Sunday 28 February 2010

U12B 12-2 Stockport

David Shuttleworth commented.....
Won 12-2. Played well.
Will Callaghan and Mickolaj Mars were good. Four goals for Ben Williamson and three for Adam Kinghorn.

Sunday 21 February 2010

U16 'A' v Heaton Mersey Saturday 20th February

This was a prelude to the cup semi-final in March. All the coaches and managers joked before thegame - 'it's all about taking part, it's about the boys learning and enjoying themselves' - rubbish, this was all about winning.

Heaton Mersey were up for this from the start, attacking the Timperley defence and for the first five minutes things were looking rather desperate. Until Tomb went on a charging run, came left and fired on goal to score. That was better, it seemed to settle our nerves. The second quarter saw Cam Parks get fired up and force a direct attacking style of play that the team responded to, and we got two goals from this to HM's one, leaving us ahead 2-3 at half-time.

Coach Justin gave his customary halftime talk encouraging the lads and we went out on the offensive. Ged Scrace was brilliant as longpole middie, charging on and off the pitch as the game flowed, talking the team up all the time. We saw three more goals from Toby, Tomb and Myles to end the quarter 3-6.

Then it all went pear shaped. Heaton Mersey clawed their way back into the game, scoring 5 goals. There seemed to be nothing we could do to stop them, we had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Then Cam got angry again, stormed their goal and scored, giving us hope again - the score was now 8-7. A goalmouth scramble saw Myles score one of the most important goals of the season, did he kick it in, push it in - who cares it went in to take us 8-8. One minute left on the clock, the game was going our way, Tomb charged again, passed to Tom Sandy on crease who scored - then the final whistle. We had won 8-9. Bring on the semi-final.

Saturday 20 February 2010

U12A 32-2 Poynton

Our nemesis of last season, Poynton, were buried under an avalanche of goals today by a team that played some truly excellent lacrosse. Poynton have a young team and are obviously rebuilding this season, but take nothing away from the U12; I am sure the way they played today they would have beaten any opponent.
For the whole hour, we passed our way up the pitch and around the goal, and scored some really good team goals with 5 or 6 slick passes prior to a shot. The biggest improvement on last week was the groundball which we were winning cleanly for the whole game.
It is hard not to feel a bit sorry for the opposition in games like this, but they were beaten by a real team performance which even had the Poynton coach muttering admiration in our direction. We practice hard and it is good when it all comes together in a match – is was clinical lacrosse all morning and at no point did we resort to bullying our way to goal or showboating.
Due to the half term holidays we were short of 5 regulars, but the remaining 9, plus Alex Robins and Will Callaghan played tremendously well. The team was reassured by the presence of captain Oli Loveland who ran the game for Timperley with goals and assists. He and his fellow midfielders of Oliver Crosby, James Prickett and Will Callaghan (first goals for the A team today) were the real driving force behind today’s win. Tom Cox sneaked back into the attack for the game and helped himself to a career high 11 goals, and was well assisted by Ed Loveland and Joe Hunn. Matthew Stewart organised his defence of Sam Harris, Dan Walker and Alex Robins really well, and as a unit they marked tightly and cleared the ball easily.

I would still rate our early season victory over Sheffield as a better performance than this one, but the boys who played today really battled for each other and I hope we can take this momentum into the 6 a side, 8 a side and the Onondaga semi final against Cheadle in 3 weeks time.

Goals / (Assists)
Cox 11(1), E Loveland 8(4), O Loveland 4(7), Hunn 4(1), Crosby 2(3), Callaghan 2(3), Prickett 1(1)

U12B 9-9 Heaton Mersey

David Shuttleworth reports.....
Thought we did well on Sat and really should have won but we could not hold their best player who got 8 out of their 9 goals . Adam Kinghorn played well and got 6 goals (but should have had more with better shooting!) and I thought our defence did well.

Thursday 18 February 2010

Cup draws - semi finals

Onondaga Cup
U12A v Cheadle (13th Mar) home
Centurion Cup
U14A v Cheadle (6th Mar) home
Junior & Schools
U16A v Heaton Mersey (13th Mar) away

Saturday 13 February 2010

U12A 11-4 Brooklands

This was a hard fought game against a Brooklands team that competed well all game. It was not the best we've played this year by any stretch of the imagination, but we fought well through the scrappy bits and came up with the win by 11-4.
The first three quarters of the game were pretty similar, with the Timperley boys just about getting the better of the opposition, but not helping themselves with poor groundball and wayward passing. We were just not sharp enough to take a commanding lead and the scores for the first three quarters were 2-2, 2-0 and 2-0, giving a lead at three quarter time of only 6-2.
Finally, in the fourth quarter we seemed to wake up and actually played some good lacrosse, moving the ball well and cutting and shooting on target. This led to us scoring 5 goals, whilst conceding 2, to give a final score of 11-4.

Goals / (assists)
Crosby 3(1), Hirst 3, O Loveland 2(2), E Loveland 1(2), Hunn 1, Prickett 1, Cox (1), Callaghan (1)

The last three weeks have been good for this team. The playing schedule lined us up against three of the best U12 teams and we have come through unbeaten, which, given that we have never had our regular squad out in any of the matches, is really pleasing. Boys have stepped up from the B team and made telling contributions, whilst the regular A team players have discovered how to “win ugly” and grind out a result.

Next games
Spencer (home) on Friday 19th (4.30pm face)
Poynton (away) on Saturday 20th (10am face)

U12B 16-9 Mellor

Monday 8 February 2010

Timperley U14 Match Results Saturday 6th February

A team Cup Match Home vs Wilmslow:

A strong performance against an inexperienced Wilmslow team (their first cup match as they had a bye in the first round).

A good defensive game with the 3 Ds doing a good job at the back (James Littlewood having a particularly strong game), and James Smethurst with a confident performance keeping a clean sheet for the first half and only conceding 3 over the last 2 quarters.

Up in attack it started off with a corking series of goals from Joe Harris (2), Tim and Alex. Only 2 in second quarter - Joe & James Hackett. Timperley 6 up at half time.

In the third quarter, Wilmslow pulled one back and then we got 7 on a trot....Tim 2 with an assist from James H / Nathan / Joe assisted by Grady / Alex 2 assists from Grady & Nathan / Lucas assisted by Nathan.

Wilmslow came out fighting at the start of the final quarter and pulled 2 back but then Timperley's final onslaught came with 2 goals a pice from Tim and Alex both assisted by James Hackett.

Some really lovely play with Grady and Pick playing some excellent moves in the heart of the action, well done lads. Final Score 17-3 WIN.

B team lost vs SMG in the plate 10-3 / thanks again to our guesting U12s that have helped us get a B team out.

Sunday 7 February 2010

U16 'B' v Poynton Saturday 6th February

The die-hard U16 'B' travelled over to the leafy Chshire burbs of Poynton on Saturday. With Wylo away skiing Paul Scrace stepped up to the plate and took over coaching duties - and it was a joy to see a natural born leader in action. I arrived just as the match started and could see that Paul had the squad of 9 players organised on the pitch and that they clearly had a plan.

Poynton were happy to play 8-a-side with 1 substitute, as like most of the teams, had not had a match since before Christmas and just wanted to play lacrosse. Timperley started well, conceding a goal early on, but coming back to even the score thanks to a great goal from Jack Cox with an assist from DC. The second quarter was the killer for us, conceding three goals to end the first half 5-1 down. Barney tried to bring things back with a long range shot from goal, and DP did an inspirational job organising the defence. The lads were getting tired and taking big hits from a Poynton team who are nearly all upper U16's. Bauer and Ged Scrace both went down with hand and shoulder injuries. Typical Mike Bauer 'its probably broken but I've got another one on the other hand...lets play'.

Mike Bauer was in the thick of it in the third quarter going on a crashing solo run to score. Ben Smith and Sam Sutton were running a lot of the attack, moving the ball nicely around the Poynton D. The final quarter saw a brilliant goal from Dan Perrie who intercepted a clearance from the Poynton goalie who was then stranded well out of his goal. Dan calmly lobbed the ball from way back near our D into the Poynton net - the ball struggled to roll over the line in the thick mud, and there was a scramble of Poynton players chasing it, but over it finally went.

Final score 11-3

U16 Match Results - Saturday 6th February 2010

Timperley U16 'A' 11 v Brooklands 2

Poynton 11 v Timperley U16 'B' 3

Saturday 6 February 2010

U12A 6-6 Sheffield

The 100% record is gone, but we maintained our unbeaten season with a gutsy 6-6 draw against a good Sheffield team, who really fancied picking us off today. Missing three of our year 7 boys, we anticipated a tough game, and we got it, but the team were ultimately well worth the draw.
This was a very up and down game for us, as we were outscored in every quarter bar the third. We started slowly and took time to adjust to the pace of the game, and we couldn’t match the commitment of the 3 or 4 Sheffield boys who were running their team, losing the first quarter 1-2 and the second quarter 1-3, giving a half time score of 2-5. We had barely threatened the Sheffield goal, with our attacking play lacking ideas and fluency, but we were kept in the game by solid defending and goalkeeping. Four minutes of penalties in the second quarter did nothing to help our cause either.
It really needed someone to stand up and take control, and today that person was Dan Walker. He started winning some possession at the face, and scored 2 goals to get us back in the game, and we ended the quarter 6-5 up. The final quarter saw us face an onslaught of constant attacking by Sheffield, and they eventually got the equaliser, and then we held on for the final couple of minutes to get the draw we deserved.

This was our toughest game of the season, and it highlighted certain deficiencies. At times in this game, our commitment and technique to win the groundball and then retain posession was simply not good enough, and it almost cost us the game. If we have the ball, the opposition cannot score – it is as simple as that.
Positively, this was Sheffield’s strongest team, and they played well, but we got the draw in spite of missing key players and generally underperforming. We must take heart from this.

Next week, we play Brooklands at home.

Goals / (Assists)
Walker 3, E Loveland 2, Phillips 1, Callaghan (1), Townsley (1), Hirst (1)

U12B 0-13 Norbury

Monday 1 February 2010

U 14s A team League Match vs Mellor (away)

Goals …… Nathan (1), Charlie (1), Joe (1), Grady (1), Lucas (2), Tim (4), Alex (6)

Assists ………. Pick (1), Tim (2), Alex (3), Joe (2)

Everyone contributed and played well in a match contested on a difficult surface – very uneven and in places still frozen.

Mellor offered some resistance in the 1st and 2nd quarters in the shape of their #9, who also appeared to be the smallest individual on the field.

But once the lads got to grips with defending with the body rather than stick chasing, they remained largely in control of an enjoyable game.

Well done all !

U 14s B team Cup Match vs Sheffield (away) by Paul Peachey

A valiant effort by our B team Cup squad against a larger Sheffield squad than when we played the A team against them earlier in the season. We were tight on numbers with 3 down from our usual squad. In the first quarter, we went 4 down but matters could have been far worse if not for some excellent saves from Adam in goal. The team settled in the second quarter and only one goal was conceded with the defense taking shape and a few runs through to goal beginning up front. In the third, Sheffield, with a commanding lead, began to go in harder and unfortunately Oliver took the full brunt of a take out from one of the larger opposition players. After a few minutes on the touch line to catch his, breath….Oliver stepped back into play and after a great pass from Tom, turned, twisted and aimed for goal……..SUCCESS…we were on the score sheet thanks to a brilliant goal from Ollie! Sheffield got a few more in but we saw strong play from Freddie – whose athleticism took him to both ends of the pitch and he was often in the heart of the action. Tom, who worked hard all match, popped in a well earned No. 2 goal in the last quarter. Harry and George provided some good play with Will also getting in the action on the wings. Theo provided strong leadership which helped the defense in particular and Seb and James also did their bit against a strong Sheffield team. Final word goes to Adam, who had an excellent game and not only impressed us but also the opposition with his numerous saves! Well done lads – a hard match but we were proud of your effort and play (Final score 18-2).

U14 'A' v Mellor Cup Match Report - Saturday 23rd January - by Paul Peachey

The snow had gone; one (delayed) training session of the New Year under their belt and the Timperley U14s A cup squad got off to a flying start against Mellor. A 16 - 6 win showing that Timperley mean business this cup season!

With 15 players in our cup A team squad, the team played well and the skilled play flowed nicely. Tim got us off to a flying start with a cracker of goal giving us a confident start.

Goals as follows;

Tim N - 2 with an assist from Harry

Alex W - 6 with assists Luca, Charlie & Joe

Harry M - 3 with assists from Alex and Josh B

Grady 1 - assisted by Alex

Joe H 2 & Charlie, Pick and Nathan 1 a piece

The defence team showed some strong play and James got in a couple of important saves.