Match Reports from 19th October 2013
Ladies 1stXI 7-3 Leamington Spa
Goals: Brimyard (2), Cooper, Cozens, McCabe (2), Herring
In a beautiful place called ‘Brimland’, Saints Ladies 1st team won the match 20-0. Brim scored a decathlon of hat tricks by stunning reverse strikes into the top corners of the goal, every time (is that right does that equal 20 or 30? Not sure it matters but anyway she got a lot, ok!). Back on earth another team, similar but different won 7-3.
After a troubled arrival, with near deaths, burnouts and visits to the wrong pitch we finally all made it and were back in action. Saints came into the game with high expectations and a reputation to uphold. With 3 wins already on the board the pressure was on. With whole team pressure put onto the opposition early on saints were rewarded with a penalty corner. Having got all the misses out the way at training Brimyard slotted her straight strike to calm the nerves. Relaxation came across the team which led to some end to end hockey with opportunities allowed for the opposition that were effectively dealt with by Mepham and KJ Wilkins and some assertive saves by Claire Leech. The work rate from the midfield was high and led to some great opportunities from the top of the D. Emma ‘Cavey’ Cooper fired the ball in with a deflection off a defender resulting in a second goal. The third goal came from the ball being well worked up the pitch and some persistent play from Herring and Cozens ensured Cozens slotted the rebound home. The score at half time was 3-0. The score line was positive but the technical and coordinated performance was not what the team expected of themselves, an increase in effort and communication was required.
The second half saw Leamington come out with a significant increase in pace and determination for which they were rewarded a short corner. The shot was on target for Brimyards face, which with her only being 1 foot tall meant it was below the backboard and a goal awarded for Leamington! On reflection the umpire agreed that Brimyard was in fact 2 foot tall so it was disallowed! Leamington won a second penalty corner that was initially saved but a second liked shot was played well in the air to take the score to 3:1. An immediate and effective response from Caroline McCabe to score saints 4th goal. She carried the ball from the halfway line to the top of the D for a sharp and accurate strike. An excellent exhibition of individual skill (“if you want the job done, do it yourself and cut out the middle man” Brimyard 2013). Leamington scored again within a few minutes with their own impressive individual performance. Goal number 5 saw McCabe continue her swiftness and carry the ball down the right wing and baseline to be slotted home from the p-spot after a 50m dash by Brimyard (is that 2 or 3 for Brimyard?!). McCabe had clearly been taking it easy in the first half and felt she needed to make up for her slack attitude. She intercepted the ball and carried it in for another well positioned strike to the left post for goal number 6. No middle men or forwards required next week as she will be playing left mid, forward and central attack.
Finally the team started to play together in the last few minutes and sent the ball stick to stick with some precise triangle passing from the defensive D to the penalty spot with Herring (Salmon) beating both her defender and keeper with a well-timed run and deft touch taking the final score line to 7-3.
Captain Brimyard to some time to come out of dream world “Brimland”. Having been a little grouchy at first with the team performance the team finally felt they could fully shatter her dreams and reveal the painful truth that one plus one is only two not three. The hat-trick will have to wait another game. As a result she has been signed up for extra maths tuition (no doubt this will please James for when she has to deal with match fees).
Ladies 2ndXI 3-0 Boots II
Goals: Becky Mellor, Millie Denton, Emily Wilkins
The Ladies 2s went into this weekend’s match looking to extend their winning streak but knew that they would face a tough and well organised opposition in the form of Boots 2s.
The first half was an extremely close run thing with Boots just edging it in terms of possession and chances on goal. Saints played well and absorbed a lot of pressure in defence with Sally Trappit- Jones working tirelessly to organise the defence and keep Boots at bay. Kathryn Wallace had an outstanding 1sthalf, making many great saves and ensuring that the teams went in to half time at 0-0.
Saints regrouped and recharged in the break and came into the 2ndhalf ready to push on and make good on their promise to make Moulton a fortress. The team quickly found their rhythm and overwhelmed Boots with some excellent team play. Millie, Corey and Wilko linked up well to attack down the left while Becky Mellor and Claire Noble combined well on the right. Saints finally got their breakthrough early into the half asMellor slotted away a lovely ball from Millie, to no longer be dubbed the ‘only striker never to have scored a goal!’
A tense 10 minutes followed in which Boots tried everything they could to break through Saints solid defence as led by Man of the Match Trappitt. Saints remained composed under pressure and played some great attacking Hockey that resulted in Millie scoring a superb goal to consolidate Saints lead. Unsatisfied with a 2-0 lead, Saints continued to press forward, winning a succession of penalty corners. At the third attempt, Corey lined up to Flick it into the top corner. She thought better of it as the injection came in and slipped it to Wilko who fired it into the bottom corner to wrap up the game at 3-0 and keep up the race with Corey for top goal scorer.
After an outstanding 2ndhalf performance and some equally outstanding side-line support, the ladies finished a table topping day off with the traditional ‘circle of love’ and post-match cakes provided by Laura Thomas. DOD was awarded to Captain Claire Sibley for forgetting her skirt closely followed by Nic Holton’sbanshee cry mid game.
Bring on Barton!!
Men’s 1st XI 3-1 North Stafford 1st XI
Goals: Alex Press, Stuart Clark, Ben Scott
The 1s made it 2 wins in 2 games with this scrappy but comfortable result at home to North Stafford. Forwards Alex Press and Stuart Clark, along with skipper Ben Scott were the scorers. Next week sees the 1s travel to Harborne.
Men’s 2nd XI 2-6 Leek 2nd XI
Goals: Tom Hewitt, Scott Mahoney.
The 2s put in a disappointing result away to Leek on Saturday afternoon.
After a promising opening ten minutes, Saints fell behind to a swift counter-attack by the opposition. The following 15 minutes followed the same pattern as they were caught out on 2 further occasions to some quick breaks giving Leek a comfortable 3 goal lead. In general it was a half to forget as Saints were lacklustre in possession and careless at the back.
The second half couldn’t have got off to a worst possible start as Leek scored a fourth after only 3 minutes. At this point Saints suddenly awoke! They began to play their passing brand of hockey, short, sharp and swift. This resulted in a 15 minute spell of sustained pressure on Leek, leading to 2 deserved goals from 2 short corner routines. Tom Hewitt and Scott Mahoney getting their names on the score-sheet. Bringing the score back to 4-2, it looked as though the game could go to the wire, but as they pressed for further goals they were caught at the back allowing Leek 2 further goals and a 6-2 victory.
Whilst it was overall a disappointing game, there were a few highlights for Saints, including the impressive 2s debut performance by Jack Knight who looked threatening up front, and indeed was very unlucky not to get on the score-sheet.
MOTM: Sam Mitchell for leading the fight-back in midfield, although as he left straight after the game the MOTM award was shared by joint second place Matt Gausden and Jack Knight.
DOTD: Ben Northedge for his stunning own goal.
Squad: Jay Worsfold (GK), Ben Northedge, Matt Gausden, Ally Rose, Chris Reid (c), Dan Whittaker, Jack Pogson, Tom Hewitt, Scott Mahoney, James Knibb, Jack Knight, Greg Summers, Sam Mitchell.
Men’s 4th XI 7-4 Edgbaston 4th XI
Goals: Gary Paterson, Ed Arnold, Lloyd Atkinson (2), Rob Tee (2), OG.
Saints aware that their chances of doing well in the premier division depend on making the home matches count – started really brightly against Edgbaston. It was no surprise when they took the lead – but definitely the scorer was a surprise!! Gary Paterson who has scored as many goals in the last decade as there have been sightings of Lord Lucan – tucked away a well worked short corner. In fact after scoring the opener the Saints defence went to sleep and two individual errors resulted against the run of play Edgbaston going 2-1 up. Saints stormed back to equalise through Ed Arnold, but almost immediately threw the lead away again through careless defending. With 5 minutes to go before half time – Saints pulled level through a Lloyd Atkinson short corner and on the stroke of half time Atkinson converted a penalty flick – given for an Edgbaston foot on the line .
4-3 up at half time Saints talk centred around being tighter defensively and keeping more control of the ball – with Simon Chapman gaining control in the midfield with Harry Yorke and Paterson surprisingly it worked for the first 10 minutes of the half making Edgbaston start to get more anxious about getting into the game. Skipper Rob Tee calmly tucked away a chance to make it 5-3 and instead of trying to defend the 2 goal cushion (as they had done unsuccessfully against Cannock) Saints kept pushing forward. The reward for this enterprise came with further goals through an Edgbaston own goal and then Rob Tee touching in a goal bound shot from Chapman. At 7-3 the game was over and those fans who were caught leaving the ground early missed a scrappy Edgbaston goal on full time from a short corner. A great effort from the Saints, entertaining game played and umpired well and in a really good spirit.
MOTM: James Ruse – solid performance at the back
DOTD – Lloyd Atkinson – lycra boy is born !!
Men’s 7th XI 2-0 North Notts 5th XI
Goals: Rob Frost, Nigel Riches
Having struggled to raise a team for the last two weeks this was a belated start to the 2013/14 season for the Men’s 7s. Having pulled together 11 players the 7s travelled to North Notts for their first league fixture. The game started with plenty of action between both ends, with the 7s making great use of Matthew Jensons pace on the right had side with support from Charlie Harte in midfield putting the opposition D under early pressure. North Notts were countering with some heavy hit long balls from their defensive line. Colyn Biddle was marshalling the defence to mop up a lot of the pressure created by the long balls. Both teams had some early chances but were kept honest by the defenders.
Another great run from Matthew Jenson and Charlie Harte sent a pass to Alastair Bowden on the baseline who then sent a fantastic cross back to the p-spot for Rob Frost to coolly sweep into the goal. Having got 1-0 up the 7s lost their grip on the game for a period, with midfield chasing play and getting caught out by the long ball tactics. Some panicked play put the defence under pressure, but with some good solid tackles and some good work from Dean Gibson kept North Notts off the score sheet. The 7s calmed down and started to get back into the game and another foray up the right lead to Alastair once again sending a ball across the face of the goal. Nigel Riches picked up the pass and slotted it past the keeper.
At half time 7s were told to make sure we held the midfield properly and cut out the long ball passes that had been giving the defence a hard time in the first half. The midfield carried this through well and we played much of the half at the North Notts end. The opposition were working hard to cut out the play on our right, which gave Owain Mahoney plenty of space on the left to start making a nuisance of himself by blasting some great crosses through towards Rob Frost, who was unfortunately denied the final touch to claim his second goal.
Not wanting to be left out of the action the defenders decided to make things more interesting for themselves. Colyn Biddle very loudly (was audible in Mansfield town centre!) explained to one of the opposition that it was his foot that had led to them gaining a free hit. The umpire didn’t agree with Colyn’s view and explained this by showing him a green card.
Martin Skinnerhad a couple of passes back to him and was put under pressure by the young North Notts forwards. A slip from Martin gave North Notts a clear chance that was fortunately cleared by Dean Gibson.
In the dying minutes of the game Tom Woodhouse decided he too wanted some action and he made a determined charge up pitch to create space for Charlie Harte, and then picked up the ball and sent another cross begging in front of the goal. This time the North Notts defence cleared the ball and the final whistle went leaving the 7s very pleased with a 2-0 win.
MOTM: Matthew Jenson – great attacking play throughout the game
DOTD: Colyn Biddle – green card
Team: Dean Gibson (GK), Tom Woodhouse, Colyn Biddle, Martin Skinner, Jon Keep, Alastair Bowden, Owain Mahoney, Charlie Harte, Matthew Jenson, Rob Frost, Nigel Riches.