Match Reports from 4th January
Men’s 5th XI 0-0 Rugby & East Warwick 5th XI
The Men’s 5s travelled to Rugby for their first match of 2014. With many regulars unavailable their numbers were bolstered by extras from the 6s and 7s. The large squad meant plenty of subs to account for everyone still being a little full of turkey and mince pies. Ricard Pryce put in an early bid for DOTD by forgetting that he had agreed to play, but not to be outdone Charlie Graham then drove to the clubhouse instead of the pitch.
The game started at a frantic pace with play going end to end for much of the first 15 minutes. Both sides seemed keen to make a good start to the year. The cold wet conditions and slow pitch meant that both teams were struggling to string that many decent passes together. The defence at both ends were easily able to mop up whatever spilled over from the midfield. As the half wore on the pace dropped a little but neither side were able to make any real headway and at half time both teams were yet to score.
With the instruction to play for possession ringing in their ears the 5s set about the second half. Very soon into the half the 5s were pressing Rugby hard back into their own half and creating chances around the D. Alastair Bowden came close to breaking the deadlock early on in the half, but the keeper covered well. Alastair picked up several rebounds but was unable to get the ball past/over the prone keeper. Alex Jeffery was pressing defence hard and found himself on the wrong side of the Rugby right back when he played a big hit up the line. Alex was caught on the forehead by the defenders stick. Play was stopped while first aid was administered and Alex was shipped to the hospital to receive 4 stitches to the wound.
Ricard Pryceplayed like a man possessed after this with a series of determined runs up the right hand side of pitch, yielding a number of chances in the D. The best of these found Owain Mahoney facing an empty goal, but unfortunately took longer to get control of his limbs and stick than the goalkeeper took to recover and the 5s were denied the best chance of the match. Several short corner opportunities were also won with some strong strikes just missing the mark.
5s maintained the pressure throughout the rest of the half. Rugby had several chances to steal a goal against the run of play through some good quick counter attacks but keeper Scott Bashford did a great job keeping the best of these chances out of the goal. Final score 0-0
MOTM: Ricard Pryce for his devastating runs up the right hand side, creating the majority of the chances 5s had during the match.
DOTD: Owain Mahoney – for the missed open goal.
Team: Scott Bashford, Jamie Cochrane, Connor Wright, Rob Scott, Russ Eichman, Paul Denton, Jon Keep, Mark Seward, Ben White, Anthony Walder, Ricard Pryce, Owain Mahoney, Alastair Bowden, Alex Jeffery, Charlie Graham
Men’s 2nd XI 3-3 Rugby & East Warwick 2nd XI
Goals: James Knibb, Stuart Clark, Gareth Parker.
The Men’s 2s hosted Rugby in this mid-season friendly. After a 3 week break over the Christmas period both sides were looking to shake off the rust in preparation to the re-start of the league in 2 weeks’ time. Saints welcomed back George Roberts and Ben Northedge from injury to bolster their defence, however they lost midfielder Sam Mitchell to an injury in the warm up.
Rugby took an early lead against the run of play but Saints undeterred, carried on with the pressure and deservedly drew level through a well worked short corner routine was neatly slotted in by James Knibb. Shortly before half-time Northampton took the lead when a well-worked passage of play was finished off by forward Stuart Clark
The second half started as the first had with Rugby coming back to make it 2-2. But midway through the second half, Gareth Parker found himself in time and space to score what looked like a decisive third goal for Saints.
HOWEVER…in the very last minute of match, Rugby won a short corner after some poor defending by Saints. And they scored with the very last touch of the game to leave it at 3-3.
Squad: Jay Worsfold (GK), Ben Northedge, George Roberts, Greg Summers, Matt Gausden, Dan Whittaker (c), Ashley Smith, Scott Mahoney, Harry Yorke, Gareth Parker, Stuart Clark, James Knibb.