Saturday March 11th 2006

Cambridge League Div 2

Market Deeping Ladies (4) v St. Ives Ladies 3A (0)

These Cambs league cup games were arranged to fill gaps in the fixture list and are semi-friendly fixtures, so Market Deeping Ladies played with a skeleton of their usual team in place and a handful of new young players but easily saw off the opposition.

Deeping dominated from the off, with fluid passing. Passing was fluid but yet again they couldn't quite convert their chances. A spell of sleepy play was finally ended with a shot from Sarah Smith crossing the line. St Ives had very little time on the ball and when they did the defence closed them down within seconds.  Erin Carmody played solidly on the left, allowing nothing to get through, and with Amy Leverton commanding the back line, any attack from St Ives was futile.

In the second half the pace picked up with Deeping waking up a little up front.  Grace MacDonald, coached from the sideline by first team midfield player Clare Stevenson, played some delightful balls down the right wing, showing that when she controls the ball with strong hands she has the potential to be a good player. Deeping were rewarded twice in quick succession with a signature reverse stick flick from Smith, and a short corner strike tipped in at the left post by Jenny Brassington. At 3-0 up Deeping began to enjoy the game and played some classic hockey.  As they tired a little St Ives broke out now and then but they never really looked dangerous. Tracey Winbourne again showed that she has been a star pupil at training as she took the ball off the left-winger time and time again. At one final short corner chance Smith again picked up the rebound and lifted the ball effortlessly past the St Ives keeper to complete her hat trick and seal the final score at 4-0.

East Div 3NW

Peterborough Athletic 1st XI (0) v Market Deeping 1st XI (7)

The three or four spectators who made the journey into Peterborough after watching the second team were instantly cheered up by a scintillating performance from the firsts. They never let Athletic settle and the young fast legs of their forwards were far too pacey for the back division of Athletic. It took a while to break them down, but eventually Andy Kind turned fast on a loose ball and banged it home. Henry Winfield-Chislett then weaved cleverly around the Athletic keeper to make it two. Pete Jeffery added a third gently placed into the corner of the goal as it ran loose.

The second half saw much the same pattern, with Chris Mann thrashing a loose ball into the roof of the net and Paul Tancred clearing up a loose ball by reverse sticking it home. Two lovely bits of interplay passing between Ali Rowledge and Tancred on the right hand touchline led to a Rowledge goal and when he missed from close range on his second chance Winfield-Chislett pounced on the far post to complete the rout.

East Div 5NW

Market Deeping 2nd XI (0) v Cambridge City 5th XI (1)

A nervy Deeping performance saw them drop vital points in their quest for promotion. Cambridge are a decent team but Deeping simply didn't perform. They seemed to lose all their basic abilities despite dominating for long periods. Cambridge scored on a break away after ten minutes – Deeping utterly failed to mark – but apart from that it was almost one-way traffic. Deeping forced quite a few chances and endless short corners, and Magnus Windsor at least hit the target a few times but the 36 goal Muddy Waters never saw the ball. The useful City keeper was always more than equal to Deeping’s efforts.

There were two quality Deeping performances at the back, from the wide full backs Will Winfield-Chislett and Mike Allam, but the midfield just couldn’t seem to string the passes together while the Deeping performance saw feet galore, poor stopping and even air shots as attack after attack broke down.

Deeping will be glad to get this game out of their system but must beat Horncastle away next week to secure promotion.

East Div 7NW

Market Deeping 3rd XI

Deeping’s promoted 3rd XI were out of 7NW action this week and thus lost top spot for the first time this season - to Spalding who won 7-1 - but they have next week off while Deeping play March 5th at home.