CAMBS LEAGUE Div 1

Market Deeping Ladies 1st XI (4) vs Sawtry Ladies XI (1)

The match started well with Deeping stepping up the pitch to take possession and although Sawtry were at times able to work the ball into the home team’s ‘D’, Deeping Ladies defence were able to calmly clear the ball to the midfield.  Deeping’s training was clearly starting to pay off with Deeping able to consistently keep possession in the opposition’s half, particularly with the excellent teamwork on the right of Faye Logan, Amy Gwilliam and Sarah Smith. 

It took the persistence of Ellie Allam who determinedly worked the ball over the goal line to give the match its first goal.  However, Sawtry came back at Deeping to score an excellent goal from the top of the ‘D’, levelling the score at half time.

The second half saw a further improvement for Deeping when they changed their line up slightly to mark Sawtry’s two key players out of the match.  Again the home team were able to create several chances, even in which the Deeping defence narrowly missed out on scoring.  Sarah Smith instead was able to convert to take the score to 2 -1.   

Some superbly placed hits into the Sawtry ‘D’ by man of the match Gemma Caitlin, gave the forwards many options but it was Janet Eagle-Smith who was able to extend Deeping’s lead with a further two goals in fairly quick succession to end the game 4 – 1 to Deeping.    

EAST 3NW

Market Deeping 1st XI (3) vs Bourne 2nd XI (2)

Deeping emerged with bragging rights and all three points from a close local derby that could have gone either way. Deeping took an early lead from the excellent Henry Winfield-Chislett but 20 minutes of Bourne pressure and a goal quickly followed despite some decent work by Deeping's new miniature keeper Joe Wray.
It looked like the gates would burst, and a big Bourne win was on the cards, but Deeping rallied, improved and regained some control as the half ended through Chris Mann, James Sharpe and Andy Brassington in the midfield.
In a close second half, Deeping regained the lead through the sharpness of Sharpe who tidied up a loose ball from close range. Ali Rowledge, back after injury then limped off just before Bourne equalised.
At this point both sides would probably have settled for a justified draw, but Deeping gambled, changed their formation and after some hesitant umpiring Andy Kind cleverly pulled the ball out from under the Bourne keeper and flicked home to steal the win.

Div 4NW

Alford 1st XI (2) vs Market Deeping 2nd XI (3)

One piece of individual genius from the prodigious teenager Jack Seton turned this game on its head. With Deeping struggling at 2-1 down and looking likely to lose by even more Seton picked up the ball on the halfway line, beat three players and scored to make it 2-2. In fact, Deeping got away with this one, against a very young and mobile Alford team. At first they struggled to adapt to a new more attacking 3-4-3 formation and as the 1st half wore on, Alford dominated. Deeping were well off the pace, but fortunately Alford squandered their chances, and it looked like Deeping might reach half time on even terms. Unfortunately they were losing possession far too easily, and from a rare Deeping attack they turned the ball over and Alford broke fast, their striker rounding the Deeping keeper only to see his shot illegally blocked by Mike Allam. Alford converted the penalty flick. At half time Deeping reverted back to their more familiar 4-4-2 and immediately looked more comfortable and for the first time started to string passes together.
Ben Walden found himself with time and space on the left hand side of the D, and his resounding finish took splinters off the backboard.
Alford rallied to retake the lead with a superb strike from the top of the D into the top right corner. Then Seton pounced for his third goal in two games.
Alford refused to tire, and Deeping were defending hoping only for the first point of the season when a quick sideline hit caught out the Alford back line, and Steve Waters was on hand to knock in a match-winning goal. 

EAST Div 5NW

Market Deeping 3rd IX (3) vs Alford 2nd XI (2)

Deeping found themselves playing nine men but still struggled throughout to take advantage. The slick passing of last week was not to be seen as they lost shape and kept driving up the left, ignoring space in the right midfield.
As a result some decent Alford players made their share of chances before skipper Simon Taylor gave Deeping the lead. This didn’t settle Deeping - they squandered several chances and Alford deservedly equalised.
The half had been frustrating and ugly to watch and Deeping tempers frayed with each other as their frustration mounted at their inability to do the simple things.
There was a small improvement however, and Deeping made most of the chances to test a hard-working Alford keeper before Taylor cleverly forced a low short corner home. Then a decent pass found him in space to complete a hat trick. By now Deeping’s youngsters Tom Allam, Anthony Barnes and Matt Brown were exploiting their fitness and pulling Alford’s tired defence around.
From a rare attack, Alford took a chance well to get a second, but the game then petered out as Deeping packed their defence.
Twice promoted Deeping are grateful for their six point start to the season and know there will be some tough challenges to come and they have to play better than this at this level.