CFY roar on - Montigue double tames Lions

Chandlers Ford Youth 2-1 Locks Heath Lions

Mid Solent Under 15 B – 22^nd November 2008

Line up: Kelvin Bagot, Josh Harrigan ©, Jake Beattie, Michael Sawbridge, David Kilcoyne, David Smith, Tom Ashton, Daryl Winter, Zak Pickett, Michael Wall, Jozef Montigue.

Subs: David Bromhead, Ahmed Sfagsi, Liam Godfrey, Ryan Chinn, Miles Hodge.

Continuing their fine start to the league season, Chandlers Ford beat a previously unbeaten Locks Heath Lions who were top of the table going into this match.

Chandlers Ford played with no fear and quickly found that they could be more than just a match for the visitors.

Daryl Winter and David Smith returned to the starting line up despite missing the previous two matches, whilst Kelvin replaced the injured Kane Kellaway in goal.

Winter had the ball in the back of the net early on but the attempt was ruled out for offside. Similarly at the opposite end Locks Heath were caught out by CFY's offside trap as a close range effort was correctly ruled out.

The opening stages saw Ford play the better football and peg their opponents back in their own half. Tom Ashton came close with a speculative drive from 25 yards that whistled just past the post, meanwhile Michael Sawbridge, who was in commanding form at the back where he won everything in the air, caused many problems with sublime deliveries from numerous corner kicks.

The Blues kept up the pressure but couldn't quite find the break through they were looking for, and more importantly that their play deserved.

A solid back line was the basis and foundation of such a strong team performance with Jake Beattie, Michael, David Kilcoyne and captain Josh Harrigan providing excellent protection for Kelvin who barely had a save to make as they dealt with everything thrown at them whilst keeping the usually lively, attacking threat of the Lions front line extremely quiet.

The closest the hosts came to a goal was when Montigue struck the post midway through the half with a side foot volley as Winter crossed the ball from the left.

HALF TIME: CFY 0-0 Locks Heath Lions

The second half saw more of the same with CFY again taking charge.

Both Winter and Wall were both denied by the wood work during the second half, just as Joe was earlier in the game.

Ryan Chinn forced a splendid save out of the visiting goalkeeper when played through just minutes into the second half.

Soon after, David Smith had a great opportunity to take the lead as he worked a bit of room in the penalty area before pulling the trigger and firing agonisingly over the cross bar by an inch with a well struck shot.

Locks Heath applied some good pressure for a spell of ten minutes at the beginning of the half where they came close several times for the first time in the game, though Chandlers Ford soaked it up, riding their luck a little but came out unscathed and used this to their advantage.

As the game wore on it could still have gone either way with both sides giving away free kicks just outside the box.

The deadlock was finally broken with ten minutes remaining as Locks Heath finished superbly well from a corner kick with an unstoppable volley that was turned into the top corner.

Immediately, Richard and Neil's side showed great character and determination and drew level within two minutes. Jozef Montigue showed good bravery to get his head to the ball when challenging with the keeper before finding the net, a typical poachers goal. This was exactly what was needed to give the side a lift and the confidence to continue playing their football.

Still the game was level into the last minute when with a mere 30 seconds remaining, Montigue popped up again to steal the points and seal a fantastic victory, taming the Lions and knocking them off the top of the table.

A pin point corner kick from the near side by Tom Ashton picked out Joe to perfection who left his marker and planted a powerful header through a crowd of players and into the net for a dramatic winning goal. This his second of the day, capped yet another wonderful all-round team display.

Thanks to Assistant Manager Neil Sawbridge, who despite having the opportunity to remain in Spain and watch Real Madrid play, showed his true colours and came to see an even better match!

The only negative at this moment is that Richard will be without Michael Sawbridge due to a suspension which will see him miss three games.

Well done all and keep up the good work.

FULL TIME: CFY 2-1 Locks Heath Lions

Man of the match: Jozef Montigue

East Lodge A just too strong in Hampshire Cup tie

Chandlers Ford Youth 0-8 East Lodge A

Hampshire Cup – 15^th November 2008

Line up: Kane Kellaway, Josh Harrigan ©, Jake Beattie, Michael Sawbridge, David Kilcoyne, Zak Pickett, Tom Ashton, Ahmed Sfagsi, David Bromhead, Michael Wall, Jozef Montigue.

Subs: Kelvin Bagot, Ryan Chinn, Miles Hodge.

East Lodge A secured a comfortable win in the Hampshire Cup with their class proving to be just a little too much for Chandlers Ford.

The visitors, who are a division higher than Richard and Neil's CFY, were thoroughly organised and well-drilled and played an exceptional short passing game that became impossible to break down despite the best efforts of Ford.

Kane Kellaway drew the plaudits from the East Lodge management for a fine display between the sticks showing excellent handling and reaction saves throughout the morning. Their was very little he could do about the goals that did go past him as Kane kept the score to a very respectable 0-3 at the break.

A free kick from Tom Ashton was about the closest Chandlers Ford came to troubling the East Lodge keeper but the strike from around 25 yards out was wayward.

David Bromhead also threatened early on with a good, early ball in from the right to find Michael Wall who did well but couldn't quite shrug off the final defender to get a shot away.

HALF TIME: CFY 0-3 East Lodge A

The second half did not get off to the greatest of starts as Josh Harrigan conceded a penalty kick within minutes of the restart with Kane left little chance from the resulting well-taken and powerfully struck spot kick, which made it 0-4.

To Chandlers Ford's credit, they contained a very strong East Lodge side and kept them quiet for a 20-minute period through constant hassling and closing down, making their opponents work extra hard.

David Kilcoyne played particularly well at left back in nullifying the threat of the right winger using his strength to good effect in holding his marker off the ball and seeing it out to safety on numerous occasions.

Meanwhile, Jozef Montigue looked far more involved and at home as he dropped into a defensive midfield role where he broke up the play and in general made things difficult for East Lodge whilst Tom Ashton was given the chance to play in attack.

Kelvin Bagot started the second half as an outfield player but it was his introduction as a goalkeeper replacing the superb Kane, that saw his first touch between the sticks prove to be an excellent reaction save from a free kick.

Finally Chandlers Ford grew tired from non-stop chasing and trying to win back possession and East Lodge made no mistake in using this to their advantage as they pulled away late in the game with a flurry of goals that ultimately made the result look an awful lot worse than the performance.

This was only Ford's third defeat of the season, with just one coming in the league against Warsash on the opening day of the season and the other a pre-season friendly against another strong side, Ranville Rangers.

FULL TIME: CFY 0-8 East Lodge A

Man of the match: Kane Kellaway

Ford get out of jail to keep unbeaten league run in tact

Lee Rangers 4-4 Chandlers Ford Youth

Mid Solent Under 15 B – 1^st November 2008

Line up: Kane Kellaway, Josh Harrigan ©, Jake Beattie, Michael Sawbridge, David Kilcoyne, Zak Pickett, Tom Ashton, Ahmed Sfagsi, David Bromhead, Michael Wall, Jozef Montigue.

Subs: Kelvin Bagot, Ryan Chinn, Miles Hodge, Liam Godfrey

On the back of some terrific wins and performances in the league, Chandlers Ford came to Lee Rangers in the miserable weather conditions upbeat and full of confidence.

This showed in their play as they were knocking the ball around extremely well and playing excellent football at times.

David Bromhead earned himself a starting place after his two goals the previous week, and didn't disappoint as he fired Ford into a 1-0 lead with a lovely finish after a good team move and a splendid pass from Tom Ashton.

Not content with this, David doubled both his and Ford's tally with the second goal soon after with another well taken goal rounding off a fine move.

Chandlers Ford went 3-0 up through leading goalscorer Michael Wall who latched on to a long through ball to lob the ball over the goalkeeper and find the net from the edge of the area.

Kane Kellaway meanwhile was in fine form making a number of brave saves more than doing his part in ensuring his side stayed in control.

The game turned however when Kane took a knock as he tried to stop a Rangers forward at the edge of his penalty box. The referee didn't see the foul as the player continued by rolling the ball into an empty net as Kane was sprawled across the floor in need of treatment.

This goal gave Rangers a way back into the game as Richard was forced into his first change with Kelvin coming on to replace Kane in between the sticks.

In a change of fortunes, Ford conceded a soft second goal as Rangers powered their way through the Blues defence to beat Kelvin.

It looked as though Ford might just have restored a two-goal cushion minutes before half time as Jozef Montigue won a penalty kick when he was brought down by the goalkeeper as he poked the ball past him.

Up-stepped Jake Beattie, but this time the usually confident penalty-taker blasted straight down the middle with power from 12 yards, but it was a straight forward save for the goalkeeper who celebrated the save wildly.

HALF TIME: Lee Rangers 2-3 CFY

The importance of the next goal in the game could not be reiterated enough, as one more slip up from Ford would see Rangers right back in it, level having been totally outplayed and out of the game at 3-0 down inside the opening 25 minutes.

Michael Sawbridge was extremely unfortunate to have a clear goal from a free kick ruled out within the opening five minutes of the second half. It was clear that things were just not going for them now, what with the injury to Kane, missing a penalty and now a disallowed goal.

Going for goal from way out, Michael picked out the top corner with a beautifully struck set piece that sailed past the keeper and into goal. A very dubious offside decision against Liam, who was anything but interfering with play, and even then the ball went straight in without touching another player – however frustrating, the decision was made.

Typically, Rangers drew level to make the ruled out 'goal' situation even more frustrating.

A drop ball 25 yards from the Ford goal was won by the Lee Rangers forward who got the ball down and struck a speculative effort towards goal catching Kelvin out with the swirling wind. The freak effort looked to be going comfortably over the cross bar, but the ball dipped wildly and ended up in the back of the net to cancel out Ford's terrific efforts when they were 3-0 up.

Just when Ford thought that things couldn't get much worse, they fell behind for the first time in the game. A strong looking challenge on Kelvin was deemed to be fair and from there it was just a case of tapping the ball into an empty, unguarded goal.

This enthralling encounter took another twist and this time it was finally in Chandlers Ford's favour as Lee Rangers were reduced to ten men for hotly protesting a decision that was awarded for yet another heavy lunge in on the goalkeeper. The tackle alone, in my view, was one that warranted a straight red.

Chandlers Ford could sense that if they were to get something from the game, that this was their best opportunity yet and went all out attack in the final five minutes to salvage a point at the very least.

Getting out of jail for their defensive mistakes and letting a 3-0 lead vanish, became a reality when Michael Sawbridge moved into attack and turned the ball home with a great strike to spare his side's blushes and keep their unbeaten streak in tact.

FULL TIME: Lee Ranger 4-4 CFY

Man of the match: Michael Sawbridge