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WEEKLY ROUNDUP JANUARY 31ST

WEEKLY ROUNDUP JANUARY 31ST

Tom Slater31 Jan 2018 - 13:44
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The news from Timperley Lacrosse this week

INTRODUCTION
Another reasonable week for TLC with teams playing 10 games and ending up with 8 wins and two losses.

It was a busy weekend for our Men’s 1st team who were away at Mellor on Saturday where they took an emphatic 17-7 victory.

On Sunday Timperley entertained Sheffield at Stockport Road and a 12-3 win saw Timperley consolidate their position at the top of the Premiership. There is a long way to go in the season but Timperley should be well in the mix for the battle for the title if they can maintain their form. With wins over Stockport, Poynton and Cheadle the Blues have the potential to beat anyone but a narrow one goal loss to local rivals Brooklands shows that anyone can beat anyone in this League.

Timperley Women travelled to Leeds without some of their stronger players but still came away with a 17-6 victory. The game gave an opportunity to blood some of our outstanding junior players.

Timperley A had a hollow victory when Wilmslow A failed to raise a team for the second time this season. The alarm bells are really ringing at Wilmslow who only a few years ago were winning the Senior Flags. But the history of (Manchester) Lacrosse is littered with successful clubs which have collapsed including, most prominently, Urmston and South Manchester.

Timperley took a strong team to face Mellor B, which was a mixture of experience and excellent young players. Their reward was convincing 18-6 victory.

It has been a season of serial cancellations for our U16 team which does really need games to allow it to build on the recent impressive win over the previously undefeated Stockport team and whoever they are currently partnered with.

For the U14 it has been a challenging season, principally because we have been short of numbers. On Saturday they faced a real challenge when they faced the unbeaten Norbury squad which has dominated the u14 bracket this season. Timperley started badly and were quickly 8-0 down and looked a well beaten side. However, they then regained some pride and really competed for the rest of the game. The Timperley team are certainly not without ability but they do lack some self belief. They have great leadership and coaching and will I believe improve over the rest of the season.

The U12A entertained Mellor on the Timperley ATP and both teams were missing key players who were playing up in U14 Cup matches so not much can be read into Timperley’s convincing 17-3 victory, though the game gave Timperley the opportunity to bring in some players from the improving B team.

The U12B continue to improve and they were very competitive when they entertained Poynton at Stockort Road, despite losing 8-12.

On Sunday the Girl’s U15 Blue and White teams both played games against Poynton/Mersey at Timperley and they showed the strength in depth of the current girl’s programme with 20-3 and 16-0 wins respectively.

Next Saturday the Men’s 1st team travel to Sheffield for a return fixture. The A face a tough task at home to Cheadle A whilst the B team face a similar tough challenge away at Heaton Mersey.

The U16 and U12 teams are both in tough cup games.

MATCH REPORTS
Saturday 27th January
Women v Leeds (A) Won 17-6

Timperley played away at Leeds this weekend. We struggled to get a team together but in the end joining the handful of seniors were some university players and a few juniors who kindly agreed to play. We played the whole game man down as we had no ref, so Nicola Swallow and Julie Stott generously reffed a half each. Anyone watching the game would have thought that we'd all played together for years. The whole team put in great performances and the teamwork was on show for everyone to see. Emma Economou and Katherine Swallow led the scoring but this was helped by great assists and hard work from the rest of the team. Ana Green, one of our juniors making her first appearance for seniors and who was our MVP, was on fire making incredible interceptions and playing very strong defence. Becca Northeast and Holly Phelps showcased their speed, working hard in defence and transition. Every single player stepped up and put in excellent performances, everyone should be very proud of themselves!

Scorers
Katherine swallow 6
Emma Economou 6
Nicola Swallow 2
Becca Davies 2
Holly Phelps 1

Men’s 1st v Mellor (A) Won 17-3
It’s around this time of year where you start to look at the weather forecast more than ever to see if your Saturday fixture will still be on. With Mellor notoriously having poor pitches it was a slight surprise to have the fixture going ahead at their place. With it being a double header weekend we were extremely wary that professional performances would be needed, get in and get out without any casualties. Playing on a smaller pitch than normal playing smart attack and compact defence was the instructions given before the game and the game plan was executed to near perfection throughout the match.

Timperley’s attack exploited heavily Mellor’s decision to play a zone defence and put up seven goals in the first quarter, Mellor managed to breach Timperley’s defence on two occasions. Goals from Mikey Armstrong, Jack Brook, Ollie White and Brendan Farrell saw how we as a team are no one man band and can score goals with a variety of players.

Mellor fought back in the second quarter and proved that they wouldn’t make the fixture an easy one for ourselves, with possession being squandered by both teams it gave both sets of midfielders a chance to really test their fitness on the boggy pitch which we were playing on. Mellor pulled two goals back from man up situations but both Mikey Armstrong and Ollie White stepped up to regain our five goal cushion. Score 9-4 going in at half time.

Having realised that we were slowly slipping our standards and becoming too individual we went out for the second half and squashed any chance for a Mellor comeback. Timperley’s defence allowed for very few chances and Adam Henbrey, the A team captain, leader, legend never looked unfazed in what was only his second appearance ever playing in the Premiership. Further goals from Ollie White, Brendan Farrell and our other ‘Irish’ player Taylor Wallace extended our lead to 13-5.

With the job almost done the final quarter was a chance for us to control the game and create long scoring plays. With the league being extremely tight this year goal difference may play a large factor, so ensuring the score board kept ticking was important. Further goals from Ollie White, Taylor Wallace, Jack Brook and an exceptional goal from Christopher Leeming, who dealt with the nervy task of picking up a ground ball on the crease and dunking it over the goalkeeper with extreme ease. Final score Timperley 17- 7 Mellor.

Scorers
Jack Brook 5
Ollie White 4
Brendan Farrell 3
Mikey Armstrong 2
Taylor Wallace 2
Christopher Leeming 1

Men’s A v Wilmslow (H) Won 1-0 concession

Men’s B v Mellor (A) Won 18-6
The Men’s B team are enjoying a successful season and are currently lying 3rd in the table behind very strong Brooklands A and Cheadle B.

Numbers have not been a problem and on Saturday they fielded 17 players who were an ideal mix of youth and experience.

Obtaining information from an instinctively modest team has always been a challenge and Saturday was no exception. Despite a Freedom of Information Request match statistics are shrouded in secrecy except that the game resulted in a convincing 18-6 victory with the team playing some great Lacrosse.

Next Saturday Timperley face the very strong Heaton Mersey B team away in a game which will really test their credentials.

Boy’s U16 v Poynton (A) Cancelled

Boy’s U14 v Norbury (H) Lost 4-16 Centurion Trophy
Well we lost the game in the first 10 minutes of the match as yet again we just did not turn up and found ourselves 8-0 down before we knew it and it was game over. However a lot of credit has to go to the team as each one of them never stopped after that point. We showed how much we are improving as a team under the tutelage of Marius & Dan.

We now enter the plate and with the players we have and the quality that step up from the U12s anything & everything is possible.

Goals today were scored by:-
Alfie Jenkins
Joe Tomlinson
Cai Alty
Jim Hartley

Assists
Jack Dearden
Josh Spinks
Mackenzie Baird

Boy’s U12A v Mellor (H) Won 17-3
It was a damp Saturday morning when Timperley A hosted Mellor on the Astro. Pre-match, Mellor were looking their usual well-schooled side, with clean line drills and keeper warm up, whilst the Timperley boys were still getting kitted up whilst watching the B’s.

With Jim, Jack & Cai playing for the 14’s, it was always going to be a challenge, fortunately for us, Mellor were also missing some of their key players and as such it turned out to be one of the most affable matches between the two clubs to date, with some great lacrosse played on both sides. Down on numbers we were boosted by Sam Ginger and Oscar Street joining the ranks … Oscar making the most memorable quote of the day:-

Coach: You need to make sure you mark your man!

Oscar: I was marking him, I was marking everyone’

Quarter 1: 5/2 Blue
Owen Shuttleworth opened with Timperley’s first 3 followed by Oscar’s first on his debut! with Leon Read closing off the quarter (well half) with Timperley’s 5th. Mellor snaffled a couple during this time, with Toby, Alex and Ben Lawton backed up by great goal keeping from Tom Allen putting in some good defence, keeping them at bay.

Quarter 2: 5/0 Blue
Spurred on by Owen’s efforts in the first quarter – Mark Harrington popped a couple in on solo runs, and then the team started to gel and the passing improved, Ben Edwards was brought into the match by Owen scoring his first, with the session ending with Sam Gingers debut goal.

Quarter 3: 3/0 Blue
Both sides were starting to feel the pain now, the full pitch and the extended first quarter, showing its toll, with the Blues 10/2 up, Mellor were finding themselves in the unusual position of being on wrong side of the score, which in part was also due to the fact we were on astro and not grass. The Timperley boys kept their heads and worked well from the goal through defence to attack, Sam and Oscar were all over the pitch and a positive addition to the ranks. Leon having taken on the roll of ‘face man’ and did a sterling job. This quarter saw the Owen/Ben Edwards partnership come to fruition with Owen collecting the ball and popping it through to a generally unmarked Ben, who calmly found the back of the net a couple more times, punctuated by another Mark Harrington seize and strike goal.

Quarter 4: 4/1 Blue Final quarter, the boys took deep breaths and went for it, ball moved well on both sides, Ben Edwards bagged a couple more from Owen assists, with Owen and Sam both finding the net in the closing minutes of the game, Mellor, kept the fight going to the end and found the Timperley net with a great goal from number 8.

End result: 17/3
Scores:-
Owen Shuttleworth : 5 goals 4 assists
Ben Edwards : 5 goals
Mark Harrington : 3 goals
Sam Ginger (debut) : 2 goals 2 assists
Leon Read : 1 goal
Oscar Street (debut) 1 goal

Boy’s U12B v Poynton (H) Lost 8-12
We made an early start against a friendly Poynton side. We had a good showing from the boys with enough substitutes to keep legs fresh.

Timperley made an impressive start with a goal in the first minutes from Noah Brennan. Poynton quickly came back with a shot on goal saved by Lucca Read. Not deterred though, they forged through with two quick goals. Lucca made some brilliant saves and the midfield got the ball up the field for a goal from Sam Ginger. Noah Brennan made 2 more shots on goal, but Poynton managed four more goals to finish this quarter 2-6.

This quarter Timperley defence really found their feet and slowed the attack from Poynton. The two Poynton goals were equalled by two very impressive runs and goals by Leon Read. We also saw shots from Sam Ginger, and Lucca Read's goal keeping wowed the spectators in the face of some very strong shots from Poynton. We finished this half 4-8

Quarter 3 opened with a shot from Leon Read, followed by a goal by Noah Brennan and a goal by Eddie Warriner. We saw more fantastic saves from Lucca Read, but Poynton managed 2 more goals to maintain their lead. Ending this quarter 6-10

Quarter 4 saw our boys keep pushing hard and get two more goals from Hamza Rahman and Eddie Warriner. Poynton made 2 more goals. Ending the game 8-12.

It was a game full of excitement and tension. Both sides should be proud of the energy and determination they showed. Many thanks to both referees for a fair game with lots of constructive advice for the boys.

Scorers

Noah Brennan 2
Leon Reed 2
Eddie Warriner2
Hamza Rahman 1
Sam Ginger 1

Sunday 28th January
Men’s 1st v Sheffield (H) Won 12-3

On a rare Sunday fixture Timperley faced Sheffield Steelers for our second game of the double fixture weekend. With legs and minds tired from the day before we knew that this fixture could have been a potential banana skin. Sheffield are a very well drilled side and great at killing games through keeping the ball in their attack for long spells. This was something we know well so doing the same to them was the plan of action.

Playing on arguably the best pitches in the league, Timperley fired ourselves ahead early with Brendan Farrell and Ollie White both finding the net early on Sheffield responded with one goal to keep the match close going into the quarter time break.

With the game ebbing and flowing in either teams favour it was a relief that we managed to breach the Sheffield defence on a further three occasions with Jack Brook and Ollie White scoring the goals. Again Sheffield managed to grab one goal to keep the game interesting 5-2 at half time.

Timperley pressed on after half time, the defence worked tremendously hard to keep Sheffield out of our half and keep the attack with constant possession. Ollie White grabbed all three goals in this quarter which goes to show how dangerous he is when the ball is in his stick

In the final quarter we saw not only a goal which would win any goal of the month competition, but potentially the goal of the season. Brendan Farrell scored a peach of a goal which was let ripped from one of the acutest angles possible, with unstoppable pace and hit both top corners before nestling into the net. That’s all you need to know about the final quarter some other goals were scored and Timperley won the match 12-3.

Ollie White 6
Brendan Farrell 3
Jack Brook 2
James Bates 1

Girl’s U15 Blue v Poynton/Mersey (H) Won 20-3
For our 5th game of the season, we had 12 players, with 4x from U13s (Lotta Tully, Bella Davidson, Katie Young and Tilly Young).

Took control from the start and never were in danger of losing this game. We aimed to get all the players involved and overall I think we achieved this. First half the score was 9 - 3 for us and second half was 11 - 0. Final score was 20 - 3 win. In total 8 different players scored and assisted. A special mention to Lotta and Bella who did really well, for whom this was a new experience playing the whole game for the U15s!

In my opinion, it is important for each player to be able to play in different positions. During the game we moved around players into different positions and we actually played better as a team when we did this.

BLUE:
Man of the match: Henny Wright - worked hard, scored, assisted and contributed a lot to the team.
Defence: Charlotte Christian - worked hard, scored, assisted and made some good runs forward.
Midfield: Alice Allan - scored, assisted and was everywhere on the field.
Attack: Chloe Ferguson - started as Mid D and then moved to attack — strong drives to the goal, scored and assisted.

Scores and assist.
Henny Wright 5/3
Alice Allan 5/1
Chloe Ferguson 2/3
Mia Bowie 2/2
Sophie Hurlstone 3/1
Charlotte Christian 1/2
Lotta Tully -/2
Katie Young 1/1
Tilly Young 1/-

Girl’s U15 White v Poynton/Mersey (H) Won 16-0
For our 5th game of the season, we had 14 players, with 1x from U13s (Jess Haywood) and 1x U11s (Bae Bell).

Like the Blue team, we took control from the start and never were in danger of losing this game. Again, we aimed to get all the players involved and we achieved this. First half the score was 9 - 0 for us and second half was 7 - 0. Final score was 16 - 0 win. In total 9x different players scored and 5x assisted.

During the game we moved around players into different positions and this worked out well.

WHITES:
Man of the match: Charlotte Bell - worked hard, scored, assisted and contributed a lot to the team.
Defence: everyone involved — they gave no opportunities to the opponents.
Midfield: Elise Humblet - scored and played in different positions to support the team.
Attack: Bae Bell - scored her first U15 goal.

Goals and assists
Elise Humblet 5/4
Charlotte Bell 3/3
Jodie Pollard 1/2
Maddie Lord 2/1
Emma Whitley 1/1
Bae Bell 1/-
Jasmine Torevell 1/-
Emilly Meppem 1/-
Jess Haywood 1/-

Further reading