Kent League Cup 2007-2008:
Kent Cup Quarter final vs Olympians, 13th April 2008
Sandwich were drawn against first division Olympians in the cup quarter final and knew they’d have to be on top of their game to progress. The match turned out to be a nip and tuck affair between two closely matched sides. Points were traded to 2 all, and then Olympians scored 2 quick goals to surge into a 4 – 2 lead. Sandwich didn’t let their heads drop, and fought back valiantly to draw level. Points were then traded to 6 all during a period where some disgruntlement with several tight decisions going against Sandwich threatened to derail their challenge. However after a time out to give time to cool off and get the team’s minds back on the job at hand Sandwich pulled out what proved to be a decisive 2 goal cushion, finally taking the match 8 – 6 and prgressing into the semi-finals. Congratulations to Kate on scoring 2 in the match. Team : Louise, Kate (2), Ben (1), Matt (1), Amy (1), Frances, Dan, Duncan (3, 1 pen)
Kent League 2007-2008:
Match 12 Ooops, seem to have lost a match somewhere in the season. My guess is we won this one, whoever it was against, lets say 15 – 0 ??
Match 11 Sandwich 3 Canterbury Tails 5
A below par performance by a Sandwich side in this local East Kent derby against a Tails side with clearly greater desire to win. The first Sandwich defeat to the Tails in a competitive league match, so congratulations to Tails, but don’t worry, we’ll have you next time!!
Match 10 Sandwich 3 Spartans 10
Matches 9 Typhoons 5 Sandwich 7
Match 8 27th Jan – Colts Vs Sandwich
Sandwich, despite benefiting from the return from retirement of club stalwart Linda Kitching, got off to a slow start and were soon 2 – 0 down. After pulling one back from a running in shot from Ben, Colts again stretched their lead to 3 – 1. Over the remainder of the half Sandwich fell further behind, unable to conver their shots into goals, and struggling to get regular collects, resulting in a 5 – 2 defecit at half time. The second half started well, with 2 quick goals from John & Ben pulling Sandwich back into the game at 5 – 4. However, further lapses in concentration in defence allowed Colts to score 3 quick goals to surge into what looked like a match winning 8 – 4 lead with only 15 minutes of the match remaining. Sandwich’s last throw of the dice was to bring on some fresh legs (well, as fresh as they’re ever going to be!) and make a final surge of effort to try and turn things round. Sandwich then managed to score a quick couple of goals from Ben & Amy, leaving them tailing 8 – 6, with belief returning that maybe they could get something out of the game. A long shot from Duncan further reduced the deficit to 8 – 7 with 2 minutes remaining, and a last minute running-in shot from Duncan, fed by Linda, who never looked like she’d not played for 2 years, led to a final 8 – 8 scoreline. Team Ben (3), Matt, Amy (1), Kate, John (2, sub Duncan – 2), Dan, Linda, Jenny
Match 7 20th Jan – Sandwich vs Tigers
In the first match of the New Year Sandwich started brightly, not showing the usual post-Christmas fitness levels! Sandwich surged into an early 2 – 0 lead before Tigers pulled one back. The first half then followed this pattern, with Sandwich always keeping their noses in front without being able to pull out a decisive lead, coimng into the break with a 6 – 4 lead. The second half continued in the same vein, with a Sandwich victory always looking on the cards, the only real threat being from the number of penalties Sandwich were conceding. Sandwich eventually ran out 9 – 6 winners. Team Ben (4), David (sub Matt – 1), Nadia (sub Frances), Kate, Duncan (1), John (3), Amy, Louise
Match 6 9th Dec – Sandwich vs Rams
Rams only managed to field 6 players due to late withdrawals, but I think it was actually a tactical decision as they’ve probably seen the confusion playing 4 on 3 always causes Sandwich. This was no different as Sandwich started sluggishly, playing more football than korfball the number of times we managed to kick the ball off the court. As the first half progressed Sandwich started to pull it together a little and eeked out a lead, but it was never convincing. The second half was much the same, and while it never really looked like we were going to lose we never looked in control either. We eventually ran out 6 – 4 winners. On a plus note, we managed not to concede any goals within 5 seconds of a throw off for probably the first time this season!
Match 5 25th Nov – Tigers vs Sandwich
Due to a confusion over the revised start time for this match Sandwich found themselves playing for the first 20 minute with only 7 players. However, some stirling work from Ben, Amy and Louise resulted in Sandwich only being 2 – 1 down when our 8th player arrived. The score remained at 2 – 1 until half time, with many shots again going up but the poor quality of shooting under pressure led to none threatening the basket. Tigers then strengthened their team at half time but in the second half Sandwich worked hard for the first 10 minutes and were eventually rewarded through a running in shot to level the scores. Things were looking good for Sandwich to turn things around. However, after all the hard work we managed to shoot ourselves in the foot yet again by conceding straight away from the restart (about half of our goals conceded this season have been in this way!). Another quick goal by Tigers was followed by more disjointed play for the remainder of the match, with a few good chances not being converted and too many passes going astray resulting in no more scores before the final whistle. Final score was a disappointing 4 – 2 to Tigers in a match that we could and should have won.
Match 4 18th Nov – Canterbury Tails vs Club Sandwich
After a morale boosting mid-week friendly win over Tails, Sandwich went into this match with the memories of last weekend’s heavy defeat fading. Tails fielded a more experienced side but Sandwich again managed to dominate. Ben and Nadia starred, scoring all the goals between them (Ben 9 (nine!), and Nadia 4) as Sandwich ran out 13 – 7 winners.
Match 3 11th Nov – Spartans vs Sandwich
Sandwich played against a youthful Spartans team and came out a clear second best. Rather than playing to our stregths Sandwich got sucked inot trying to play at the same pace as their fitter opponents resulting in numerous unforced errors. Spartans also proved to be more accurate converting more of their chances resulting in a comprehensive 12-2 defeat.
Match 2 4th Nov – Sandwich vs Typhoons
Sandwich started their second match of the league season a little nervily falling behind early on. In a low scoring first half Sandwich were putting up plenty of shots but failing to convert them, while restricting Typhoons to few shots themselves. However, the greater accuracy of the Typhoons players led to them taking a 2-1 lead into the break.
At half time Sandwich were confident they could turn this around by calming down their attacks, and this proved to be the case as within a couple of minutes of the start of the second half Sandwich levelled the match. However we then entered a period of trading points where Typhoons always seemed to have the upper hand, repeatedly sneaking a point up. However, with 5 minutes left Sandwich timed their surge to perfection to take the lead for the first time at 6-5.
Sandwich then converted a disputed (but totally legitimate) penalty, and made sure of the victory with a cracking long shot being sunk by new signing Ben, to leave us running out 8 – 5 winners
Team: Nadia (1), Kate, Duncan (3, 2 pens), John //Frances, Amy, Ben (3), Rob (sub 25 min, Matt (1)),
Match 1 21st Oct – Sandwich vs Bearsted Colts
For the first match of the season Sandwich fielded their new look line-up and were a bit of an unknown quantity, even to ourselves! After a bright start Sandwich conceded a couple of quick goals to fall 2 behind at the first change of ends. We then entered into a period of points trading where every time Sandwich got within a point of The Colts they would again extend their lead, leaving us 5-3 down at the half-time break.
The second half was characterised by several long periods of solid defence. Sandwich were creating good shooting opportunities but as ever struggling to put them away. Going into the last 5 minutes we were 8-6 down. After some concerted pressure with great recycling David’s long shot went in to set up a grandstand finish. Sandwich continued to rain shots on the Colt’s basket but unfortunately couldn’t find that killer blow to draw level, the game finishing with an 8-7 defeat.
There were some promising signs for Sandwich as the new divisions got some game time together and were slowly starting to gel as the match progressed. Just need to pop a few more of them in the hole and we’ll be sorted.
Team: Nadia (1 pen), Kate, David (1), Rob (1)//Frances, Louise, John, Duncan (4, 2 pens)