LEIGH DELIVERS – AT LAST!
Despite being a defender Leigh Sitch has been promising for ages to score his second goal for the 1sts. Last season came and went without this magic moment and game after game has slipped by this season amidst further disappointment for his host of fans coupled, one has to say, with a sense of being let down! But finally the moment arrived last Saturday while the 1sts were playing Chelmsford. It would have to be away from home!
Leigh got possession of the ball in his own circle and ran with it to the half-way line. He then passed to Simon Hipwell who moved the ball down the line to Martin Fields. While this was going on Leigh, instead of trundling back to where he normally belongs, carried on his run and collected Martin’s pass to the top of the circle. Already a lot could have gone wrong with all those moving parts! Leigh then steadied himself before unleashing (to be generous) a reverse stick shot which the goalkeeper claimed not to have seen as it went passed him into the net. Was the keeper unsighted or was he thinking of where he was going that evening? While I would not wish to take any of the gloss off this long awaited triumph it has to be said it was the fifth goal in a 5-1 win! Well done Leigh – your fans knew you could do it!
This goal overshadowed the others which were scored by Toby Price, Chris Barber, Will Martin and Ben Wright and the win keeps alive the team’s promotion hopes but in all probability they will need to win their remaining seven games and for certain league leaders Wapping, who scraped home 3-2 last Saturday against struggling Blueharts, will need to drop a minimum of another two points before the end of the season. This Saturday Magpies are at home to City of Peterborough (12.00).
After the bad weather and postponements of recent weeks it was good to have all our teams back in action last Saturday with one exception and the fifteen matches produced eight wins, two draws and five defeats for the club.
The Ladies’ 7ths got the programme at Weybread underway beating UEA 4s 4-0 with goals by Emily Woollatt (2), Julie Davy and Georgina Saunders while on the other pitch the Ladies’ 5ths were going down to only their third defeat of the season in losing 2-0 to Norwich Dragons 4ths. Magpies dominated possession but not for the first time this season were up against a team which packed their defence before breaking away to score. The Ladies’ 7ths were followed on the water-based by the Men’s 2nds who soon found themselves two goals down against Cambridge University 2nds before the in-form Andy Hipwell converted a penalty corner with (thinking of his back I have no doubt) a more gentle drag flick than of old and just before half time Duncan Steven was more alert than the students’ defence when he popped up at the far post to tap in the equaliser which turned out to be the last goal of a quality match. With just eleven players and missing Robbie Kinsella (on the touchline showing us pictures of his hand he injured at work) Magpies defended well in the second half with Phil Cobbald (except for a dribble out of defence which went wrong) in top form. The team welcomed back John Livings in goal after four years away including his time at Leeds Metropolitan University and three years playing at Doncaster HC. It is good to see you back at the club John. This Saturday the team are away to Long Sutton (1.00) where they usually do badly for some unknown reason.
Meanwhile the Ladies’ 2nds, who welcomed back Lauren Mickleburgh after injury, were up against Canterbury 2nds and after playing well for the first twenty five minutes were hit by two quick Canterbury goals just before half time; the first one a push in at the right hand post and the second a lucky deflection. Both teams scored a goal apiece in the second half with MOTM Tor Findlay scoring a smart goal for Magpies who in losing 3-1 went down to their first defeat in their last eight matches. This Saturday in a league which involves a considerable amount of travel they are away to fourth-placed Old Loughtonians (2.30) with whom they drew 2-2 in early November. It is to be hoped that skipper Frances Taylor will be fit to play after the nasty neck injury she received last Saturday.
This season Megan Brown (nee Adams) has been kindly helping the Ladies’ 2nds with touchline duties on match days alongside John (her father) but last Saturday Megan left matters to John as she had more important duties to perform with the first appearance at the club of daughter Ruby Eva who arrived on Wednesday 28 January. Congratulations and best wishes to Megan and husband Andrew who very sensibly was absent playing rugby!
Next into action were the Ladies’ 1sts playing Ipswich in their first outdoor league match since Saturday 29 November and this combined with the disrupted preparations due to the recent bad weather showed as both teams struggled to get into top gear. Missing the goal power of Emma Lee-Smith and Lizzie Clymer, and with Bryony Lund injured, Magpies relied on the stick work and power of Susan Wessels for their goal threat. The fact that Magpies forced just one penalty corner in the game and that was one more than the visitors showed that the two defences had the upper hand throughout a game which from the early stages looked likely to end 0-0 and so it transpired. In the circumstances this was a very useful point for Magpies who this coming Saturday host unbeaten league leaders East Grinstead (2.00) who are eight points clear. It was good to see Georgie Minta playing for Magpies after her nine weeks in Australia where I gather she caught up with Thomas Ridley who is working in Sydney.
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MAGPIES YOUTH COIN CHALLENGE – GIRLS v BOYS(Organised by the Youth Committee)
Our Boys and Girls are asked to kindly bring a bag full of change (of at least £5 if possible please) to their training session in the week Monday 23 to Saturday 28 February to try to cover the Magpie images.
All good fun to boost the committee’s funds!
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In other home games there were wins for the Men’s 5ths and 4ths. The 5ths had just nine opponents to overcome in beating Bury St Edmunds 3rds 1-0 (Matt Bensly) while the 4ths pulled off one of the wins of the season beating third-placed Newmarket 1-0. This column has recognised all season the young talent that is in the 4ths and on Saturday with the aid of the older players the team played splendidly to win their second game of the season. The goal came towards half time when Richard Gill found Greg Jagger on the edge of the circle and Greg fired the ball into the bottom left. Unfortunately the win came at considerable cost with Bob Skinner pulling a hamstring (a different one to last season) which is likely to keep him out of action for the rest of the season. One of the Newmarket players said to Bob after the game ‘You’ve played at a higher level than this haven’t you?’!
Away from home there were good wins for the Ladies’ 3rds and 4ths, the Girls’ Development and the Men’s 3rds. The Ladies’ 3rds beat Norwich Dragons 3rds 5-2 (MOTM Alice Hopgood (2), Izzy Knowles, Caz Aldous-Goodge, Catherine Kilbourn) with a strong team performance to continue their good run while the Ladies’ 4ths, with only four ‘oldies’ in the team as reported to me, enjoyed the more amenable conditions in contrast to the previous week and beat Thetford 5-1 with goals by Rachel Goodson (2), Sophie Long, Matilda Warde-Aldam and Kathryn Bullen. Meanwhile the Girls’ Development were completing the double over Pelicans beating them 3-0 with Alice Woollatt, Georgie Cantrell and Phoebe Eglington on target and the Men’s 3rds were achieving their best win of the season beating Norwich City 3rds 4-2 (Deben Nelson, Gavin Cole (2) and Andy Johnson.) This was the third consecutive win for the team as they battle the threat of relegation and they would go a long way to avoiding this fate should they beat visitors Ipswich Cranes on Saturday (3.30).
All good sporting runs have to come to end at some time and so it was that the Boys’ Development lost for the first time this highly successful season going down 4-1 (Jack Robertson) to Norwich City but they have a quick chance to respond when in a re-arranged match they host City this Saturday (12.15).
Last Sunday there were some encouraging performances by our teams in the Pelicans Minis including the U12 Girls ‘A’ (1st), U12 Boys ‘A’ (2nd just one goal behind the winners), U10 Girls ‘A’ (2nd) and U10 Boys (4th).
Good luck as always to all our teams this weekend.
With kind regards
Mike Denham
10/2/15
PS. BINGO EVENING – Saturday 28 February, Clubhouse, 7.30 for 8.00pm
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