QUOTE FOR THE DAY
“Nobody can deny that here, between the windows of Manchester, there is an insane love of football, of celebration and of music.”
Eric Cantona (the King)
Eric was undoubtedly the most iconic player ever to wear the red shirt. When asked, he said that the greatest moment of his career was kicking the fan in the face at Crystal Palace!

INTRODUCTION
Well we have seen the back of Christmas for another year. It is still a great family event but I am not sure that it does not become more of a challenge each year.
In the olden days I used to do my shopping on Christmas Eve, went back to work on 27th Dec and when I worked in London, New Year passed without any recognition of this peculiarly Scottish event.
This year the Christmas Markets in Manchester opened in the 1st week in November and closed on 23rd December. Many schools did not return until 9th Jan so for some the Christmas “event” stretched for some 9 weeks - unbelievable and unsustainable!
We, certainly I, approach the arrival of 2017, with a degree of trepidation. Brexit, in whatever form it takes, represents the biggest challenge that the UK has faced in the last 75 years. Perhaps not a long time but it does seem so to me.
It is difficult to see anything but a catastrophe being inflicted on our country by a group ranging from uneducated , ill- informed, xenophobic, racists who vigorously promote “Brexit” regardless to people who have listened to the various arguments in what was a disgraceful campaign by both leavers and remainers and came to a conclusion. Our country will not recover for 50 years and that period could well include a major European War.
When faced with a difficult future it is sometimes possible to bury yourself in some other, perhaps relatively minor, occurrence or happening. So for us TLC does possibly offer an escape from real life into a parallel universe.
It is necessary to enter each New Year with optimism and the results across TLC were encouraging before Xmas. The first weekend of lacrosse unfortunately gave us only limited comfort. With the benefit of hindsight the opening round of men’s and boy’s games dealt us a challenging hand. The 1st team faced the Premiership topping eclectic Cheadle team. The unbeaten A team and competitive B team along with our strong U16 team were all without games. The improving U14 travelled to take on an unbeaten powerful Cheadle Hulme side whilst the U12A entertained a skilful and also unbeaten Mellor side. The combined records of our 3 opponents before Saturday was played 29 won 29 so it would need a supreme optimist to expect any success! Bet Fred odds were very ,very long.
Our women’s team had, yet again, no game but the U13 continued their impressive run with a 20-5 win over Norbury. The U18 came second in a close local derby with Brooklands losing 8-11.
A very young Timperley men’s 1st team (possibly the youngest team we have ever fielded) proved unable to cope with the power of Cheadle and a 20-3 defeat was disappointing but in the cold light of day should not really perhaps have been a great surprise.
Cheadle Hulme U14 have built their success on being a team. They have a side of good strong players although perhaps not stars. Timperley enjoyed some good moments but eventually went down to a 17-6 defeat.
Timperley U12A entertained the excellent Mellor team at Stockport Rd and were very slow out of the blocks going 0-5 down in the first 10minutes. They competed well for the rest of the match, particularly as they played the second half with no subs, eventually going down 14-8.
For the U12B it was a case of so near and yet so far in a competitive game against Rochdale. They went into the final quarter with a narrow 6-5 lead but accommodating a 16 man Timperley squad gave Rochdale the opportunity they needed and they dominated the end of the game to take an 11-8 win.

MATCH REPORTS
Men’s 1st Team v Cheadle (A) Lost 20-3
Cheadle are undoubtedly the team of the season playing some outstanding lacrosse and deservedly ending the pre Xmas programme undefeated. They were hardly the opposition of choice to open up New Year fixtures with. Particularly as holidays and injuries meant that Timperley, with some 6 players unavailable, ended up fielding one of the youngest 1st teams in their history.
The match was not unexpectedly a bit one sided as Timperley took on a full strength Cheadle side. At the end of the 1st quarter Cheadle held a deserved 6-0 lead.
Commendably Timperley heads did not drop and in the second quarter a goal from Jack Brook got Timperley on the score sheet with 4 Cheadle goals giving them a 10-1 half time lead.
The second half followed the same pattern with Cheadle extending their lead and Timperley responding with goals from Ollie White and youngster Billy Kershaw.
The 20-3 margin of victory was perhaps harsh on Timperley but the players did not give up trying and hopefully learnt from a tough experience.
Cheadle have been a lacrosse powerhouse for some 40 years but it was not always so. I can recall when I was secretary of Oxford University LC in the mid 1960s that I was asking Northern clubs to visit Oxford and had Cheadle on my list only to receive a note from the North of England League secretary, the legendary Norman Barber suggesting that Cheadle were not suitable as they would not provide good enough opposition for a student team which included at least 4 players who had never played before college (although we did have a few decent Americans). Cheadle at the time were getting their act together and under the leadership of people like Brian Costello, Hector Bickerton, Martin Fleeson and John Leech laying the foundation for their long running success and developing a strong relationship with Broadway School. Over the years as the silverware rolled in the club produced some outstanding players, Steve Bevington, David Duxbury, Paul Short, the Baythorpes , Phil Lynch, Joey Bartram, Peter Condron,Ryan Bevington , Mike Goodwin; I am sure there are many more but senility takes its toll.
I do have a certain unease that in recent years the club has encouraged players from other clubs to join them in order to maintain their prominence. On Saturday Cheadle team included, Nick Anderton, Nicky Watson, Sam Dexter, Paul Ryan and Matt Collier –all transfers from other clubs. In recent years. Mike Parsons from Timperley and Glynn Humphries from Rochdale, both England internationals, have also worn the green and gold.
It is difficult to understand what satisfaction can be taken in a small sport like lacrosse from winning by pursuing such a policy.
When Lancashire cricketers started to turn up to play for Bowdon the quality of the South Downs Road beer was often given as the reason for the choice.

Boy’s U14 v Cheadle Hulme (A) Lost 17-4
Lost 17-6 (0-7, 2-10, 4-17, 6-17)

Cheadle Hulme were a strong side but we were very very rusty, letting in 7 in the first quarter without reply. Without George making some great saves it could have been many more. On a wet and sloped pitch an excess of Xmas mince pies showed and too often we were not back quickly enough to defend.

We held them in Q2 and Q4, coincidentally when we were playing downhill! All too often the basics are letting us down and losing hard won possession when we should be getting a breather and throwing the ball between us. As we keep saying an hour a week training is just not enough. The team need to be out for 15 minutes every night banging the ball against a wall (sorry parents!) or meeting up together to chuck the ball about in the park.

On a plus note, Joe T returned for his first game of the season and was soon back to looking every bit the good attacker he is, just another game to get his eye in and he’ll be scoring lots. On the day he got 2 but so easily could have been 6 or 7 if the mud hadn’t kept swallowing his bounce shots at the goalies feet. Also welcome back to Ewan who is some way off match fit but got 3 goals whilst playing in attack behind goal.

Next week we are away to a strong Cheadle/Norbury side

Boy’s U12A v Mellor (H) Lost 8-14
This week the U12A took on Mellor at Timperley. Mellor started in their usual organised and well drilled fashion, scoring 5 before we had woke up from our Christmas break. Goals from Owen and Jim kept us in touching distance. The second quarter was a tighter affair with Timperley starting to move the ball and looked like there were signs of life. Mellor hit 2 more before Timperley pulled 2 back through Owen with assists from Kit and Laurie. he third quarter was much of the same with Timperley having a lot more of the possession but were caught 3 times from fast breaks. Once again we battled back with goals from Cai and Jim once again assisted by Kit. The fourth quarter Timperley created a lot of chances but only managed to convert 2 in to goals (Jim and Cai). Mellor again caught us on the break. Final score 8-14 Mellor.
Tom Allen in goal had a great performance but this week’s man of the Match was Kit Sanders with outstanding all round showing.

Stats
Jim Hartley (3.0), Owen Shuttleworth (3.0), Cai Alty (2.1), Kit Sanders (0.3), Laurie Bailey (0.1)

Boy’s U12B v Rochdale (H) Lost 8-11
A great turnout post-xmas with 16 players torn away from their playstations and xboxes to burn off some of the mince pies. This allowed plenty of rotation with substitutes to keep legs fresh over a large field. The first half was very closely contended finishing 4-4 with 2 goals from Leon Read and a goal each for George Rommel and Hamza Rahman. We carried this confidence into the third quarter, finishing in the lead 6-5 with 2 goals (1 each Leon and George), but unfortunately didn’t hold onto this lead to the end. As manager I’ll take the blame for a couple of substitutions to get less experienced players on for the last 5 minutes, and taking off Leon from midfield for a well earned rest after another goal in the final quarter. We lost on the face-off on a number of occasions and allowed Rochdale to run straight through for a few easy goals without challenge, conceding a total of 6 goals in a very short period.

Timperley were stronger on the ground balls but need to continue this improvement with a focus on getting the hand down and shoulder over the ball. As younger players it can be difficult to switch between marking up closely and getting back as a middle when in defence, and making space for the passes when in attack - this concentration made a difference in the first 3 quarters. All players performed well when they had that concentration, and in addition to the scorers, strong performances from Kuba Jenkins, Mark Harrington, Khalid Jussab and on the debut for Sam Parkin. Mattie Harrison did really well passing the ball. Man of the match to Daniel George - coming off the back of an injury from Wednesday he didn’t let it show, using his pace up and down the field to great effect.

Girl’s U18 v Brooklands Lost 11-14
This Sunday saw a very good game of lacrosse which unfortunately went the to the visitors in the end.
Timperley started slowly which seems to be trait at the moment we were off the pace but following a swift time out we managed to recover ground with some great play in the Brooklands half going down 8-4 at half time.
Timperley were on the ascendancy and played some great lacrosse starting to drive more putting Brooklands under pressure with considerable success.
Our plan to contain a couple of players definitely worked and we pulled the game around to being 11-11 with 5 minutes to go when there was a Brooklands time out.
This clearly took the sting out of the game and unfortunately Brooklands scored 3 quick goals to give them the game.
Some real positives from the game, and things to work on but the girls played with heart and gave it a shot, we can ask no more.
A special mention to the U 15 Ellie and Elise who put in an excellent performance. Also some great stops from Gabrielle.

Team

Cathy (1.0), Hope (0.1), Emilly (2.6), Erin (2.1), Josie, Becks (0.1), Saoirse (1.0), Miranda (0.1), Ellie. (1.1), Elise (4.0), Jasmine, Lexi, Gabrielle

Girl’s U13 v Norbury Won 20-5
The U13 girls seemed to shake off the Christmas pudding with no problems (no doubt much better than their parents have) with an enjoyable game against a good Norbury team.
The game was played in good spirits and Norbury got off to a good start, but our defence and notably goalie Niamh Gribbon held firm and prevented Norbury from getting an early a break through.
Timperley got going after that and the goals started coming with a number of different girls chipping in.
We had a large squad again, and showed our strength in depth as maintained a consistent level of play with good defending, determined tracking & marking and some good movement and passing in attack.
Timperley finished winners by 20 goals to 5. Well done to all of the team.
Scorers
Henny Wright (6/4), Katy Young (3.1), Jessica Haywood (3.0), Emma Maxwell (3.0), Ana Green (2.4), Zophia Jenkins (1.0), Tilly Young (1.0), Charlotte Christian (0.2), Scarlett Egan (0.1),Elsa Hopley-Catalan (0.1), Amelia Wynn (0.1).