U16 'A' 11 v WACS 3 Last game of the season

The U16 'A' team finished the season on a high, beating WACS 11 - 3 today.

Barney Sant moved up into goal and had a great game stopping some big shots from Wacs and even having a shot himself (but please get a belt for those tracksuit bottoms). Dan Perrie was imperious in defence showing off his persistent hustling style that seems to wear attackers out. Jack Cox just kept charging straight at goal with his direct play absorbing hits as he went.

Wacs seemed stunned at the end of the first quarter, with Timperley going 5-1 up in a matter of minutes. The Didsbury boys took even hits in the second quarter shipping another two goals with no reply. Everything they tried seemed to be slapped down, with our pressure forcing simple mistakes. The third quarter saw something of a comeback with Wacs scoring two good goals. It was too little too late, with the Timperley boys getting another three goals in the last quarter to finish 11 - 3.

U16 Players Selected for Lancashire U16 Team

Four members of the great Timperley U16 team have been selected to play for Lancashire in this weekends match against Cheshire.

Joe Streuli - defence
Tom Bracegirdle - midfield
Cameron Parks - midfield
Toby Hawksley - attack

Timperley now make up a quarter of the 16 player Lancashire squad.

Well done boys - you are all great ambassadors for the club.

Good luck in the match.

U12A 15-5 Cheadle Hulme

The regular season is over, and the unbeaten record is still intact, so well done to the boys for that. If there were a league for the U12, we would have won it easily.........David Shuttleworth even turned up to see if his presence was a jinx on the team, but it appears not, so he is free to attend the cup final next weekend!

Today was a tricky looking assignment against an unknown Cheadle Hulme team that has had some good results this season. Added to that, we were on a really small pitch which we know doesn't suit our style of play. This took a bit of time to get used to, but eventually the team settled down and played some good lacrosse.

Seb Phillips is worth a mention today as he played a solid game in midfield, scoring a couple of goals and winning a lot of good ground ball. This is exactly the kind of selfless performance we needed - someone to do the unglamorous (but not unnoticed) hard yards in the midfield.


Goals / (Assists)
O Loveland 5(1), Cox 4, Crosby 2, Phillips 2, Prickett 1(1), Callaghan 1(1), E Loveland (1), Walker (1), Hunn (1).

Saturday 20th March: Timperley U14 A vs. Sheffield

Well a few weekends of 'practise' matches before the final so it is important that the boys use these matches as good preparation for the flags final in April.

We have had mixed experiences with Sheffield in the past, however they did declare that they were leaving their older & bigger players to play in the Sheffield U16s team - this was disappointing as the stronger the competition that we play prior to the final, the better the preparation. Anyway - how would Timperley rise to the occasion?

The teams took to the field with Sheffield looking quite big despite leaving their 'big boys' behind! It wasn't long before we had the answer with Lucas 'Hot Shot' Almond firing in 3 goal in quick succession. This was followed by Charlie 'Legs' Edwards doing hs usual pick up in D then a full pitch run and an efficient execution into the Sheffield net. 'Nuke 'Em' Nicol, had fired himself up and got the last goal in Q 1 (Timperely 5-0 up) and then kicked off the Q2 with a cracker. In a relativeley quiet quarter, Grady got on the scoresheet with an excellent shot. Nathan the 'Cheetah' showing some great form in running up field and having a crack at goal.

Entering Q3, Timperley were 7 goals up and had a clean sheet. 6 goals followed in this quarter: Pick assisted by Alex, 2 more for Nuke 'Em, One for Joe H (assist from Legs Edwards) and with Grady showing real form - 2 more for him, with one almost shot from ground level!

At this point we called a time out to respond to a distress call from our U16s B team who were fielding only 8 players in their match against Boardman & Eccles -so off went Tom Roberts and 'Donkey Legs' Peachey to assist. Back to the Sheffield game - Q3 ended 13 up with 'Safe Hands' Smethurst keeping his valuable clean sheet with additional support from James Littlewood playing an even more important role in defence now! Nathan was rested due to a troublesome ankle and Simon Briggs showed good form in stepping into the game up front. Connor also showed how determined he was in his first game for Timperley A team with some great blocks, tackles and some nice passing.

So into the final quarter and 'Whirlwind' Winton getting his first in the game followed by Josh 'The Stig' Blower assisting Nuke 'Em. Pick got his second of the game assisted by Lucas. 2 more followed from Nuke Em and a very important save from Safe Hands. Stig Blower then got his first well earned goal from an excellent look from Nuke Em. This was followed by a goal from Nuke Em assisted by Pick with Stig getting goal 21 in - just before the full time whistle was blown.

Despite the score, it wasn't an 'easy match' and the Timperley boys showed real skill. talent and determination throughout the game which does give us justfied confidence as we move closer to the Final. Well done lads - keep it up!

Paul Peachey

U12A 22-6 Brooklands

Even though Brooklands are not as strong as recent years, they can still spring the occasional surprise (Nationals - semi final - say no more), so we were looking at this game as a small measure of payback, but more importantly the continuation of our preparation for the Onondaga Cup Final. Brooklands scrapped hard in the heavy rain, but we really hammered them with our superior lacrosse skill. They were route one; we were passing it around and playing a team game.

Continuing our recently acquired (bad) habit of a slow start, we managed to go a goal down early on; however, there was no hint of concern and we soon got into our stride. The fast breaks were flying in, we were moving the ball around well, the ground ball was OK, we were drawing fouls from the opposition then scoring on the man up, the defence was tight and sliding well, our 5 man zone was excellent and the clear was good. Basically everything was working.

James Prickett had his best game of the season today, including a surprisingly effective stint at facing during the second quarter when, using his strength, he won 4 on the trot.

The quarterly scores were 5-2, 12-4, 17-5, 22-6

Goals / (Assists)
Cox 6, E Loveland 4(2), O Loveland 4(1), Prickett 3(3), Hunn 3(2), Crosby 2(2), Callaghan (2)

There are two more games to go this season - if we can maintain our unbeaten record, we will end the season as champions. Let's keep focussed and ensure this is what happens.

U12B 7-13 Rochdale

U12A 14-7 Cheadle [Onondaga Cup Semi]

Today was the biggest game of the season so far – the Onondaga Cup semi final against Cheadle. Having beaten them twice in recent weeks we knew their game plan and how to deal with it. The weight of expectation was hanging heavily over the whole U12A group– we knew we could win; we knew we should win; the question was, would we win?
We started well enough going 2-0 up quite quickly, but Cheadle’s big kid hit back with some individual goals, to put us 3-4 down at quarter time. Nerves were perhaps getting to us, the focus wasn’t there and we were struggling for fluency. It was time for a few deep breaths on the side line and some well directed words from the coaches. The second quarter saw some immediate improvement, as the attack found its range, and the ball started to move more easily from stick to stick. The confidence was growing, but there were still only two goals in it at half time, with Timperley leading by 7-5. Tom Cox (playing attack again) was leading the way at this point with three goals, and a couple of shots off the frame of the goal to his name.
The third quarter started evenly, before Oliver Crosby suffered a game ending hit to his knee. At 8-5, this could really have cost us because up to this point he’d been instrumental in keeping us in the game and was battling all over the pitch with his captain - losing his experience certainly worried me. However, Oli Loveland then went up another gear up for his team, scoring 3 unanswered goals in a 5 minute burst to get us to 11-5 at three quarter time. Almost there……….
The final quarter was just holding onto what we had. Cheadle weren’t pressing the ball and we ran the clock down well, keeping possession and scoring goals, to reach the final score of 14-7.

The result was all that mattered today. What the spectators saw was a real team effort, with every member of the squad playing their part in the performance that saw us make progress. It was good to see that after the first quarter, the team toughed it out and eventually came away with a solid win. We had our poor spell early, and then used the remaining game time to get the game won and reach the Onondaga Final for the first time in three years. Well done boys. Job nearly done……..

Goals / (Assists)
Cox 5, O Loveland 4(2), Crosby 2 (1), E Loveland 2 (1), Hunn 1, Prickett (2), Harris (1), Phillips (1)

U12B 5-13 Oldham

TIMPERLEY U16 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 2010

Timperley U16's crowned National Champions 2010 at Great Malvern.

The boys dominated the tournament, winninng all of their games and only conceding 1 goal in 8 matches.

Well done to all of the boys - and thank you to all of the parents who made the journey to Great Malvern, without you this would not have been possible. Thank you to all of the U12's who stayed on to watch the final, the support was fantastic.

U12 National 8 a side

Another Sunday, another tournament, but unfortunately, after the excitement of last weekend, there was no trophy to take home today. In my own mind a semi final place was the very least we were aiming for today. There are three or four good sides at this age group and any one of them is capable of winning a short tournament like this - a bit of luck, and some momentum counts for a lot.

We started really well with a great 5-3 victory over a tough Rochdale team, and then followed this with a 6-2 win over Spencer. Meanwhile Wilmslow were doing us all a favour with a huge win over Rochdale that effectively put them out of the tournament before lunchtime. We then beat Wilmslow 2-1 to win the group with a game to spare, before we gave the whole squad a go in the final game, winning 4-3 against Wacs.
So far so good – we’d made the semi final. We had played some nice lacrosse at times, and had fought hard for the wins but without really playing at our fluent best. Matthew Stewart in goal was probably the stand out performer up to this point, which itself tells a tale.

Brooklands and Sheffield had qualified from pool 1, along with ourselves and Wilmslow from pool 2. The betting man would have probably gone for a Timperley / Sheffield final, but he’d have lost all his money. We lost 1-4 to Brooklands, going behind early on and never managing to get back into the game, whilst Wilmslow produced another upset by overcoming the previously unbeaten Sheffield in overtime. Wilmslow followed this up by beating Brooklands 1-0 to take the tournament.

We must remember that 8 and 6 a side games can be won and lost in a very short space of time and often there is no time to respond - we will win some and we will lose some over the coming years. I firmly believe that this current team is better suited to 10 a side, which is where the main prizes are - the main target for the season was always the Onondaga Cup. We have a big semi final this coming weekend against Cheadle which, if we turn up in the right frame of mind, we are more than capable of winning.

Thanks to all the parents for taking the time to travel to Malvern to support their boys. It is meant to be a lacrosse festival and I think that from that point of view, we all had a good day at a great location with some superb weather.

U12A 13-4 Cheadle

This was a warm up for the Onondaga semi next week, and we came through with what was ultimately a comfortable 13-4 win. Although we never really played as well as we can, we scrapped and did our best to remove any shred of confidence that Cheadle might have been taking into next weekend.

We need to focus from the start next weekend and make sure we reach the final.

Goals/(Assists)
Cox 5, Crosby 2, E Loveland 2(1), Callaghan 1, Phillips 1(1), Hunn 1, Walker 1, O Loveland (2), Prickett (2), Hirst (1).

U12B 4-12 Ashton

David Shuttleworth reports.........
Although the game was fairly even for a long time we were eventually fairly well beaten by a much improved Ashton side. Admittedly they did have a very big, athletic overage player with a dispensation but he was supposed to be very new to lacrosse (!!). He was a decent athlete. However we kept at it . Joe Schaefer did well in goal and his clearing was really good and Matt Allen did well at faces. We missed our runners, Adam,Cameron and Will C as it was a big pitch which usually suits us.

U14s CENTURION CUP SEMI FINAL - Sat 6th March

Following an unconvincing run over the last few weeks, how were we going to do in this critical match? Littlewood and Roberts were missing due to injury (thanks for coming down Tom to support)...... The sun was shining and after a poor run of attendance, The Manager was back! Then Cheadle arrived......and they looked more beefy than ever'! Timperley warmed up in an uncharacterisitic silence. Could this concentration and focus see us through? Would our confidence return?
Face off.....could we sneak one in and get that boost of self belief? But alas the Cheadle No 3 took aim and we were 1 down! PANTS! We needed to come back and it wasn't long before Whirlwind Winton went into action...took aim and...FIRE...on target and we'd equalised. Cheadle pulled one back to go into the lead but then Jumping Joe Harris equalised just before the end of Quarter 1. It was clear....we were gonna have a cracking game!
Second quarter...and unfortunately this is where my scoring notes suffer as it was getting pretty nerve wracking on the touchline! So bear with me, this is what I can recall. The second quarter was even matched with a further 2 goals Alex and James 'The Hacker' Hackett - scoring 2 of his trademark ground / low shots. Despite this progress, Cheadle No. 18 - 'The Refridgerator' lunged 2 passed James Safehands Smethurst. Quarter 3 saw Timperley create and stretch their lead with Tim Nuke 'Em Nicol finally putting 2 passed the Cheadle Goalie with a great long shot assist from Josh Donkey Legs Peachey. Good clear passing from James S helped push the game up field. Pick showed some impressive play from behind goal, often out running the Cheadle defence. Final Quarter - could we hold the lead...could we book our place in the final? Disaster - we started losing our lead with a shaky period - Cheadle scored, then just when we needed it Charlie Legs Edwards did his long Ostrich leg run and put one in the back of the net, Tim also scored again but as we entered the last 5 minutes of play, Cheadle got 2 goals in 2 minutes, at his rate , they could equalise by the end of full time! Fortunately Timperley held their nerve and the Final whistle went and we'd won 10-8. Much better skills were shown by the team and strong performances were noted from Nathan 'The Cheetah' Walker who is undoubtedly the fastest player in Lacrosse, Josh Blower and Grady who both showed strong determination and persistence. Based on this performance and with further practice, we stand a good chance of winning against Brooklands in the final on 10 April at Rochdale (1pm face off). Well done Lads!

Paul Peachey

U12 win 6 a side tournament

This is what it is all about. Playing lacrosse and winning a trophy. Ultimately the day ended as I had hoped, with Timperley taking home the cup, but I never thought that it would prove as dramatic as it did for players and parents alike.
In the round robin format, a lot depends on the draw, and we got a favourable one, with only Cheadle (last year's winners) looking a threat. We breezed through our opening two games, winning 13-0 against Mersey Guild B, and then Wacs 12-1. The whole afternoon changed with the Cheadle game as we struggled with their direct tactics and eventually went down 2-3. Chins were down, the boys were moaning about the ref, which in reality was good to see because it showed they cared; from this moment on, the team seemed to gel as they realised they were going to have to fight for this cup.
The fourth game was against an unbeaten Mersey Guild A, and we had to win, or it was the early bus home. We came through in style to record a comprehensive 12-1 win. Bring on the semi final draw……….. which paired us with Cheadle. We were going to have to win it the hard way.
The game was as we expected but our tactics were better and we coped with Cheadle’s long game. We were never ahead, but never more than a goal behind, and we were playing some really good lacrosse, whilst not being hurt too badly by the big kids on the opposition. Full time came, with the score at 3-3. It was a golden goal to settle the game – first to score wins - no pressure then………
This led to what was for me the most memorable and important moment of the afternoon. We won the face and after a bit of scrapping, put together a great four man passing move that ended with Oli Loveland coolly slotting the ball home for his hat-trick, the golden goal and a sprint half the length of the pitch to celebrate with his team mates. I was leaping around and so were half the spectators - we’d won it 4-3 to reach the final against Rochdale.
Rochdale had one really big player and we played him as best we could. Unfortunately we’d not been tipped off about their other top player who would go on to score 5 goals in the final. However, it didn’t matter……….
This was another game where we were never ahead until the end, but again we held it together and were never more than one behind. To counter the two good players Rochdale had, our team played some excellent lacrosse, slugging it out goal for goal, only losing its head once with about two minutes to go where the long ball reared its ugly head. We got over this mini crisis and then took it to Rochdale from 5-6 down to score two in the final 90 seconds to be 7-6 up. Our ball on our back line with 20 seconds to go and we killed some time, before a final assault from the big kid was repelled, and we’d done it, winning 7-6 in a brilliant final.

Every one of the boys played their part today [in the photo (back) Matthew Stewart, James Prickett, Sam Harris, Oli Loveland, (front) Tom Cox ,Oliver Crosby, Ed Loveland, Will Callaghan]. They became a real team over the course of the afternoon and ended up really battling for each other to achieve the victory for themselves and the club. There are a lot of proud parents, coaches and managers in Timperley tonight.