INTRODUCTION
Draws are a rare animal in Lacrosse so to have two in an afternoon was extraordinary!  The 1st team entertained Heaton Mersey at Stockport Road in their opening Premiership match. It was a very close and competitive game which if it is a taste of games to come, means we are in for some great Lacrosse.   The match see-sawed one way and then the other with Mersey leading 2-5 in the second quarter with Timperley getting their noses in front 8-7 with minutes to go before the visitors scored the game’s last goal to tie the match at 8-8.  

The A team travelled to Mellor and in another hugely competitive game came away with an 11-11 draw.  Timperley Women entertained Leeds at Stockport Rd and emerged with a convincing 22-6 win.  

Timperley U16 entertained Brooklands/Rochdale with bare 10 after the last minute withdrawal through illness of star goal keeper George Jenkins. Timperley acquitted themselves well with a 14-8 win.   

Timperley U14 travelled to Cheadle to take on a home side strengthened by some good players from Sheffield. It was a competitive game and Timperley were better than the 12-4 defeat might suggest.  

The unbeaten U12 entertained Poynton / Rochdale and they preserved their record with a strong 14-2 win.  

On Sunday the Girl’s U18 lost 8-13 to Stockport but our Girl’s U13 travelled to Oxton and were rewarded with an impressive 2-29 victory.  

MATCH REPORTS  

SAT 10TH NOVEMBER  

WOMEN V LEEDS (HOME) WON 22-6 
The drive to this week’s game was much more straightforward and not so much scenic as last week’s. We were playing at home.  

Like Stoke last week Leeds are a very friendly team too but more experienced.

They only had 10 players.   We had 12. From the beginning till the end of the game we were in control but we were tested much more than last week.  Quarter one. We dominated and did not give them a lot of chances and the result was 7 -1 for us.

Second quarter was closer 6-3. We allowed them to get back. We dropped our intensity a bit. Quarter 3, we were a bit more sharper and came out in top 5-2. Final quarter, we were in total control, 4-0. Final score was 22-6 for us.   Another great team performance from all.

When you see the goals and assists list this becomes even more obvious. Georgia Ansley was in goal first half and Nina Ilhan in the second half. This worked well and both made some great saves again. This is very much looking like last week’s match report!  

Things we need to work on:  
1. Our focus and intensity. Whoever we are playing, we should always have the same concentration and focus and intensity throughout the game. At times during this game we were not. We should play all games to our full ability.

  2. Lose passes. Did not happen a lot but against the better side these kind of mistakes are the difference between winning a game or losing a game. Need to maintain our sharpness at all times.  

3. More talking on the pitch. In all areas.

  Kat S 6, 1
 Nic S 5,2
 Lucy F 4,3
 Lauren 5,1 
Julie Stout 0,5 
Vanessa 1,4 
Georgia A 0,1 
Holly 1,0
 Fabienne 0,1

  MEN’S 1ST V HEATON MERSEY (HOME) DREW 8-8 
The Premiership fixture list looks as though it will throw up some top class games of Lacrosse and there was a challenging opener for Timperley when they entertained Heaton Mersey. Mersey had taken a 16-8 win in the conference in the first game of the season.

  Mersey opened the scoring but Timperley replied from an unusual source with skipper Jason Armstrong straying into the attack and recalling his youth as a midfielder. Another goal from the visitors saw them with their noses in front 1-2 at quarter time.   The second quarter saw 3 goals from Mersey saw them leap into a 2-5 lead and the feeling was that they might repeat their early season win.  

However, Timperley showed that they had developed into a much more competitive team and goals from Ollie White (2), Tom Bracegirdle and Billy Kershaw saw the score at half time back at a one goal advantage to Mersey at 5-6.  The second half goalie Tim Blower overcame a shaky start to pull off some outstanding saves. The match became really tight but at the end of the 3rd period goals from Mikey Armstrong and Max Hindleman saw the game tied at 7-7.

In the final period Timperley edged ahead for the first time with another Ollie White strike and with only a few minutes to go Timperley looked as if they might hang on for victory but a late goal from Mersey saw the game end in an 8-8 draw.  For Timperley the man of the match was Tom Bracegirdle who had and outstanding game at face off winning all but one of the draws when the official decided, probably correctly, that he had gone early.  

Ollie White 3 
Jason Armstrong 1 
Tom Bracegirdle 1 
Mikey Armstrong 1
 Billy Kershaw 1 
Max Hindleman 1  

Next up for Timperley is a local derby against Brooklands which will be the opening game of Super Sunday which will take place on 18th November at Sportscity (Face 12.30-free entry).  

MEN’S A V MELLOR A (AWAY) DREW 11-11 
This week Timperley’s A Team took the trip up the windy roads to Mellor, knowing that regardless of the result they had secured themselves in the North 1 Division. Despite leading throughout the game, they were not able to see the game out, allowing Mellor to come away with the draw.  Timperley, much different to last week, hit the ground running establishing a 1-3 lead at the end of the first quarter, thanks to goals from Pat McGowan and Nathan Walker.
Ed Loveland providing two assists along with them. The Mellor keeper produced a fine string of saves, which was the story of the game, to keep Mellor in it with Timperley lacking the ruthlessness to put the game to bed when they had momentum.

The second quarter was much closer, with Mellor scoring 3 as their attack grew in confidence after one of their attack men scored a diving one-handed goal. However, Timperley’s attack answered with 3 of their own, with the team really starting to work on good team goals with Pat scoring again along with Dan Flisk and Marius Robinson.   

Going into the third quarter, Timperley came out of the blocks firing dominating most of the possession in the quarter and scoring 3 to further their lead, with Harry Alty running the length of the pitch to score, and Ed Loveland scoring two. The latter goal coming from a lovely feed from Pat and a smart behind the back finish from Ed. However, much of the story of the second half, despite Timperley defending well, silly mistakes allowed Mellor to stay in the game, ending the quarter 6-9 to Timperley.  

The last quarter saw Timperley slip up yet again in the dying moments of the game. Gregor pulled off a string of fine saves to keep the opposition out, but Mellor would come out winning the quarter 5-2, and salvaging a point in the process. Despite Sam Hirst and Will Greaves scoring goals to cement Timperley’s lead, a string of unfortunate mistakes and a lack of calmness to see the game out allowed Mellor to equalise with seconds left in the game.   It meant that the A Team, yet again, left the game disappointed still looking for their first win of the season after another draw. Yet there were plenty of positives to draw from the game, with a lot of our younger players stepping up and showing some real maturity to their game.

Shout out to Harry Alty who produced a man of the match display, showing real improvement at the face off and his ground ball game.

  Ed Loveland 2, 4 
Pat McGowan 2, 1 
Nathan Walker 2, 0 
Dan Flisk 1, 0
 Marius Robinson 1, 0 
Harry Alty 1, 0
 Will Greaves 1, 0 
Sam Hirst 1, 0 
Conor Turner 0, 1  

MEN’S B NO GAME   

BOY’S U16 V BROOKLANDS/ROCHDALE (HOME) WON 14-8 
A lovely sunny autumnal morning for a game of lacrosse. Both teams were only able to field squads of 10, so 8-a-side was agreed. Unfortunately we were also without our goalie due to illness, so after a little arm twisting we had 4 (willing?) volunteers.  

First quarter saw an impressive start from Brookdale’s key player, winning from face and directly attacking goal frequently. At this point Tom our face-off man was in goal! Timperley looked a little lacklustre and finished 2-5 down although Ewan and Jack O were combining well in attack to score.  The quarter-time talk led to Luke F-J being tasked with man marking their key player out of the game. This he admirably achieved for the remainder of the game.

From this point on Timperley confidence grew and Brookdale struggled to complete. Tom putting up a good fight at face and possession was no longer a foregone conclusion for the opposition. Goals from Tom and Jack saw us go into half-time all evens at 5-5.  Third quarter we dominated, stretching the lead out to 10-6. Pleasingly with goals from 4 different players. Last quarter saw more of the same and the final score was 14-8.

Ewan Ginger (2, 0) 
Jack O’Mahoney (4, 0) 
Tom Wallis (4, 0) 
Jack Lee (1, 0) 
Joe Tomlinson (2, 0) 
Matt Fazal (1, 0) 

BOY’S U14 V CHEADLE/SHEFFIELD (AWAY) LOST 12-4 
This week the U14s travelled to Cheadle.  Timperley started well with Jim dominating the face and the attack of Cai, Ben and Owen creating lots of chances but unfortunately we could not put the ball in the back of the net.

Cheadle took the lead with 3 goals before Timperley finally made their possession count with goals from Cai and Owen. The second quarter was similar to the first, with Timperley having large amounts of possession and creating chances but this didn’t lead to more goals. Cheadle were far more proficient in front of goal and scored from most of their attacks. Halftime score 7-2 Cheadle.

The third quarter was more of the same with all the boys playing well but we just couldn’t convert our chances.   Cheadle extended their lead with a goal late on in the quarter which was due to some resolute defending from Alex, Graeme, Toby and Tom in goal.

The final quarter was a feisty affair with both teams going for it. Once again we didn’t make the most of our chances and this led to Cheadle extending their lead before goals from Owen and Jim late on. Final score 12-4.  The result wasn’t a fair reflection of the team’s efforts and possession and I think it was a lot closer than it appears.  

Owen Shuttleworth (2, 2) 
Cai Alty (1, 1)
 Jim Hartley (1, 1) 

BOY’S U12 V POYNTON/ROCHDALE (HOME) WON 14-2 
The match started well with Noah on the break early resulting in a swift goal. Quick response by Poynton into Timperley’s half had Lucca in goal saving action before long. Kuba making a spirited run was taken down roughly, shots from Noah & Sam failed to score, however solid defending kept the first period score at 1-0.  

The second period started strong with multiple shots from Lucas, Dylan & Noah either failing to find the net or unfortunately hitting the post, play was mainly in Poynton’s half but collecting passes and pickup chances were missed. Lucca made another epic save but Poynton managed to get one through the defence. Two goals from Sam and another from Kuba meant half time was at 4-1.  

Some early breaks in the third period were thwarted, again shots failed to find their target and some brave defence but we conceded another away goal. Play then improved with a great show from Ben shaking off 4 attackers to score one, then again surviving a side assault to score again. Goals from Lucas, Kuba & Noah took the score up to 10-2.  

The final period saw some scruffy play crowded around the ball like seagulls round a chip. There could have been more from Timperley with shots from Matty & Sam being saved. Some good midfield action from Daniel & Oscar helped slow Poynton opportunities down, and they failed to score in the final period.  

Lucas Brennan 1,0
 Dylan McDonald 1,0 
Ben Lawton 2,0 
Kuba Jenkins 2,0 
Sam Ginger 3,0 
Noah Brennan 5,0 

SUNDAY 11TH NOVEMBER

  GIRL’S U18 V STOCKPORT (AWAY) LOST 13-8 
An away game at Stockport on a cold wet Sunday morning meant we would need to be on our game from the start.This as usual wasn't the case but surprisingly due to some individual runs we went into a lead.4-2 at the first quarter.   We still needed to transition the ball and use our team but this didn't happen we did manage to hold onto our lead though finishing 7-5 at the half.  Stockport were strong and on the up we needed to put the game to bed but some loose play ensured Stockport took the lead at the break for our two minutes silence 7-8.  

We did attack with some positivity hitting the woodwork 4 times, this wasn't enough and we were caught on the break ending up losing 13-8.  We have some excellent players and show great promise we just need to believe in each other because when we do we are a force.  

Gabrielle W
 Libby M 
Ana G. 0/1
 Nina 
Maddie 4/0
 Emma W 
Jodie 1/0
 Elana 
Elise 2/1 
Gabby H 

GIRL’S U13 V OXTON (AWAY) WON 2-29
 Remembrance Sunday saw the U13's away at Oxton. It turned out to be a highly successful visit with Timperley winning 29-2. Timperley controlled the game from the outset showing skill, flair and commitment. It is difficult to single out players as the whole team were outstanding but special mention should be made of 2 U11 players playing up for the first time, Georgina Murphy and Charlotte Sadler. They showed admirable composure and a strong skill set and their contribution was greatly valued. All in all a super performance by the team. Thanks to all the parents who came along to support, to Brett for his coaching, Katie for her support and Maria for umpiring. It just remains to say that the girls represented the club impeccably during the 2 minute silence which fell in the middle of the match and that as team manager I couldn't be prouder of them all.

Laura K 4, 2
Lotta T 5, 2
Tilly Y 4, 2
Karina H 3, 1
Esme T 4, 2
Franzi C 2, 2
Emma B 6, 1
Charlotte W 1, 0
Charlotte S 0,1

MIXED U10 DEVELOPMENT DAY
Timperley pop and boy’s field played a mixed team for the non-contact development day at Heaton Mersey on Sunday. The team played a strong game against much older and more experienced players. Two goals from Zach Lawton were supported by an accurate assist by Mathilda Beresford. James Aston and Noah Bowpitt provided the legs in attack while strong defence by Zach Cole and Thomas O’Reilly allowed us to stop many an attempt on goal. Millie Lawton ran like the wind, managed not to hurt the other players and tried to argue with her father and the referee, a sign of things to come…