By Lara Kynoch and Rhiannon Lettey
Being the first proper match for most of the players this season I was very impressed with the commitment that the team put into the freindly match. I especially noticed Josie's improvement with handling the ball and Olivia's great draws. A good goal was made by Lizzie. Woman of the Match went to Kelsey for her effort of constantly finding space and Dick of day proudly went to Sam B for knocking her car bumper off in the car park . Overall it was a great game and I'm looking forward to the next one. If this standard is kept up, the Staffs girls are on for their best season ever.
By Lara Kynoch and Rhiannon Lettey
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Another loss against Trent but it was our best performance against them. We always had a chance of making a comeback. We were always still in the game, which I know will give us confidence for Varsity.
The defence had it hard today. It was just constant pressure from the hosts, but I think we did the best we could. We know Trent are a dangerous side and to only let in eight goals shows that we can now cope with this type of pressure. Simon was terrific as usual, and it was just a shame he got a shot to his bad leg right before half time. But Nathan once again put in another blinder to keep us in the game. A bit of strange moment when he made a run to the edge of the pitch and messed up a blind flicking clearance. But a part from that it was a great performance by our number two keeper. Defence was top-notch once again. I know I wasn't 100%, so I was glad to see everyone step up a gear. But I still think we need to put in more body checks as I fear Keele will be playing a physical style of play for most of the game. I know I need to put in more body, but as you may know I did not want to risk making my shoulder any worse then it already is. Unfortunately a big hit late in the fourth quarter meant my game was done and it seems I won't be training between now and Varsity. I was really impressed with Juggernaut, his checks are making him a real force at the back and come Varsity, I can't wait to see floor some Keele scum. As for midfield and attack, it seemed the hard work did not pay off as much as it should have done. We did have times where we created a lot of pressure around goal, but missed efforts seemed to be the story for you guys. Our face offs were as powerful as they usually are. But it seemed a lot of them went to waste as our other midfielders got a bit too excited and kept running before the face-off actually started and that meant Trent had possession. We don't want to lose Varsity on silly things like this. A few of Keele's goals last year were because of silly offsides, and we don't want to lose on that. It was great to see Adrian back running his legs off and just surprising everyone with his pace. One thing did annoy me and Marcus and maybe a few others was the amount of kicking. I know it is what Adrian usually does, but there is a time to kick the ball and there were a lot of times where he should have scooped up the ball instead. I have to mention Andy who once again puts in a lot of body despite looking like the most fragile player on our side. I would happily have given you man-of-the-match just for you flooring a Trent player all by yourself. Final mention has to go to the players that always seem to steal the show, 'Rat 'n' Roids'. Shane was constantly making very pointless checks by basically throttling the players with his disco-stick. But to finish it off, he made a spectacular sliding tackle on a Trent player that I thought he would never do. I hope Shane does know that these things are illegal or else you could cost us Varsity (I'm glad to have put that on your shoulders now). Apart from that, I thought you worked really hard as usual and deserved getting one of our two goals today. Keet it up (the legal stuff I mean). As for Roids, he managed to do something Shane could not do, and that is get a game expulsion. Officially this means you are banned from your next game, but I am not sure if that includes Varsity. But I am sure the referees will not remember you, or we can just say we played a game in between and you did not play. Like Shane, apart from that, you were really good today. Your face-offs are always great to watch and your general presence on every game is improving all the time. Next up is 'the big one' and I know you put your heart and soul into it. It has been a historic for this club, a win at Varsity would cap it off in style. A great way to end the season and secure third place for the third time in our history. Everyone played their part, which gives me and I am sure everyone confidence before our last game, which is Varsity.
We got ourselves to a comfortable lead and we were not afraid to further increase that. It was also probably the first time this season I have seen all the girls contributing a lot to this win. Lara and Rhiannon were playing terrific defence and were making interceptions that I was really proud of. Today also saw the birth of a new defender in the form of Jade Morrall. After the game she told me that as the game went on, she noticed that she was enjoying the game the further back she went from the opponents goal. I was so happy to hear that we have a new defender in the team, which I know will help us a lot at Varsity and next year. Up front, Amy and Suzi were regularly giving us options on the wing and were always drawing out defenders for others to make a run at goal. Congrats to Amy once again for collecting her third goal of the season. That now makes her tied with Rebecca as tied top girl in the mixed goal-scorer list. Rebecca was fighting for the ball all day, and it seemed that most of this season she is always being involved in scraps on the field. The final mention has to go to Hayley Fountain who became our 19th different goal scorer this season. A terrific game, and it is always great to see more girls score. That makes it eight girls that have scored for us this season, seven of the them in the Varsity team. As for the men I have to start with Dimi who once again made a nuisance of himself in goal. But this time, he could have easily let in a few howlers, but thankfully Dimi either got back in time or good defending gave him enough time to get back into goal. A deserved recipient of 'Dick of the Day'. I was thinking I might get it after I threw my stick in the goal. I did it to stop a goal from looping over Dimi, but I think I should have dived for it instead of throwing my stick at it. For the rest of the guys, despite only having one sub we kept are stamina up and made sure we would finish the season on a high. Shane collected his second hat-trick of the season, It is hard to believe how quickly Shane has adapted to the mixed game and could sneak ahead of Marcus and Dimi after Varsity as the leading mixed goal-scorer. Marcus made another great all-round performance. Our captain was in almost every position again. He was defending well, always play-making, but unfortunately no goals. It was great to see the dynamic duo of Perkins and Jinks again for the last time. Their passing partnership had the opponents really annoyed and they could not stop them. It was good to see them both get goals and end it with our former captain get his second man-of-the-match award. Like I said, a great way to the end the season and all that is left now is Varsity. So lets finish this season off in style. Probably one of the best days I have ever had, that included a Lacrosse match.
Everything about today was just brilliant. The journey there, the build-up, the whole match, the post-match drinks and the journey back. It was good to see that we had nearly all of our Varsity team to face Lincoln, because I knew this would be a match that could possibly shoot everyone's confidence sky high. Onto the match, and I'm not sure what it was but I think we played a perfect first two quarters. Everything just clicked. The flow from defence to attack was constantly good, the passing around Lincoln's goal was brilliant, we won nearly all the face-off's and as Lincoln cleared it, our back line was always there to intercept and put the ball back into Lincoln's half. We were playing that well, some of us could afford to do trick shots. But unfortunately not a lot of them resulted in goals, including a crease-dive that wasn't done by Anderson. Instead our illustrious treasurer Marcus decided to brave it, but instead it went into the keepers chest and I think the words 'epic fail' went into a lot of player's minds. Once again, Simon came so close to a clean sheet. I know if may be a hard task but I do hope you do get one before you leave. In defence everyone played brilliantly and I do mean everyone. Captain Fresher finally used his pace to sprint up the field with the ball and probably made the opponents half more then the rest of the season combined. If he keeps that up we see the start of something special, which is a goal from a defender this season. Juggernaut was putting in some big hits as usual and I think for the first time ever I will mention David Downs. He put some good checks and was even playing a bit dirty and got called up for a huge back check. I don't care if it was illegal, it was great to see you put in some checks with the body. I hope it will be a sign of things to come. For me, I was so happy to finally get man-of-the-match for a men's game. It has been a while since I have been pleased with my performance and I hope this good form continues for these last two matches. One big highlight from the match in my opinion was the face-off's. Dimi was great as usual, Shane is always getting better and better and as for Roids, I don't think I have ever seen a more one-sided affair. Every time it was player first, ball later. It was amazing to see how dominant you were on basically shoving the guy to one side and scooping the ball up for another attack in Lincoln's half. Continuing with the midfield, I have to mention Andy's performance. Even with it being his fifth game, his performances still amaze me. No matter how big the guys are, Andy will still go for a body check or two. I know this hard work will pay off in the form of goals. It is only a matter of time. And finally in attack, it was another solid day at the office. It was great to see Sam score again, which now makes him Shane's nearest challenger for top fresher goal-scorer. I wasn't sure what to make of Pingu's performance. He got a lot the ball, but it seemed every shot he was making was at the most impossible of angles. Maybe it was just at the angle I was looking at, but it seemed really hard angles to score from every time. Also in attack, it was great to see Drysdale get some more goals. Your two goals now put you into double figures and I do hope you get more in these last two games, because I know you can be a future top goal-scorer next year. Overall, it was a fantastic day out and I can't wait to see it all again as Simon's girlfriend Natalia kindly filmed the game for Dimi to analyse before Varsity. It was also probably the best mini-bus journey with the team. So many memorable incidents that I will never forget. Now onto the cup final! It wasn't the best way to end the league season, but I am sure you will all agree that this season has been a huge success. We secured second place with two matches to spare and even though it was very unlikely, we had a chance of getting promotion on the final day.
After looking back on this defeat, I think the lack of a proper warm-up made us take longer to get our head into the game. A quick line drill and a short six-on-four drill was all we did, and I think we needed more time to get our minds set on the game instead of still having them in the cars. The first quarter probably told the story of the whole game. Two quick goals in the first couple of minutes did not help at all. The defence just did not seem ready and seemed to forget what to do. We need to try and be more confident when sliding from any part of the field. But over the whole game, we did get better. Juggernaut was living up to his name with some huge body checks, and a few people thought I was a lot more physical. But it seems I wish I wasn't, as I am really feeling the effects now and I think I may just rest till Saturday. But I think I should not moan about my injuries after Simon received a hard shot to the leg late in the third quarter and deserved another 'man-of-the-match'. A great performance once again by Staffordshire's number one and I do hope he has a speedy recovery. Midfield and attack had it tough as Trent seemed to have at least three players on whoever possession of the ball. As soon as someone made a cut, it was d-pole's everywhere and I will be very surprised if not every midfielder or attacker had some sort of bruise at the very least. It was really good to have an actual referee involved in a game before Varsity to give some experienced with actual officials. Even though we lost, which is never a good thing, I must congratulate Nottingham Trent who dominated this league from day one and never looked back. They deserve everything they got this season and it will be interesting to see their results next season to see how good they really are. Despite the season ending on a low point, it has been a historical year for us. It is probably hard for the freshers to realise how successful this season has been. The last time we won a league game, I and many other third years weren't even at this Uni. So you can imagine how happy the players that are in their final year are, after having two years without a win in a competitive game. It has been a great season and it is good to see all this hard work come in the form of wins. Now it is on to the cup where we are one win away from the final which will make our season more of a success. Another top win once again guys and girls. Everyone seemed to cope well with Nottingham's aggression, which is great to see as I think Keele could very well be exactly the same at Varsity. Speaking of Varsity, it is hard to believe that there is only one more game left before the big day.
After the Varsity team was announced I think everyone is starting to see how much responsibility they have in the next few weeks. Everyone is improving and that is being seen on the pitch in matches as well as training. I'll start Simon who was superb in goal. I know he is not a big fan of mixed but I think Marcus' decision of putting him in goal at Varsity could be a blessing in disguise. The defence seems to be improving every game. You never gave up on those ground balls and weren't afraid to get as rough as Nottingham. One player that is really impressing in the back line is Lara. She has improved so much in very little time and I can see her contributing a lot, not just at Varsity but for the rest of her time with this team. Another that seemed to make an appearance in defence was Suzi who seems to becoming an all-rounder. First it was scoring goals in attack and winning ground balls and clearing well in defence. Looks like it is just goalkeeper left for this star. Middie was solid as usual. You were always subbing at the right times and kept a good flow with the amount of minutes for everyone. It was good to see Perkins make another appearance. Despite not playing on a regular basis, he made another solid performance as play-maker and even got a goal along the way. Other middies that contributed was Shane who is now getting the goals in mixed as well as men's. This type of match was perfect for you and you made the most of it by collecting a hat-trick. I enjoyed your 'warp-a-round' goal that was almost going to be an attempted crease-dive. But I am glad you didn't as their ref would have probably disallowed it. That now brings me to my next point which is the referee Nottingham had in the first half. Probably one of the worst I have seen, or perhaps the worst ever. There were so many things wrong with her. She kept saying she could not see what happened but that was because she seemed to be stationary on the sidelines by the half way line. But the one decision that got everyone talking was the supposedly "dangerous shot" on their goalkeeper. There was just no logic in this "rule". But thankfully we do not play Nottingham that often as they have travelled to our pitch, so we have a year before possibly meeting that same ref. Back to the match and my last few mentions will go the rest of our goalscorers. Dimi put in another brilliant display in midfield. Highlight has to be the action roll, with the ball still in his stick and it ended up being an assist for a goal. You got a few goals but it is still short of our top goal scorer Marcus. Our illustrious captain seemed to prefer playing defence for most of the game, but when he did make a run into attack he managed to keep his slender one goal lead ahead of Dimi. I will expect a lot of ball-hogging by both of these two in the next match. Final mention will go to former president Jack Tew, who after pinging a ball into Josie's head (dick of the day material), sort of made up for it with a hat-trick. His surprise appearance definitely helped us today as his pace could not be stopped. I also enjoyed one of his goals that confused one of their guys as you made two quick spins when he was only expecting one and then you got the goal. Next up Birmingham Medics and a win will basically gives us third place. Even though the teams below us have games in hand they still have to play Loughborough and Warwick at least once. A great win and another top performance against East Anglia. During the season I think are win away at UEA was are best performance of the season, but today's win definitely challenges it.
It was our lowest score of the season, but that does not mean that it was not a brilliant performance. It was a great effort by everyone. With the Varsity team sorted, it seems we are slowly getting good relations with everyone. We now know when to sub at the right times, where to go on the field and even know how to play in positions we are not used to. Despite the women's team not supporting us as usual, it was good to see some of the players W.A.G's come out and watch us instead. Another supporter was Drysdale Snr. who made a return appearance to the sidelines, even with a full-time brew as always for our vice-captain. Back to the match and I will start with our latest cripple Simon Hart. A terrific performance as always. Even having to miss a game during the week, you still have that terrific shot stopping ability that everyone loves. For the defence, it was one sloppy mistake short of perfection. We seemed to feel like a unit for the first time in a while. We marked players really well and surprisingly we even did some sliding which we seem to never do in match situations. I know I did a few times but kept forgetting to shout slide which I was annoyed about. I think clearing was good and very fast which is very important. As for my game I was generally happy with it. I was a bit annoyed I cleared the ball too quickly a few times which meant I did not see everyone on the pitch that was free. But I did seem to clear it properly the rest of the time which gives me confidence going into the big games with Nottingham Trent and Keele. Midfield worked hard as usual but it seemed a hard day as we did not have enough subs as we need for our big pitch. Marcus' pace seemed to make up for it. He was once again leaving the opponents in amazement. The attacker I was marking for most of the game thought he had springs inside his boots. I did think he would sneak a hat-trick of man-of-the-matches, but it went to Captain Fresher. That amazingly means we have our first fresher being man-of-the-match for a men's game this year. A great achievement and one that I'm surprised did not happen sooner. Another thing that surprised me today was Shane. I was very impressed throughout. It was another solid day for 'The Rat', he was passing well, always fighting for ground balls, winning almost every face and basically running his back-side off like he always does. But only getting one penalty and getting involved in a little scuffle which he did not even start impressed me the most. But actually if it wasn't for Dimi basically raping him on the field then it could have been round two for Shane's newly found boxing career. I would like a lot more of that 'rattitude' between now and the rest of the season, but with goals as well as you did not manage to score past East Anglia this season. I must also mention the clever subbing by Dimi and Matt Meehan during the whole game, just so we could get an extra d-pole on the field when we were defending. And finally onto attack who seemed to be quiet today in terms of goals and shots. It might have just been UEA's tight marking but no one seemed to get free from their defenders which means not a lot of risky passes to create shots on goal. But what you lacked in shots seemed to be made up in some runs back defending which surprised me and the rest of the back line. At one point I saw Pingu intercept a pass in our own fan and started to sprint it up the field with Sam and Nathan running with him. I thought I must be going mad, but in the end I was so happy a lot of the pure attackers realised that our middie's could not handle the constant running so I was glad to see that a lot. This could be a new part of our game that could help us win Varsity which is now only 25 days away. A final mention for our game has to be the boat race, as we seemed to have created something so deadly for the 'dick of the days' and I hope it is used for a very long time so that other Uni's keep gasping at being told what to do for it. Now for the first time in a very long time I am going to be blogging on a match our women's team played in. They have managed to organise a friendly against a side that is a good starting block for our new breed of players. As I did not attend the match I have had to get details from the players and it sounded like it was great learning experience for them. Despite the 8-1 loss, they were either tied or only a couple of goals off them almost the entire game. It sounded like exhaustion let Warwick in to get a flurry of goals. But when you send nine players there and having to borrow three of Warwick's players, it did not really help on the matter. But ignoring that, I am really proud of the girls as they have had to battle with week after week of training sessions with very little to work on, due to a lack of numbers. It seemed that everyone is saying that Suzi was the start of the show and deserved getting women-of-the-match. From what I have seen of Suzi in mixed, I truly think we have a great player in the making and I am glad to hear it is being seen in women's as well as mixed. As for the goalscorer I honestly did not think it would be Hayley, which is a good thing as players are surprising me, so keep it up. All in all it sounded like a successful day and I hope you get more friendlies before the summer just to get some experience before trying to make another stab and fulfilling a full season in the BUCS league. Another win, despite not playing our best. But usually when you win without even playing your best, it is naturally seen as a sign for champions. So maybe this will be a blessing in disguise. I certainly hope so, because if we play like that against Keele, then I can see it being a very sad day for all of us.
I did not expect the match to be that close and even more surprising was we only took the lead in the final quarter. But a win is a win and some times it doesn't matter how you win, just as long as you do. Also, I don't think I have seen so many fights for ground balls , one-handed pick-ups and one-handed cradling. It really annoyed me, because if you are going to cradle one-handed, make sure your shaft is not exposed for the whole world to see. It needs to be protected or else that ball will just fly out. If I was captain I would certainly make sure everyone cradles with both hands and knows how to protect their shafts instead of egg-and-spooning it, which I did see today but I won't name names this time. Right, that's all the negative vibes gone and now we are on route to compliment city. My first mention will go to the come-back kid, Roids. He put in a great performance today. He never stopped, never gave up in those many fights for ground balls and all that effort resulted in the game winner. It was great to see him back and I feel a lot more confident for Varsity when it comes to those fights for ground balls. Next highlight of mine was the very impressive performances from Andy and Justin. With very little experience under your belt, I usually would not expect much contribution, but today you two seemed to be involved in almost every attack, fight for ground balls and even the odd defending. Like everyone, there is still room for improvement, but I think you two have really stepped up your game. It was good to see Nathan in goal again despite having to be told at the last minute. I always forget how good he is between the sticks as well as in attack. For defense, today it seemed a bit of a struggle. I don't think we were as quiet as Dimi and Drysdale kept saying, but I do agree we were quiet too many times. I do hope we can improve because as we now have lost 'Captain Fresher' everyone needs to up their game. One thing that I think people did not mention enough yesterday was how well we did having to cope with doing a four-man zone when defending. I have never had to be part of a four-man zone but we actually pulled it off and we kept us in the game, which I was very surprised. Final mentions have to go to our other goalscorers. Another man-of-the-match performance by Marcus and one that was very well deserved. He ran rings around Oxford Brookes and they could not compete with his speed and stick protecting skills. I hope he keeps this up as it will be vital in future matches, including Varsity. And, finally Shane Hall who once again put in a standard 'Rat' performance. Your passion is excellent and I believe everyone should take note of that and have the same. But there is a line and you just seem to step over it too many times and I am talking about your penalties. I did not realise until after the game off that he was close to being sent off again. I and a few others keep saying for you to watch the illegal checking and swearing but I think it is just an instinct thing and we cannot do anything to change that. So I think we may have to live with it. Next up is East Anglia on Saturday. The reverse fixture was probably our best performance of the season in my opinion, I hope for something similar at the weekend guys. Let's make sure we can have a chance of promotion goin into our final league match. Despite the loss, it was a terrific performance from everyone in a game we were certain to lose quite heavily.
I was expecting a tough game, but I didn't think it was that bad. After the first quarter we were leading 2-1 and I suddenly thought, we could win this and with it being a double-header it would be a huge bonus. Since I have been with this team, Warwick is usually the toughest team we play against. But this was probably the best I have seen us play against Warwick. I'll have to start with the constant swapping of keepers. I don't remember a game that we used three different keepers over one game or five during the whole season. But every one of them played their part brilliantly. Dimi was.....well, he was just being Dimi. Jinks rolled back the years to my first year as he was our regular keeper then and Amy finished the quarter off being her suicidal self. It is good that we a rotary system for being keeper. It's good so we have Dimi making an appearance in the outfield, then we are guaranteed a handful of goals. It was great to see Berti back playing again and it seems that she hasn't lost her great cradling ability and fighting spirit. More players that made another rare appearance was Ginge and Susan. A great contribution girls, and one that we needed as we were down on numbers. For our freshers, it is just constant improvement. Fresher Dan made an appearance in defence as well as midfield, and almost scored a few goals. But like anything, your time will come. Another fresher that impressed today was Shane, who managed to get his first goal in a mixed game. But your reputation in men's is slowly turning up in mixed. It would be amazing if you got sent off in a men's and mixed match before you have completed your first year. Another player who got their first goal was women's captain Kristina. I was totally shocked that you scored, but in a good way, and against top of the league surely made it feel a lot better. I love it that you phoned your Dad minutes after the game. Keep it up, because once someone gets their first, more usually follow. Once again the wooden stick gets the man of the match. I truly believe that teams are fascinated by Paul's bit of wood. I am not complaining as I am using for the matches. So I am now going for a hat-trick man of the matches with the wooden stick next time against the always dangerous Nottingham. |
AuthorMy name is David Grice, I am currently running this blog as well as the rest of the website. I am doing this not only to make it easier for the team to find out information, but also it's part of my Sports Journalism degree. Archives
November 2011
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