Saturday November 22nd, 2008

CAMBS Ladies Premier League

Market Deeping Ladies 1st XI (3) vs City of Peterborough Ladies 3rd XI (0)

A second Deeping win in a row dragged the improving team back into the mid-table slots - and this one was well-deserved.
All the goals came in the first half. A good looking short corner routine saw Amy Gwilliam open the scoring from close range, before Becky Allam cleverly ghosted in unmarked to deflect the hard-working Jo Addison’s cross against the keeper’s pads before scoring from the rebound. The pace of Deeping skipper Sarah Smith was causing City endless problems up the left and when her mazy solo run found her one on one with the keeper at the near post, her bobbled shot somehow evaded the keeper’s kick for number three.
Deeping passed the ball really well throughout the game and their back three, supported by outstanding goalkeeping from Angela Cox, coped well with most of City’s attacks, though two City short corners were disallowed for being too high. Gemma Caitlin dominated the midfield, regularly releasing the forwards.

CAMBS Ladies Div 2

Market Deeping Ladies 2nd XI (1) vs Rutland Ladies XI (2)

First played second in Division Two and Rutland retained their unbeaten record at the top of the league.  The writing was on the wall early on when the Rutland midfielders were increasingly dominant and only excellent goalkeeping from Angela Cox kept their forwards at bay.
In defence, some of Deeping’s marking was naïve, and their tackling far too impetuous, but a poor Rutland short corner routine and the tidy sweeping of Rachel Gale stopped Rutland from scoring.
On the other hand Deeping’s own penalty corner routine is looking very dangerous and when they did break out and win one they always looked likely to score. They did just that when a switched corner was slapped back across by Nicky Buckby to be neatly deflected home by Debs Wilding. All this was against the run of play and Deeping were exceptionally lucky that Rutland didn’t score more than the two first half goals they replied with.
Deeping restored their pride with a much better second half performance which built through the half until the last ten minutes when they were quite dominant and unlucky not to capitalise on a couple of good chances to equalise. In the end Deeping did more than enough to show that they are still serious promotion candidates from Division Two.

CAMBS Mens Div 2 N

Ipswich and East Suffolk 1st XI (2) vs Market Deeping 1st IX (2)

A hotly disputed late short corner award cost Deeping two points after a long trek to Suffolk.
Deeping went into this game needing a win to get their league campaign on track. After the journey it looked like Deeping were still back in the cars as I&ES went a goal up after the first minute with a short corner.
For the next 15 mins Deeping tried to force the ball and not play to the game plan. Gradually they became more organised and got back in the game with a wonder goal from Paul Tancred. Then a second well-taken goal from James Sharpe gave Deeping the lead at half time.
The second half looked like a different game as Deeping pressed and dominated until five minutes from the end, when what Deeping felt was a bad decision from the umpire, gave I&ES a short corner from which they scored. Deeping came away ruing missed chances.

CAMBS Mens Div 4 NW

Market Deeping 2nd XI (3) vs City of Peterborough 6th XI (1)

Russ Seton bagged the first hat-trick for MDHC 2nd this season in a Man of the Match performance.
Deeping’s determined display against a good quality Peterborough side didn’t include much free flowing hockey. Instead they built on organisation and discipline, and proved hard to break down. Deeping survived an early scare, then kept their shape and their composure despite being under the cosh for much of this important local derby. Peterborough had more of the ball, but genuine goal chances were few and far between for both sides. Occasionally Jas Phagoora in the Deeping goal had to be quick and alert to snuff out danger.
At 0 - 0 at half time Deeping simply looked to carry on where they had left off, and again Peterborough retained the lion’s share of possession, but found it hard to break through an organised Deeping defence.
It was against the run of play when another Peterborough move broke up at the top of the D and the ball went to Richard Garratt on the Deeping left. His well-timed pass found Phil Arnold who in turn found strike partner Seton, who picked his spot from just inside the D to finish off a wonderful flowing counter attack.
City pressed forward in increasing numbers, but this left them open to the pace of Arnold, and to Seton holding a high line up front. With the hard hitting Simon Wilmot at the back, Deeping were able to exploit this fully; Wilmot shelling 16 yard hit after 16 yard hit through the Peterborough lines to pick out the forwards almost at will. Arnold enjoyed a number of one on one opportunities which the marooned Peterborough ‘keeper did well to see off.
With a more open game, Deeping were finding themselves with more of the ball and were able to create more chances, though they were gifted their second goal after a scramble in the Peterborough D. It looked to have been dealt with by the defence, but hesitation in the ranks saw Seton pounce on the loose ball to tap his second past a grounded ‘keeper. Peterborough then scored a scrappy goal at the other end much like Deeping’s.
City pressed forward for an equaliser but a 50 yard Wilmot free hit released the lurking Arnold yet again and his direct run was brought to an abrupt halt by a clumsy challenge from the ‘keeper which sent Arnold sprawling. Seton duly completed his hat trick from the penalty spot flicking low to the ‘keeper’s left hand side.
Peterborough attacked for the rest of the game, but Deeping held firm, with the midfield duo of Nick Maxey and Chris Mann shutting down City’s midfield.

CAMBS Mens Div 6 NW

Market Deeping 3rd XI (9) vs St Neots 4th XI (0)

Poor St. Neot’s were under strength for this game and found Deeping fielding their strongest side of the season on paper and for once, as it turned out, on the astro as well. Only regular keeper Ray Isaacs was missing and he could have put his pads on and sat on his deckchair in Harrogate for all the difference this made. On an icy day shivering stand-in keeper Steve Windsor touched the ball once in anger as Deeping were completely on top of their game.
Briefly it looked as if it might be a close encounter but after conceding that hockey rarity, an own goal, from Ben Walden’s cross, second bottom Neot’s pulled back into their own half and were never in the match. Dave Grammer then had a short corner deflected into the net by the same Neot’s player and Paul Byrne thumped home a third before half time.
Deeping were able to roll around 15 players and with fresh legs coming on and absolutely no loss of shape or ability in the changes, St Neot’s looked exhausted after ten minutes of the second half and Deeping simply piled on the pressure, queuing up to score and playing with three attackers up. Tom Richardson enjoyed taking on the entire Neot’s midfield and setting up attack after attack.
At one stage Graham Barnes on the right wing regularly found enough space to build a housing estate before his long mazy solo run was rewarded with a goal from close range, while Muddy Waters relished the powerfully struck balls into the D that he deflects to such good effect, scoring twice. Grammer added two more as the tally mounted before newcomer Nick Saxelby struck his first goal for the club.
Alex Gale was unfortunate not to score but with Tom Allam and Matt Brown contributed to the build-up play on the left. Defensively Deeping seemed to have learned from the previous week’s opposition and were harrying and tackling in twos and threes giving St Neot’s youngsters no chance. Deeping’s accurate quick passing was also back after last week’s poor performance. Just occasionally there was too much dribbling and showboating but a couple of minor defensive errors went unpunished.  Rob Glover and Kev Richardson simply held their defensive positions and won every tackle while former Deeping winger Mark Kendal made a comeback after several years out of the game, and with no apparent diminution in his skills, simply added to St Neot’s problems.