams token OAP.

In conclusion special thoughts go out to Darren Thorpe who may still be stuck in his car after all his muscle groups seized up. Our thoughts are with his family who all want to use the car.

MotM Phil “Rockstar” Adams
DotD Dermot “Buss Pass” Cassidy

Mens 7th XI 4-1 Nottingham 6th XI