Introduction
It is Week 23 of the season.
We have had some great weeks; some good weeks; some OK weeks; some not so good weeks; some pretty awful weeks.
Week 23 was unique in that it was a disaster!
The men’s 1st team faced an away trip to Sheffield. It is not the end of the world and Sheffield teams make the trip every other week. Timperley have not only made the trip many times but have a number of players who attended University in the city so should know their way.
The majority of Timperley players left with a view to arriving at Sheffield around 1pm. A couple of players who were former Sheffield students decided they would make their own way. At 2pm (face off time) Timperley had 11 players. Crucially no goalkeeper and neither team had any spare equipment to meet the requirements for a goalie. It was not until 2.35pm that Timperley had a full complement but the officials decided that it was too late.
If I had been the Timperley captain which I was for many years, I would have been apoplectic with rage that a team which should be competing at the top end of the table should be so badly let down by two of its senior players, both England internationals. The example set to the young players in the club was a disgrace.
Excuses like “mud on the road” and “unexpectedly heavy traffic” do not wash. From what I can gather travel conditions were what one might expect on a Saturday morning.
The role played by the officials raises serious questions. The purpose of people giving up a great deal of leisure time is to play lacrosse! At 2.35 there were 26 people who were available to play. There was 3.5 hours of playable daylight left. The minimum time required for a game of Lacrosse is 60 mins playing time. In my view the officials should have played the game and then made a report to the League who could then have decided what action to take. As it is 26 people were denied a game, Sheffield received 3 points in a way I am sure they would not have wanted and other clubs like Rochdale, Mellor and Waconians were given a disadvantage they did not deserve. In a conversation, the late, great Graham Lester said that the purpose of the referee was to ensure that lacrosse games were played and enjoyed in a positive and safe manner. If only.......!
The disasters continued with the A team. They faced a tough Rochdale team in one of the club’s most important games in years. They too had a goalie issue as the keeper remembered that he had something better to do a few hours before face off. Captain Adam Henbury bravely stepped up but he would be the first to admit that goal would not be his position of choice and it did not take long for Rochdale to realise that if their shots did not hit Adam then there was a fair chance they would go in!
A 6-14 loss was a blow to Timperley’s promotion hopes and they face a real challenge in the next two weeks with a cup semi final against Rochdale next Sunday and the return league match against Rochdale the week after. Season defining to say the least and as far as I can ascertain no one knows the rules surrounding promotion. Certainly the idea that a viable league can be formed including clubs like Hull, Lincoln, Leeds, Newcastle and Stoke is very questionable.
Getting information regarding Timperley B team is like negotiating the official secrets act. Suffice it to say that a team led by veteran attack men James Shuttleworth and Lee Warburton crushed a very poor Rochdale side 17-6.
Timperley women travelled to Leeds for what seems like their first game in an age and enjoyed a comfortable 18-8 win.
The Boy’s U19 team opened up their Cup campaign with a comfortable 17-3 win over Cheadle / Cheadle Hulme to earn themselves a semi final against Sheffield on 19th March.
It was a mixed day for Timperley Boy’s programme. The U16 entertained Cheadle in the early game at Timperley. It was a tough encounter with the scores tied at 8-8 in the final quarter before Timperley took control of the game to take the win.
When the U14 are good, like against Mellor, they are very good, but when they are bad they are awful! On Saturday they were awful - even considering that they were missing key players. They have a cup semi final in a few weeks (as do all our junior teams!) so let us hope they get the “awfuls” out of their system.
The U12A played some good lacrosse to take a comfortable 18-4 victory over Poynton.
The bad weather denied the U12B what would have been a good tussle against Wacs at Didsbury.
It was a very rare day of losses for our girls programme with the U18 losing 7-8 in a tight game against Mellor whilst a very young U13 side lost away to Mellor 13-4 in a game which was much more competitive than the score suggests.
The U12 6 a side was hosted by Timperley on Sunday and whilst the clubs teams were not amongst the silverware the A team had good wins over Cheadle Hulme and Norbury and the B team really enjoyed themselves.

MATCH REPORTS
Men’s Teams
1st Team v Sheffield(A) Lost 1-0
The 1st team travelled to Sheffield. This is not a difficult trip to make but it is made more difficult if you go the wrong way despite attending Sheffield Univ.
I have never heard of a concession by a Premiership side. So this was a day of deep shame for the club.

A Team v Rochdale A (H) Lost 6-14
This week Timperley came up against Rochdale for the first time this season. With just 3 league games left to play and Rochdale being Timperley’s only real league title challenger it was always going to be a tough game. Some last minute change of plans unfortunately saw Adam Henbrey have to step in a goal keeper which certainly swung things in Rochdale’s favour.
Considering the changes in personnel Timperley put in a very competitive first quarter. Some great work from the attack holding the ball up and Billy Kershaw slotting two past the Rochdale keeper. The defence really stepped up too keeping the number of shots at goal to an absolute minimum. Despite conceding two early goals Timperley made it to the end of the quarter respectably trailing 2-4.
Unfortunately by the second quarter Rochdale had worked out with a stand in goal keeper pretty much anything on target was going to be a goal and the flood gates opened. Despite the continued great effort from the defence some hockey style clearances saw Timperley struggle to get the ball out of their half and so failed to get any more points on the board ending the half 2-10.
After some stern words at the half time Timperley made a much more promising start to the second half. They may not have pulled back many more goals but kept hold of the ball much better and started to win the ground ball battle which stemmed the flow of Rochdale goals ending the 3rd 4-11.
Timperley continued to battle on during the final quarter but Rochdale were to strong increasing their lead to end the game 6-14.
A disappointing result but with only 2 leagues games left this season the stage has been set for a brilliant final day of lacrosse on 23rd March. Timperley must face Rochdale again in what will likely be the league decider!
Billy Kershaw (2, 1), TJ Burgess (3, 0), Conor Turner (1, 0)

B Team v Rochdale B (H) Won 17-5
A B team well led by veterans James Shuttleworth and Lee Warburton enjoyed a comfortable win over a weak Rochdale side.

U19 v Cheadle Won 17-3
Cheadle / Cheadle Hulme are a limited team, and this was reflected in the final score.
Timperley just too strong. Strength on midfield provided by Burgess, Humblet, McGowan, with second string (Hirst, E Loveland, Robinson, Doughty) also proving effective. Defence shorn of players (Walker banned, Harper injured, Lord not available) but Sugden back from his injury had a very dominant game. Attack of Kershaw, Bulmer and Greaves moved the ball well against a static defence. U19 debuts for Will Greaves and Matt Whitley. Greaves bagged 5, finishing his chances well.
Scorers Will Greaves (5), Louis Humblet (3), Billy Kershaw (2), Pat McGowan (1), Sam Hirst (1), JD Bulmer (1), Marius Robinson (1), Ed Loveland (1), TJ Burgess (2)

Semi final against Sheffield on 19th March.
Other semi final Brooklands v Stockport / Norbury.

Women’s Team
The game started strong with successive draw controls from Timperley, with Steph Hallows in the centre and Emma Economou and Fabienne Johnson coming up with the ball. Timperley worked well at creating fluid movement of the ball down into attack with Nicola Swallow, Emma Economou, Lucy Ford, Erin Pollard and Georgia Greenhalgh all hitting the back of the net with little in retaliation from Leeds. The first half finished with a score of 9-3 in Timperley’s favour.
The second half saw Leeds come out with their eminent fighting spirit, putting up more of a challenge and taking control of the ball off the draw. Timperley struggled to gain possession in the midfield but with strong defensive performances from Sophie Mennell and Laura Stockton the ball soon found its way back into our offensive half. Quick connecting passes and ball movement saw Timperley to continue to find the back of the net. The final score 18-8 to Timperley.
Timperley scorers were Nicola Swallow (7), Lucy Ford (4), Emma Economou (3), Erin Pollard (2), Georgia Greenhalgh (1), Steph Hallows (1).

Boy’s Teams
U16 v Cheadle (H) Won 11-8
In spite of all the recent rain, the astro guaranteed this game would go ahead, and the U16 took the 9am face off, and showed (again) we are not an early morning set of players. This was a good workout for the U16, as 45 minutes of complacency finally evolved into a strong final 15 minutes for us to take the win. Our last game against Cheadle was a convincing win, and some of the boys clearly though today would be another straightforward win. It was not to be. Cheadle are a decent outfit, and handle the ball well. We had almost zero success at the face off, so were on the back foot all game, having to force turnovers before we got any possession in attack. We kept scoring, but so did Cheadle, notably in the third quarter when they scored four simple goals to have the game tied at 8-8. The final quarter saw the defence finally dominant, which gave a good base for us to score three unanswered goals to take the hard earned win.

Scorers Ed Loveland (4.0), Will Greaves (3.0), Marius Robinson (2.1), Ollie Tomlinson (1.1), Harry Alty (0.2), Jamie Hickson (1.0)

U14 v Sheffield (H) Lost 3-15
(1-5, 1-9, 1-14, 3-15)
Seb Page (1.0), Ewan Ginger (2.0)
A very disappointing game with very little positives to take. The team never got going, admittedly they were missing most of their defence but this is still not a valid reason for not making an effort. The team know they were poor and all that needed to be said was said at the game. Dan will be sitting down with each player on Wednesday to discuss their strengths/weaknesses and areas of improvement.

U12 v Poynton (H) Won 18-4
This week Timperley took on Poynton at home. Timperley started well but it was Poynton who scored first. Timperley's superiority was obvious to see and goals from Kai and Jim (2) meant the score at the end of the first quarter was 3-1 Timperley. The second quarter was much of the same with Timperley moving the ball around well and this led to them creating numerous opportunities. The Poynton keeper made several saves but Timperley managed to get another four goals from Owen (2) Laurie and Kai. Half time score 7-2 Timperley. The third quarter saw total domination from Timperley, Poynton had no answers for our midfield and attacking prowess. Owen opened the scoring and then 4 from Kai saw the score 12-3 at the end of the quarter. The fourth quarter Timperley continued to dominate and scored 6 more goals with 4 from Kai, 1 from Ben E and Jim. Final score 18-4 Timperley.
This week’s man of the Match for his hard work and battling was Mackenzie Baird.

Stats
Cai Alty (10.1), Jim Hartley (3.4), Owen Shuttleworth (3.4), Angus Gilchrist (0.4), Laurie Bailey (1.0), Ben Edwards (1.0)

U12B v Wacs (A) Cancelled

Girl’s Teams
U18 v Mellor (H)Lost 7-8
This Sunday saw a close contest in torrential rain at Timperley. Mellor only had 10 in their team meaning we played down with 10 which didn't help the dynamic of our team with constant substitutions.
Georgia also umpired which we thank her for at short notice.
We played in 15 minute quarters each being very close, with some good Lacrosse but never really played to our best.

1st 3-2, 2nd 2-3, 3rd 1-1, 4th 1-2

Cathy, Sarah (1.0), Hope, Emilly (2.1), Erin (1.1), Lauren (2.0), Lucy (0.2), Miranda (1.1), Hannah, Josie, Saoirse, Aly, Jasmine, Lexi (0.1), Gabrielle

U13 v Mellor (A) Lost 13-4
The bleakest weather of the season so far saw our first defeat against a good Mellor team.
The girls on both teams made light of the weather in quite an open game that saw chances at both ends. Possession was fairly even between the two teams but Mellor were strong in defence and sharper in attack and were always ahead.
Niamh Gribbon made a number of good saves in the first half that kept us in the game as did goals from Henny Wright, Tilly Young, Nielja Gerhard and Niamh (outfield now!).
A young Timperley team put in a really encouraging team performance that showed how much all of the year 6 and year 7 girls have progressed in their first season playing field lacrosse. It augurs well for next season.

Next week’s Fixtures
Men’s teams
1st Team v Waconians (H)
A team v Rochdale A @ Cheadle Semi Final Cup
B team v Cheadle B @ Brooklands Semi Final Cup (Sunday)
Boys Teams
U16 v Norbury (A)
U14 v Brooklands (A)
U12A v Cheadle (H)
U12B v Heaton Mersey (H)