Christchurch Football Club

Greenfields v Christchurch Sunday 29th January 2012

Mark Duffy — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:00:01 +0000

BYFL Cup Semi Final

Greenfields v Christchurch

Match Result: 2 - 0

Greenfields edged a game played between two very even sides. We seemed to dominate territory early on but after 5 minutes an outstanding strike from Lewis flew in to the net with nothing Jeremy could do.

We were getting stronger and creating good chances in the second half but then conceded a penalty which they converted and that took the steam out of us a bit. I can't remember us ever having not scored in a game but am sure it must have happened at some point.

Well done to the appointed ref. No complaints at all about the penalty nor our 2 bookings - we must learn that we won't win friends or games by arguing every decision.

Good luck to Greenfields in the final and they are now in pole position for a League/Cup double.

Michael

Christchurch v Bournemouth Electric Sunday 22nd January 2012

Mark Duffy — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:22:51 +0000

Christchurch v Bournemouth Electric

Match Result: 3 - 1

Goal Scorers: Olly (2), Bubba

Very windy today but the game was much better than you might have expected. We have now played both promoted teams twice and it speaks volumes to them that the results in both have been much closer second time around.

The wind was mostly accross the pitch but if anyone had the advantage in the first half it was us and we were three nil up at half time; two goals from Ollie and one from Bubba. Electric are a very organised team though and they pulled one back in the second and had chances to score a second.

We hit the bar in each half and created a huge number of chances but their pace up front was a constant threat and so this was never a comfortable win.

AN OPEN APOLOGY

Mark Duffy — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:19:28 +0000

Christchurch Football Club would like to apologise to the appointed official and representatives of Hampshire FA and the BYFL for any misrepresentation or for placing any misleading comments on its original match report relating to the recent Hampshire Cup game against Salisbury City.

At no time were Christchurch ever trying to bring into question the honesty and integrity of any representative at the game and would like to wish Salisbury City good luck for the rest of the competition.

An amended report can now be found on the website within this section.

Mark Duffy

Chairman

Christchurch v Salisbury City Sunday 15th January 2012

Mark Duffy — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:23:17 +0000

HAMPSHIRE CUP QUARTER FINAL

CHRISTCHURCH v SALISBURY CITY

MATCH RESULT: 1 - 3

GOAL SCORER: OLLY

Nobody likes to lose but we would concede that you occasionally come up against a team who are clearly the better side and deserve to win. Losing is all the more bitter when this is not the case and today is one such match.

Salisbury started the better and put us under pressure but without creating clear goal scoring chances. As the game wore on we got into our stride and whilst they probably had more possession we created better chances. Salisbury have two quick strikers and midway through the first half one of these ran onto a pass and was able to lob Jem as he came out to close the ball down. The remainder of the half saw us creating more chances as we got our passing going. Our only complaint at half time was that all too often we were second to the ball.

We started the second half with much greater drive and belief and Olly equalised after about ten minutes. This set up a really good game. We put Salisbury under more and more pressure but were always wary of their pace on the break.

With about 12 minutes left we broke out from one of their attacks; Drew carried the ball up the left and then the ref blew the whistle. It seemed to take an age for us all to work out what was going on but eventually the ref walked over to the penalty spot. Salisbury scored the penalty

Our boys were naturally gutted but it is to their great credit that we created more chances to have equalised and deservedly taken the game to extra time. In the last couple of minutes we pushed players forward to grab a goal but conceded a third.

Very, very proud of our players and parents.

Grange Athletic v Christchurch Sunday 8th January 2012

Mark Duffy — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:21:20 +0000

Grange Athletic v Christchurch

Match Result: 1 - 4

Goal Scorers: Olly (2), Ben (2)

This was the first game after the Christmas break and the 11th league game of a 20 match campaign. We were glad of this game given we have Salisbury in the quarter final of the Hants Cup next week and then Greenfields in the semi of the BYFL Cup two weeks after that. So all in all this is a very important month for us.

And we started off really well. Some fantastic passing and movement led to us creating early chances. But as is happening all too often in the past few games, we wasted early chances and allow the opposition to grow in confidence. I don't know how many chances we put over their bar in the first ten minutes; but a long kick from their 'keeper which bounced over our defence put them through one on one with a great chance for them; but they also cleared the bar.

After quarter of an hour Charlie (playing left midfield) weaved through their defence and put the ball to Olly; the keeper parried but Olly was able to head in to put us one up. Rather than Grange's heads dropping (bearing in mind we beat them 9 - 1 earlier in the season) this seemed to spur them on and after creating several chances (one saved brilliantly by Dec) it was no surprise when they scored a minute before half time.

A stern talking to at half time; and the introduction of Drew bucked things up a bit and we started the second half with more energy. Having said that Grange were a constant threat and even after Ben headed us into the lead from a corner we could not relax until 5 minutes from the end when Ben volleyed our third (again from a corner) and then Olly scored our fourth.

Christchurch v Greenfields Sunday 18th December 2011

Mark Duffy — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:16:30 +0000

Christchurch v Greenfields

Match Result: 4 - 3

Goal Scorers: Olly, Philip (2)

The way the league is shaping up Greenfields are in pole position; thanks to our 6 point deduction and our draw away at Greenfields earlier in the season when we only had 10 players we had dropped 8 points whereas Greenfields had dropped 4 thanks to the draw against us and a draw against Poole Town. A win for us would still leave us needing another team to take points off Greenfields whereas a win for them would have left them 4 points ahead of us with a game in hand.

In a carbon copy of last week we started well and had 2 or 3 chances to go ahead early on and finally after 15 minutes Philip took one of those chances. I would argue it was their first real threat on goal when Jack beat our defence and lobbed Jeremy brilliantly to equalise. We continued as we were and Harry scored a brilliant goal just before the half hour and we were then awarded a penalty; Olly hit the post and a scramble led to him scoring a follow up. So 3 - 1 to us at half time.

It was a very even second half and after 15 minutes Philip scored his 2nd and our 4th but within a couple of minutes of the restart they scored again. That led to a frantic last 20 minutes or so which was made worse for us when Jack scored their 3rd with 5 minutes plus injury time left.

We held on though and took all 3 points to keep the league title open. We have a break now until our Hants Cup quarter final on 15.1.12.

Christchurch v Crofton Saints Youth Sunday 11th December 2011

Mark Duffy — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:49:12 +0000

HAMPSHIRE CUP

CHRISTCHURCH v CROFTON SAINTS YOUTH

MATCH RESULT: 4 - 2

GOAL SCORERS: OLLY (2), DREW, PHILIP

This game brought back memories of our quarter final game against Hedge End last year - we were on the same pitch and it was raining; though not as hard as last year.

We started well and in the first minute Olly created a chance but Philip couldn't quite reach the ball to tap it in. We pinned them in their half but on their first break we suddenly became aware of their number 17's frightening pace and this was something we struggled with for the rest of the game. After 25 minutes one of these breaks led to the only goal of the first half - I think it was him who scored it. Apart from that I would say we had the balance of play and didn't deserve to be behind.

We'd rested Drew first half because we were very conscious of our game against Greenfields next week but we brought him on at half time. He was immediately a positive influence but despite that we once again conceded so were 2 nil down with 25 minutes left.

We created attack after attack though and had more corners than I'd care to remember. With 15 minutes left we finally broke through thanks to Olly. In the next ten minutes we scored 3 more; Drew the second; then Philip and finally a cracking shot from Olly.

So it kind of feels like we robbed them but taking the whole 70 minutes I think we created far more chances than them and spent the majority of each half in their half of the pitch.

Salisbury beat Pompey Pirates and so we now face them in the quarter final in January.

Christchurch v Ringwood Town Sunday 4th December 2011

Mark Duffy — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:29:44 +0000

CHRISTCHURCH v RINGWOOD TOWN

MATCH RESULT: 11 - 0

GOAL SCORERS: BUBBA, PHILIP (3), OLLY (2), HARRY, JEREMY, CHARLIE (2)

This was the reverse of the fixture about three weeks ago and we went two better. It was cold and we faced a keen wind in the first half. Bubba opened the scoring in the 15th minute and that started a sequence of 4 goals in the space of 9 minutes. And that was that at half time.

The wind died in the second half and we added 7 more. A special mention for a good shot from outside the box from Jeremy to give him his first goal and a couple from Charlie having been allowed out of defence.

Ringwood did well and never gave up.

Kingswood v Christchurch Sunday 27th November 2011

Mark Duffy — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 20:12:40 +0000

BYFL League Cup - quarter final

Kingswood v Christchurch

Match Result: 1 - 3

Goal Scorers: Ethan, Harry, Bubba

I think we would argue this was a more comprehensive win than the score-line suggests. We played into the sun and against the wind in the first half but were two nil up in ten minutes. The first was a long range effort from Bubba which beat Ryan in goal and the second was a towering header from Ethan from a trade mark Harry corner. We continued to put Kingswood under huge amounts of pressure but with Tom up front they were always going to be a threat. Drew and Charlie were awesome at the back but after 20 minutes we didn't close the second ball from a corner fast enough and Charlie (from Kingswood) rifled home.

A two one score at half time flattered them but within minutes of the restart George won the ball in defence and released the ball to Harry; a run and fantastic shot from him restored our two goal advantage.

After that it was a very competitive game with us dominating possession and changes but never being able to fully relax.

So we're through to the semis along with Greenfields, Poole Town and Boscombe Albion.

Highcliffe Hawks v Christchurch Sunday 20th November 2011

Mark Duffy — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 20:56:43 +0000

Highcliffe Hawks v Christchurch

Match Result: 1 - 9

Goal Scorers: Philip (4), Olly (2), Harry, Tom , Ethan.

We'd beaten Highcliffe 6 - 1 in the BYFL Cup three weeks ago but we were still nervous today. We have always struggled against their pace and we were without Drew, Bubba and Ben. We needn't have worried though and this was our best performance for several weeks.

With the bare 11 we set about our task well. After 10 minutes Olly scored and within a minute Harry added a second. Max was back after injury and was a calming influence in defence; Jem was rock solid and Dec only had one save to make. We had to wait until a minute before the interval before our third which was from Philip after very unselfish play from Olly.

Some of our passing in the second half was sublime. Tom (playing left midfield) was hugely impressive with both left and right (his natural) foot. Olly scored within 2 minutes of the restart and Tom scored with a brilliant left foot shot 7 minutes later. Within 3 minutes Ethan and Philip made it 7. After 20 minutes they scored from a break. It was no less than Highcliffe deserved but still disappointing we didn't manage a clean sheet. (That's just because I'm a grumpy defender!) Philip scored within a minute of the restart to complete his hattrick and then he scored his 4th and our 9th 7 minutes from the end.

All credit to Highcliffe. They played with pride and hit the post in the last minute when they really deserved a goal. Very pleased with today's performance. We not only won but we played very well; and with a smile!!!