Match Reports 16 February 2008

Fixture

Blackheath, 16 February 2008

Result

2 - 2 DRAW ( N Lampp, A Turnill )

Venue

Home

Report

Sutton Valence entertained Blackheath on Saturday and were keen to avenge the pre-christmas defeat they had suffered at the hands of the visitors. Blackheath had traffic and clothing problems before the start of the game and SV were keen to capitalise by starting at a good pace. However yet again this season the SV start was pedestrian and it did not take long for the visitors convert a loose ball in the D and make the score 0-1.

At this point in the game the Blackheath left wing decided what the game really needed was an injection of colourful language and wasn’t particulary picky on who was on the receiving end, the umpire issued a green and despite Blackheath only having 11 their captain asked him to sub off; this only fuelled his rant and one particular torrent aimed at the umpire meant he was definitely taking a break – into the naughty corner to calm down. Valence were able to put considerable pressure on the Blackheath goal after this interruption but although numerous short corners were won, none were converted.

A stern halftime talk would hopefully inspire valence to come out the blocks quicker, but a defensive mix-up gifted the 10 men of Blackheath a further goal and a thus a 2 goal lead. Sutton Valence continued to pressure the Blackheath goal and soon were rewarded when Tom Morgan found Lampp unmarked in the D and the kiwi made no mistakes deflecting the ball neatly into the corner. With the momentum now in their favour Valence began searching for the equaliser, however Blackheath’s 11th man (still watching from the sidelines) was clearly feeling devoid of attention and wanted to add to his card collection – and so it was a red was added to his green and yellow.

Valence got their equaliser when Angel picked out Turnill at the far post and finished from close range to give the home side a point. Not a pretty game, but Valence at least salvaged a point.
Fixture

Marden - Cup Match, 17 February 2008

Result

5 - 1 WIN ( A Turnill 4, I Fraser )

Venue

Home

Report

Valence booked themselves a day out in May at the final for the Plate this Sunday with a 5-1 victory over local side Marden. The game got underway in glorious sunshine, with SV keen to put in a good display after a “so-so” showing against Blackheath the day before, however with six usual 1st team missing; things were not going to be that simple... Sutton Valence started at a good pace and were soon switching the ball around the pitch quickly and confidently and were soon rewarded with a short corner; Turnill dispatching his flick into the goal, 1-0 to Valence. Their lead was doubled before half time – another Turnill drag flick, 2-0.

Soon after the interval Turnill completed his hatrick when Lampp dribbled round the marden defence, beat the keeper and then unselfishly passed to Turnill. The game was put out of reach soon after; Turnill added his forth from another short corner and Fraser tucked away a loose ball to make it 5-0. Marden did scrape a goal together before the end but it was too little too late for them.
Fixture

Old Bordenians, 16 February 2008

Result

2 - 1 WIN ( M Bleader, A Delvin )

Venue

Away

Report

Valence went to Sittingbourne needing a win to maintain the pressure on the league leaders, but with a mix of players that had not played together before it was not going to be easy. The game started well enough with Valence applying pressure on the old boys defence but squandering several clear cut chances to score and Bordenians looking to attack with pace on the break. This seemed like it was going to be the story of the 1st half until a Bordenian short corner was slipped right for a shot which was deflected over the diving 'keeper by a defenders stick.

Half time arrived and the talk was all of making more of the chances this seemed fairly pointless as the home side walked straight through the Valence midfield and into the 'd' for a chance from the restart. This did have the effect of waking up the team and soon after the game returned to the same pattern of the first half, with Valence trying to break down the home defence and Bordenians causing problems, with speedy breaks out of defence. The visitors were starting to think there would be no luck: with first Bert Bouwens, then Martin Chalker hitting the post... followed by Chad Henderson hitting a superb strike from top 'd' into the corner of the goal only to see it disallowed for a push on his way to the ball.

Finally, with about 15 left on the watch, Captain Mark Bleader leveled the scores with an lbz strike after a penalty corner had broken down. With less than 10 minutes left the Valence defenders starting to become more involved in the attacks: left back Andy Devlin tucked in what was to prove to be the winner at the far post.

A good never say die performance with some shows from the newer players - one of which, Ben Galaphant, won Man of the Match, which should fire a warning shot accross the bows of missing Will Hoffman.

Team

Rob Sharp, Ben Galaphant, Rob Harrison, Andy Mac Varnish, Andy Delvin, Mark Bleader, Chad Henderson, Ben Grabham, Will Fuller, Bert Bouwens, Martin Chalker

MoM

Ben Galaphant
Fixture

Canterbury Griffins, 16 February 2008

Result

4 - 1 WIN ( R Humphrey 3, D Thompson )

Venue

Report

This week Sutton Valence 4th team faced Canterbury Griffins, a mixture of youth and experience who always prove to be entertaining and worthy opponents.

In the opening exchanges it was the visitors who had the majority of possession and after 10 minutes they opened the scoring with a great solo effort lifting the ball over the stranded Will Aldridge. This was the wake up call Valence needed and they proceeded to dominate the rest of the half with Sagrott, Posnette and Atkins controlling the midfield and keeping Canterbury under constant pressure. This pressure lead to a string of short corners which resulted in 2 hard struck goals from Rupert Humphrey putting the home side a goal ahead by half time.

In the second half Valence looked to play high up the pitch, dominate and score more goals but this left them open to Canterbury’s long ball tactics. But their veteran forwards were easily outpaced by the defensive trio of Beech, Henderson and Davies leaving them with very few chances at the Valence goal. At the other end the Canterbury keeper prevented the score line from becoming embarrassing with some excellent saves. But even he couldn’t prevent a further 2 Valence goals. Humphrey completed his hat-trick after Thompson slotted the ball to him after a mazy midfield run, and then Thompson sealed the victory putting a fierce shot into the roof of the goal after some clever play from Posnette.

Unfortunately the Canterbury side managed to get lost on their way back to the Queens so the celebratory beers and food had to be shared around the pub!

Team

Will Aldridge, Kyle Henderson, Phil Beech, Callum Atkins, Peter Posnette, Bob Sagrott, Jack Davies, Darren Thompson, Rupert Humphrey, Simon Davies, Gareth Davies

MoM

Rupert Humphrey
Fixture

Old Bordenians, 16 February 2008

Result

1 - 2 LOSS ( J Davies )

Venue

Away

Report

This late starting game began with the temperature dipping to zero. It was no surprise therefore that both teams were intent on playing the game at a quick pace. Valence created more chances in the first half but went in one goal down conceded from an acute angle shot at a penalty corner.

Valence pressed but it was Bordenians who scored again. Valence tried to up the pace but too often brought the ball into the middle of the pitch and ran out of space. The game fragmented and both sides were intent on trying to knock the ball from one end of the pitch to the other. Valence ried even harder and eventually a goal came from a well worked passing movement. The last five minutes were frantic as the visiting defenders pressed forward also. Several half chances were created but no goal came and the score remained at 2-1.

This was a very makeshift side with over half the regular players missing. As a result, the normal fluency was absent but this was more than made up for in effort. The match was played in a much better spirit than the normal encounters with Bordenians. Let’s hope that future games will be played in a similar manner. Four more league games remain. Three victories will be required to put the team in the upper half of the league.

Team

Olly Aldridge, Iain Simmons, Mike Nettle, Nick Hall, Bobby Dazzler, Dougie Muir, Danny Grace, PC Davies, Martin Player, Phil Barton, Jock Davies. Umpire: Richard Ashness

MoM

Mike Nettle
Fixture

Canterbury Friars, 16 February 2008

Result

1 - 0 WIN ( S Bates )

Venue

Away

Report

Another of the teams against whom Sutton Valence Vets play three times in the season for a tankard. Having won the first home leg 2:1 Sutton Valence expected the Friars to be pushing hard to win the second stage to draw level, and so they did, and they could and should have won it on the basis of the number of threatening attacks on the Valence goal. In the first half the game was more even, though the first quarter was complicated by Sutton Valence providing the only umpire, even though Canterbury had spare players. This led inevitably, but unfairly, to some carping about decisions, and to an increase in the tension that was already apparent. This only increased once Valence went ahead in the second quarter with a Stuart Bates shot which a defender got a stick to, but only sufficiently to deflect it slightly.

In the second half Valence, though one up, started rather uncertainly, gifting Canterbury several opportunities by poor tactics on hits out, much against their normal positive approach. This helped Canterbury to feel that they were within reach of at least getting even, if not in fact getting ahead. However, a bit like the Liverpool / Barnsley Cup Match, however hard they tried, they just could not put the ball away, hitting the post and putting over the top on one occasion. Indeed this was probably part of the problem as time rolled on and they could see the odds on losing getting higher, they were in danger of trying too hard, instead of keeping it simple.

During this period Valence were not out of the game, mounting their own thrusts into the Canterbury dee, but apart from two or three these did not generally come as close as those at the other end mounted by Canterbury. In the closing minutes Canterbury threw everything they could into trying to get level, but the Valence defence held firm, breaking down the attacks and getting the ball away and hanging onto their slim lead to go two up and win the trophy back.

Man of the Match: Gray Smith-Laing, for holding the defence’s efforts together in a challenging game.

Team

Dave Britton; Bob King; Gray Smith-Laing; Phil Higgins; Andy Beavis; Steve Mole; Henry Humphrey; Stuart Bates; Paul Linaker; Hugh Robertson; Charles Worsfold; Richard Evans.

MoM

Gray Smith-Laing