Latest News - 7 March 2010

County News

Gedling School’s Under 12 Girls indoor 5-a-side team finished fourth in the National Finals of the English Schools’ F.A. Cup held in Derby last Monday. Gedling, representing South Notts, qualified for the semi-finals from their group with maximum points, defeating Phillips School (Bury) 2-0 with goals from Charlotte Steggles and Faye Wheatley, Salesian School (Woking) 2-1 (Steggles 2) and finally Beaulieu School (Jersey) 3-0 with Steggles (2) and Wheatley again on target.

In the semi-final, Gedling were well on top in the first half, missing a penalty for the third time on the day, hitting the bar and also a one on one chance against the eventual champions, Priory (Shrewsbury) but with a squad of only six, tiredness crept in and they succumbed to two second half strikes.

Deflation at their defeat added to the tiredness and in the play-off for 3rd and 4th place, they went down 1-0 to Phillips School whom they had defeated comfortably earlier in the competition but 4th place was a great achievement from an original entry of over 1700 schools.

Schools' involved in Nottinghamshire competitions now have less than four weeks to play games outstanding because of the weather problems. Fortunately, in the Under 19 John Fox the semi-final line-up is almost complete with Dayncourt (Radcliffe) meeting Rushcliffe in one game and Arnold Hill meeting one of Trinity, Redhill, Garibaldi (Forest Town) and Portland.

A fixture pile-up is inevitable after the postponement of two County representative matches two weeks ago and three South Notts game on Saturday 27 February. Fixture secretaries were hoping that three rearranged County representative games were played last week.

It was an undefeated week for three of the Nottinghamshire sides as their programme at last got under way again. The boys’ Under 18 squad beat Lincolnshire 2-0 at the excellent facilities of Cotgrave FC, a new venue for the County Schools’ F.A. Chances were created and missed by both sides in the first half with goalkeepers Carlo Rocco (Notts) and Carl Stubbs (Lincs) both in fine form.

The breakthrough goal came after 70 minutes following a fine passing move which led to Lewis Bingham being put clear to slide the ball past Stubbs. Two minutes later Notts went further ahead when a ricochet fell to Bingham and he made no mistake. Notts comfortably held out to give them a chance of winning their Midland Counties group.

Last Thursday, 4 March, the Under 16 boys’ team, with a greatly depleted squad, produced a gritty performance to draw 0-0 with Derbyshire at Forest Town FC.  Missing seven of the regular squad and with two trialists in the starting line up, Notts were understandably under severe pressure in the first ten minutes of the game.  They gradually began to claw their way back into the match and managed to reach the break still on level terms.  Competing much better in midfield during the second half, Notts were probably unlucky not to win the game and only several good saves from the visitor’s keeper, one of which near the end was outstanding, limited them to one point in this Midland group game.  They must now hope to beat Lincolnshire in their final match to stand a chance of qualifying for the Midlands semi-finals.
 
The girls' Under 16 County squad entertained Leicestershire at Bilborough Pelican F.C. last Thursday, 4 March - this was the second game between the sides this season. Nottinghamshire lost 1-0 to their neighbours in the ESFA County Championship in November and were hoping to gain revenge in the Midland Counties League although their task would be a difficult one as Leicestershire reached the national final of the County Championship the previous Thursday by beating Merseyside 3-2. 

After an even opening with the goalkeepers rarely troubled, Nottinghamshire went ahead after 28 minutes. A fine cross from Chelsea Smart on the left was just too high for Katie Waddell but the ball was retrieved on the far side by Grace Abbott whose skilful turn and pass was converted by Katie Waddell. Leicestershire equalised just before the break when the outstanding Kirsty Linnett hit the underside of the bar and the ball bounced down over the line.

Nottinghamshire produced their best form of the season after the break despite losing Eleanor Clarke to a recurring injury but the defence with Laura Jane O’Neill and Beth Witham outstanding and Emily Wragg in goal sweeping up well kept control while the midfield and forwards combined well. Their reward cam in added time when Witham curled a free kick right under the bar and substitute Emma Walker scrambled the loose ball in for the winner.

CITY NEWS

On Saturday morning 27 February, Nottingham U15s and U14s travelled to Ordsall near Retford to take on their counterparts from the Worksop and Retford Schools’ Football Association. The teams were competing in English Schools’ F.A. Area D league fixtures, which resulted with each Association recording a victory.

The City U14s gave a very good performance to win 4-0 despite having four players missing due to illness or injury. Nottingham U15s were also weakened by absences and the 12 player squad lost heavily by 7 goals to 1.

Nottingham U14s were well on top for most of the first half but went into the break with only a 1-0 advantage thanks to a goal by Reuben Fraser-Stewart (Nottingham Academy). However in the second period, they turned their superiority into more goals. Montel Nevers (Farnborough) made it 2-0 with a clever turn and shot from the edge of the penalty area and then Santini Traynor (Hadden Park) outpaced the Worksop defence to fire home goal number three. Warren Howard (Djanogly) completed the scoring from the penalty spot after Kyle Pemberton (Nottingham Academy) had been brought down.

Unfortunately a disappointing season continued for the depleted City U15 squad, who were 4-0 down by half-time. Their spirits were raised slightly when Michael Thomas (Trinity) reduced the arrears with a goal in the first five minutes of the second half, but three more goals gave the Bassetlaw side three league points and a comfortable 7-1 win.

Two schools’ football trophies were presented this week after 5-a-side action at the Harvey Hadden Sports Centre. On Tuesday, six school teams took part in the final of the U16 Girls’ Indoor 5-a-sides, while the following evening saw last round of matches in the U15 Boys’ “Wednesday League” on the outdoor “Swerve-Turn” all-weather courts.

The six U16 Girls’ teams had battled through two preliminary rounds to reach this final stage and they produced a very close contest. When they had all completed their five league matches, the Nottingham Emmanuel team was the clear winner, having won all of their games to secure a maximum of 15 points.  However goal difference was needed to decide which side would receive the runners-up medals, when Djanogly and Top Valley finished with 9 points each. Djanogly was awarded second place with a goal difference of plus 5, three goals more than a disappointed Top Valley team.

At the start of the action on Wednesday evening, the Trinity team topped the league table, five points ahead of their nearest rival, the Nottingham University / Samworth Academy.  However by the end of Wednesday’s league programme their lead had been reduced to only two points, but they were still declared League Champions.

Over the five sessions of play throughout the season, Trinity had played 26 games and recorded a total of 58 points from nineteen wins and one draw, while NUSA with 56 points had to be satisfied with the runners-up medals.