CFY 2-7 East Lodge B

Chandlers Ford 2-7 East Lodge B

Mid Solent Under 14 B League – 20th October 2007

Chandlers Ford dropped down to sixth position following today’s disappointing result.

Before East Lodge took the lead, Ford had several chances with Alex Evens and Michael Sawbridge coming close.

Midway through the half, the visitors took the lead through a free kick that saw the Lodge centre forward loft the ball over the head of goalkeeper Michael Wall before finishing off.

From here there was still little between the teams. It seemed every time Ford came forward, they either missed a good chance or got caught offside whereas the pace from their opponents troubled the Blues on several occasions.

Two more goals were conceded before the break leaving CFY paying the cost for not making the most of their own chances.

Jozef made a return to action having missed five weeks due to a broken arm. He was used sparingly however as a precaution.

HALF TIME: CFY 0-3 East Lodge B

Things looked a lot better for Richard’s side at the beginning of the second half and sure enough they managed to claw a goal back through Alex Evens who chased down well to make the most of a goalkeeping error.

Miles Hodge then won a penalty as he blasted the ball into a crowded penalty area. The East Lodge defender made a clear movement towards the ball with his arms and the referee had no option but to award a spot kick.

Scoring his first goal of the campaign, Ryan Chinn stepped up confidently from 12 yards to tuck away the kick and give his side a real chance of getting back into the game. 3-2.

Hodge, nearly equalised with a looping volley that the keeper had to claw away for a corner.

It was at this point that two injuries, that of Michael Sawbridge and Jake Beattie – both key players, forced changes to be made and perhaps unsettled Ford.

In an amazing turn of events, seeing as Chandlers Ford had done so well to give themselves a real chance with a determined opening to the second half; East Lodge took the upper hand once more and caused continuous problems for the defence.

The pace from East Lodge in attack was electric and there was no stopping them once they had made it 4-2.

Heads dropped from the home side and East Lodge didn’t need a second invitiation to go and kill the game off, which is exactly what they did.

All in all, very disappoiting to see such hard work go to waste with a bad ending to the game against a side on our day, we are more than capable of giving a game.

Dan Whitlocke, was deservedly the man of the match winner. Coming on at half time, Dan was asked to do a job at left back and failed to disappoint with an excellent display and some crunching tackles.

FULL TIME: CFY 2-7 East Lodge B

Portchester Run Riot - Beattie Stands Out in Hants Cup Disaster

Chandlers Ford 1-14 Portchester Under 15’s

Hants Cup – 13th October 2007

It was always going to be a tough game. Playing in the Under 15’s competition drew Chandlers Ford a home tie with Portchester – a strong side full of boys a year older.

I think you’ll all agree the less said the better on this game!

The first half wasn’t too bad, as Ford managed to contain a side who had scored 18 goals just last week in their own age group.

Jake Beattie was the star of the show for the home side giving 110% effort with some superb tackles and sweeping up at the back.

Not only was Jake strong in the challenge but also commanding and showed just what he is capable of. One tackle in particular saw our very own Rio Ferdinand give chase down the left wing and instead of giving up and allowing the Portchester attacker a shot at goal, which would have been quite easy to do, Beattie did really well to keep up with the pace of his opponent and then slide in with a perfectly timed block to cut out the danger.

HALF TIME: CFY 0-4 Portchester Under 15’s

There were very few positives to come out of the second half, if any.

Portchester strolled comfortably helping themselves to goal after goal and there was nothing the heroics of Beattie or James Parsonage could do about it.

Having been so far behind their opponents in many ways, Chandlers Ford finally had something to celebrate as they had the last say with the very last kick of the game.

Liam Godfrey was shoved to the ground in the area right in front of the referee and Michael Sawbridge stepped up, making no mistake from 12 yards with a powerful left foot strike.

FULL TIME: CFY 1-14 Portchester Under 15’s

Missed Opportunity - Ford Take Lead 4 Times, Ensinger Fight Back to Win

Ensinger 6-5 Chandlers Ford

Mid Solent U14 B League – 6th October 2007

On the back of two straight wins, Ford let slip their good run against a side who had yet to win a game in the league.

Without the commanding figure of Josh Harrigan, CFY looked weak defensively with the home side making a good start to the game.

A piece of individual brilliance from Michael Sawbridge saw the Blues take a 1-0 lead. Liam Godfrey’s free kick down the left saw Mike bring the ball forward and finish with a powerful, unstoppable strike past the goalkeeper.

The weakness at the back was exposed however, as Ensinger were gifted an immediate equaliser.

In an end to end game, Alex Evens restored the lead for Ford with a wonderful strike that found the net from the edge of the area.

Following the same pattern as before, Chandlers Ford threw away their lead letting Ensinger equalise shortly after Evens’ goal.

It was a matter of minutes before the in-form Evens grabbed his second of the game to continue his goalscoring record following an excellent four goal, man of the match winning performance last weekend in the 7-1 win over Lee Rangers. It was another wonderful strike, one which beat the outstretched arm of the keeper to make the most of the poor goal kick’s from the home goalkeeper.

Michael Sawbridge did well for the assist in this goal.

The score remained 3-2 for a brief period with Chandlers Ford creating a couple of chances. Sawbridge had an excellent opportunity to extend the lead when clean through but fired high over the cross bar. Later Tom Pope intercepted well to feed through for Michael once more who this time forced a good save out of the Ensinger stopper from a tight angle.

Just when it seemed Ford had done enough to stay in front going into half time, for the third time in the game Ensinger forced yet another equaliser from a quickly taken throw in down the right. The defence were caught out of position leaving Lee facing the impossible in an easy one on one for the Ensinger forward who was not marked closely enough and punished Ford to level the scores.

HALF TIME: Ensinger 3-3 CFY

At half time Richard changed things around slightly with Michael Wall replacing Lee Robertson in goal and James Parsonage coming across to left back to try and handle the tricky right winger. Liam moved further forward to left midfield and Jacob Ellery came on to play at right back.

Leading the way from the front, Sawbridge wearing the captain’s armband fired Ford into the lead for his second of the game. Winning the free kick in the first place with an excellent run down the middle before being brought down, Michael stepped up to power his shot past a crowd of players and into the net from the edge of the area.

Ensinger, at the opposite end missed an golden opportunity with Wall beaten an open goal to shoot at from five yards, somehow the ball flew over the cross bar when it was easier to score.

This was the start of a whole number of attacks and pressure on Wall’s goal with the midfield losing their grip and the defence struggling with the pace and strength up front from their opponents.

The home side pulled level and then for the first time in the game took the lead to make it 5-4.

Ford did not give in, and substitute Dan Whitlocke scored a lovely goal with near enough his first touches of the ball as he weaved his way through the penalty area before smashing into the bottom left hand corner to keep his side in the game.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be for Chandlers Ford. Despite forcing their way back in with a fighting chance of getting something from the game (a point was the very least they deserved), a long ball forward saw Wall come to the edge of his area and tumble allowing the Ensinger centre forward to tap into an empty net.

There was no way back from 6-5 down as Ensinger sealed their first win of the season.

Chandlers Ford will no doubt look back at this game as a missed opportunity to have taken more from the game and will have a lot of questions to answer when the two clubs meet again back at Crestwood later in the season.

FULL TIME: Ensinger 6-5 CFY