It is starting to feel like a long season as we stutter and stumble to a conclusion with teams trying to cram two games into a weekend and there being more and more 1-0s amongst the recorded scores. The situation has not been improved by what seem to be endless school Easter holidays. Is it impossible for the holidays to be co-ordinated?

For Timperley 1st team there were two games over the weekend and work, holidays and injuries meant that teams were not at full strength although the opportunity was taken to blood some of our impressive U16 players.

On Saturday Timperley travelled to Wilmslow and in a goal fest came away with a 21-13 win.

On Sunday a full strength Sheffield Steelers were the visitors to Stockport Road, having conceded to Poynton the previous day. Timperley took the opportunity to play U16 stars Louis Humblet and Patrick McGowan who both made impressive contributions. Timperley had chances to take the win but had to be satisfied with an 11-11 draw.

An under strength A team traveled to Leeds and in what has become a familiar tale this season went down to a narrow 10-8 defeat.
We are entering the end of season meetings period and on 4th May there will be an end of season review meeting for managers and coaches followed by a section AGM on 11th May.

And another reminder that a very important Timperley Sports Club AGM will take place on 28th April. Amongst a number of key issues the meeting will decide on the creation of new section at Timperley for football.

MEN’S LACROSSE
1st Team v Wilmslow (A) W 21-13
An absolute goal fest that saw us take a lead and adopt a you score 1, we'll score 2 mentality. A strange fixture that is fairly typical for this time of year.

Unfortunately for Wilmslow, this result has put them in real relegation trouble with only a play-off being able to save them.

Points:
James Bates 5,1
Brian Gillis 5,0
Ollie White 4,0
Oli Loveland 3,6
Andrew Brickell 2,3
Mike Armstrong 2,1
Cam Lesley 0,4
Freddie Atkins 0,1

1st Team v Sheffield Steelers (H) D 11-11
With the madness of the marathon on Sunday, getting a team out and there on time was the first hurdle.

We got off to a good start taking an early lead before Steelers at full strength put 4 in on the bounce. Trailing 4-1 was enough to fire us into action and we chipped away at their lead in the 2nd quarter to be ahead ourselves by 1 at HT.

This was a tight game throughout, with Elliott Hurry making saves and attacking chances being created but not capitalised upon.

Eventually we eek'ed out a 2 goal margin only for Steelers to level with a minute or so to play. We gained possession and even hit the post with 30 seconds to play on a well executed man-up.

Exciting to watch, nervy to play in, but it kept Steelers safe and all things considered a point that should secure us 4th.

Points:
James Bates 2,1
Oli Loveland 2,0
Lee Warburton 2,0
Mike Armstrong 1,2
Ollie White 1,0
Ben Fox 1,0
Louis Humblet 1,0
Andrew Brickell 1,0

A team v Leeds (L) 8-10
This was another story of a second half turnaround dashing the hopes of the Timperley A team. Timperley fielded an incredibly young team, with an average age of just 20 and half the team under the age of 18. The exuberance of youth was on show to start with as Timperley rushed out to a four goal lead, down to the strong face off play of Chris Jurkowski and the sharp shooting of TJ Burgess. Timperley were up 7-3 when Leeds began a prolonged fight back. Timperley were taught a lesson in keeping the ball and inexperience showed when they did gain possession. Leeds were able to score six unanswered goals and a late rally from Timperley was not meant to be as Leeds maintained their lead for the last ten minutes.
This was an excellent game played with great spirit but unfortunately another demoralising defeat. The game typified the A team season with the team being very competitive but unable to convert close games into wins.
The A team goes into the final weekend of the season looking to pick up two wins to try and end on a high.
Scorers; TJ Burgess (5.0) Tom Slater (1.0) Jamie Southworth (1.0) Matt Eyres (1.0)

NEWS AND VIEWS
Flags Weekend
A reminder that the Flags Final Weekend will take place at Rochdale Lacrosse Club on 23rd and 24th April.
Timperley have 3 of its junior teams in finals so it would good to have as many supporters there as possible. We are the only club to have 3 teams in finals so a great achievement for the club.
The U12 and the U14 are playing on Saturday 23rd April, whilst the U16 are playing on Sunday 24th April.
The U12 are taking on Cheadle in the first game of the weekend at 10am, to be closely followed by the U14 against Mellor at 1pm.
The U16 play Stockport, with an 11am face off.

British National Championships
The BNC has grown into a major event in recent years. It will be held at Wilmslow LC on the May Bank Holiday Weekend 30th April, 1st and 2nd May.
The Championships will see representative teams from Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, South, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Universities. Some great players and great lacrosse.

Manchester Challenge
The Manchester Challenge was set up in partnership with Manchester City Council as part of the build up to the 2018 World Championships.
This year’s event will be held on 14th& 15th May at Hough End Playing Fields. All the Timperley Junior teams will be taking part. The U12 and U16 are playing on Saturday, whilst the U14 are competing on Sunday.

End of season review
We will be meeting to look back on the season on Wednesday 4th May in the Clubhouse (7.30 pm). It has been a curate’s egg of a season with the weather have a huge influence on games.
For Timperley there have been disappointment but also a lot to give us hope for the future.
We do need a greater commitment from all our players to making Timperley the best club in England, UK and Europe. That means everyone supporting whatever team they are selected to play on. It is fine to have strong 1st teams but history shows that the clubs which win the games top prizes have very strong A teams and B teams. The future is ours to exploit