Match reports January 29 2011

The Ladies remained second in Surrey Division Two with a convincing 5-0 win at Purley Walcountians, and the 3rd XI earned a battling 3-3 draw with high-flying Oxted. But the 1st XI slid to their third defeat in eight days to finally end any hopes of promotion, and the 4th XI were hammered 10-0 at Surbiton. The Vets, with 18 players unavailable, went down 0-3 at Cheam



1st XI 2-4 London Academicals
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Purley Walcountians 0-5 Ladies XI
This week we played Purley and for all those that know this wind-swept pitch, I can confirm it felt like minus five most of the game! Having frustratingly drawn our last two games we needed to get three points on the board this weekend, so that's what we did!

Having warmed up to minus 1 we started the first half strongly but our determination to push up also allowed the oppo to break through on several occassions but with Rosie back and Jules on fine form they managed to take care of their forward line. Eventually we managed to connected in front of goal after a few false starts and by half time we were 2-0 up.

With Goalie's motivational chat we set about the second half knowing that Purley were not out of this and we needed to put the game to bed. However the second half was marred but a tangle of sticks between Tux and her opposite number which somehow resulted in Tux having a split lip, blood pouring everywhere and half a touth missing. Now I know accidents happen and yes Tux did have a little outburst post the incident (but we love her for her random moments!) but a simple sorry from the other player would have gone some way to calming the situation down. With the flow of blood stemed and a quick shuffle of positions we re-started with renewed gusto and determination to get the 3 points for Tux. And that's what we did ... the final 15 minutes of play saw us score 3 goals and the finish 0-5 ahead. I'm also told Tux is on the mend and refussed to let her team mates down by competing in a Triathlon on Sunday! Helen Hawes


3rd XI 3-3 Oxted
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Wanderers III 2-1 2nd XI


Surbiton 10-0 4th XI
The memory of the opening game 11-3 thrashing courtesy of top of the table terminators, aka the Saffas of Surbiton still fresh in our minds (Fact: Surbiton has more South Africans per head than Cape Town), the gallant 4th XI arrived early, at the crack of a bitter dawn ready for battle, hungry for vengeance, keen to salvage some pride.

Let’s just say that our efforts didn’t start well. Any hopes of a lengthy warm up thwarted by the unwelcoming sight of a padlocked gate and seven-foot high barbed wire topped fence. Come push back time, we were still camped out in the car park. But any hopes of a forfeit were crushed by the arrival of a tall unapologetic ginger man who looked like he’d just woken up and checked his messages to discover he had the only set of keys.

The game started poorly and quickly got worse. We were 1-0 down from their first attack, 2-0 from their second, 3-0 from their third, in fact, whenever they got the ball they had this annoying habit of scoring. By half time, we were an eye-watering 9-0 down and staring down the barrel of our heaviest ever defeat.

In the absence of Harmer and Dom, Captain Archer dug deep and summoned a rallying call that stiffened the sinews and summoned the blood. Nostrils wide, the 4th XI faced down successive waves of second half Saffa attacks, each crashed against the rock of stubborn resilience and with five minutes left to go we had avoided conceding and even come close to scoring a couple.

The game finished 10-0 which sounds a lot like a thrashing, but the second half we played like lions, so plenty to feel warm and fuzzy about. Robin Crumby

Cheam Clarets 3-0 Veterans
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