Weekend Match Reports 24th October 2020

Cannock M1s 5 - 0 Old Silhillians M1s

   After last weeks mugging, Cannock returned to EDA ready to put in a performance their hard work in training deserved. Cannock were still missing injured Martin and Hyde, had the Jecketts boys away moving boxes and Goal Harris working this weekend so skipper Fleet called in the troops in the form of proper Cannock lad Luke Dalton.
   Old Sils had won their previous games and started confidently. Cannock’s defence and goal keeper stood firm though and began to grow into the game. With their slight change of tactics, Cannock’s thug for life Widdowson was more tiki taka than tictac this week and it allowed Cannock to keep the ball excellently. The deadlock was broken when Dalton stole the ball off the Old Sils centre half and delivered to Dippa who doesn’t miss from that range (he does miss from closer normally). 1-0 Cannock. The rest of the half ebbed and flowed with both sides having many chances. Chewy looked to be in one of his “Thou shall not pass” moods. Cannock played some neat hockey to win many short corners but skipper Fleet was wasteful on the top. 1-0 at half time.
   Old Sils came out fighting in the second half but again the defence lead by Spencer and Hudson stood firm. After soaking up some early pressure Cannock began to play with flair, precision and pace. Lewis Michael in particular showed what he is capable of. Cannock doubled their lead after some nice work down the right side resulted in Widdowson transferring the ball to Fleet on the left who wobbled with Brazilian flair into the D and looked like he was destined to slot it in the bottom corner but instead slipped it to Dippa for his second of the game.
   Then the filth meter was turned up to max. Some quick transferring around the back lead to Fleet getting the ball just outside his own 25. Fleet , the self proclaimed fastest 30 year old of his BMI in Europe, glided passed the forward and midfield lines of the Old Sils press with cha cha style. Now on the opposition 25 he slipped in the other half back Ley who delivered a pin point pass to Dippa at the back post. Dippa’s hat trick complete. With the game seeming to be in control, Cannock gave away a penalty flick. Nobody is sure what for but given none the less! A goal for Sils here would of made things uncomfortable. Luckily for Cannock, Chewy remembered the old saying “form is temporary Class is permanent” and pulled off a stunning save.
   Cannock’s 4th was an odd goal. With Sils firing the ball into the D from a free hit, Hudson intercepted and won a free hit. Suddenly looking up, Hudson saw Gooderham standing on the half way line by himself! Rumours of an untied shoe lace or even a fluttering butterfly taking his attention. However he ended up their it worked as Widdowson slapped the ball up to him and he ran through on goal. Young Chana made an excellent run to catch up with Gooderham and could easily had tapped it in on the back post but the veteran decided to go around the keeper and slot it home himself.
   The fifth and final goal came from Hodgetts. Who seemed to have the weight of the world off his shoulders this week after his work issues were resolved (we can’t expand due to MOD guidelines). He picked the ball up and played a lovely one two before finishing into the bottom corner. 5-0!
A proper performance from Cannock. Hopefully the kick start to the season they needed!

 

The Force Awakens ????
Cannock M2s 8 - 1 Shrewsbury 1

   Cannock travelled down the rainy M54 in their millennium falcons looking to extend their 100% start against a Shrewsbury side who were near the foot of the table. Cannock arrived in good spirits, to find former stag Alan Craddock had joined the dark side. Skipper Martin’s timekeeping meant there was no time for a warm up. His inspirational team talk made up for that; “your focus determines your reality”.
   In team news, Cannock were much changed. With regulars Griffiths and Olssen unavailable for fair reason, and Yerbury missing due to his hand getting damaged by a radiator; rumour has it that it was a burn. Jesus, it sounded like it hurt. In their place came Rolfe and Mayer for their first 2nd team games of the season, with Finn the man McCall also returning after his strange omission by skipper Martin last week. Stalwart Dave ‘Yoda’ Bradbury retained his place as a sole central midfield presence, as he pointed out for the rest of the afternoon.
   The first half was all about one of the new additions, but not who you would expect. After a fairly even start where Shrewsbury tried to put together some passing hockey it was Rolfe who opened the scoring. He then went on to score the second, the third, the fourth, and the fifth; from a cumulative distance of 8 yards, as Cannock took control of the game. Between Rolfe’s and Cannock’s fourth and fifth, Cannock did have a wobble. With Micklewright flailing his stick like Skywalker’s lightsaber (with his passing and tackling), a particular rogue one more in the Emperor Palpatine mould left Jabba The Hutt Bradbury scrambling as Shrewsbury broke away. Cannock did let in their solo goal to give Shrewsbury a Rey of a new hope in an otherwise difficult half for them. Assist king Wigg was in the middle of action throughout with some beautiful hold up and lay off play, somehow hiding Rolfe’s rusty return to action but reminding him so with the line; “Great, kid. Don’t get cocky”...“you’re still my padawan”. Most notable was Wigg’s reverse stick underarm pass that left Rolfe with little to do to complete his hat-trick and become a full member of the order. It could have been more for Cannock but the most they could muster from short corners was a meeting of the minds of Mayer and Wigg!
   With the game somewhat over and done with by half time, Cannock took their foot off the gas as the fist 25 minutes of the second half were pretty scrappy and wasteful. JD and Alcock two consistent performers throughout. Daffern’s marking of his man was reminiscent of Chewbacca level loyalty, not leaving his man’s side. Sadly his work with the ball was not like Chewbacca with a wookie bowcaster. Cannock continued to ponder, Mayer heard to shout; “arrggghhhh two, put it in the D too”. It took for Bloomer’s interception and pass to Mayer to break the deadlock with eight minutes remaining, as Mayer sweetly struck home into the corner. It was well deserved for a man swanning around with the confidence yet grace of Princess Leia. Mayer returned the favour a minute later as he played a free hit to Bloomer, who beat his man and went around the keeper to put into an empty goal. Goal of the day. With the game ebbing out, there was only one thing that Cannock needed, and that was their inspirational skipper Martin notching. It came to much delight in the final minutes with a ramrod finish! As he headed back to the half way line to restart Cannock’s captain was heard to say; “Ho(c)key religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid,"
   Successive 8-1 wins for Cannock were enjoyed as the stormtroopers sat in The Brooklands (not The Beacon) and reflected on a successful first four games. Chat began of a league title charge, or maybe even the dream of a clean sheet one week soon for Connor’s good efforts. Tougher days will come for Cannock, but they’ll hope to continue their good form against Stone next week at EDA.

MOM: Wigg. Democracy votes for Rolfe, but it’s hard to vote for a chap who had nine touches, and five were miscontrolled. Wigg was classy as ever. Old friends not forgotten, hey sir!?

 

Cannock M3s 5 - 1 Market Drayton

   Cannock Men’s 3’s went into the game coming off the back of an impressive team performance against Leek the week before. Cannock started well and found an early goal through Lewis Bullman. Cannock continued to apply pressure and soon found themselves 2 goals ahead courtesy of Lewis Asling.
   Market Drayton never gave up and continued to apply pressure. After a quick restart following a foul, Cannock were caught out of position leading to Market Drayton's forward being clear through on goal to make it 2-1. Another goal for Asling made it 3-1 at halftime.
   After an inspirational team talk from Cotters, Cannock were only encouraged to inflict more damage on Market Drayton and after some neat passing they found another goal through Joe Matthews. Cannock continued to impress with Derek firing in the 5th off a short corner rounding off a good performance. Improvements are being made each week and Cannock will need to play with more focus and consistency for 70 minutes next week against Stafford.

MOM - Lewis Bullman

Goal scorers - Lewis Asling 2 - Lewis Bullman 1 - Joe Matthews 1 - Derek Prince 1

 

Cannock L4s 0 - 3 Leek

   Ladies 4s faced second in the league, Leek; however, we weren’t phased by this due to the fact their game wasn’t strong enough today to prove they were worthy of second place. The 4s held most of the possession in the first half and were able to get a number of passes using 1-2s through the middle right to the top of the D, we just unable to finish it off with a goal despite the fantastic efforts made by mid and forward players using some very good top D strikes.
   Leek took on defence in a battle to gain more shorts which were successful for Cannock after knocking the ball out of the D straight away on the first strike they took. Leek came at us and unfortunately conceded 3 goals in the game. Short corners, thankfully for the defence, were minimal as they’re certainly not our favourite but we showed Leek that our positioning in the D on these penalties were a force to be reckoned with.
   In the second half, possession was 50/50 and a lot of attempts made by both teams with both failing to get those much-needed goals as often as they’d like. 10 minutes into the game, play was stopped due to Jayne Flannagan getting a good smack by the ball into the face and unfortunately an ambulance was called and whisked her away which defence were very saddened by knowing that she is a fantastic defender. Wish you well Jayne!
   Player of the match from the opposition was Kayleigh Luke; our fantastic junior player who is always smiling through the wind and rain and keeping those legs running and showing all of the older players on the opposition huffing and puffing away. Player of the match from Cannock was Kayleigh and Suzy (new to the team and had a cracking first game with us) for their fantastic game play today; well done ladies!

Leek 3 – 0 Cannock.