Christchurch v Aldershot

Hampshire Cup Semi-final

Match Result: 5 - 2

Goal Scorers: Oliver B (4), Harry C

Wow where do you start with a match report for this game. 5 - 2 doesn't
quite make it a Valentine's Day massacre but in terms of what we
achieved it just as well had been. Aldershot are the holders and as a
club are becoming a Centre of Excellence next season. We had requested
a postponement given we were missing Dec, Ollie G and Brandon. Despite
all the efforts of Mark, Mary and some at BYFL we had to play and
managed to register Jordi in time to bring us up to ten.

I think the origin of 'cometh the hour cometh the man' is unknown but it
should be rewritten as 'cometh the hour cometh 9 boys and a girl'.
Every single one of them performed at their absolute best. It would be
unfair to single any one child out as they all played so well. Playing
on his own up front Olly Balmer ran and harried defenders and most
importantly for us he held onto the ball when we got it up to him.
Ethan and Bubba ran and tackled everything in midfield, on the wings
Oliver Davis and Harry were creative going forward and gave such
protection to our full backs that particularly in the second half we
were put under little pressure. Tom and Max just look as solid as any
centre-half pairing you can think of. Livs and Jordi at full backs
worked as hard as they could and fed Harry and Oliver. And Jeremy in
goal was solid and commanding and came out to clear when he needed to.

So, the game; We started well (not like us) and Olly Balmer put us ahead
within 5 minutes but they equalised almost immediately. We kept at it
though and Olly scored a second but again they equalised; this time with
a long rang shot that no 'keeper could do anything about. The character
our players show is awesome and Harry put us 3 - 2 up about 4 minutes
before the break.

In the second half we were prepared for an onslaught but instead Olly
Balmer completed his hat-trick following a quick throw. At this point
some of their parents created quite an intimidating atmosphere by
complaining loudly but yet again our character shone through and Olly
added a 5th.

I truly hope all the players are proud of themselves because as parents
we could not be more proud of them no matter what happens against
Salisbury in the final.

A special thanks too for others from the club who have given us such
support: Mary, Mark, Craig and Tris.

Michael

A superb result for the ten players of Christchurch who outplayed their opponents to rightfully earn their place in the Final of this age group Hampshire Cup. The Club are extremely proud of the result achieved by this team, whom despite playing the whole match being one player down due to holidays, showed true fight and team spirit to defeat their fancied opponents. Every player, parent and supporter should applaud the determination of this team to win against all the odds, those involved with the Club will know what is meant.

Mark Duffy (Chairman CYFC)

Christchurch v Hayling United

Hampshire Cup quarter final

Match Result: 4 - 0

Goal Scorers: Kingsley White, Sam Griffin, Ben Dickenson (2)

A hastily rearranged venue allowed our long awaited Hants Cup game v Hayling United to finally go ahead at Chapel gate( thanks to John Spalding) and we started very brightly with Dickenson,Griffin & Horder all missing good chances in the first 5mins, so it came as no suprise when we took the lead through a fine finish by Kingsley White after good work from Ben Dickenson.
We continued to pressurise the Hayling defence throughout the half but somehow reached half time with only the one goal lead after creating over 20 clear chances.

HT Christchurch 1 Hayling 0

After our half time 'motivational chat' we intended to go out and 'put the game to bed' but we almost conceded when Hayling, who to their credit never stopped trying to play football, broke down our left flank and delivered a good cross to an unmarked player, who fortunately (for us anyway) miskicked with the goal at his mercy.
We then continued to create more chances and more misses! when, finally we got the breakthrough in the 75min when Sam Griffin finished off a threaded pass by rounding the keeper and rolling the ball into the net.Ben Dickenson then netted with a fierce left foot shot two mins later and finished off the scoring with a rare right foot (toe poke!) after a mazy run into the area.

FT Christchurch 4 Hayling 0

All in all it was a richly deserved win against a spirited Hayling team which now see us in the semi final of the Hant's Cup and pitched away in Portsmouth against the unbeaten United Services next Sunday (14th).

Tony

BASINGSTOKE TOWN V CHRISTCHURCH

HANTS FLOODLIT UNDER 18'S CUP QUARTER FINAL

MATCH RESULT 4 - 3

Team. G Hicks, S Leonard, H Jeffries, D Thorpe, K James, K White, S Griffin, J Bernard, J Frewin, B Dickinson, L Horder Subs E Peck, B Hill, G Lee, M Horne.

After a 5 week winter break and being unable to have a proper training session we travelled up the M3 to play against the unbeaten Conference South Academy team, who “on paper” should have brushed us aside, but we had other plans and if we could have converted just a _ of our chances we would have been home & dry! As it happened we lost 4-3 but credit must go to our youngsters who controlled large swathes of the game, played the better football & created 27 chances to the hosts 11,(thanks to our stat’s man!), but as so regularly happens when you play a so called bigger club you do not seem to get the rub of the green or get the important calls off the officials.

Right from the off we put Stoke under pressure with good efforts from Bernard, Dickinson, Griffin & Horder . Sam Griffin opened the scoring in the 8th min netting from close range after the keeper could only parry Bernard’s free-kick. Lewis Horder, who along with Ben Dickinson gave their backline a torrid time, missed a simple header from Leonards cross. Bernard & Dickinson again missed chances before Jordie Frewin latched on to a delightful through ball and finished with aplomb on 28mins.On 34mins Basingstoke pulled a goal back when out of the blue Dunn set up Powell to finish neatly with their 1st shot on target, this spurred Stoke on to have some good possession but without seriously testing Hicks in goal. Just before half time Ben Dickinson spurned a glorious chance when he put the ball agonizingly wide when clean through on goal.

Half time: Basingstoke 1 Christchurch 2

Basingstoke came out more determined in the 2nd half with Dunn making good inroads on our right side and proceeded to set up Hobden with a simple equaliser from 2 yards out. This was to be Stokes best spell of the game and it came as no surprise when Foyle gave them the lead on 60mins when he was allowed to advance unchallenged in the box to score with a low shot into the corner.
Having seen themselves give up a comfortable lead Church rolled up their sleeves and battled their way back into the game when on 72mins Lewis Horder scored a well deserved equaliser when he put a fine left foot shot past Burton following good work by Bernard.
Church then threw on some fresh legs with Hill & Peck replacing White & Frewin and this upped the tempo of the game with 2 efforts from Griffin being saved by the increasingly overworked Stoke keeper but I think ‘cow’s bottom & banjo’ started to spring to mind when chance after chance went begging for xchurch and then, out of the blue, a long ball out from Powell saw Sheedy put the hosts 4-3 up against the run of play on 80mins.
The last 10 minutes saw Xchurch throw everything at the Basingstoke defence who to be fair withstood this bombardment although they had some good fortune with the referee missing a wipe out from Burton on Peck when he knocked the ball past the keeper also with 2 goal line clearances, numerous scrambles, 2 fantastics saves and the woodwork stopping an effort from Griffin before the referee brought the proceedings to an end.
So although Xchurch lost on the night I think they maintained their high standards of football and the Basingstoke players’ reactions at the end told us how relieved they were at winning this pulsating tie.
The bottom line is that some of these players are destined to play for our 1st team if, and only if they start to train more regularly and work hard with Neil and Tony.

The alternative version of this report can be seen by following the link below. Perhaps the author had forgotten to take off this 3-D specs after watching Avatar……something had clearly blurred his vision! J

The Official Website Of Basingstoke Town Football Club - Basingstoke Town Yth 4 Christchurch Yth 3

Tony