U12 "Hopkins" 9-9 Sheffield [19th Mar]

U12A 5-1 Poynton CUP SEMI FINAL [12th Mar]

"Offense sells tickets; Defense wins championships"
[Dave Thorson - an American high school basketball coach]

Never was this more true than today. By keeping our opponents to one goal almost guaranteed the win, regardless of how we played offensively.

It was tough for the spectators today as we had our second testing match against Poynton in a week. We put in a stuttering offensive performance, but the defensive unit of Matthew Stewart, Harun Wasim, Dan Walker and Pat Sugden played an absolutely immense game of lacrosse that almost earned a shut out for Timperley, and ensured that we progressed to our second consecutive Onondaga Cup Final. After numerous games where the defence has rarely seen the ball, today they stepped up and made the semi final win possible.

Poynton had a game plan and stuck to it well - from the start they decided to go for damage limitation, and played a stifling, smothering game in which they were totally intent on stopping us from playing. Our opponents approach, which took advantage of their tiny pitch, meant that the normally free wheeling and high scoring Timperley game never got going as we struggled to find space and time to play. The team did play solidly and although it was not pretty, there was never much doubt that it was going to be the Timperley parents reaching for the sat nav for another trip to Rochdale for the final.

Well done boys - a win is a win at any level of lacrosse and we now have four weeks to prepare for the final against Stockport. It should be a good weekend as we join the U16 at the Flags Festival.

Goals
Cox 2, Callaghan 1, Robins 1, Kinghorn 1

U12 results [12th Mar]

U12B 7-6 Norbury
U12C 3-8 Heaton Mersey

Cup Semi Final: Mellor vs Timperley Sat 12th March U16s.

We have lost to Mellor at Brabyns and beaten them at TLC and now the clear challenge was to beat them on the notorious Brabyns Park pitch.

Unfortunatley, Timperley were not the first to score with the Mellor 28, one of the best players in the region, firing in the opener. However, Timperley held their nerve and it wasn't long before Timperley equalled. 1-1 remained the score for the quarter.

The second quarter was eventful with Timperley going into the lead - a lead they maintained througout the rest of game. Timperley kept scoring, Mellor fough back but never equalled. 3 - 5 second quarter score. The third quarter showed strong defensive play from Timperley holding the Mellor attack and up front Timperley advanced their lead by 2 more. Score was 3 - 8 at the end of the third quarter.

The final quarter proved to be as intense as the game so far with 3 more goals for Timperley and 2 more for Mellor resulting in an 11-5 win for Timperley.

James had his game of the season in goal making crucial saves in every quarter and we saw strong play from the whole team with everone putting in that extra bit off effort that made all the difference.

Goals:
Mr Toby Hawksley 5 goals
Mr Cameron Parks & Mr Tim Nicol 2 goals each
Mr Alex Winton & Mr Jack Cox 1 goal each

Well done lads - we were proud of your performance.

Flags Final (The War of the Roses) & the opportunity for us to seek revenge against this season's rivals - Sunday 10th April vs Sheffield (who beat Brooklands today in the other semi 10-5)

U12 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS [6th Mar]

We were two seconds from losing the final today, but a last gasp equaliser and an overtime winner changed everything and sealed the U12 National Championship with a 3-2 victory over Brooklands.
Take a bow, Matthew Stewart, Pat Sugden, Joe Hunn, Dan Walker, Harun Wasim (back row); Sam Hirst, Tom Cox, Ed Loveland, Will Callaghan, Adam Kinghorn (front row), plus Oliver Crosby (who was unable to play the final).

Today these boys played some gritty lacrosse to bring the National Championship back to Timperley for the first time in 8 years, and in doing so provided more proof that we are the best U12 team in the country.

One day tournaments throw up a random schedule of round robin matches, and it is quite possible for a lesser team to spring an upset. This happened to us last year, so we were fully focussed from the off with the aim of reaching the knock out stages with as good a record as possible. The day started well as we cruised past last year's winners Wilmslow, winning 7-0 before playing Poynton, where we won an ugly match 1-0. Next up were Cheadle Hulme (5-0) and Norbury (4-0). So far so good....we had qualified for the quarter finals in first place, but were still a long way from the final.

It came a little closer with a bazarre walkover against Wilmslow, who had apparently already headed for home, believing they had been knocked out. Strange, but we were not bothered. It saved our energy for bigger battles, and there were two coming over the horizon, firstly in the shape of a good Stockport team.

Away from the grass for the first time, saw us on the really bouncy, sandy astroturf, which initially gave us a few problems. Stockport pressed for the whole of the first half as we failed to control the game in the slightest. However, it was still 0-0 at half time and then Tom Cox then came off the bench to score a couple to get us to a 2-0 win. We were now due to face Brooklands who were into their eighth consecutive final. How do they do it? We were about to find out as the adrenaline kicked in before our most competitive game of the season.

Brooklands started well and got scored a couple of quick goals, but then showed their hand by being prepared to stall the game and run the clock down. This slowing of the game actually enabled us to get our heads together and we gradually managed to get a grip with Tom Cox scoring our first goal following a lovely passing move. 1-2 at half time then. In spite of us chasing the game, the second half was meandering to an unsatisfactory conclusion as we created chances but shot poorly.

So we arrived at 60 seconds to go in the final, Timperley were losing 1-2 and we had a man sent off. It was really looking like it was over and we'd be making our excuses all the way up the M5 and M6 back home......however, it was just not to be as this team showed it's backbone. We got our man back on and pressed the ball, won it back and moved it up the pitch. Ed Loveland had a shot but missed. 30 seconds to go. Goalie's ball back line. A bit of a scramble. My timer hit zero seconds. Surely it's gone now? Ed won the ball from somewhere and whilst being pushed to the floor laid it off to Sam Hirst. Sam drew his man and dumped the ball to Joe Hunn, who scorched one past the goalie. The equaliser, 2-2 and a whole two seconds left in the game. Cue pandemonium amongst the Timperely supporters. Out of jail? It seemed that way.
Overtime was for two minutes and there was really only going to be one winner. We were the stronger team and so it showed as Tom Cox manoevered himself into position to score our third. 60 seconds to go (again), but this time we were in front and in no mood to lose it. Possession was gained from the face, and that was that. The clock ran down with no scares giving the final score of 3-2 to Timperley. Cue more pandemonium, this time spreading to players and coaches too!


This was an incredible team effort today, with the players really working for each other and their coaches to ensure that their club won the day. Matt was only beaten twice in 6 matches; the 3 defence men of Dan, Pat and Harun interchanged seamlessly throughout the day and they all played long stick midfield when required; Will and Sam did the unglamourous hard yards in the midfield (yes we do notice!) especially at the face off; Adam provided the legs for the quick breaks; finally Tom, Ed, Joe and Oli mixed it up in attack, scoring goals and giving the opposition a variety of problems all day.

Nice effort boys!

U16s Nationals, Great Malvern Sunday 6th March

We arrived at our destination in Great Malvern to be told that the U16s were relocating to Mavern College 5 mins away - so off we went and the tournament got underway about an hour late.

Our first match was against the old rivals, Brooklands. We went 1 (JC) up but in the last minute Brooklands managed to equalise.

Next was Reading, a good 2-0 win with Alex scoring along with Jack.

Our third match was against our friends from t'other side of Pennines, Sheffield - and unfortunately they beat us 2-0 despite a stronger performance from Timperley than yesterday. Following Shutt's getting one up on the delightful Sheffield coach yesterday, Craggie added to this today, so 2-0 up to TLC for pitchside banter (however let's move this success onto the pitch next time!)

Next was a 4-0 win over SMG with Jack, Tim, Alex and Dan scoring followed by a 4-1 win over Rochdale with Jack, Tim and Dan scoring again.

As we neared the end of the tournament we came up against Welwyn and sadly lost 2-1 with Tim scoring.

This marked the end of the tournament for Timperley as Sheffield played Welwyn in the final - where Sheffield won.

Thanks to everyone for making the effort to come to Malvern and well done to the U16 players who showed improved form, better teamwork and with further work and training - the potential to achieve more this season. A big thank you to Craggie too for stepping in as coach. Cameron also did well as captain, good effort. Nathan did a cracking job in goal and Jack was top scorer and finally Tim continues to make that bit of extra commitment that makes all the difference.

Now onto next Saturday - our Semi at Mellor; let's build on the progress made today and do ourselves proud. So we need a committed training session on Wednesday followed by a strong show of us at our best on Saturday.

Sat 5th March: U16s away at Sheffield

Not good! In fact our worse match by far this season! Final Score 21-4.
Goals: Toby x1 / Alex x1 / Tim x2.

After a rally at the end of Q1, we saw an appalling Q2 and there isn't much else to report on, other than I think we were all glad when the final whistle blew.

So now to the Nationals tomorrow in Malvern.........I think the wisest thing to offer is that we should forget today, draw a line and move on!

I know we have a good team that can work effectively together and display good skills. If we can regain these for tomorrow along with a more positive mental attitude, we stand a very good chance of retaining the trophy that we won last year.

So here's to Malvern and fresh starts!