Shefford and Sandy 2nd XI - 2 v Market Deeping 1st XI - 8

Deeping's third friendly of the season saw a mismatch at Sandy .

Deeping arrived expecting to play Shefford's 1 st team and it was quickly agreed that S&S would play 12 men against Deeping's 11. Despite this Deeping went one-nil up straight from the start, and 2-0 minutes later.

Halftime saw the score at 6-0 with goals from Ali Rowledge, Paul Tancred and a bibbly-bobbly short corner from Treve Wagstaffe. James Sharpe in his farewell performance before moving to represent the Bedford Tescos was superb down the right wing.

A reorganized S&S came back with two well-taken goals just after halftime. There was too much Deeping show-boating for a while but a goal apiece from Rowledge (3) and Tancred (4) restored the balance.

Ely City 3rd XI - 2 v Market Deeping 2nd XI - 3 (Magnus Windsor 2, Pete Jeffery 1)

On a very warm September day Deeping started this friendly at a tremendous pace and some fluid passing movements amongst the midfield and forwards saw chance after chance being made with Peter Jeffery demonstrating some wizardry up front ably assisted by Muddy. It was great to see the youngsters taking note of pre season training with some slick one two's being worked.

Somewhat against the run of play it was Ely City that scored first but this only served to awaken Deeping who scored immediately with a flowing move from end to end culminating in a superb finish by Magnus Windsor.

After such a fine first goal the second goal was a bit scrappy with a rebound from the Ely keeper stopped by Anthony Barnes and finished ruthlessly by Magnus Windsor for his second of the day.

Deeping seemed to tire a little towards the end of the first half and Ely equalised through a fine move and solo goal.

Half time team talk concentrated on getting back to basics and, lessons learnt, the second half saw Deeping once again working hard with swift passing being the order of play. Jezz Phipps, Pete Smith and Phil Tokens were tireless in providing the backbone of the team and it was from here that the winning goal was born. The goal was a worthy contender for goal of the season with the ball being moved quickly from defence and then to midfield and out wide to Anthony Barnes who outpaced his defender and drilled a cross onto the stick of Pete Jeffery who calmly stroked the ball into the corner of the net.

Deeping Ladies 0 Sawtry 4  

An otherwise excellent performance from Deeping's ladies in the first friendly of the season was spoilt by quality finishing from Sawtry. The ladies produced a fine display of passing, team play and 100% effort - they clearly dominated the first half of the game, but just couldn't seem to find the back of the goal. 

From the whistle, Market Deeping controlled the pace of the game and made great use of all their players, making effective calls and combining good passes and great runs to win endless short corners .  Unfortunately, almost the only chance Sawtry had in the first half led to a well-worked short corner goal to give them a 1-0 lead at half time.

The second half was much slower as players were clearly starting to look tired, but each team battled on and several short corners were won by both sides. Even now possession was dominated by Market Deeping, but with their side looking weary, Sawtry took their opportunity, and from only a handful of attacks they scored a further 3 goals. 

Clearly Market Deeping were very disappointed, but they remain proud of their excellent performance against a team playing league hockey one division higher than themselves. Jenny Brassington, Karen Goddard and Helen Middleton were magnificent throughout and a special mention should go to Shelley Winbourne in her role as acting goalkeeper – certainly not to blame for the goals.