1st Team Captain's Reports

Saturday 11th November 2006

Cheadle Hulme 1st vs Ashton-U-Lyne

Cheadle Hulme hosted league leaders Ashton on Saturday and were looking to bounce back from the previous week's disaster. They started well as they raced into an early 3-1 lead with goals from Tim Sayers, Ben Ransome and James Bicknell. Ashton may no longer have Wes Crank but have recruited an American who fired in two powerful shots to level the scores at three all at the first break.

Those goals gave Ashton the impetus as the visitors scored five in the second quarter with only goals from Ben Ransome and James Bicknell in reply. Although the home defence were matching Ashton's aggression, with Pat Moore having his best game of the season along side the excellent Guy Landsbury and Steve Pollock, they were let down by some stick chasing from the midis. Ashton's two main midfielders shared nine goals, mainly scored after dodging past wild lunges.

In the third quarter the home defence had to be at its best as time and time again the Hulme attack tried to force the play, only to lose cheap possession with the ball seldom staying in the Ashton half for longer than a minute. Although James Bicknell is starting to run into form, Ben Denison was again absent and with Ben Ransome and Gary Thompson having difficult seasons, Cheadle Hulme are having real problems scoring enough goals to win games. After getting only six in the last two games there was only a small improvement here. Against physical opponents the men in black worked very hard with Stuart Rarity and Chris Peacock doing well, but it was Ross White who was Cheadle Hulme's best player with a fine performance in midfield. Despite goals from Tim Sayers and Ben Ransome, Ashton dominated the quarter to lead 12-7 at three quarter time.

The fact that Ashton's lead was not much greater, was down to some excellent saves from Hulme's stand in keeper. Not since Fabien Barthez left Old Trafford have these parts witnessed a little bald guy putting on such a brilliant yet eccentric display of goalkeeping. Although not quite as quick as regular keeper Musrie, Pud even treated the crowd to a couple of clears down field. Having represented the club in attack, defence and now in goal the club are now looking to press Mark Love into service as a crease to crease running midfield player.

The final quarter became relatively tame as with the issue settled Tim Sayers matched another Ashton strike to leave the final score 13-8 to Ashton, with Cheadle Hulme's goalscorers; Sayers 3, Ransome 3 and Bicknell 2.

Steve Pollock

Saturday 4th November 2006

Rochdale 'A' vs Cheadle Hulme 1st

Cheadle Hulme made the trip up to Rochdale to face the divisions bottom side with a desperately depleted side, with three players out injured and another nine feeling they had better things to do with their Saturday. Despite starting with only 10 players Hulme still felt they would have an edge over a youthful looking Dale team.

The ten men started confidently knowing they had on the sidelines a secret weapon they could unleash on an unsuspecting Rochdale side at any moment. With Chris Peacock dominating at centre and controlling Dale's playmaker, Hulme dictated play, albeit in a slow measured way in order to save energy. Hulme worked their openings well and were rewarded with two Tim Sayers goals, the first after a particularly slick cut and shot.

Two up and in little danger Cheadle Hulme should have pushed on and built up a good lead in the second quarter to ensure Dale's numerical advantage would not be critical in the closing stages. Cheadle Hulme's in typical fashion felt a massive two-goal advantage was good enough reason to become lazy and play some really sloppy lacrosse, giving away possession with every attack. After the home side pulled a goal back, the men in black decided they had no option but to send on their secret weapon. The look of fear in the young Rochdale faces said it all as the biggest seller of stick tape this side of the Atlantic strode onto the field. Never in junior lacrosse had any of them witnessed anything like this…. Pud was back! Seizing on the terror in the home ranks Hulme took advantage with Mr.X firing home just before half time.

All Hulme needed to do now was to start the third quarter confidently and build on their lead, and the points would surely be theirs. Unfortunately some awful attempts to clear the ball in the visiting defence gifted two goals to Rochdale who forgot their fear and started to play with real belief. Hulme nudged ahead again through Ben Ransome, but when Martin Russell went off with a dislocated shoulder the visitors were again down to only 10 men. The game became end to end and when Dale levelled Hulme answered with a Tim Sayers goal. Rochdale never gave up and again equalised. With Cheadle Hulme not having the strongest attack in the world, so often they have to look to midfielder Tim Sayers for goals and again he responded with a fine finish. The visitors however had run out of steam with midfielders Peacock and Burnham working particularly hard. Rochdale levelled with ten minutes remaining but the game was settled in the most cruel fashion as a Rochdale shot came back off the crossbar and fell straight to a Dale attacker who put the ball in the empty net. With eight minutes left there should have been more goals but some ropey finishing from Phillips and Peacock meant the game finished 7-6 to Rochdale. Goalscorers were Sayers 4, Ransome 1, and Phillips 1.

Steve Pollock

Saturday 21st October 2006

Cheadle Hulme vs Brooklands Hulmeians 'A'

Cheadle Hulme were looking to build on last weeks storming final quarter performance in the win against Stockport when they took on Brooklands on Saturday. However, they started in subdued fashion for the third week running as if expecting goals to arrive. After a prolonged stalemate in the first quarter when the defences got on top, it was Brooklands who eventually took the lead. A string of good saves from Dave Musrie and a nicely worked goal by James Bicknell meant Hulme were quite fortunate to reach the first break at one a piece.

The second quarter saw Brooklands take the initiative and only some solid defending from the home defence of Landsbury, Pollock and Moore in front of the inspired Musrie in goal, prevented the visitors from taking a decisive lead. Peacock, Bartram and Burnham worked tirelessly in midfield, but were forced to constantly run back towards their own goal as time and time again the home attack surrendered possession cheaply.
For many years Cheadle Hulme attacks have been the most impatient in the league, always desperate to drive on their man, put in a long range shot or put in a wild feed if the ball has been in attack longer than 30 seconds. Although players such as Boyle and Liu who followed this philosophy no longer play for the club, several others still remain, with the result being Cheadle Hulme's midfield and defence spend the game working incredibly hard to win the ball back only for it to be constantly coming back at them.

When stick handling is as poor as it was in this match due to lack of practice, the game becomes very dispiriting for Hulme's hard working midfield and defence. With Gary Thompson ill, Bicknell and Denison struggling for form, Hulme looked to the previous weeks hero for goals, but unfortunately the curse of Pud struck again. Maybe it was Mr Love frantically putting pins in his Ben Ransome Voodoo doll on the sideline that caused the hapless attacker to return to his old ways.

The visitors although not expected to push for promotion, attacked with skill, pace and movement and created many opportunities which would normally have resulted in plenty of goals, but Dave Musrie in the home goal was outstanding and made countless saves, several in one on one situations to keep out Brooklands. Although James Bicknell added two more goals and Tim Sayers fired in another after a slick cut, Hulme found themselves 6-4 down deep into the last quarter.

After Hulme's woeful attack were told a few home truths at the time out, the long awaited improvement came with the men in black showing more purpose as they moved the ball with intent to create an opening for Chris Peacock to score. With Brooklands still displaying great energy the game was in the balance, but thankfully Hulme's newfound composure in attack opened up space for newcomer Marcus Bartram to score the equalizer, to cap a fine performance from the new player. Although Ben Denison missed a great opportunity to win the match, Hulme closed the match clinging on to a hard fought point. Scorers in the 6-6 draw were Bicknell 3, Sayers 1, Peacock 1 and Bartram 1.

Steve Pollock

Saturday 14th October 2006

Stockport 'B' vs Cheadle Hulme 1st

Cheadle Hulme's ever growing squad travelled to Cale Green on Saturday to take on Stockport and looking to build on their win against Wilmslow. With a much stronger squad, many of the team seemed to take victory for granted and started the match in a carefree manner. Goals from Tim Sayers finishing well after a slick cut and a well-worked effort from Ben Ransome seemed to give the visitors even more grounds for complacency. Stockport however are a young and tenacious side who create plenty of opportunities on the break. One such break yielded a goal to give the home side hope going into the first break.

The second quarter was a complete disaster for the men in black with some of the worst handling from a Cheadle Hulme side for several years. James Bicknell's lack of match practice showed up, Ben "out of bounds" Ransome seemed to be passing to the girls on an adjacent pitch, Gary Thompson took a dozen dropped catches to realise he had a big hole in his stick and poor Ben Dension decided the honourable thing to do was to substitute himself! The horror show continued at the other end as Stockport rattled in seven goals with only a James Bicknell goal in reply.

A shell-shocked Cheadle Hulme looked to last season's player of the year for inspiration and Chris Peacock delivered a fantastic performance completely dominating at centre with good support from Tony Eglin. With Martin Russell and Billy Burnham PI working hard, Hulme slowly got back into the match. Ben Denison finding more space in front of goal scored a morale-boosting goal before Ben Ransome got in with one of his trademark back door sneaks.

Going into the final quarter still three behind, Cheadle Hulme still needed a big effort and delivered it in grand style, completely blowing Stockport out of the water. Where the handling had been rusty, now it was polished as the attack moved the ball around with speed and precision dragging the home defence this way and that until oceans of space opened up. Ben Ransome, who strangely only seems to play well when Pud is not around, chose the final quarter to hit a purple patch. Ben Ransome purple patches are like lunar eclipses, not many people have witnessed one but they are well worth waiting for! Putting in defence splitting passes, dodging round defenders for fun and racking up a rapid-fire hat trick, Ransome was truly on fire! Although Stockport scored again it only drove Hulme on again with two James Bicknell goals, one coming from a superb 30 yard feed from Tim Sayers. This got the visitors in front. Stockport were now completely over-run and Ben Denison put them out of their misery with the final strike to seal a superb comeback. Goal scorers in the 11-9 victory were Ransome 5, Bicknell 3, Denison 2, Sayers 1.

Steve Pollock

Saturday 7th October 2006

Cheadle Hulme vs Wilmslow 'A'

Wilmslow provided the opposition for Cheadle Hulme's first home game of the season. The over-eager visitors showed just how keen they really are by travelling to the Ladybridge Road ground at daybreak to commence all manner of stretches, warm ups, drills and more drills all under the guidance of their equally over-eager American coach.

Cheadle Hulme can never be accused of being eager or enthusiastic and prefer a much more laid back approach to match preparation. Appearing just before face off nursing varying degrees of chronic hangover, the men in black had a quick throw around and a few last drags on their cigarettes before going into battle.

If Wilmslow were not already lulled into a false sense of security, then a quarter time four - nil lead did just enough to make the Styal Road club feel that bit too confident.

Whether it was the inspirational team talk by their captain or merely the fact that the hangovers were starting to subside, Cheadle Hulme scored six goals without reply in the second quarter. Looking to attack with pace, movement and energy Cheadle Hulme looked to their youth policy, discovered they don't have one so turned to the promising attack combo of Thompson, Windeler and Adshead. The baby of the attack at 43, Gary Thompson showed the young wipper-snappers in the Wilmslow defence how it's done with a fine goal. Tim Sayers then added two slick goals on the cut before Chris Peacock leveled the scores at half time with a low shot from the front.

This game saw the return of ex Cheshire man Stuart Rarity for the first time in over six years. In fact it is so long since Stuart played that he still thought the one handed wrap around the neck check was perfectly legal. Watching Mr Rarity spend most of the match trying to decapitate Mark Hodkin amused most of the players but unfortunately not the referees as several penalties were clocked up.

Rarity showed the old magic in the third quarter powering in a fine goal to put the men in black into the lead. Ben Ransome having a good game in midfield increased the lead before Wilmslow fought back to six all.

There was no stopping Hulme in this mood as slick Sayers blasted in two fine goals, Gary Thompson poked in the scruffiest of scruffy goals and then Ben Ransome dodged through a beleaguered defence to give Hulme a 10-7 lead with three minutes left. In serious danger of winning, the home side started to panic and Wilmslow gained more possession and pulled a goal back. But it was all too late as Hulme held on for an unlikely 10-8 victory. Goal scorers Sayers 4, Thompson 2, Ransome 2, Peacock 1 and Rarity 1.

Steve Pollock

Saturday 30th September 2006

Cheadle 'B' vs Cheadle Hulme 1st

Cheadle Hulme started their new season with the short trip to local rivals Cheadle. After a fragmented pre-season, expectations were not high, but surprisingly Hulme settled well and played some good lacrosse in the first quarter, creating several opportunities and only a lack of finishing prevented them from adding to a Gary Thompson goal. At the other end Hulme defended well soaking up pressure with Cheadle running out of ideas and resorting to long shots. Unfortunately two of those long-range shots sneaked in and the home side lead 2-1 at quarter time.

Hulme were not able to build on the first quarter and fell into disarray. With the midfield lacking the size and strength of their Cheadle counterparts, the home side led by the bulky David Baythorpe were able to create big holes, which an overworked and inexperienced Hulme defence were unable to cover. This allowed Cheadle to score seven without reply in a very disappointing second period for the men in black.

When they are in trouble and are in need of some help Cheadle Hulme are no longer able to call the 'A team', so instead turned to their very own private eye Paul "Billy" Burnham PI. Winning countless ground balls, setting up attacks and generally running about more than anyone can remember, Billy Burnham PI had an outstanding comeback game showing that helping struggling lacrosse teams is all in a days work. His work wasn't finished there though, as Cheadle Hulme produced the best move of a forgettable third quarter when Gary Thompson beat his man and drew the cover to feed Tim Sayers, whose slick pass found Billy Burnham PI to score a fine goal. It may not have been 'the equaliser', but it was very welcome as the visitors looked to get back in the match.

Cheadle Hulme lost heart in the last quarter as the lack of substitutes meant the visitors ran out of steam on a hot day. In a late rally, Hulme scored consolations through Gary Thompson and Tim Sayers. But although the final score flattered Cheadle and did not totally reflect the game, a 17-6 beating was not the best start to the season.

The club is also losing a popular member of its squad as Joe Gallagher is being posted to Las Vegas with the RAF for two years. All at the club wish him and his wife Loretta all the best in America.

Steve Pollock