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Match Reports 14 November 2009

• 

  Fixture

  Sevenoaks, 14 November 2009

  Result

  0 - 3 LOSS

  Venue

  Away

  Report

  Consistency is proving to be elusive in this league term. A poor performance against a good side whose league position belied their ability.

  We avoided the rain but this was probably the only positive to find. From the whistle Sevenoaks put us under pressure moving the ball around with pace and picking incisive passes. Our defence held well initially as it has all year but our problems started when we took possession of the ball.

  Every member of our team has the ability to hold the ball, win a free hit or choose the right percentage pass but under pressure this ability fades rapidly. We decided instead to pass it back to them at nearly every opportunity. What compounded this was the decision to achieve 3 yellow cards and play for over half the match with 10 men. We are a young team which will mature but needs to do so more quickly in all respects.

  We didn't threaten them up front (v.difficult when you haven't got the ball !) and only the performance of the defence and Will Fuller in particular ensured we didn't lose by more.

  Back to basics at training and a vastly different performance will occur against Horsham next week.

  Team

  Will Fuller, David Brignall, Stuart Howard, Rob Bray, Tim Forster, Ian Fraser, James Pascoe, James Murdoch, Mike Gillette, Andy Turnill, Tom Edwards, David Judge

  MoM

  Will Fuller

• 

  Fixture

  Cliftonville, 14 November 2009

  Result

  2 - 1 WIN ( B Tragett, J Stiff )

  Venue

  Home

  Report

  The Sutton Valence 2nd XI gathered in dreadful weather for what promised to be the most testing match of the season so far; a top-of-the-table clash against Cliftonville's 1st XI, who had registered some impressive wins already this season. An inspirational pre-match team talk from captain Andrew Lee proved accurate, forecasting as it did a tight match against a determined Cliftonville opposition with few weaknesses. As the rain died down, we took to the field with an increasingly familiar line-up, bolstered by the new faces of John "What kind of a surname do you need to have, to get the nickname Stiffy?" Stiff, keen to recapture his 1st XI place, and Nick Emerson freshly promoted to the dizzying heights of 2nd XI hockey in his debut season for the club.

  Valence took some time to establish their shape and get the measure of the opposition, and although asserting pressure early on through a nosebleed-inducing run high up the field from seasoned defender Worsfold, the first concerted attack came from an incisive move by Stiff, who drove into the opponents' D and left the defence as bewildered by his skills as the Valence team were at how he hadn't won a short corner. As play went on Valence began to take a marginal upper hand in the midfield and eventually secured our first short corner of the game. As the ball was injected it was visibly moved by the high winds, Stiff's drag flick instead sending the oncoming defender's stick flying through the air. Cliftonville continued to look dangerous, applying pressure down the flanks as well as using the long-ball game to a high centre forward. However Valence pressed hard, with Lee seeming to have the beating of his man on the left and eventually a poorly-cleared ball by the Cliftonville defence was seized upon by Mitchell, feeding Stiff, who fired a ball to Tragett in the D to score with an excellent deflection past a helpless keeper. Cliftonville responded well and although both sides suffered from patchy possession in the halves, broken up well by the likes of Posnette for Valence, a short corner goal from Cliftonville put the teams level at the break.

  The second half began with well-drilled defensive work from both teams over the whole pitch leaving slim pickings for their attackers. But not long after the restart, SV won a short corner that Stiff managed to put away with a drag that, while well-placed to the goalie's left, was far from his best strike. Valence's tempo was slowed when briefly reduced to 10 men, but the ability throughout the back four to retain possession told as they were able to absorb the Cliftonville pressure, although this system now left target men up front even fewer and farther between than it had from the start. With Valence's return to full strength and seeing a tiring Cliftonville, a visionary through ball from Willson picked out a characteristic run from Mitchell to provide Devlin a late chance, but it was not to be and both defences held firm, with the match eventually finishing 2:1 to Valence.

  Good performances were evident throughout the squad and with defences dominating the day, special mention goes to Emerson who slotted into the side well, but Man of the Match is taken by the unflappable Worsfold. Against our strongest opposition to date, Valence managed to grind out a win in tough conditions, ensuring we go to Old Bordenians next week without having dropped a point this season.

  Team

  Croucher, Johnson, Worsfold, Parker, Emerson, Mitchell, Posnette, Willson, Bartlett, Lee (c), Stiff, Tragett, Devlin

  MoM

  Nick Worsfold

• 

  Fixture

  Ashford, 14 November 2009

  Result

  5 - 4 WIN ( G Davies 2, Parmar, N Gray, S Aylott )

  Venue

  Away

  Report

  We turned up very confident about the match, but very apprehensive about the weather, as it looked like we could get washed away. Luckily the rain held out for most of the match. Game started really poorly for Valence - we got caught knapping and ended up 2-0 down within a few minutes due to good forward play, but poor play from Valence.

  After this we woke up, and scored 5 goals in quick succession to take a 5-2 lead into half time. Although we were delighted to be leading, we all felt that we could have scored a few more, as we missed several chances. We confidently set ourselves a target to score another 5.

  Valence had the best of the second half, spending a lot of time in the Ashford D, but despite good work we were unable to increase our lead.

  Conversely, we Ashford had some good play too, and forced a number of P-corners, 2 of which they scored from - 1 of these took a slight deflection on it's way in, the other one was a fantastic strike. This is how the game finished, despite both teams working hard to try and score more goals. Great game to play in, although would have been better to have one convincingly rather than just sneak it!

  This win puts us 2nd in the table, with a game in hand on the leaders.

  Team

  Olly Aldridge; Phil Morris, Nick Hall, Alex Riddle; Nick Gray, Simon Aylott, Alan Day, Jack; Nick Ryder, Bobby, Pradeep Parmar, Justin Baker

  MoM

  Alex Riddle / Alan Day joint

• 

  Fixture

  Tonbridge Black Knights, 14 November 2009

  Result

  1 - 1 DRAW ( G Bell )

  Venue

  Home

  Report

  With another shortage for this game, Sutton Valence Vets were fortunate to be able to call on the services of three 4th Xl members, who had just played, Gareth Davies, Rupert Humphrey and Ben Grabham, plus their umpire, Tom Willson, to make up the team. These additions brought considerable extra strength to the team, both from their hockey skills and their greater speed of response.

  In the first half the game ebbed and flowed from one end of the pitch to the other, with both teams having opportunities that were not able to be converted. Since Sutton Valence Vets are normally fairly quickly overwhelmed by Black Knights fire-power, this was a welcome development.

  In the second half, Ben Grabham had to go and so Black Knights loaned Howard to play at right back. Within the first couple of minutes a mis-hit clearance by Howard gifted the ball to Black Knights with only the keeper to beat, which they did, to go one up. Sutton Valence Vets, with Howard's help, fought hard to get back on terms, winning a number of short corners, and finally Geoff Bell, with a well struck shot, beat the keeper to even the score.

  The rest of the game continued in similar vein, but without further score.

  Next week, Sutton Valence Vets play Tunbridge Wells, on grass, at the Nevill Ground at 2.45pm.

  Team

  Dave Britton; Gareth Davies; Gray Smith-Laing; Chris Dixon; Tom Willson; Harprit Dogra; Ben Grabham; Paul Linaker; Geoff Bell; Rupert Humphrey; Charles Worsfold. Umpire: provided by Black Knights

  MoM

  Gray Smith-Laing

• 

  Fixture

  Folkstone Optimists, 14 November 2009

  Result

  2 - 5 LOSS ( E Grey 2 )

  Venue

  Home

  Report

  Sutton Russets played with 10 this week but with the number of cancellations in Division 6 it was good to get a game. The match was fairly even and Sutton Russets had some good possession throughout the game but Folkestone made more of their opportunities. Thanks to Carol Turner for playing in goal and making some good saves to keep the score down.

  Team

  Margaret Turner, Carol Turner, Nicola Andrews, Sophie Garner, Gina Scott, Annabelle Sunnocks, Ellie Grey, Gemma Shireby, Liz Talbot, Emily Sullivan.

  MoM

  Gina Scott