Southend Mens 1's 3 - 3 Ford
Following last seasons games against Fords, we were looking forward to this weeks fixture with some apprehension and for a chance for revenge. Would they be brilliant or would they be rubbish? Would their pakistani intenationals be playing? Would they be nice or would they try and take our heads off? You just never know what you are going to get with them.
The day started with a bit of panic when one of our two internationals, Bart van de Velde failed to turn up for the meet. Oh dear, no goalkeeper. Have we turned into the ladies team all of a sudden? This set off a frantic session of phone calls to every goalkeeper who has ever played for the club as well as anyone who has ever played in goal as well as a debate amongst the remaining 11 (NOTE eleven) players to decide who would draw the short straw if no one could be found. At the same time the 12 (TWELVE!!!!!!) players in the second team squad set off for their merry jaunt to Saffron Walden. Eventually Phil Leggit was tracked down and diverted from the 3rd team game and stepped into the breach. After a long delay we managed to set off. Not the best of starts.
For the record Bart was uncontactable as he fell ashleeeeep and schlept through the numerous phone calls. At least we now know what Louise meant when she said Bart was good in bed. Let's hope he doesn't schleep in this weekend when he will be playing for the third team.
When the game started it was soon clear that this was not the same Fords team who had convincingly won the league last season and it appeared we should get something from the game. However it was not all plain sailing. Fords soon went ahead and then scored again to take a two goal lead. Eventually though we got back into it and leading goalscorer Gareth Ingram scored following a bit of ping pong at a short corner. Keith Arnold then found himself free in the D after everyone had stopped waiting for a foot to be given and scored with a free shot. We were level. However just before half time Ford scored from a short corner to regain the lead.
In the second half Southend battered the Ford "D" but could only come up with one goal when Gareth Ingram showed his class at short corners chosing this time to place one perfectly into the corner rather than go for power to score. Unfortunately though we were unable to take the three points.
At the half way point of the season we have acheived our objective of being out of the relegation spots and being above Old Boys (who are bottom!), but we need to make sure we get enough points so as not to be involved in a relegation scrap. It should be well within our grasp as for most of the season we have played some good stuff (if only we could stop pressing the self destruct button).
Lastly - THANKYOU VERY MUCH MR LEGGIT YOU WERE MAGIC.
Team - Legget, Hayman, Styles, Lockwood, Arnold, Hill, Jones, Crompton, Ingram, Needham, Jenkins, Utton.
Goals - Arnold, Ingram 2
Burberry trousers - Steve Hayman. Won for looking gay when finally managing to get out of the way of a short corner, following 2 own goals in identical positions. The look on his face when realising he had won the trousers was also priceless.
Outstanding punishment - Bart van de velde
Suggestions included :
Being dropped - done
Being made to wear a Germany shirt for a night out
Permanent burberry trousers
Teas - Definitely next time he is in the team
Being made to stand in the clubhouse and sing the english national anthem
Being made to burn a dutch shirt - a touch harsh?
All 11 players at the top of the D with a ball all taking a shot at Bart at the same time
Any other suggestions?
Southend & Benfleet 1st XI 2 – 0 Witham 1st XI
Excellent at last 3 points and well deserved!!!
The ladies gave a very solid performance on Saturday by camping out in Withams half and waiting patiently for the goals to come. The first half saw plenty of attempts on goal but we just couldn’t find the all important bit between the goal posts, I lost count of how many shots went off the back line. The play for the most part was inside Witham’s 25 and they did a bloody good job of holding us back, especially in the first 10 minutes when they only had 9 players on the pitch (2 got lost in Rayleigh Hish St !!!). In fact Lisa (our GK) only touched the ball in the first half to retrieve it when it went out of play she sat comfortably on her back board for the rest of it. The ladies had plenty of short corners and lots of rebounds, Kendal Colman managed to flick one of them in before half time to give us the lead.
The second half was a similar story, again lots of short corners and plenty of pressure in the circle. Witham’s GK should surely be awarded ‘Lady of the match’, she had a fantastic game and saved some excellent shots and worked really hard at not letting us take the lead by too many. We got a second goal by myself which was a bit scrappy but I managed to poke it between the keepers legs, again it was a rebound from a short corner. We are improving at keeping the pressure on in the D and working the play around the scoring zone, all our training must be paying off (ta cliffy!!).
So the game finished with a 2-0 victory to our ladies. Well played to all the ladies just one more before Christmas.
Team: Lisa Ballard, Sandy Revell ©, Anne Johnson, Steph Gregory, Nicola Bryant, Lora Sharples, Kendal Colman, Adele Cole, Chloe Harris, Chantal Heringer, Sarah Watkinson.
Goal Scorers: Kendal Colman 1, Sandy Revell 1.
Southend ladies 2nd XI 1 - 0 Rochford Ladies
A tough game all round this week with a bare 11 players against Rochford (one of whom was really too sick to be playing - Bex, that's dedication!). Rochford came out strong from the off and spent the first 10 minutes of the game hammering S&B's defending half, almost relentlessly. S&B settled into the game and soon took on an equal possession of the ball and with that came several shots at goal from all of S&B's attacking front, but none of which quite made it over the line.
Second half saw an equally tough challenge as Rochford continued to put up a good fight and managed to break S&B's defence several times to get through and have a few shots on goal, all of which were either saved or went wide, and the same story prevailed in Rochford's defending D as S&B continued to keep the pressure on, gaining short corner after short corner. Finally S&B had the break the whole team had been working hard to achieve and K Durban put the winning goal in.
A great effort this week from the entire team who all really worked hard (especially Donna who went to the wrong meet but still managed to run on pitch on time!) and thanks should go to Nicola who stepped into a goalie kit for the first time ever and made some great, all important saves.
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