Match Reports - 04 March 2006
-
- Fixture
- Ashford, 4th March 06
- Result
- 2 - 5 LOSS ( A Turnill, K Kirkham )
- Venue
- Away
- Report
Sutton Valence Men’s 1st XI crashed to a 5-2 defeat away to Ashford in the Kent/Sussex Regional Division, a result that could prove decisive in the race for the play-off placing.
Valence started slowly and soon found themselves behind when a loose ball was pounced upon by the Ashford forward, before crossing for a far post finish. Ashford continued to press and scored again from a rebound after a penalty-corner strike. And Valence’s misery was compounded two minutes later when, having surrendered possession deep in their own half, the Ashford number 10 swiftly moved the ball atop of the area before finishing on the reverse side. Some modicum of possession and territorial advantage was eventually gained by Valence, but their forward play could not create a clear opening, and possible way back into the game. With half-time approaching, Valence suffered a further blow when an Ashford left wing cross eluded Nick Worsfold on the far post and again presented a simple finish to the late arriving attacker. Valence found themselves 4-0 down at half-time.
Into the second-half, and Valence awoke to find some foothold in the game, harassing and haranguing in midfield and showing greater will up front. But still passes went astray and significant pressure on the Ashford defence could not be sustained. With Valence pushing forward, any turn-over of possession was always likely to lead to a numbers advantage for the Ashford attacks. And so tells the story of the 5th goal, Ashford bearing down on goal, halted only by a Steve Back foul – with ensuing yellow card - and Ashford deflecting home the resultant penalty-corner.
Valence eventually showed the watching crowd a glimpse of their own attacking prowess, passing the ball quickly and accurately, for Andy Turnill to apply the finishing touch to a flowing move. And further attacking endeavours by Valence were rewarded with a penalty-stroke, converted by Kevin Kirkham, for 5-2. But with only ten minutes remaining, Valence’s hopes were surely already diminished, and so it proved as the final whistle blew, but not before Valence’s Chris Back saw yellow for a rash tackle.
The result sees Ashford move level on points with Valence and jumping above Valence into the crucial second spot thanks to a superior goal difference. Both teams have four games remaining, in an end to the season that looks likely to go right down to the wire.
-
- Fixture
- Horsham, 4th March 06
- Result
- 3 - 5 LOSS ( B Tragett, A Lee, M Shelton )
- Venue
- Home
- Report
Valence 2s find themselves deeper in the mire following this disappointing 5-3 defeat to fellow strugglers Horsham.
It could have all been very different if Sutton had turned up for the beginning of both halves. Some poor marking and possibly defending too deep saw Horsham go 3-0 up in the first ten minutes. There was no further damage in the first half as the evergreen Steve Parker marshalled the back line and Valence nearly pulled one back through Mikey Shelton. A good save from the Horsham keeper kept out his clever deflection.
The second half began in much the same vein as the first with Horsham quickly adding another two to their tally, assisted by some fortuitous bobbles in the D.Valence then collectively rolled up their sleeves and started to show some pride in their performance. Ben Tragett drove home a low powerful shot into the left-hand corner of the goal, completing a good team move. At this stage it looked little more than a consolation but continued Valence pressure soon led to another goal. This time, from a short corner Andy Lee flicked the ball into the empty net as ‘the Rhino’ acquainted himself with the Horsham keeper. Man of the Match Michael Shelton then poached a third with ten minutes to go and Valence sniffed an upset of Istanbul proportions. More goal-mouth incident followed with a Horsham defender clearing Richard Dickenson’s shot from seemingly behind the line and a crude challenge from the Horsham keeper on Devlin could easily have resulted in a penalty stroke and an early bath for the goalkeeper. However it was not to be although Horsham appeared mightily relieved to escape with the points. Tempers flared at the final whistle as Devlin and the Horsham keeper continued their earlier discussions and Turnill looked to add his opinion to the debate.
As we come down to business end of the season Valence can still escape relegation, especially as they still have two games against sides below them. To do so they will need to play for longer periods than they did in this match. At least they can look forward to the return next week of inspirational captain Bob Bartlett.
- Team
- Al Burt, Richard Turnill, Steve Parker, Will Hoffman, Mark Leader, Ben Tragett, Andy Lee (capt), Richard Dickenson, Andy Devlin, Michael Shelton, Rob Ife, John Edmed
- MoM
- Michael Shelton
-
- Fixture
- Cobdown, 4th March 06
- Result
- 1 - 0 WIN ( B Bartlett )
- Venue
- Away
- Report
Sutton Valences young 3rd team managed to control territory and possession in the first half but failed to convert a number of good opportunities in the first half. In spite of some good moves, the final strike on goals were not successful.
The second half saw control change to domination, with the Cobdown goalkeeper being the best player on the pitch, while Suttons keeper did not touch the ball at all. However a well taken goal from Bartlett early in the second half meant Sutton finished 1 – 0 winners. Max Ife was man of the match – making excellent passes and attacks on the left hand side of the pitch.
- Team
- Crisman; Bouwens; Ed Goacher; Max Ife; Paine; C Atkins;
H Atkins; Dow; Clarke; Lynn; F. McVarish; Bartlett
Umpire: A McVarish - MoM
- Max Ife
-
- Fixture
- Old Williamsonians, 4th March 06
- Result
- 3 - 0 WIN ( R Humphrey 2, T Auger )
- Venue
- Home
- Report
- With players arriving nearly half an hour late for
the warm-up, the 4th team predictably started poorly in their crucial
game against Old Wills. Right from the off, Valence were under pressure
as the OW’s second team striker caused all sorts of problems
in the D. Despite some poor decisions by the OW’s umpire gifting
his team a string of short corners, the defence managed to hold firm.
Slowly but surely, the midfield started to get into the game and play some good, simple hockey. Chances came as OW’s struggled to deal with Chris Stille’s pace down the wing – Tony Auger and Rupert Humphrey both going close. Valence eventually got the breakthrough as Ben Palmer caught OW’s napping with a quick free hit and an unmarked Rupert struck home from the top of the D. This seemed to rock OW’s and Valence went onto dominated the rest of the half. Everyone was working hard and only some fine saves by their Keeper kept the score at 1 – 0.
The second half began with Sutton pushing forward and pinning OW’s back in their own half. However, with no subs Valence soon had to take a breather and this allowed OW’s more time on the ball. No problem though, as the opposition’s young midfield held onto the ball too long and continually ran into the defensive brick wall of Kyle Henderson, James Wilmott and Stuart ‘call me Steve’ Edmed. All were playing brilliantly together and allowed the rest of the team time to get their second wind.
Suitably refreshed, the team upped the work rate again and a second goal looked inevitable. The OW’s keeper was having a fantastic game, but could do nothing to stop Rupert and Tony from grabbing two quick goals. The game was now won, but there was still a clean sheet to maintain and the boys at the back worked hard to keep OW’s from denying them their well earned Fantasy points.
Without the OW’s keeper putting in such a good performance, the score at the final whistle could have been in double figures. However, in the pub afterwards (as one of the OW’s players helped himself to all of the pies) the talk was of a job well done and the possible title decider against Holcombe, on the last day of the season.
- Team
- R Sharp; K Henderson; J Wilmott; S Edmed; B Grabham; D Thompson; C Henderson; B Palmer; R Humphrey; T Auger; C Stille. Umpire A Devlin
- MoM
- Stuart Edmed
-
- Fixture
- Old Bordenians, 4th March 06
- Result
- 4 - 7 LOSS ( P Bramall 2, S Sunnocks, Guest Player )
- Venue
- Report
This game was unfortunately heading for trouble from the start with two of Sutton Valence’s influential players cancelling at the last moment due to unforeseen problems.
With a team of only 9, two of whom were new to the 5ths, it was a surprise that they managed to take an early lead through a Phil Bramall strike. This followed some good interplay between Steve Sunnocks and Phil Bramall. Even more surprising was that this was quickly doubled with the same pair providing the work again - Sunnocks scoring this time. However, the opposition's greater team performance took over and they gradually started to run the game. By half time they had equalised.
The second half saw some tame defensive play from Sutton Valence and they conceded some very weak goals. They did however score two more through Bramall and a young guest player from Old Bordenians.
The final score was a disappointing 7 : 4. Sutton Valence hope next week to see a return to their normal team.
Man of the Match: Dougie Muir with another mature performance.- MoM
- Dougie Muir
-
- Fixture
- Faversham, 4th March 06
- Result
- 8 - 1 Win ( Stamp 3, Pares 2, Lacey, Tragett, N Leggat )
- Venue
- Home
- Report
After their only defeat of the season so far being to Faversham on grass, Sutton Valence had something to prove. This is exactly what they did with a convincing 8 – 1 win over Faversham on their second attempt.
The game began with numerous Valence counter attacks on goal which created several opportunities for Holly Stamp to score three goals in quick succession. These goals inspired Valence to step up their game, but Faversham responded by creating an 11 player defence which, despite many opportunities, only allowed Georgie Pares to get her name on the score sheet before half time.
The second half saw a renewed enthusiasm from Faversham. On occasions this took Valence defence by surprise as they had to battle hard to get back behind the ball to defend 3 on 1’s with Riona Evenden; Valence keeper. In particular Natalie Higginson showed true grit and determination as she was often the last lady defending these intermittent attacks from Faversham. Unfortunately after some clever passing Faversham were awarded a penalty flick; which they immediately converted into a goal. This did not dampen Valence’s spirits and they responded with tremendous teamwork which resulted in a goal from Penny Tragett on the penalty spot and another from Sarah Lacey. Nicola Leggat also took the advantage to push into the attacking circle and strike a ferocious shot in the corner of the goal. Player of the match Georgie Pares’ impressive strike from a short corner was the icing on the cake for Valence as they proved themselves to be the better team with a dominating 8 – 1 victory on the final whistle.
- Team
- Riona Evenden; Georgie Pares; Emma Donkersley; Penny Tragett; Sarah Leggat; Sarah Lacey; Emma Dickenson; Natalie Higginson ; Anna Kish; Holly Stamp; Nicola Leggatt.
- MoM
- Georgie Pares
-
- Fixture
- Holcombe, 4th March 06
- Result
- 5 – 1 WIN ( Margaret Turner 3, Mel Russell-Vick, Louisa Crispin )
- Venue
- Home
- Report
- This week’s game against Holcombe began well
for the Sutton Russets. Our marking was extremely tight leaving Holcombe
little room to pass the ball. We maintained the majority of possession
in the first half of the match. A pass from the right wing into Mel
Russell-Vick lead to the first goal after she cunningly scooped it
in with her reverse stick. The second goal came from Louisa Crispin
as she managed to sneak the ball in past the keeper on a penalty corner.
In the second half, Holcombe placed much more pressure on us as we started to lose possession and our passing became sloppy. However, Nicola Andrews made some great drives down the right wing and was able to feed the ball to a well positioned Mel, who smacked the ball across the goal for Margaret Turner to tap in from the left. Some strategic passing from Caroline Lawton lead to Margaret scoring two further goals, thus making that her third hat-trick of the season. This week Player of the Match has been awarded to Claire Matthews for her excellent defending. She made some brilliant clearances and ensured the ball did not get past her. Tilly Lindars made several fine saves in goal to keep us in the game. In the very last minute Holcs scored due to the Russets letting their guard down; already knowing that three points were in the bag.
- Team
- Tilly Lindars, Sam Bingham, Zoë Wright, Carol
Turner, Claire Matthews, Nicola Andrews, Naomi Martin, Liz Talbot,
Louisa Crispin, Caroline Lawton, Margaret Turner, Mel Russell-Vick,
Laura Nesfield.
Umpire: Peter Davies - MoM
- Claire Matthews
-
- Fixture
- Chelmsford, 4th March 06
- Result
- 1 - 5 LOSS ( B Sagrott )
- Venue
- Away
- Report
Whilst this was a better performance by Sutton Valence than the previous week, despite the score, but the team did not really begin to put attacks together until the second half, as they allowed themselves to be pinned back in their own half in the first half of the game.
The good effort of Valence’s defence, Dave Britten in goal and Dave Barton, Andy Beavis and particularly Peter Jackson, restricted the Chelmsford forwards to only one goal in the first half, despite the pressure.
Curiously, in the second half, when Valence started to get more ball out, bringing their forwards into play more aggressively, Chelmsford got four more. This belies the balance of the game in this period where Valence had several opportunities that broke down on the accuracy of the final pass, or clipped the post to bounce the wrong way, as Mike Mallett led the charge. Only one of the short corners won was converted – a fine strike from Bob Sagrott. With better accuracy, and a bit of luck, the score could have been substantially different.With three or more regular defence players out this week, this was not a bad performance and hopefully can be built on in the weeks to come. Keeper Dave Britten has threatened to continue growing his beard until the team wins. The team can ill-afford having him failing to save a shot through tripping over it, so the pressure is on! Man of the Match: Shared between Bob Sagrott and Stuart Bates for their mid-field work.
- Team
- Britten; Barton; Beavis; Sagrott; Jackson; Bates; Mole (Capt); Worsfold; Evans; Mallett; Linaker. Umpire: Stuart Weedon
- MoM
- Bob Sagrott and Stuart Bates