Sunday 27 February 2011

U12 retain 6 a side trophy [27th Feb]


This afternoon, in a fantastic 6 a side tournament, the U12A retained the Tuscarora Cup that they won 12 months ago. In the final they were up against the U12B, which just goes to show the strength that the club has at this level, and is a credit to all those involved in the junior and pop programmes.

The round robin nature of the competition gives it an element of luck, and the U12A were handed three easy matches and only one against a club who we would consider serious opposition. To my mind, 4 wins would be needed to guarantee a semifinal spot.
First up were Heaton Mersey Guild who were quickly seen off 11-1, which was a nice starter. The second game was against Poynton A which was, on paper, the tough game as Poynton have some good players. However, we played some very good lacrosse to win 7-1 and almost certainly eliminate them from the competition. We then beat Boardman 9-1 and finally Poynton B 6-0, with a somewhat scrappy performance.
After four games, we had qualified for the semis, along with the two other unbeaten teams, Rochdale and Timperley B. The last semi final spot went to Mellor, who had lost one but got through on goal difference. So, there was no Poynton, Stockport or Cheadle, who were all among my pre tournament threats. Looking good then.
The draw for the semi final pitted Timperley A against Mellor and Timperley B against Rochdale, which left the chance of an all Timperley final.......it couldn't happen could it?
.....but it did - the A team beat Mellor 4-0 and the B team overcame Rochdale 3-2 with a really gutsy performance.
So the final was to be an all Timperley affair, and to be honest, it was closer than I imagined it would be. The A team looked nervous and started off playing that way, whilst the B team really believed they could win as they knew the opposition inside out.
Half time was 0-0, then Joe Hunn put the B team ahead early in the second period. The two long sticks of Harun and Dan Walker then popped up with nice goals for the A team, before Ben Williamson equalised for the B on a man up for 2-2 with about two minutes to play. This was going to the wire.
In the end though, the experience of the A team won the day as Ed Loveland got on the end of some good passing to score his 18th and 19th goals of the day to put his team 4-2 up. The A team then put in a minute of really tough riding and defending to protect the lead that they had fought so hard to get. The final whistle followed, and the two teams and their coaches came together as one to congratulate and commiserate each other at the end of a really special day for the club. Patrick McGowan (B team) was thoroughly deserving to win the MVP award in the final.

The victorious A team were:
Goal: Matthew Stewart, Defenders: Harun Wasim, Dan Walker, Midfield: Oliver Crosby (capt), Adam Kinghorn, Will Callaghan, Sam Hirst, Attack: Ed Loveland.

Well done boys - this was a tremendous victory in which the team playing the best lacrosse in the tournament won the day. Every player (apart from Matt!) scored today, and the incredibly unselfish play of everyone led to some great "team goals" getting us to the victory that Nelly, Chris and I wanted us to achieve.

U12 "Hopkins" 21-2 Wacs [26th Feb]

U12 "Syracuse" 7-4 HMG [26th Feb]

Friday 25 February 2011

U12A/B 17-5 Spencer [25th Feb]

Spencer are a team from London and are a bit of an unknown quantity - as it turned out they ended up giving a mixed A/B team a pretty competitive match.
At times the A team players were a bit sloppy but they dug deep enough to get the game won. What was most pleasing was the way the B team boys played - Messrs McGowan, Barker, Atkins, Burkinshaw and Roberts all showed good skills and it really shows how they have progressed over the course of the season.

Goals
Loveland 6, Crosby 4, Hirst 3, Williamson 2, Jamie 1, Hunn 1

Saturday 19 February 2011

Juniors clean sweep [19th Feb]

All five of the Timperley junior teams won this morning.

U12A 27-7 Wilmslow [19th Feb]

Today the A team went to work on another of the Onondaga semi finalists, and without doubt, we played our best lacrosse of the season.
The first quarter had some of the most incisive play of the day as we cut Wilmslow to shreds scoring 10 unanswered goals. We were passing the ball around the cage with a great deal of confidence and skill, which led to some really satisfying goals being scored. To be doing this at U12 is great - there are U14 teams who cannot manage to do this as competently as we were managing today.

Goals
Loveland 7, Williamson 5, Hirst 4, Crosby 3, Callaghan 2, Hunn 2, Townsley 1, Jamie 1, Walker 1, Sugden 1 (first goal of the season for Pat).

The season is now building some real momentum, with a busy period of tournaments and cup games coming up in the next 4 weeks. We have two tournaments and two cup semi finals to play - plese keep up the good attendance at training, and we'll give ourselves the best shot of some glory.

U12 "Hopkins" 8-7 Mellor [19th Feb]

This was a really good win against a competitive Mellor team.

U12 "Syracuse" 11-6 Wacs [19th Feb]

A very good win for Timperley - beating a Wacs team that had earlier this season beaten the B team.

U14 5-2 Mellor [19th Feb]

Sat 19th Feb Match Report: Timperley U16 vs Poynton

Poynton aren't a bad team and can play a good match with decent field skills - however Timperley got off to a good start with Tim Nicol getting the all important 1st goal. Dan C followed with a good 2nd and then with a Tim Nicol assist Mr Harry Mann put it into the back of the net making Q1 score 3-0.

The second quarter saw 5 more go in for Timperley and a clean sheet maintained, well played Barney & the defence.

A team reshuffle resulted in a slight rebalancing of the score line at 11-4 at the end of Q3

The final quarter saw Poynton come back with 5 more goals being scored against Timperley's 4

Final score 15-9 with the final match stats being;

Tim Nicol 5 goals & 5 assists - well done
Alex WInton 3 goals - continues to buld his scoresheet as the season progresses
Myles 2 goals & 1 assist - reliability continues
Nathan 2 goals - strong runs now consitently converting to goals
Harry & Dan C - 1 a piece from good game play
Toby 1 goal and 1 assist - vital part of our attack

Next week; Ashton / Oldham at home - remember we played well when we beat them away last time and this was supported by good self discipline and keeping our cool - let's make sure we keep it this way on Saturday 26th!

Training as normal Wednesday / Home Sat 26th Feb / England Academy U15s Sunday 27th Feb / Helpers for U14s 6 a side from 12.30pm Sunday 26th Feb / Away at Sheffield Sat 5th March / National U16s Malvern Sunday 6th March / U16s Cup Semi Final at Mellor (Brabyns) Sat 12th March.

Sunday 13 February 2011

U16s Match Report vs Norbury

Not such a tidy match - following last week's match vs Mellor (which incidently must go down as one of the team's best matches this season). Norbury were short of men so thanks to all those that sub'd for them each quarter.

Q1 Timperley trailed 1-2
Q2 Better quarter with 5 goals 6-3
Q3 2 more 8-4
Q4 & Final score 11-7

Scorers:
Myles x2 / Jack x1 / Toby x3 / Cameron x1 / Tom x1 / Alex x3

Training as normal Weds and then away at Poynton next Sat 19th - please confirm your availability as we are already a few players down (JC/CM/JP/TN).

Saturday 12 February 2011

U12A 20-0 Sheffield [12th Feb]

There was a degree of payback in this performance as it was Sheffield who beat us in the final of the community games (world cup) last July, and a lot of today's team were present that day.
To that extent, it was job done, as we put in a competent performance to come away with a good win. It was by no means all one way, but having an experienced goalkeeper makes such a difference. We were almost scoring at will, whilst Sheffield were kept to zero, in spite of them creating a number of chances. Ed Loveland led the way today with a big performance of goals, creativity and immaculate ground ball.

Goals
Loveland 9, Cox 3, Crosby 2, Callaghan 2, Hunn 2, Williamson 1, Robins 1

U12B 8-1 Oldham, U12C 2-7 Oldham [12th Feb]

U14 4-9 Rochdale [12th Feb]

Saturday 5 February 2011

U16s vs Mellor Saturday 5th February 2011

Well, our old friends Mellor - just pipped us in the final of the 6 a side tournament & beat us 13-10 earlier in the season and, following the cup redraw yesterday, our semi final cup fellow contenders (12 March).

Q1 6-3 / Q2 9-5 / Q3 13-5 / Q4 15-5

Scorers:
Tim Nicol 1 - the important opener
Cameron Parkes 3 - great midi play up front but also supporting in defence
Myles Anderson 2 - regular contributer, could have been more
Nathan Walker 2 - really showing form
Toby Hawksley 3 - almost 4 if the cheeky back shot had gone in!
Jack Cox 1 - hard worker and great game
Alex Winton 2 - good to see getting on the scoresheet again
Mellor Goalie 1 - own goal, thanks mate!

Good saves from Barney and later on, James and good defensive play - illustrated in no Mellor Goals being scored in the second half.

A good win against a solid team, with some stronger quality play from Timperley. We must not take too much for granted though as we meet them next on 12th March at their home (Brabyns Park) but here is no doubt that we should be proud of our win today and enter that match with some degree of confidence.

U12A 22-1 Rochdale [5th Feb]

This morning it rained, and rained, and then rained some more........
We could have easily cancelled the game, but both teams were willing to give it a go, and it turned out to be quite a good workout for the U12A. Playing 10 a side on half the astro (the other half being under water) was always going to be a challenge, but we certainly got some benefit from this morning's game.
Rochdale, though lacking basic ball handling skills in certain areas, were a well drilled team who set up properly and posed us some problems - the scoreline does not really reflect that they are one of the better teams we have faced this season.
Timperley scored some good goals this morning, and the whole team got good game time, with the defence and goalkeeper dealing with a lot of pressure from a couple of Rochdale's more able players.
As ever, we just need to polish our ball handling a bit more - we have the ability to win trophies this season, and we should be aiming to do that playing solid, error free lacrosse.

Goals
Cox 6, Loveland 5, Crosby 4, Callaghan 2, Hunn 2, Robins 2, Townsley 1