Saturday February 11th 2006

Cambridge League Div 2

Saffron Waldon Ladies (5) v Market Deeping Ladies (4)

Deeping Ladies faced their toughest challenge so far as they made the long journey to Saffron Walden to battle for the top of the table spot.

As play started the nerves showed on both sides. Saffron Walden took the early initiative and put pressure on the Deeping defence before a quick break from Deeping took them the length of the pitch and won them a penalty corner. The strike was deflected in by Janet Eagle-Smith to give the visitors the early lead but Walden fought straight back and within minutes they wrong-footed the Deeping keeper, slipping the ball behind her to even the score. Deepings' two newest recruits displayed great skill and commitment.  Vicky Young made several threatening runs and Lisa Jackman completed seemingly endless tackles. The next goal came from a solo run from the young Saffron Walden centre but then a spell of pressure from Deeping finished by Eagle-Smith left the half time score at two all.

The match re-started in the same vein, with Walden looking the slightly stronger team for the first ten minutes.  Deeping conceded a string of penalty corners, and at the fifth attempt, Walden took the lead. A slick Walden move then stretched their lead to 4-2. Deeping didn’t give up and with 15 minutes still to play, Deeping stepped up and regained control, Amy Leverton, supporting Young up the left.  A brilliant solo run from Jenny Brassington brought Deeping back into the game. Deeping now dominated and skipper Catherine Flitton leveled the score from a short corner. At four-all victory could have gone either way but it was Saffron Walden who took the upper hand. Deeping conceded a flick but Kirsten Hackett saved it. A draw looked the most likely result, but Walden punished the tiring defence with a late goal.

With a game in hand it seems that, barring some help from Peterborough Town ladies next week, Saffron Walden will pip Deeping to the Cambridgeshire Division 2 title. As both clubs have utterly dominated the league, it would be very sad if both sides were not promoted.

East Div 3NW

St. Neots 2nd XI (0) v Market Deeping 1st XI (4)

Deeping enjoyed a surprisingly easy victory against St Neot’s second string, in a game where they took their chances and Saints didn’t. The early exchanges were close, and Saints missed an easy chance before Deeping got a clean shot in at a short corner and Andy Kind scored when the ball ran loose. Chris Mann added a second in similar fashion about five minutes later, when his soft but accurate shot trickled home. The game then continued to be close, with Jez Phipps, up from the second team, working hard in defence, and Richard Woods growing in stature all the time. Sound keeping from Jason Purllant kept Saints at bay throughout. A clever goal bound deflection from Saints hit Ben Walden in the face, cutting his eye, and he left the field.

Deeping’s pace means they are always dangerous going forward and acting skipper Paul Tancred returned to goal-scoring form in the second half when he poached two far post goals - one an easy push in, and the other a cleverly played lifted ball. Four up Deeping probably over-relaxed, and Purllant made a couple more sharp saves look easy, and an illegally high St Neot’s short corner breached his defences, before the game petered out…

East Div 5NW

Market Deeping 2nd XI (8) v St. Neots 4th XI (0)

Youthful St. Neots the league’s basement team were swept away by Deeping’s well-drilled second placed team, who are unbeaten in 2006. Despite the final result the team were not entirely satisfied with the performance and it was only in the final quarter of the game that Deepings superiority was translated into goals. Skipper Mike Gregson opened the scoring with a simple tap in at the far post.  Two more goals followed in the first half, the first a well-timed deflection from Magnus Windsor and the second by Paul Byrne, following a well-worked short corner routine.  Ray Isaacs, the Deeping goalkeeper, had almost nothing to do in the first half, with the defence well marshaled by Phil Tokens, alongside the returning Mike Allam and Phil Yetzes and the impressive debutante Jonny Stevenson.

The second half started much as the first half ended, with Deeping having most of the possession.  Deeping pressure resulted in a tap in goal from Magnus Windsor, another from Steve Waters on the reverse and a first goal of the season for Anthony Barnes on the left wing.  Late in the game Paul Byrne grabbed two further goals to cap off a fine individual performance with his first ever hat trick.

As goal difference is likely to be important in the final push for promotion, this was a result Deeping badly needed making it 14 goals in two games.

East Div 7NW

Peterborough Town 6th XI (0) v Market Deeping 3rd XI (3)

For the third week running league-leading Deeping played poorly against a young, skilful running side that deserved so much more from the game. The score is absolutely no reflection of the run of play, because after five minutes of Deeping dominance and an early Russ Seton short-corner goal it was one-way traffic, as Peterborough besieged the Deeping goal until late into the second half. Fortunately keeper Adi White had the best game of his short career, backed by the experience of Andy Brown and Steve Windsor marshalling his defence, the former clearing brilliantly off the line at least once.

In the second half Peterborough lost their most senior player to injury and they did get an illegally high short corner past White, but Deeping somehow survived. When they won the ball their passing was dire, and only the partially injured Kevin Baker seemed immune to mistakes, and as a result, Deeping rarely visited Peterborough’s D in the second half. They did eventually win a short corner. The ball came in and out of the D before the sheer persistence of Deeping’s youngest player, Jack Seaton, saw him force home at the far post. Peterborough’s heads went down and a much better Deeping move found Seton senior on the far past and he belted home an undeserved third for Deeping.

Deeping stay comfortably top of 7NW but if they continue to play like this, someone is going to nick some points off them before the end of the season.