Weekend Report No 11

1s 2 V 6 Olton & West Warwicks 

Despite some recent disappointing results Cannock journeyed to second place Olton confident they could get a result. Cannock survived some early pressure with keeper Mike Gerrard making the first of a series of fine saves. Despite this Olton struck first through a penalty corner. Cannock then had a period of controlled attacking play with Harry Jawanda providing a couple of opportunities through crosses that were not connected with. Olton started to create their trade mark move by crashing the ball into the D for deflections, one chance scooting across the goal mouth and another narrowly going wide. Will Fleet started another period of Cannock pressure when he drove down the byline to secure a penalty corner. Although this was well worked a double save by the Olton keeper kept Cannock at bay. Then Jawanda won a further penalty corner. With a switch at the top of the D Chris Beck fired home to put the scores level. At the restart Gerrard had to save a rising reverse strike from the top of the D. 

Despite the umpires previously being pedantic about where and when free hits were taken, Olton got away with a moving, wrongly placed ball to catch Cannock on the back foot. They found an open man on the line who guided the ball home for their second goal. This was quickly followed by a hit and deflected goal to put Olton two goals clear. Despite a couple of further half chances to Cannock and a Louie Morris Green Card the scores remained 3 –1 at the break. 

The second half saw Gerrard called into action early on with an excellent save off a fierce shot from the penalty spot. Cannock then had a good period of attacking play in which they were unlucky not to level the scores. Manjinder Dhanda narrowly missed connecting with a cross from Morris. Then an Ed Fleet free hit provided a deflection for Dhanda that shot off the post and into safety. Cannock were left to regret these missed chances as Olton continued to open up channels to crash the ball into the D for their forwards to deflect goalward. Before they knew it Olton had added two further goals to their tally. 

When Olton were reduced to ten men through a Yellow Card, Cannock's Russell Anderson and Callum McKenzie created a 2v1 opportunity as they attacked the goal but again failed to take the advantage. Beck had a further chance but again drew a blank. Cannock then lost concentration when they failed to react to a turnover, allowing Olton in to clinically dispatch their sixth goal with the same strategy they had used so effectively throughout the game. 

Olton had a series of penalty corner opportunities but the Cannock defense where a match and Olton didn't add to their score. Despite the goal deficit Cannock didn't give up. As Jawanda dribbled into the D he was fouled to give Cannock a penalty corner. Beck stepped up to record his second with a bullet into the roof of the net, which gave the Olton keeper no chance. Beck was in the action at the death when he provided a cross that ran the goal line, but, unlike their opposition, Cannock couldn't get a stick on the end of it. 

With only five points from the first half of the season Cannock will have to grind out some points in the second half if they are to continue playing at a National level. 

2s 3 V 4 Loughborough Town 

Cannock 2s hosted Loughborough Town and suffered a disappointing  3-4 defeat.  Cannock started the match by passing the ball to the oppositions centre forward at the top of the D which unsurprisingly ended up in a goal. Stalemate followed until Tom Minall lobbed the keeper to level the score.  
 
Poor defending led to a series of short corners against Cannock, with a later one being well fired into the bottom corner. Trying to start the second half positively Cannock let in two sloppy goals. Minall was let lose in the D again and managed two more goals to get the match to 3-4. In the last 10 minutes of the game Cannock came alive and put Loughborough under the pressure. Although they played very well the equaliser did not come. 

DOD Conner Beardmore 
MOM Jordan Joiner 

3s 2 V 0 Olton & West Warwicks 

Cannock Men's 3rd Team travelled to mid table Olton & West Warwick on a cold Saturday afternoon in desperate need of three points to climb the league table. 
 
With both sides holding several subs the game was played at a good pace, which was required to prevent the players getting cold! Cannock stuck to a half court press which gave Olton most of the possession  but it stopped the hosts coming through the middle of the pitch.  
Chris Mayer put Cannock ahead from the second phase of a short corner won by Guy Sheldon. Ollie Balcombe then produce a fantastic save to keep Cannock ahead. Ollie Southall then missed an open goal at the far post which stopped Cannock going further ahead.  
 
At halftime Cannock were happy to go in ahead. The second half saw Cannock play down the slopping the pitch. Cannock again frustrated the hosts with their determination to block everything from the half way line and Olton were reduced to half chances, Mayer then popped up with a second from a short corner to give a 2-0 lead. With ten to go Mayer pull his hamstring, which saw a reshuffle at the back. Cannock coped with the change and thwarted any further Olton attacks, giving Cannock a much needed three points. Next week Cannock welcome rivals Beeston to Chase Park.  

MOM - Ollie Balcombe  
DOD - Ollie Southall 

4s 0 V 10 Loughborough 5s 

Another week another young, fit and fast university team for Cannock 4's to chase around! 
From start to finish, Loughborough were quick on and off the ball and it didn't take long to score. It took Cannock 20 mins to get with the pace and a brand new back four had their work cut from the start. For the full 70 mins chances for Cannock were very limited with a 1v1 for new comer James Griffiths unfortunately going wide. The second half saw two Cannock players going off injured. One from a shot and one from his own player hitting the ball away in frustration for giving away a short corner. The game ended 0-10 to the students and another hard game next week away at Beeston 

MOM Tony Blower 
DOD George Collins for injuring his own player after whistle was blown 

5s 1 V 4 Edgbaston 5s  

Cannock travelled to Edgbaston in high spirits and with high cholesterol  following their team building breakfast.

They faced the top of the league and unbeaten hosts, in a lunchtime game, on a cold and frosty pitch. In a fast paced and eventful contest Edgbaston showed their class. They weren't better players than the 5ths but they managed the game better. Edgbaston scored two relatively lucky goals, thanks to deflections and bobbles, before scoring a well taken third. James Roberts was unfortunate to get a yellow card for over vigorous tackling a player who was illegally juggling the ball. The second half saw a better performance with a well taken goal for late addition to the side Greg Bloomer. Roberts received a second yellow for questioning a poor umpiring decision. Phil Heighway was yellow carded for an uncompromising challenge which led to a 4th goal from the resultant penalty corner. 
 
A disappointing result but no one could criticise the work ethic of the team. 
 
MoM Phil Micklewright 

DoD James Roberts 
 
Badgers 0 V 2 Yardley Badgers 

The Badgers travelled to Small Heath this week to play Yardley Badgers. Cannock Badgers started the match in a positive mood, passing the ball well and taking the game to Yardley. Early chances fell to Cannock but they found the Yardley keeper to be in good form. With the midfield pairing of Harry Michael and Scott Olsson working hard, Yardley found it difficult getting into the Cannock twenty-five. However, given Cannock's dominance the score remained 0-0 at half-time. 
 
The second half continued in the same vain as the first with Cannock unable to take their chances. As the half progressed the young Cannock side started to run out of steam allowing the Yardley players to have more time on the ball. After surviving a couple of scares, Yardley managed a quick counter-attack to breakthrough the centre of Cannock's defense to score the first goal of the game. Cannock responded well, looking for the equaliser and drawing a superb save from the Yardley keeper following a short corner. As Cannock pressed looking for an equaliser, gaps were left in midfield and again Yardley were able to counter attack a minute from the end of the game to score their second of the match. 
 
The young Cannock Badgers deserved more than a 2-0 loss from this game, however they should be proud of their performance and will be hoping for a better outcome when they make the long journey to Buxton next weekend. 

 

Junior Success 

U14s 5 V 3 Telford & Wrekin 

Sunday saw the next round of U14 Boys Development League matches with games for Cannock against Telford & Wrekin and Newark at Chase Park. Following an improving performance against Lichfield in their last match Cannock U14 Boys started the game with Telford with a lot of confidence. This confidence was not misplaced as Cannock took an early lead through Evan Alcock, firing the ball into the top left-hand corner of the Telford goal. 
 
Both sides battled well but it was Cannock who created the better chances, keeping to their game plan of counter-attacking Telford quickly on the break. The pressure soon paid off with Cannock scoring a further two goals to take a 3-0 lead. Just before half-time Telford were able to convert a half-chance to make the score line 3-1. 
 
The second half became a little scrappy with both sides forgetting their passing game and started dribbling with the ball too much. Cannock continued to create the better chances, scoring a further two goals to take a 5-1 lead. Telford worked hard, and although they scored a further two goals, much to the annoyance of Cannock's keeper, Joe Thomas, there was never any doubt that Cannock U14 Boys were going to win this match. Final score, 5-3 to Cannock. 

U14s 9 V 0 Newark 

Cannock U14 Boys second game of the day was against Newark. With a fantastic result against Telford. The Cannock lads went into this game full of confidence and with high expectations. Although the quality of Cannock's play was not as good as the match they played against Telford, Cannock managed six goals in the first half, with goals from Evan Alcock, Harry Michael and Jake Griffiths making the score line 6-0 at half-time. 
 
Cannock continued to dominate the second half, just as they did in the first, with a further three goals shared between Evan and Harry to finish off a well deserved 9-0 win and Cannock's first clean sheet of the U14 campaign this season. 
 
Following their first match against Ashby, where the lads experienced a heavy loss, Cannock's U14 Boys have won their next three matches, scoring 17 goals and conceding only 4. This has been achieved through a lot of hard work the lads have put into their training. Today's goal scorers were Evan Alcock (6), Harry Michael (5), Jake Griffiths (2) and Connor Lloyd-Smith (1). 

 

U18s 4 V 1 Old Silhillians U18s 

In a late game on Sunday Cannock's U18s beat Old Silhillians 4-1 in the EH Under 18s National Plate competition. Chris Gardner scored a hat trick and Jamie Greenwood added a forth.