Match Reports 12 January 2008

Fixture

Herne Bay, 12 January 08

Result

1 - 4 LOSS ( B Angel )

Venue

Away

Report

Sutton Valence made the trip to Herne Bay for their first competitive match after the Christmas break and came away empty handed but the score line does not reflect the way the game panned out. Valence should have taken the lead in the first minute but somehow the striker struck the post and Bay punished them when they scored with their first short corner. Valence again struck the same post through the same player who will remain nameless from an even easier opportunity.

Then came a turning point in the game, with Valence pressing for the equaliser the umpire from nowhere awarded Bay a penalty stroke after an small infringement at the top of the D with the striker facing away from goal. Even the Bay players looked bemused. The stroke was despatched and Valence went into half time 2-0 down. Valence struck back mid way through the second half when Angel swept in after good work from Morgan. An equaliser should of arrived but Chris Back wasted a good chance 2 minutes later. Bay went straight up the other end and despatched another disputed goal from a short corner. Bay struck a fourth with yet another disputed goal after a blatant foot from the forward the Valence players stopped but the umpire allowed play to go on and the forward duly dispatched the ball past the keeper. This made the score 4-1 and there was no way back for Valence.

Valence should have been awarded a stroke of their own when Back was about to shoot but was tripped from behind but the umpire only awarded a short corner this time. ???????????????

Team

Croucher, Worsfold, Willson, S.Back, C.Back, Lampp, Morgan, Angel, Johnson, Turnill, Fraser, Bray
Fixture

Herne Bay, 12 January 08

Result

5 - 1 WIN ( A Devlin 2, F McVarish, J Edmed, B Lewell )

Venue

Home

Report

Sutton Valence 2nd team opened the second period of the season against Herne Bay 2nds following a rather lengthy lay off for Christmas.

The game started well for Valence, pressuring the Herne Bay midfield into making a number of errors but failed to capitalise. Herne Bay were well organised and if it was not for man of the match Steve Parker they could well have opened the scoring. Valence took the lead after 15 minutes with Freddy’ Mcfly’ McVarish picking up a good pass from Ben Lewell in the attacking zone and coolly putting it past the Herne Bay keeper. Herne Bay came back at Valence and created a number of good chances only for goalie Al Burt to brush aside. With Herne Bay searching for an equalizer the game started to open up. With a good passing move from the defence to the forward line, Andy Devlin managed to scramble home his first goal of the afternoon. The score line remained 2 nil until the break.

After a good team talk from Captain Andrew Lee, Valence re-emerged ready to pick up from where they left off the first half. From the whistle it took no time all for Valence to score their third goal of the afternoon. With the midfield of Andrew Lee and Bob Bartlett breaking down the Herne Bay attacks a well worked passing move ended with Andy Devlin slotting home his second goal of the afternoon. Herne Bay did not give up and were starting to retain much ball possession deep into Valence’s half, but with Herne Bay over committing, a counter attack was well converted by Ben Lewell to open his account for the afternoon. Herne Bay’s hard work was reward when they won possession in Valances half, leaving Valence keeper no chance. Valence pick themselves up and scored their fifth and final goal, with a clever pass from Ben Lewell, John Edmed hit home his opening goal of the season.

Valence can be very pleased with a winning start to 2008 against a well established Herne Bay 2nd XI and therefore thoroughly enjoyed the good hospitality after the game. Valence will hopefully take their winning start to their next game at home to Horsham 2nd XI.

Team

A Burt, R Ife, R Turnill, S Parker, J Edmed, B Bartlett, B Tragett, A Devlin, F McVarish, A Lee, B Lewell, M Ife

MoM

Steve Parker
Fixture

Folkestone, 12 January 08

Result

1 - 1 DRAW ( C Stille )

Venue

Home

Report

The second game back after the Christmas break and the team were confident after a good draw with the top of the table, Kings Alleyns. Now we had the bottom of the table, Folkestone, but we didn’t reckon on the return after England duties from Dynamo Daryll. But we had a reasonable team out this week, so we entered the game with energy (but rubbish ball skills and passing) Valence had most of the play and most of the time the ball was up the Folkestone end. After a clumsy mistake by the defence, Folkestone had a short corner, it ended in a well executed goal, straight through Sharpy’s legs.

Valence then became slightly more focused and most of the play was on the opposition’s goal. Folkestone got some counter attacks and Sharpy made some crucial saves to keep the score at only 1-0.

Valence were getting a few short corners but the forwards couldn’t convert them into goals so we went into half time with heads slightly down, but an inspiring team talk from Bleader raised spirits and motivated us to get a goal.

After the break, the passing was still poor but we hade a tremendous amount of pressure on Folkestone and finally some quality play and shot from James Clarke was stolen and slotted home within 10 of the restart by Chris Stille. This raised our heads and the tempo and quality of the last 20 minutes was a lot better, with passing and ball skills a lot better.

We had many chances and Bert Bouwens managed to miss a shocker which could have put us in the lead, but lets not blame Bert for it, he cant help it.

The game ended a good game and even James Clarke managed to keep out of the spot light with the umpires.

Team

Rob Sharp, Hamish Dow, JOSH DAVIES (the best), Phil Beech, Callum Atkins, Alex McCrea, Chris Stille, James Clarke, Mark Leader, Ed Lewell, Bert Bouwens, Will Fuller.

MoM

Phil Beech
Fixture

Maidstone, 12 January 08

Result

0 - 2 LOSS

Venue

Report

The game strated at a lively pace, which was made all the more interesting as one side of the pitch was still frozen and playing more like an ice rink. Maidstoe were fielding a slightly changed team from the game before Christmas but were still very strong. Despoite having the majority of the play Maidstone only carved out a few clear chances. Young Oliver Aldridge in goal made some good saves or put pressure on the attacker and forced errors. The defining moment of the first half was a save from a penalty flick, just before half time.

The second half was more even and Valence began to create some reasonable chances, in between the heroic efforts of the defence. The match seemed to be heading towards a nil-nil draw when Valence lost a player due to injury. Before the side could regroup Maidstone attacked through the middle and with a superior number of free players sciored. Valence pushed for an equalizer but were caught out again and conceded a second.

This was a good run around and the team looks forward to the league game next week.

Team

Oliver Aldridge, David Barton, Mike Nettle, Iain Simmons, Richard Ashness, Phil Barton, Danny Grace, Phil Bramall, Dan Armstrong, Dan Armstrong, Jack Davies, Umpire: Stuart Weedon

MoM

Oliver Aldridge
Fixture

Marden, 12 January 08

Result

5 - 5 DRAW ( Dewart 3, Kish, Leggat )

Venue

Away

Report

Sutton Valence Ladies were away at Marden for a mid season friendly this saturday. Despite being only 10 players, Marden started well and dominated play in the first half. A strong attacking presence by Marden took its toll on the Valence defenders and Marden found themselves with 4 goals at half time. A cross in from Sarah Lacey was neatly tucked away by Lauren Dewart to get Valence on the scoreline, but the visitors had a lot to do in the second half.

Marden were visibly more tired in the second half and Valence took full advantage. Nikki Leggat opened the scoring with a fantastic penalty corner strike and Lauren Dewart and Anna Kish converted two more well worked penalty corner routines. Marden did manage to socre one more in the second half, but a Dewart hattrick secured the draw at the final whistle.

This was a tough game and great defending by Riona Evenden and Zoe Wright on the line kept the scoreline level.

Team

Riona Evenden, Nicola Sarre, Zoe Wright, Caroline Lawton, Alex Auger, Emma Donkersley (c), Nikki Leggat, Anna Kish, Lauren Dewart, Georgie Pares, Sarah Lacey
Fixture

Holcombe, 12 January 08

Result

4 – 4 DRAW (M Turner 3, S Simmonds )

Venue

Away

Report

Russets got more than they bargained for this week when facing Holcombe in Kent Division 6. Margaret Turner opened up the scoring early on into the game after the midfield managed to get the ball into the attacking D. Holcombe rapidly retaliated with two goals that were gained on penalty corners to take the lead. Play was not up to the usual standards from the Russets as passing was inaccurate and communication seemed to break down. Holcombe were certainly the stronger side in the first half, taking a far more proactive attitude towards the game.

Being a game of two halves, Russets returned to the pitch with a rejuvenated mindset. Suddenly the Russets had the main possession and several shots on goal. Margaret scored two further goals, one from a deflected Laura Gregory strike on a penalty corner and the other saw Margaret make a solo run into the top D and smash the ball into the backboard to complete her hat-trick. We nearly scored again, but instead were awarded a penalty flick. Unfortunately Laura Gregory’s flick was saved by the skilful and ambitious Holcombe keeper.

The Russets continued to push forward and passing dramatically improved in the midfield, which helped set up Sophie Simmonds for our forth goal. 4-2 up we were feeling pleased with our efforts and became somewhat complacent as Holcombe managed to get 2 further goals past us in the last ten minutes, again from their attacking penalty corner routines. Although rusty on the defensive short corners, our defence line had a fantastic game, which included some stunning clearances made by Claire Matthews and Agnes Pawlik. Despite just losing out on a victory, this was an enjoyable match from which the Russets will take heed by working on improving their team performance during next week’s fixture.

Team

Chloe Auger, Carol Turner, Claire Matthews, Amelia Shaw, Agnes Pawlik, Nicola Andrews, Emily Sullivan, Emily Bush, Morgan Neale, Liz Talbot, Sophie Simmonds, Laura Gregory, Margaret Turner. Umpire: Bob Percival

MoM

Margaret Turner
Fixture

HSBC, 12 January 08

Result

1 - 6 LOSS ( D Bracewell )

Venue

Home

Report

Without a keeper for the second week in succession, Sutton Valence Vets were unable to repeat their previous week’s achievement, and went down rather unflatteringly to a competent HSBC team.

Perhaps part of the difference was the greater ease of scoring from in front of an open goal on astro, than it had proved the previous week for Blackheath on their grass pitch, and HSBC took full advantage of each opportunity. And because Valence had chosen to just play eleven players, not nominating one as a kicking back, when there was someone on the line, balls goalbound could only be stopped with the stick, rather than being kicked away.

The scale of the win makes the game appear much more one-sided than it was in reality, at least in the first half. But on this occasion too many good running attacks ended in shots being saved or being just wide of the goal, and there was no conversion achieved from any of the short corners won. As the game went on and the score at the other end went up, so the attacking sorties became a little less structured and rushed. Fortunately the ‘whitewash’ result was avoided by a well struck shot by Dave Bracewell in the dying minutes.

Next week Sutton Valence Vets have no game scheduled, but play Tonbridge at Sevenoaks School astro on the 26th January at 2.30.

Team

John Knight; Gray Smith-Laing; Andy Beavis; Steve Mole; Stuart Bates; Nick Willson; Paul Linaker; Henry Humphrey; Charles Worsfold; Richard Evans; Dave Bracewell. Umpire: Stuart Weedon