Match Reports 20 October 2007

Fixture

Marden 1st, 20 October 07

Result

3 - 1 WIN ( C Back 2, A Turnill )

Venue

Away

Report

A commanding performance from Sutton Valence Men’s 1st XI saw them take all the points in this local derby game with league apprentices Marden Russets. Looking to kick start their season, and with this the first league encounter between the two sides for over a season, Valence needed little motivation to psyche themselves up for this fixture against local village opposition. Indeed, Valence pressure was evident in the first five minutes, with a close press on the Marden back line leading to everything but opportunities on goal. Thankfully this early pressure did not come to be rued; beginning an invasive run from the right flank, Chris Back cut inside to feed Morgan, whose first time pass was dispatched with clinical precision by short corner specialist Andy Turnill. Despite some pacey movement from the league new boys, a multitude of interceptions and strong challenges from Valence asserted their superiority. It was a further 10 minutes before Valence doubled their lead, with Back once again proving his offensive worth; ghosting past a couple of Marden defenders, his shot well and truly beat the goalkeeper at his far post.

After the restart, and as expected, Marden stepped up their intensity, testing the Valence backline of Johnson, Worsfold and Steve Back. Each time though, they were up to the challenge. Somewhat against the run of play, Marden halved the deficit in a congested D melee. Indeed, they took some heart from this strike and came close again, but Worsfold was up to the challenge, heroically steering the ball of the goal line. Needing to assert their superiority and keeping up the intensity that Valence had lacked for the preceding two weeks, the SV boys pushed on and exploited the inevitable gaps in the Marden Hockey and Cricket Club side, with the Johnson and Carter partnership being particularly effective on the right. A killer third goal came through a short corner, with Back doubling his tally from close range.

A 3 -1 win appeared a fair conclusion to this entertaining and energetic match. Valence left the pitch satisfied, returning to their local pub home to celebrate victory, whilst the league's Yo Yo side should take heart from this performance in the less than familiar higher league. This Saturday, Valence must take heart from this and take the same intensity to their next opponents - a strong looking Old Bordenians.

Team

L.Croucher, S.Back, T.Willson, B.Angel, C.Back, N.Lampp, C.Johnson, A Turnill, I.Frazer, F.McVarish, T.Morgan, B.Carter, N.Worsfold, R.Bray.
Fixture

Eastbourne, 20 October 2007

Result

7 - 1 WIN ( N Poulter 2, A Devlin 2, A Carter 2, A Lee )

Venue

Home

Report

Sutton Valence 2nd XI faced a young Eastbourne team looking for their first win of the season. The game started nervously for the home team as the visitors were looking a rather bit sharper. With Valence containing much pressure from Eastbourne, Nat Poulter converted a good team-passing move from a well-worked counter attack. From the restart Eastbourne were still causing problems for Valence but the ever resilient defence of Rob Ife, Steve Parker and Andy McVarish managed to stand firm and were well organized by Steve Parker, even on occasions Rob Ife could be seen haring down the right wing and belting the ball. It may have been from one of these runs that Valence won a short corner. A well converted unstoppable drag flick from Captain Andrew Lee made the score line 2 nil, although Eastbourne had out played their rivals to this point and were unlucky to be two down. Valence started to put together a number of good passing moves and created a third goal which was slotted away by in form striker Andy Devlin from a total range of 6 inches. The score remain three nil to Valence at the break.

The second half started with Valence pressuring the Eastbourne midfield and won a number of turn over balls, which lead to Nat Poulter scoring his second goal of the afternoon. With Valence four nil up, Eastbourne’s young team didn’t refuse to give in and won a number of short corners and converted to make the score four one. Valence restarted the game and continued to create a number of good chances, only for veteran stand-in midfielder Ben Tragett to hit the post when it seemed harder to miss than score. Valence won another short corner and in form striker Andy Devlin managed to slot home his second goal of the day.

Eastbourne were still working hard to reduce the goal deficit and in doing so a number of holes started to appear in their midfield which Alistair Carter promptly exposed and managed to bag a brace for his efforts. The final score line finished seven one to Valence but this did not reflect what was a well contested fixture.

The final score was a 7-1 win which is possibly a bit flattering but none the less was a competitive free flowing game of hockey and helps firmly place Valence in a mid table slot. The 2’s can be pleased with their performance and can look forward to facing Brighton away at 1pm next week.

Team

A.Burt, R.Ife, S.Parker, A.McVarish, R.Turnill, A.Lee, B.Tragett, L.Mitchel, N.Poulter, A.Devlin, M.Ife, C.Atkins, B.Carter
Fixture

Old Bordenians, 20 October 2007

Result

3 - 1 WIN { M Van Der Gaag, S Davies, J Abrahams }

Venue

Away

Report

This week the 4th XI travelled to Old Bordenians hoping to build on last weeks win.

Both teams started the game brightly with chances on goal for each side, Valence should have gone ahead after 5 minutes but Davies shot the ball wide. A good counterattacking move put Old Bords ahead after 10 mins with the forward flicking the ball past the wrong footed Valence keeper. Valence then started to turn the pressure up and could have scored on numerous occasions but couldn’t find the net; finally Van Der Gaag managed a short range equaliser by to put the scores level at half time.

After a stern half time talk Valence started the second half with all guns blazing with Thompson, Van Der Gaag and Henderson controlling the midfield, a barnstorming run by Thompson put Simon Davies 1 on 1 with the keeper putting Valence ahead coolly slotting the ball through the keeper’s legs. Old Bords threw all their efforts into scoring a second goal of their own but most attacks were thwarted by Sagrott, Harrison and the Ninja like Kyle Henderson. With 5 minutes on the clock Debutant James Abrahams scored Valences 3rd goal deflecting a Thompson cross in at the far post. This made the final score 3-1 to Valence for a well deserved in a great game of hockey played with good spirit and sportsmanship by both teams.

A big thank you to the gammy shouldered Stuart Edmed for standing in as umpire when an alternative couldn’t be found.

Team

Will Aldridge, Kyle Henderson, Gareth Davies, Rob Harrison, Marcus Van Der Gaag, Bob Sagrott, Darren Thompson, Dan Mansfield, Simon Davies, Rupert Humphrey, James Abrahams, Chad Henderson, Tony Auger, Ben Gallaphant

MoM

Marcus Van Der Gaag
Fixture

Tunbridge Wells 5, 20 October 2007

Result

1 – 1 DRAW ( M Russell-Vick )

Venue

Home

Report

This week the Sutton Russets entertained Tunbridge Wells in what was a closely fought game. Both teams were evenly matched and possession was shared equally between the two teams. Russets started off very well in the first half and managed to win some penalty corners, but failed to convert. Emily Sullivan worked exceptionally hard in midfield and persisted in winning the tackle and feeding the ball up the pitch.

In the second half, the Russets’ fitness started to deteriorate as Wells seemed to step up their game and make the Russets defence line work for the ball. However, our defence held firm and we managed to make several good counter attacks. Finally our hard work paid off and after several attacking penalty corners, Mel Russell-Vick managed to convert by slamming the ball into the back of the net from the top D. 1-0 up Russets battled on, however in the dying minutes of the game Wells managed to equalise. Overall this was an encouraging result against a team who beat us by a large margin at the end of last season.

Team

Chloe Auger, Carol Turner, Claire Matthews, Nicola Andrews, Amelia Shaw, Liz Talbot, Emily Sullivan, Louisa Crispin, Sophie Garner, Margaret Turner, Mel Russell-Vick, Naomi Martin

MoM

Emily Sullivan
Fixture

HSBC, 20 October 2007

Result

1 - 2 LOSS ( R Evans )

Venue

Away

Report

It was the turn of Richard Evans to get onto the record book as the Vets’ equal top scorer for the season with his somewhat unorthodox trickle of a shot, which just had enough momentum to crawl over the goal-line in the second half of this game. This also doubled the number of Vets’ goals for the season!

Valence had gone two down in the first half of this game against HSBC’s occasional 3rd Xl comprising some genuine Vets and some of a younger age. Some of the genuine Vets showed excellent stick work up front which had Sutton Valence’s defence working overtime to keep the score down to this level. Playing a four / four / two format produced a strong defence line of Dave Britton in goal with Dave Barton, Grey Smith-Laing; Peter Jackson and Andy Beavis in front of him. The mid-field four of John Knight; Henry Humphrey; Stuart Bates and Paul Linaker took a little time to sort out their positioning, but it was working better by the second half.

Up front that left Charles Worsfold on the left and Richard Evans working hard in the middle. Besides the goal from the latter there had been other opportunities for Valence, like when Paul Linaker missed by a foot in the first half and Stuart Bates had shots saved in the second. But the defence earned the greater plaudits for this game, particularly the effective work from Grey Smith-Laing.

Team

Dave Britton; Dave Barton; Grey Smith-Laing; Peter Jackson; Andy Beavis; John Knight (Capt); Stuart Bates; Charles Worsfold; Henry Humphrey; Richard Evans; Paul Linaker; Umpire: Nick Willson

MoM

Grey Smith-Laing
Fixture

Tonbridge Wells, 21 October 2007

Result

6 - 0 WIN ( Max Ife (capt.) 3, Tom Edwards, Jack Davies, Phil Barton )

Report

Sutton visited Tunbridge on a frosty but beautiful Autumn morning for their first match of the season. With a new U16 team, many players away for half term and Nick Holmes off with the U15 South East tournament, it was going to be interesting to see how the new U16 boys team would do. It was also the first time experience for a number of players who had not played on a water based pitch. The pre-match team talk was focused on playing as a team as being the only effective way to compete against Tunbridge who finished 3rd in the Kent league behind SV last year.

From the starting whistle Sutton were switched on - soon getting possession of the ball and string good passes with excellent use of the width of the pitch. Max Ife and James Watkins soon stamped their seniority on mid-field as they closed down TW and released Tom Edwards down the right hand side. Excellent linking play with the forwards, Jack Davies giving a superb performance, soon saw TW pushed back into their D and Jack rewarded for his running with the first goal of the season.

TW came straight back with some positive play with their mid-field dynamo-mo 'Harry' being the principle avenue of attack. But Suttons defence with George Thomas, Phil Beech and new player, Chigi Patel calmly snuffing out TW hopes of a come-back. On one such attack Max Ife was given the ball from SV's defence and as he dribbled through a few players to the half way a route to goal opened up as TWs defence man marked SV's pacey forwards. Seeing the opportunity Max ran straight up the middle to the edge of the D, dribbled around three more defenders and the keeper to touch the ball into the goal. This was going to be a hard day for TW and as half time arrived it was Sutton ahead 0 - 4 with additional goals from Phil Barton and Tom Edwards.

The second half was similar to the first. SV were totally in control. Excellent play from new player Chris Harrison playing as left half and the defensive support when in attack meant that the game was mainly played in TW's half. More goals were coming as Danny Armstrong stuck to playing in a 5 yard radius of the goal only to see the keeper or the goal posts make multiple saves. Two more goals came and one goal was disallowed. So the final score was 0-6 to SV.

The whole team played well. It was great to see Dougie Muir back from a season off with injury, together with Tyrone they both performed well in defence putting good tackles and always chasing back when needed. All the forwards (Harry Townsend, Dan Armstrong, Phil Barton and Jack Davies) put in excellent effort rotating through the match at 10 minute intervals.
Fixture

Bromley, 21 October 2007

Result

2 - 1 WIN ( Olivia Toppin, Essie.T )

Report

Our first match of the season was against Bromley, the league winners of last year, therefore there was an apprehensive start from Sutton Valence, but it soon came clear that the sides were evenly matched, with end to end play. SV came close to scoring several times but were just off target. Bromley made several attacks but we had positive goal keeping from Chloe Auger.

Finally Olivia Toppin using reverse stick sweep (which we had been learning in training) found the back of the net. But we were soon equalised after half time. SV kept the pressure on and were rewarded a second goal by Essie.T. The final score was 2-1 to SV. A good start to the season!!