Match Reports 29 September 2007

Fixture

Herne Bay, 29 September 2007

Result

4 - 2 WIN ( B Angel, T Morgan, F McVarish, A Turnill )

Venue

Home

Report

The rain of the previous days was replaced by sunshine and the game began on a perfect pitch. Valence began the stronger, Brett Angel enjoying lots of space and being fed from the new centre half pairing of Tom Morgan and Ian Fraser. It was Angel who opened the scoring, finishing clinically after an extended period of posession from Valence. Within five minutes the lead was doubled; some textbook passing play from deep inside their own half was finished off by Morgan. 2 nil up in the first fifteen minutes, Valence took their foot off the pedal and allowed Herne Bay back into the game. Forcing a string of short corners Bay had the better run into half time and despite some excellent saves from the solid SV goalie, Lee Croucher, and tireless tackling from the defensive trio of Chris Johnson, Tom Willson and Steve Back Herne bay managed to halve the deficit just before half time.

SV came out the blocks hard and fast after half time keen to re-impose their authority on the game and add to their goal tally. After a prolonged series of attacks and sustained pressure Valences 3rd goal arrived: a loose ball superbly finished off by Fred McVarish. Valence now retained their hold on the game with Rob Bray causing the Herne Bay defence lots of problems. Valence now made a positional change, Willson was now moved from centre back to centre half and found himself continually unmarked and able to take advantage.

It was one such attack that led to SV's only short corner of game, this was finished by Andy Turnill - drag flicking into the net. 4-1 up and valence had the game under control. Herne Bay scored their 2nd goal with 7 mins to go from a short corner, but Valence remained calm and retained the ball superbly to finish 4-2 winners and begin their league campaign in good fashion. A great team performance that they will be looking to take with them to Horsham next week.

Team

Croucher, Johnson, Willson, S.Back, Angel, Fraser, C.back, Morgan, Bray, McVarish, Turnill
Fixture

Herne Bay, 29 September 2007

Result

1 - 0 WIN ( B Bartlett )

Venue

Away

Report

Sutton Valence 2nd XI faced Herne Bay 2nd XI for their first league game. With a somewhat depleted side Valence travelled to Herne Bay expecting to get little out of the match. The game started well for Valence who pressured Herne Bay for much of the first half but failed to gain the much needed goal. A life line was thrown to Valence at the end of the first half by the way of a penalty flick from a well struck shot from debutant Will Fuller, which was cleared from the gaol line by the Herne Bay defenders foot but the normally dependable Bob Bartlett failed to open the scoring.

The second half was not the same as the first as Herne Bay had rallied their team and started to put pressure on the Valence defence. Valence dug deep and held their heads to produce a number of short corners. Bartlett open the scoring from a well worked short corner that even Tom Edwards would have found hard to miss. The final five minutes saw Herne Bay applied much pressure but still the old guard defence remain unbroken.

Valence can be very pleased with a winning start to 2007 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, A McVarish, A Devlin, J Edmed, A Lee, B Bartlett, M Ife, C Atkins, W Fuller, T Edwards, J Clarke

MoM

Bob Bartlett
Fixture

Folkestone, 29 September 2007

Result

4 - 4 DRAW ( T Auger 2, C Henderson 2 )

Venue

Away

Report

The Third XI started their first league game with a much changed side, due to injury, unavailability and 2nd XI call-ups.

Right from the off, Sutton looked to attack Folkestone at every opportunity and soon found themselves deservedly ahead, following two excellent goals from Tony Auger. This seemed to wake Folkestone up and Sutton tried to play a more controlled game, as their opponents pressed forward. However, with the team’s lack of match-time together, some gaps started to appear in the midfield and Valence found themselves increasingly on the back-foot. Some dreadful marking on the back post allowed Folkestone to nick a goal back, before some more fluid attacking play was finished off nicely by Chad Henderson, to restore the two goal margin.

The beach of a pitch was causing all sorts of problems, as bobbles and random hops all seemed to go Folkestone’s way. Another defensive lapse in marking duties allowed the home team to pull another goal back and Valence could have gone in at half time level, if a deflected shot had not been tipped around the post by a fine reflex save from the Valence keeper.

Valence were really looking bright going forward and were much the better team for long periods of the half, so at half time the talk was all of tighter marking and maintaining the work rate. However, Folkestone soon spoiled their plans by pulling level, following a shortcorner strike. The game became stretched as both teams saw chances go begging at both ends, but it was Sutton that fell behind, as another Folkestone shortcorner was struck home.

The remainder of the game is a credit to the Valence players, as they continued to battle despite some very tired legs. In the last few minutes, Valence were awarded a short corner of their own, which was half-cleared to Bear – his cross was met by Chad, who showed good composure to find the backboard and secure the draw.

Team

R Sharp; K Hendeson; Rob Harrison; J Willmott; J Davies; B Lewell; C Henderson; C Stille; E Lewell; S Davies; T Auger
Fixture

Tunbridge Wells, 29 September 2007

Result

1 - 4 LOSS (S Simmons)

Venue

Away

Report

With several players missing this weekend Sutton Valence found themselves with only 10 players for the second match of the season. Despite this, they started the game well with an early goal from a superb deflection by Sophie Simmons; set-up by Emma Donkersley outside the circle.

The first half continued with end-to-end play and Tunbridge had only managed to score one goal by half time.

In the first 10 minutes of the second half Valence began to show their tired legs, especially in midfield. Tunbridge took advantage of this opportunity and fought back with two further goals in quick succession, taking the score to 3-1. Valence defence worked incredibly hard and fought back at every attack that Tunbridge threw at them, but it wasn’t to be and in between a couple of near-successful attacks from Valence, Tunbridge scored one more to make the final score 4 -1.

The final score didn’t reflect the Valence team effort or ability and having already beaten Tunbridge in a friendly game last season, Valence look forward to playing Tunbridge with a larger, fitter squad in the next half of the season.

Team

Emma Donkersley (Captain); Caroline Lawton; Natalie Higginson; Carol Hazelton; Zoe Wright; Sarah Lacey; Riona Evenden; Alex Auger; Lauren Dewart; Sophie Simmons.
Fixture

Holcombe 5, 29 September 2007

Result

8 – 1 WIN ( M Turner 3, N Martin 3, G Shireby 2 )

Venue

Home

Report

This week the Sutton Russets faced a depleted side with Holcombe only having 9 players. However, this did not prevent Holcombe from having good possession of the ball and keeping Chloe Auger busy in goal. Chloe’s performance was flawless as she saved numerous shots on goal and made some excellent clearances. Hat-tricks were scored by both Margaret Turner and Naomi Martin; their competent positioning ensured they were always right in front of goal to receive some superb crosses from the right. Player of the Match has been awarded to Gemma Shireby who made numerous rapid runs down the right wing, which set up many of the successful goal scoring opportunities. Gemma worked especially well with Sophie Garner who was also instrumental in setting up some of the goals.

The score does not reflect the nature of the game because Holcombe were the fitter side, with stronger passing and better teamwork. However their only goal was actually deflected off one of our defender’s sticks. Our defence line was as solid as ever with all four backs contributing to keeping an advancing Holcombe side at bay. Louisa Crispin was relentless in midfield, never giving up, and ensuring the ball got fed up to the forwards. Overall this was a great result for the Russets, but Holcombe are equally deserving of recognition for their remarkable pace and skill and with only 9 players.

Team

Chloe Auger, Amelia Shaw, Claire Matthews, Carol Turner, Agnes Pawlik, Liz Talbot, Louisa Crispin, Sophie Garner, Margaret Turner, Naomi Martin, Gemma Shireby. Umpire: Andy Devlin

MoM

Gemma Shireby
Fixture

Maidstone, 29 September 2007

Result

0 - 5 LOSS

Venue

Home

Report

In case this should look like a repeat of last week’s report in error, it isn’t; we did play Maidstone again, at home, and lost, but by less goals on this occasion.

This was rather more like Maidstone’s normal team than last week’s and Sutton Valence had some added strength with the return of Nick Willson and Richard Evans and the addition of Bob King, not previously that keen on astro. It also was a chance to welcome newcomer to the Club, Bob Scott, who confessed to being a bit rusty after about 20 years’ layoff.

Maidstone quickly made their presence felt and for the first period of play it was difficult to get out of the Valence quarter as they produced a series of attacks on the Valence goal. The Valence defence initially repelled all comers but eventually Maidstone broke through. This increased their confidence and by half time they were four up without reply from Sutton Valence, though there had been breakouts which might have brought results.

The second half saw continuing waves of pressure from Maidstone which only produced one more goal. Sutton Valence made better inroads into the Maidstone quarter, but many of these broke down before the attack was within real scoring distance, or shots were just wide. The Valence defence kept out several Maidstone scoring opportunities, and the post was clipped a couple of times.

This was a better effort from Valence, and with more strength returning in the next couple of weeks, they should continue to build.

Next week Valence face another tough opposition, Tonbridge Black Knights, again at home, but at least the last two weeks have given them a good build-up.

Team

Dave Britton; Steve Mole; Nick Willson; Peter Jackson; Andy Beavis; Bob King; Stuart Bates; Charles Worsfold; Richard Evans; Paul Linaker; Bob Scott. Umpire: provided by Maidstone.