Cheam Ladies 3rd XI

Report: A crisp midday greeted the team on pitch (why are they always built in the most exposed conditions?)The threatening threes got off to a cracking start with a plethora of attacks. The game moved up and down the pitch at pace and the team deserved a second bag of jelly babies come half time just to replenish the energy expired by everyone. On a high we went out to do battle again.

The second half was very much like the first with short corners awarded to both teams but the defence at each end preventing any goals. We had a number of attacks on their goal but their goalie was damned good you know old bean. Have to say that the younger members of our team honed and showed their skills, Natalie doing her impersonation of a terrier and running circles (I felt quite giddy), Ellie 'cool as a cucumber' Lewis making some spectacular clearances/interceptions and Katie marking their CF out of much of the game. I think a few new nicknames for these girls is on the cards...

The game would not have run so smoothly without the umpires, fiona as sound as ever and Jenny making her debut who did a sterling job - thanks ladies. Even the oppo expressed praise for the umpiring so it must have been good.

Report: And there was a roaring crowd at the fortress for the final match of the afternoon. From first push back there was much movement up and down the pitch.

As the first half progressed without score, it slowly dawned on the threatening threes that the opposition only had 9 players on pitch including their goalie who was all of 4ft high. Another number of runs and good balls still reaped no reward for the TTs. From the sideline after one 'damned' good cross - "That was a good cross but no-one was there..". Onward Biggles...
Then excitement as Fiona got her cards out, dealt herself a mean hand for bridge and then settled for a green card to one of the opposition for continuous stick hacking (not surprising as the girl was an apprentice arborist).

Not sure what Alice was on today but she did make an impressive run through the centre only to be thwarted at the last minute - darn it Robin! Katie (now to be known as Klearance Katie) cleared yet another of her famous ones off the line. Whistle then blew for half time - serious talking from the coach...and jelly babies/wine gums.

Second half started and the supporters thought that Cheam were setting up camp in the oppos half (I'm sure someone tried to light a camp fire - perhaps not). Then, to our horror, a short corner was awarded to the oppo and KK cleared it away again. Amy as tenacious as ever in her shielding / snatching of the ball. Much madness across their D but still no goals with Alex having a number of close connections along with a plethora of close calls from other players.

The team worked the ball up the pitch, a great pass from Lucy, much shouting from the coach but still no goal! At 5.10pm Alice obliged the crowd with her first lie down of the game - alledgedly caused on both occasions by sticks between the legs....she did make a good pass - quote from the coach, " Alice, that was a very sexy ball", having popped it over the oppos player's stick.

The great work continued but still no goal was forthcoming - much frustration and blood pressure rising on the sideline. Amy valiantly took a blow from a lifted ball - such a toughy as she didn't even wince. Katie H giving it her all, Charlotte driving down the sideline on numerous occasions. What does a team have to do to score?

Finally, from a free hit just outside the D Alex was able to finish off a great pass to score the only goal of the match. This was followed shortly after by a fab pass from Rachel which narrowly missed contact with Alex's stick to make it 2-0. Not to be outdone, Ellie went round 4 players with ease to show us all how it's done - a forward apprentice methinks and not a full back Obe Won Kenobe....

The game continued with some great runs from Becky, Ellie and Alice, superb balls crossed from Rachel, a tenacious effort from Nat P and Quayley, who made some great switches across the back and, encouraging her team throughout - "make it"/"come on girls" - I'm amazed the team could hear her above the bellowing on the side line. PS - can you still speak Stacey?

All said and done - the TTs won this game - three points in the box - hurrah!

Report: We got a win!!!

In one game we managed to increase our points tally for the season by 150%, from 2 points, up to 5, and move out of the relegation zone (for 3 hours, but at least we got out for a while..)

Due to a bout of appendicitis on the Friday night, we lost Alice to nursing duties and Shelley, our GK to the 1's. Emily Cohen stepped up to GK for us and with a quick reshuffle of the defence, we were up for the fight. Leatherhead started fast and were awarded a penalty flick five minutes into the match. Emily held her nerve with a great save and Cheam responded by executing a perfect set piece short corner, with Alex scoring the first of her two goals of the match. Quayley also managed a goal from a crafty reverse stick sweep from another short corner, but Leatherhead managed a goal in the dying minutes of the first half, leaving it 2-1 at half time.

Some great play down the middle from Rach, Becky C and Katie led to another goal shortly into the second half, followed by another, with Cheam going three goals clear. We then suffered the familiar 'Cheam crumble', conceding two goals as Leatherhead went for an all out offensive approach. Some great defending from Katie and Ellie Lewis (both left the pitch with various war wounds) with Quayley holding the back line together, coupled with some excellent distribution up the wings from Natalie P, Katie S, chased up by Amy L and Alex mean that we held off any more goals from Leatherhead to finally get the win the 3s had been looking for. Emily Cohen also deserves a big mention for keeping us in the game in the final ten minutes!

Great play by all and here's to the next one!

Report: Spirits high in the changing rooms, alice screaming like a girl when she accidentally set the hand dryer off, and a determined team stepped on to the pitch. Within the first 10 minutes we were awarded a short corner. Becky passed the ball to Michelle who had a shot at goal, finished off by Alice near the line (some people will do anything to get their name on the score sheet). For the next 15 minutes the game was very much Cheam's but we let one in for the equaliser. Still celebrating our own goal we continued to attack ferociously but to no avail. They scored another 2 before the half time whistle despite us clearing a number of balls out of our D from short corners.

We started the second half with enthusiasm but simply ran out of steam half way through - hardly surprising given their average age was only half that of our squad (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). Another 3 goals ensued leaving us well and truly in 'second place' as the skipper put it. A spectacular dive from Amy near the end of the game in an attempt to head butt the goal post and a kneel down today from Alice (knew she couldn't maintain the upright position for every match)

Quote from one of our esteemed members - "if you walk around with a pair of puppies like that, you've got to expect people to play with them" - some people have warped minds!

Report: We got off to a sound start but an unfortunate clip of the ball by a foot on the goal line resulted in a P flick so we went 1-0 down. Spirits were up and there was a plethora of attacks on both ends. We were assured by LG at half time that we had most of the play in the oppos end.

Refuelled with Haribo and jelly babies today we went back out full of fight. A good run down the pitch, nicely placed ball from Rachel which Amy finished in good style. Much elation/excitement ensued. They were then awarded a short corner (one of many) and slammed in another goal from the slip leaving our defence mispositioned in the D - unlucky to say the least but a good goal from them. So 2-1 it was at this stage. Katie S cleared spectacularly off the line saving my bacon in one assault.

We were awarded a number of shorts but didn't quite finish them off. Then a break at last with Rachel stopping and striking a classic which slammed into the backboard. 2-2! Another few minutes of play and we would most probably have got this one in the bag.

Amazingly, Alice did not fall over at all today - she's getting quite good at the staying upright m'larky.

Firm umpiring on the part of both umpires kept the game flowing. Onward and upward girls.......

Report: We got off to a flying start scoring the first goal early in the first half. Katie H putting in a shot near the post to raise the spirits amongst the team. The oppo goal in the first half came shortly after and we finished the first half 1-1.

Fully loaded with jelly babies, which took a while to kick in during the second half we let in another 3 following some 'oops' moments. The sugar kicked in and we picked up the game with a nicely finished goal from Hank. Although we had the majority of possession and attacks during the game, the finish after the attacks and short corners just didn't flow. We was robbed guv, honest....

Alice attempted to give herself altitude sickness by going into their D and getting taken out by the goalie (the only time she laid down all match). All said and done, the team worked their socks off throughout the match and it is impossible to nominate a gotg this week.

Report: Saturday saw the second Cheam Ladies 3s and 4s mixed XI friendly head off to an away game. Discussions en route lead to Emma asking the first finable statement as we approached the astro; "They play in the exact same kit as us!" before I pointed out to her that she was actually looking at two of our colts!

The start to the day continued in a similar fashion; as we went through our warm up we noticed that the opposition had headed over to the other astro, so duly followed them and continued our warm up on the right pitch.
The game started with the opposition looking a little stronger than our side who had never played together before, but Cheam were not going to let it get us down, and with a bit of talking, managed to appear like a team who have been playing together all year.

Guildford managed to slot in a cheeky early goal, fuelling Cheam’s aggression and causing us to go on the attack like never before. The majority of the possession for the rest of the game was Cheam’s, however we just weren’t able to finish and the game ended 1-0.

Special mentions go to all the players who played out of position for the first time; Katie, Shelley and Alice all played brilliantly in unfamiliar positions, so well done!

Report: The threatening threes were indeed so today. The score line remained at 0-0 on the half time whistle with much of the play in the oppos half.

We were a little late off the starting blocks at the start of the second half (the jelly babies hadn't kicked in) and let them score a couple of very quick goals. Have to say, we think their first one was struck from outside the D but...moving swiftly on. Charlie got a rebound from the goalie which she jabbed in as the ball settled some 3 ins from the line. This was soon followed up with another scramble in front of the goal which Clare popped across the line. We could have won this with some ease but for the oppos goalie who was quite good. Much of the play was in their half with the occasional break through to ours.

Awesome effort all round marred by Candy's accident (some folks will go to such lengths to get a couple of days off work). So a pretty good performance without a substitute for much of the game.
Alice stayed upright this week and Rachel left the pitch injury free.

Report: The threatening threes got off to a flying start to create a quick goal which Candy ensured hit the back board. Unfortunately, the oppo got one back within a couple of minutes and scored again just before half time having caught a lucky glance off a defenders stick. Spirits were up and the team not downhearted, reloaded with sugar via the half time feast of jelly babies we went back out fighting. However, their turbo charged centre forward was able to outrun and side step tackles with good skill and the score line was brought to 4 -1. Alice laid down this week (not a good idea on a water based pitch) and this was followed by an unfortunate tackle - a p flick was awarded and aforementioned forward slipped a crafty one into the goal to bring the final score to 5-1. Goalie was a bit miffed about that one.

The team played their hearts out but were simply up against a couple of players who made a big difference to the oppo. Girls, you ran miles in that game! Rachel managed to injure her groin - injury is becoming to Rach as laying down on pitch is to Alice nowadays. An extra sub would have helped tired legs but couldn't quite persuade our sub manager and spectator to kit up...maybe next time.

Report: This is the Cheam version of distance learning - distance reporting as I wasn't there at the time.....

I am told by a reliable source that Ramblers scored two in the first half which left the team a bit miffed. At the start of the second half they got off the starting blocks faster than the 'bolt' to make it 3-0. At this point Cheam were a tad cross and started to get even with a build up down the right wing with Katie putting in a great cross for Amy to sweep into the back of the net. This was shortly followed by Natalie making a great run and passing to Q who deflected the ball under the goalie for Alex to tidy up. Then to make the team decidedly annoyed, the oppo scored again. 4-2 at the final whistle.

I have been informed that charlotte spent so much time storming up and down the pitch that she gave herself blisters so she gets the 'feet of fire' award this week.

Allegedly, Alice hit the deck this week but we need video/witness confirmation of this.

Interesting comment from their umpire "that was a flattering final score". Clearly the result didn't reflect the run of play - but I wasn't there so I don't know....

Special thanks to Shelley for playing in goal this week and to Sage (her transport manager) for getting to and from the pitch.

Report: The threatening threes were up for giving the oppo a good thrashing but alas it was not to be.

Despite a plethora of attacks the oppo broke through the tenacious defensive wall on three occasions leaving yours truly stranded and good goals were scored. Their pre half time goal was of dubious credibility but allowed following a short corner struck outside the D... We kept out more than they scored though and should have put more away ourselves judging by the amount of action in their D. Ginge J attempted to kill their goalie but managed to snatch a return ball to score our only goal of the match.
Not to be downhearted or defeated in spirit the team put up a valiant fight to the very end with everyone giving 110%. Candy wanted a mention so here it is.

Hank must have turbo chargers in her trainers, (I felt tired just watching from the goal), and tore around the pitch at a rate of knots - can't have much left of the soles of her shoes. And just for once, Aice didn't lie down on the pitch!