Sunday December 11th 2005

EHA Vase

Market Deeping 1st XI (8) v Winchmore Hill and Enfield (0)

On a beautiful December morning Deeping’s small army of fans were wondering which Deeping would turn up for this game. Would it be the unbeaten Deeping of 2004/5 or the promoted Deeping that struggled to defeat Horncastle the previous day? Deeping closed their extraordinary 2005 year of hockey with a scintillating performance that simply blew their Vase opposition away and perked up a disappointing weekend. After a late start caused by the Hemel Hempstead conflagration, Winchmore were never allowed to get going. Deeping dominated for ten minutes before a three-goal blitz by Andy Brassington, Andy Kind and Paul Tancred in just two minutes looked like making the game safe before it had really begun. Kind’s was the pick of the crop – a diving jab into the roof of the net.

Deeping were five nil up by half time after Ali Rowledge cleverly jinked round the keeper after taking the ball with his back to him and rolled it into the net and Tancred blasted home his second at a short corner after several chances. Deeping had sustained their best form of the season through the first half and remarkably there was no let up in the second as the Winchmore keeper was busy throughout. As the defence turned their marking attentions to Tancred and Rowledge space was produced on the left and an unmarked Andy Brassington turned home a short corner before both Chris Mann and Pete Jeffery found loads of space to score from the top left of the D.

The next round is at Weymouth on January 29th.

Saturday December 10th 2005

Cambridge League Div 2

Peterborough Town 4th XI (5) v Market Deeping Ladies (3)

Another Deeping unbeaten run - that of the Ladies - was ended this week by Peterborough Town 4ths.  The Deeping Ladies were unusually sluggish from the off and for the entire first half they never really got into the game.  A youthful Town attack outran the Deeping defence and scored early in the match, quickly followed by a second and Deeping struggled to show any danger of replying.  At last Jenny Brassington showed a flash of Deeping's normal skills and took the ball from the half way line, round several Town players and struck it convincingly into the goal.

The score line now seemed less hopeless for the league leaders and they started to play with more heart.  However, a run from the excellent Town centre forward and an unlucky deflection in the D left the ladies 3-1 down at half time.

A strong talking to at half time from coach Phil Yetzes gave Deeping some areas to focus on, and the play definitely improved as they returned to the pitch.  They won a string of short corners but were unable to convert them as the Town defence kept tight and their very proficient goalie saved several hard strikes.  The remainder of the second half was fairly even for the two teams, town had another couple of breaks and Deeping also scored twice more, one of which was a particularly sweet reverse flick from Sarah Smith.

A draw would have perhaps reflected the level of play in this last match before Christmas but Market Deeping Ladies showed only glimmers of their normal spark and looked tired throughout. They do however remain top of league table following a fantastic start to their debut season and now have a well earned rest until the league restarts on 14th Jan.

East Div 3NW

Market Deeping 1st XI (3) v Horncastle 1st XI (2)

Deeping felt slightly lucky to be taking away three points from this fixture against an under strength Horncastle side. They were sluggish and out of sorts and it’s hard to believe this was the same side that won their Vase match so convincingly the next day. Deeping were 2-1 down at half time but goals from Paul Tancred, Andy Kind and Ali Rowledge saw them sneak home despite outstanding Horncastle goalkeeping.

East Div 5NW

Peterborough Town 4th XI (5) v Market Deeping 2nd XI (0)

A tough first versus second game for Deeping was never quite as one-sided as the score suggests. It was only one nil at half time, Deeping had had their chances, and Magnus Windsor had twice gone close with long range shots. Sadly Deeping lost Graham Barnes early on to a muscle pull and this put huge extra pressure on in midfield.
A very strong Town side broke out fast in the second half as Deeping pushed up looking for an equaliser and caught Deeping at the back. In the end Deeping should at least feel they did enough to show that if they can achieve promotion they won’t struggle too much in Div 4NW.

East Div 7NW

Market Deeping 3rd XI (1) v South Cambs 3rd XI (2)

Table topping Deeping’s best defensive performance of the year was spoilt by their inability to score as they faced an incredibly strong Cambs South side who unbelievably only sat in mid-table. Cambs took the lead early on, but then the back line of Andy Brown, a back in form Steve Windsor and young Tom Richardson locked out the remarkably talented Cambridge forwards, until Ben Walden brilliantly turned in a Simon Taylor short corner to equalise.
Infuriatingly South came straight back and scored a rather soft short corner. Deeping survived going down to ten men for part of the first half - then with the defence playing even better they took the game to South but didn’t take their chances to win it.  Even their extraordinary efficient short corner routine let them down several times.
So unfortunately Deeping lose their unbeaten league record.