Southend 1st XI 1 - 2 Saffron Walden
"Not another last minute losing goal"
Another week another minor change in the team formation due to unavailability. This week Keith Arnold moved back to sweeper as Rob Styles was missing due to injury and John Reynolds was back after missing last week.
We played well and kept the ball for a long while against a good Saffron Walden team who came into the fixture in second place in the league. Half time and all was going well with us leading one nil after Crowhurst scored yet again (I can't remember it but it must have been good he plays for Essex you know!).
So, all we have to do now is not lose any late goals and the points are ours. What do we do? We sit back, Saffron Walden came back at us and equalised with about 5 minutes to go. Then to make matters worse, with the last hit of the game they score the winner from a short corner, and we lose for the fourth time this season to a late goal.
Burberry Suit winner - Robeson (for being Robeson) and mainly for last weeks shocking tackle.
Team - Christie, Reynolds, Mellish, Hayman, P Harvey, Robeson, Utton, Leggett, Crompton, Crowhurst, Styles Jnr, Arnold.
Goals - Crowhurst
Old de Ferrians 2nd XI 2 – 7 Southend 2nd XI
Goalscorer(s): Morgan 3, Jenkins 2, Puncher & Jones
Quote from previous week’s match report, “Old De Ferrians beware we don’t like losing”.
Stung by their first defeat the previous Saturday Southend brushed aside 4th place Old de Ferrians with a strength and panache not seen often enough this season.
Playing with a bare (not naked!) 11 once again, Southend dominated from the off, International Ginge 1. (IG1) drawing the keeper before sliding the ball through to International Ginge 2. (IG2) to slot home within 2 minutes. The home team were in disarray, already arguing with each other even at this early stage of the match. Buoyed by these proceedings Southend continued to press forward and were soon rewarded with a penalty flick, the result of a slick penalty corner kicked off the line following James Lockwood’s angled shot and comfortably put away by IG1.
ODF rarely threatened, Marcus and Gavin marshalling the defence efficiently and without fuss with Polo sweeping away anything that per chanced to get through. Barry Puncher added the 3rd before half-time flicking the ball effortlessly across the keeper into the top corner following a melee in the D.
The 2nd half began as the 1st but in reverse. ODF scoring early following a defensive mix up as Southend struggled to get out of the blocks. This set-back served only to remind Southend of their slim lead and so they pushed forward with renewed energy. Three more quality goals from IG1, IG2 and Stuart Jones put the game out of sight of ODF and despite a late consolation breakaway goal from the home team an even later and much more classy goal by IG2, completing his hat-trick, capped off an outstanding team performance.
Well played chaps.
Team: M Scott, L Danbrook, M Watson, J Etheridge, G Cheeseman, K Druce, S Jones, B Puncher, J Morgan (IG2), C Jenkins (IG1), J Lockwood
Southend 3rd XI 2 - 2 Sudbury
Southends 3rd XI were back in good form on Saturday - sharing the points with 3rd placed Sudbury. Southend started nervously on the difficult St Thomas Moore pitch putting themselves under pressure by failing to commit to tackles and clear the ball when won. It was the Southend midfield who settled the game down, growing in confidence at Matt Dawes and Daniel 'Lilly' Varrow developed their understanding in the middle of the park, Varrows mazy runs balanced perfectly by Dawes excellent distribution. Southend however were still struggling to put coherent attacks together and when Sudbury took the lead with 10 minutes of the half remaining Southend looked to be running out of ideas.
Despite a positive half time de-brief Southend were caught cold straight after the restart as Sudbury broke down the right and passed the ball neatly around the defence and slotted past the keeper.
This seemed to act as a wake up call for Southend who started to move the ball around much more crisply and within 10 minutes Southend were looking significantly stronger and were having an excellent spell of possession. This time however the link up play between the midfield and the forwards looked much more confident and Southend started to lay siege to the Sudbury goal, where they stayed for the majority of the second half. Southends lifeline came from young Kyle Taylor who crowned his excellent season to date with a confident clip hit from the edge of the D following a rebound from a Mick Walsh shot. Taylor's shot must have gone through at least 4 pairs of legs on its way to the backboard - the last ones belonging to the keeper - who must have seen the shot quite late.
Southend continued to press and it took only a further 10 minutes for another cracking goal - this time from fullback Daniel 'Stress' Needham whose superb sprint into the D and overlap left the Sudbury defence standing. Needham again making the keeper suffer with a cracking slap sending the ball pinball style between the keepers pads and into the back of the net for 2-2.
From this point Southend were torn between driving on for the win and not wanting to throw the hard work away. Mick Walsh had a chance late on but was foiled by a sliding dive from the keeper. But on the final whistle both sides agreed that the split was pretty much a fair assessment of the game.
Final score 2-2 and Southend once again showing what they can do with a full (nearly) strength squad.
Southend 4s 2 - 1 Colchester 5s
All that training pays-off for the 4s!
Having not played hockey for three weekends, an encounter with the high-flying Colchester 5s was a daunting prospect for the Southend 4th men. Indeed, the first five minutes of the game were notable for some very nervous play which culminated in an early goal for the visiting side. Not to be deterred Southend quickly regrouped and began to produce some impressive attacking skills that have characterised their previous matches. These tactics were rewarded when, just before the half-time break, forward Mitchell Jones swept in the equaliser.
With the realisation that they had everything to play for in the second half, Southend quickly established a foothold of play in Colchester’s own half and remained there for much of the thirty-five minutes. Although Colchester were able to make occasional breaks, these were well managed by the home side’s capable defence and midfield. A series of short corners for Southend eventually allowed John Evans to convert his 4th goal of the season for the team, becoming the 4th XI’s top goalscorer, and producing the winner for the team at the same time.
This game was one of Southend 4th XI’s best performances to date with each player equally responsible for the successful result. There were some noteworthy performances from James Byford who exhibited some excellent on-the-ball control and passing skills, new-recruit Sam Brooks who handled the demanding right-back position with proficiency, even defenders Peter Benson and Tony Revell who showed that defensive players don’t need to remain in their own half at all!
The question is, were the 4th XI really doing the Christmas shopping during those weekends off, or were they in fact participating in a secret Hockey training programme?
Southend & Benfleet Ladies 1st XI 1 - 3 Chelmsford Ladies
So we were third in the league and maybe getting a bit cocky with ourselves!!! Not really but an unfortunate loss.
An unusual start really, not the best this season, a bit of confusion on our part and we let Chelmsford take control of the game, they had the majority of the play but good defending by the Southend ladies preventing any score early on.
We also managed to hold them off till half time 0-0.
So we all came to an agreement that we weren’t playing the best game of our lives and needed to open up the play, keep the width, call for the ball a bit more and generally anticipate where players will be. For the first 10 minutes of the second half that seemed to work pretty well, but unfortunately Chelmsford had a short corner that was cleared by us and rebounded outside the D a couple of times before coming back inside and a sneaky goal was scored.
We came back again now determined to even the score….and we did, a goal from Naomi Barker with 20 minutes left in the game proved to boost moral. We settled back down and unfortunately another goal for Chelmsford was just too much for us to beat.
The game ended five minutes later, a disappointing result when we all knew that we had the ability to win. Never mind, maybe in the New Year.
Team: N,Standage. S,Revell. S,Watkinson. R,Goddard. A,Johnson. G,Swain. H,Middleton. K,Colman. N,Bryant. L,Sharples. N,Barker. C,Powell.
Goal Scorers: N,Barker.
Southend and Benfleet Ladies 2nd XI 6 - 1 Brentwood
Southend's 2nd team stayed at the top of the league with a comprehensive win against Brentwood. The goals were spread around the team with 6 players, Philips, King, Newlove, Brooks, Fletcher and Regan all finding the net.
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