WEEKLY ROUNDUP FEBRUARY 7TH

INTRODUCTION
For yet another weekend the weather was a major factor. For the first time this season the Timperley pitches, which were in great condition on Friday evening, succumbed to heavy rain overnight and on Saturday morning causing the cancellation of the Women’s game against Stockport and the Men’s A team game against Cheadle A.

The Men’s 1st team travelled across the snowy Pennines to take on Sheffield following their victory over the same opposition last Sunday at Stockport Road.

Playing on Sheffield’s superb 3G pitch – a facility to die for. Timperley maintained their good recent form to take an 18-7 win and consolidate their position at the top of the Premiership.

The men’s B team travelled to Heaton Mersey slightly under strength and their recent run of good form came to a juddering halt with a 4-18 defeat.

There was better news from the U16 Team who entertained Sheffield on the TSC ATP in the quarter final of the Junior and Schools Cup. Earlier in the season Timperley edged a one goal victory, 8-7, over Sheffield so a 14-2 win was an easier game than was anticipated. It was a top class display from Timperley.

The U14 were short handed and came up against a strong Heaton Mersey side so a 1-17 defeat was perhaps not a surprise.

The U12A had their Onondaga match with Norbury postponed for the 3rd time because of the state of the Norbury pitches. It was decided on Friday that the pitches were not fit for a Girl’s U13 Cup game on the Sunday. However, despite being offered the use of an ATP at Timperley earlier in the week Norbury decided that they would not inform Timperley of the position until they arrived on Saturday morning. The pitch was in very poor condition – clearly unfit. However, then Norbury claimed that it was too late to get their team to Timperley despite a pitch being available. We are now running into half term holidays with all the problems with player availability that that will bring.

On Sunday the Girl’s U18 White team welcomed a strong Brooklands side to TSC but despite a good performance they went down to an 8-13 defeat.

The Girl’s U11 team had a good 7-3 win over Norbury at Stockport Rd which guarantees them a top 3 finish so we await the playoffs with more than a little interest.

Next Saturday sees all our Men’s teams involved in Cup action with the men’s 1st team entertaining a very strong Poynton team at Stockport Rd. The A team face an equally tough assignment when they travel to Kingsway to take on Cheadle A. Timperley B face Stockport B at Stockport Road.

MATCH REPORTS
Saturday 3rd Feb
Women v Stockport (H) Postponed

Men’s 1st v Sheffield (A) Won 18-7
Having played Sheffield the previous week and comprehensively beaten them then, this was a game which we were wary of ensuring standards didn’t drop.

Playing on probably the longest and widest pitch in the league we saw how beneficial the transition game could be against a team who prefer settled play. Through doing this we opened up a 1st quarter lead of 4-1.

The second quarter followed a similar pattern with Sheffield slowing the game down and Timperley scoring goals at will. With yet another dominating performance from the face off through Tom Bracegirdle, Sheffield struggled to get into the game. Their only real chances came from lapses in concentration from the Timperley defence who were having one of those games. The only exception to that was Mike Smith who stepped in and put in a man of the match performance running between the lines. At half time the score was 12-4

The third quarter struggled to get any momentum with both teams causing unnecessary turn overs and not being able to create any clear opportunities. Timperley continued to put chances away and extended our lead to 15-5.

In the final quarter Timperley worked to carry on creating opportunities and converting them to increase our goal difference. Sheffield to all credit fought until the very end and still carried on playing lacrosse to their game plan up until the final whistle. Full time Sheffield 7-18 Timperley.

Next week is a break from the League and the Cup starts (restarts). Timperley have a very tough fixture against Poynton.

Quarter scores:
1st- 4-1
2nd- 12-4
3rd- 15-5
4th- 18-7

Scorers:
Ollie White 6
Jack Brook 3
James Bates 2
Tom Bracegirdle 2
Brendan Farrell 2
Mikey Armstrong 2
Pat McGowan 1

Men’s A v Cheadle A (H) Postponed

Men’s B v Heaton Mersey B (A) Lost 4-18
The B team have been enjoying a good run of form recently but they came up against an unexpectedly strong Heaton Mersey side. Timperley were not at their strongest with some key players missing.

Next week the team face another challenge when they face Stockport B in the David Beesley Cup.

Boy’s U16 v Sheffield (H) Won 14-2 J & S Cup
Sheffield were the visitors to a wet Timperley for the quarter final of the U16 Junior and Schools Cup. With Timperley winners by 1 goal in the previous game between these teams the boys had to make sure they played well to get the result we wanted. The key messages from Sam before the game was tight defence, tempo in attack and minimize penalties. The boys got off to a great start, with Seb winning the face offs giving us great possession which we used effectively in attack with quick goals from Dan, Jack O and then two from Harry. When Sheffield did get possession our defence was tight and controlled forcing Sheffield to either shoot from distance which Gregor easily saved or their passes went astray. With Timperley comfortably in control and playing well the message from Sam was more of the same, stay focussed and remain controlled. The second quarter the boys kept control limiting Sheffield to just 1 goal while the attack was met with a more resilient defence from Sheffield could only manage 2 goals. With a good lead of 6-1 at half time it was all about making sure Sheffield didn’t get back into the game and the boys came out and played some great lacrosse which killed the game off. With 6 goals scored and none conceded the boys made sure the game was won.

This group of boys are really growing as a team and are now starting to play great lacrosse. The defence of Alex, Luke, Jake and Ollie have made the most progress this year and are making it very hard for teams to break down. The key is they are being physical but are not giving away penalties; we only had two in this game. The midfield is as good going forward as they are defending. Seb was back and winning +90% of the face offs. Will, Dan and Ewan have started to score more goals which is making a big difference in games. The attack is split into two groups with Jack L, Jack O and Tom working hard and like the defence improving week on week. Then there is twinkle toes Harry who got back to scoring ways with 6 goals today.

So with a great 14-2 win we go through to the semi-finals with Brooklands, Cheadle Hulme/Norbury and Cheadle/Stockport. Any one of these teams could win the Cup so the boys are in a great position if they continue to play like they have been to get through to Flags weekend in April.

Harry 6 Goals and 2 assists
Ewan 3 goals
Dan 2 goals 1 assist
Ollie Lee 1 goal
Jack O 1 goal
Seb 1 goal
Will 1 assist

Boy’s U14 v Heaton Mersey
The game was switched to a 9 am face off and switched to Timperley as Mersey pitches were not playable.

Unfortunately, we had 2 players drop out so we played 9 aside against another very well drilled team who were a lot bigger in physicality.

We started brightly enough with good defence which was great to see. We have improved so much in our understanding of the game but we still fail to look after the ball when we have it. Too many missed passes or dropped catches, and our ground balls also need improvement still. When we get that right & we will, with the solid defence we have we will be a match.

But against Mersey we just never had the ball enough to cause them problems and from a defensive perspective we over run.

We lost the game 17-1 with our sole goal coming from Laurie Bailey.

Solid performances from George Jenkins again, Alfie Jenkins who every week delivers. Angus has been a revelation in defence and Laurie B strong in midfield.

Sheffield away next week.

Scorer
Laurie Bailey 1

Boy’s U12A v Norbury (A) Postponed Onondaga

Boy’s U12B v Rochdale (A) Cancelled

Sunday 4th Feb
Girl’s U18 White v Brooklands (H) Lost 8-13
On a freezing but bright morning U18 white took on Brooklands and after a fantastic result against Mellor were up for the challenge.

We played good Lacrosse and defensively kept it tight for the first 10 minutes then they broke through against the play. TLC were a match in all areas but their fast breaks kept making the difference, Brooklands 8-4 at half time.

We talked through what we needed to do second half and were not out of the game.

The second half we played better to the plan stifle the breaks and transition in attack, this made the game closer second half but Brooklands took the win 13-8.

Well done again to White who have made great progress this year, we have things to work on, transition through mid, support each other, clean passing.

Nina Ilhan
A Ashcroft
J Spinks
C .Christian 1/0
E. Racle. 0/1
M. King. 1/0
K. Cheng
E. Rink
J.Pollard. 1/0
S.Hurlstone 2/0
A.Green. 1/0
E.Meppem 1/0
E.Humblet 1/2

Girl’s U11 v Norbury (H)Won 7-3.
The Girl’s U11 team faced Norbury at Stockport Rd.

This game was JNGL 1st Round and sees Timperley progressing through to the final 3 Round which will determine 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place.

Sunday’s game was a great result for our youngest girls with the scorers;
Esme 3
Franzi 3
Emma 1

Updated 17:15 - 31 Aug 2019 by Tom Slater