Match Reports from Sat 4th & Sun 5th November
Men’s 1st XI 1-4 North Staffs 1st XI
Goals: Cam Arnold
An early start and a game of what might have been, was unfortunately the story of the day for the Mens first team. Saints handed first team debuts to Matt Smart and Jonny Moore and the team started brightly, creating several early chances which they failed to convert. These included a missed open goal from someone who will remain nameless, after good work by Scott Mahoney down the right wing. Ben Scott was also unlucky to see a well directed short corner bounce back off the post. As these chances came and went, North Staffs grew into the game and as is so often the case, Saints were then caught out on the break conceding a short corner, which was initially well kept out by stops from Dan Bentley and Paul Madeley, only for the ball to be turned over and the opening goal scored after an unsuccessful clearance. To add insult to injury, Saints then conceded again, this time directly from a short corner just before the break.
Strong words at half time from captain Gareth Parker, produced a good reaction at the start of the second half and Saints halved the deficit quickly. Some good play between the skipper and Dan Bentley down the right, created the chance for Cam Arnold, who cooley slotted a crossed ball home with a first time shot. Saints then applied the pressure but further chances came and went, including a succession of short corners, before the home side were awarded a penalty flick. Step up Paul Madeley however, who guessed the right way to make a superb stop and keep the Saints in it.
Saints continued to push for the equaliser but as they did so, inevitably the gaps also started to appear and with around 10 minutes to go North Staffs took a hold of the game. Saints conceded a third and then fourth goal from open play, as they increasingly looked to make riskier, forward passes which were turned over and left the side unable to react. Final score then 4-1 to North Staffs, with the margin of the win perhaps slightly flattering but Saints cannot argue with the result and must work hard this week as they attempt to get back to winning ways next week, at home to Warwick University.
MOM: Nick Whorton (Assured performance at the back). DOD: Cam Arnold (Continues to remain nameless).
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Men’s 2nd XI 4-1 Melton
Goals: Simon Chapman, Ant Czaicki, Charlie Harte, Ed Arnold
Practise Makes Perfect??
At a wet and windy Moulton College, the 2nd XI hosted a Melton side who like Saints were challenging at the top end of the table.
The first half started off as a cagey affair with neither side quite taking control of the game.
Gradually as the half wore on Saints began to dictate the play and were moving the ball around quite nicely without making real threat on the Melton goal.
Somewhat against the run of play the away side scored as a long hopeful ball evaded 3 defenders to fall to a grateful Melton forward who slotted the ball in.
- down at half-time.
The second half saw a more than positive response from Northampton as they laid siege in Melton’s half.
The ball was once again getting moved around nicely, but this time with far more pace and direction to it. The pressure told as Saints won a series of short corners. Despite the heavy practise at training on Tuesday the routines weren’t quite paying off but thankfully 1 corner finally got converted with Simon Chapman as always being in the right place at the right time to convert from close range.
Minutes later and another corner was converted, this time through the unlikely candidate Ant Czaicki!
With the pressure mounting further Saints got a decisive third through the improved play of Charlie Harte who neatly collected the ball and finished from another penalty corner.
With 5 minutes left Melton went for broke, taking their keeper off and replacing him with a kicking back. Wising up to the man advantage the away side had, Saints wisely held onto possession in these closing minutes and actually grabbed a 4th right at the end as a Richard Whorton cross found grateful forward Ed Arnold to slap home from close range.
MOTM: Richard Whorton
DOTD: Jack Zoers-Benstead
Squad: Tom Pedler (GK), Ant Czaicki, Richard Whorton, Matt Gausden, Chris Reid, Simon Chapman, Dave Wennington, Charlie Harte, Adam Hall, Athiq Thamby (c), Jack Zoers-Benstead, Scott Hinsley, Ed Arnold
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Men’s 3rd XI 5-1 Berkswell and Balsall common
Goals: Hillier, Rose, Chambers, Walding, Ward
Saints arrived in Coventry knowing they needed to improve on last weeks scraped victory vs Belper… Whereas Berkswell had their tails high after a comprehensive beating of Nottingham, Berkswell’s had pushback, Dan Rose and Mason attacked their centre midfield from the off immediately winning the ball and knocking it back to the midfield pairing of Macca and Nigel knocking it around making Berkswell chase the ball. After some excellent passing, a miss trap on the right-hand side led to a Berkswell counter which lead to them winning a short corner. A corner that didn’t really challenge the saint’s keeper Pete Adey which he kicked away with ease putting saints on the counter. Held up on halfway, the midfield caught up and saints launched a promising attack, with the ball reaching Dan Rose on the right of the D hitting it on his reverse, and forcing the keeper to make an excellent save to his right getting the slightest of touches with his stick. Long corner. Saints get it into the D and win a short corner. Toby Ward injected which went to Jason Hillier who shot which the keeper saves, it comes back to Toby Ward whos shot deflected off the keeper and tapped in on the back post by Mason Walding for his first goal for the 3s with great reactions. 1-0 after 10 mins. From the pushback Berkswell launched an attack, which was stamped out by the saints’ defence. The ball went loose with an excellent reverse stick by Elliot Deeks found Dan Rose and suddenly he was 1 on 1 with the keeper. He was wiped out by the keeper, but Toby Ward was there to score, but surely still a yellow card? no card was shown but saints were 2-0 up after 12 mins. The rest of the half was just waves of Saints attack but nothing came of the dominance from saints.,half time team talk was about positioning in the attacking circle and getting the ball wide.
The second half, saints started quickly grabbing an early goal through Dan Rose set up beautifully with great inter play between Toby and Elliot creating a 2 on 1 with Dan and Toby vs the keeper, who was by far their MOM. Wave after wave attack came from Saints but were lacking the composure to finish the chances. Saints won multiple shot corners with the keeper making lots of excellent saves but made 1 mistakes from a Jason Hillier strike which went between his legs as he hit the floor.
Lots of chances fell for Saints with Phil Bridges making excellent runs and creating plenty of chances. He created the 5 goal from Saints when he ran in from the 25 hitting the baseline and cutting back putting round the keeper with Simon Chambers lurking at the back post to score a superb team goal which started from the back working our way patiently to reach the D.Saints then fell asleep, with Jason on the bench saints were left thin at the back, after Steve Morris made an excellent run with the ball, as no one was covering leaving Simon stranded creating a 4 on 1 giving Pete Adey little chance to keep out the opportunity for Berkswell. With not much time left on the clock, the game ended 5-1 with Saints coming away from the game with confidence as they have now won 5 from 5. But now they know they must be more clinical if they are going to have a good result at home to Leicester who are 2nd in the league with Saints top.
All support will be greatly received for the 3pm start on the waterbase
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Men’s 5th XI 0-11 Loughborouth Town
Saints took to the pitch safe in the knowledge that they had a goalie for the visit of Loughborough Town Vs. Maybe they would have done better without.
With an experimental defensive line up of Paul “I’m Really a Striker” Vaughan, Julian “I’m Really a Defender But I’m Only Three feet Tall” Banks, Toby “I’m Prone to Thumb Injuries” Clifton and The Cat in The Hat, goalie Joe Cliffe didn’t stand much of a chance.
From the moment Vaughan passed to the opposition to score in the first two minutes, the writing was on the wall. Two more goals followed in quick succession, Toby Clifton broke his thumb and the pattern of the match was set, with midfielders failing to track back and the rookie defence chasing shadows. 0-5 at half time and the home team were handed a stern telling-off by Captain Keep.
In the second half Saints played a bit better, as Patrick “Alarm Clock” Rowntree finally arrived on the pitch, and The Cat in The Hat removed his headgear to reveal Dan Toman underneath; it took a good ten or twelve minutes before the oppo got their sixth.
Three more goals in quick succession, mostly set up by Ewan Hughes-Rowlands (his words, not mine), ended any chance of a comeback.
Some Saints attacks of note included a fine one-handed through-ball from Henry Pinney to Jordan Francis who got tangled up in his own attempted reverse flick, and a duffed shot from Alex Jeffrey were about as close as the home team got to scoring.
Defensive heroics were more the order of the day, as Rowntree bent space and time to sprint back into his D before he’d even left it, and Francis’ desperate rugby tackle on Loughborough’s centre forward.
Vaughan struggled on at centre-back, and Keep’s expletives got more profane, but there was nothing he could do to prevent the score hitting double figures as the whistle finally blew at 0-11.
Asked after the match about his new role in Defence, Paul Vaughan said, “I’ll do it, but I don’t have like it”. An away trip to Burton next weekend should be a bundle of fun then.
Man of the Match; Olley “What’s Under My Dad’s Raincoat?” Fosbury
DOTD; The Cat in the Hat (Due to an administrative error).
Attendance; 15
Weather; Surprisingly mild after a wet morning
Teas; Chilli
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Men’s Masters 1-5 Harborne Masters
Goals: Richard Darby
The Saints Masters travelled to top midlands club Harborne for a second round National masters cup match.
Saints started brightly and had much the better of the opening exchanges missing 2 open goals and not taking advantage of several one on ones with the keeper. Harborne started to get more into a rhythm as the first half moved on and grabbed a first half lead just before half time.
At half time the talk was ball pace, dont give the ball away cheaply – sure enough some soft passing early in the second half coughed the ball up and the potent Harborne strike force doubled the lead.
The Saints continued to create chances and with 15 minutes left Richard Darby halved the lead…game on.
Unfortunately the euphoria of being back in the game did not last long when some slack marking allowed Harborne to restore a 2 goal cushion. As the clock ticked down Saints poured forward still creating but not taking chances – Harborne took full advantage with 2 further late goals,
The final score of 5-1 did not reflect what was an entertaining game played in the right spirit between 2 strong masters sides !!
(Awards as voted for in Cromwell cottage)
Man of the Match: Pete Adey
DOTD: Max Darby…..see open goal comment !!
Team: Pete Adey, Jim Phipps, Jason Hillier, Davo Daverson. Steve Morris, Fluff Parker, Simon Chambers, Simon Stringer, Pete Elis, Macca Mcilwane, Trevor Fidler, Richard Darby, Jez Deeks, Max Darby, Mark Hawkins,
Team Sponsor TGI Hockey
Photographer: Elliot Deeks