Torpedo Consett Round Up

Torpedo Consett DX 1 Hebburn Town 0 (HT 0-0) This was a great game of football and to be fair it could have gone either way as both sides had their chances. The weather had cleared up nicely for the kick off and the X men were, I must say, up for it.They started strongly with good work from Daniel Drummond on the right and Alex Pearson down the middle. We were winning the ball with some good strong tackling and Jackie Cramb was in the thick of it in the middle.Hebburn showed that they are no mugs with some quick breaking football but Harry Lapsatis was quick off his line and did some fine handling in the DX box.On six minutes we had a great chance after some fine passing and build up work from the back with the Saint pulling off some tricks that Simon Templar would have been proud of. The ball was switched from one side of the pitch to the other and Alex Smiler Pearson played a good ball to the Poacher who hit a great shot after taking a touch. The Hebburn keeper pulled off a great save. One minute later it was almost a replica move this time starting with a great ball from the Brooksman who was in total control on the right side of the field .The Poacher was through and hit a great shot which flashed into the side netting.Smiler had the run of the middle of the pitch and stepped past two players to hit a great shot on the 11th minute which was saved again by the Hebburn keeper..On 12 minutes it was Hebburn on the attack and a great tackle by Jackie Cramb again saved the day. Hebburn took the emphasis and pushed forward again to release the striker on the left to fire a strong shot which was bravely blocked by the Brooksman.The Ref came under some stick from the sidelines for his lack of decisions on throw ins - the players did not know which way they were going and it felt like first one to pick the ball up..The half time whistle went and it was still even but the spectators had enjoyed every minute of a pulsating first half of football.The second half started with DX pushing forward, Olly St Julian combined well with Alex Pearson only to see his shot blocked. Richie Carrick was on for Jackie and made an instant impact with a good dribble and run into the box sending a ball to the Smiler who had another shot blocked by the Hebburn defenders.Alex Cramb scampered down the line and released a superb first time ball after receiving it from the Saint and he found Daniel Drummond in space who hit a superb first time effort which just went wide. It looked like we were going to have one of those days.A minute later it was the Brooksman who saved the day at the other end with a magnificent block on the goal line after Hebburn countered in numbers, swarming forward like a cloud of killer bees.The deadlock had to be broken and it came in the 24th minute when Olly once again went forward with the ball and played a great pass into Alex Pearson who sidestepped a tackle and just when everyone thought he was going to shoot he played a precision pass to the feet of the Emperor Ming who was not going to miss and he coolly put the ball beyond the Hebburn keeper. The Consett line were triumphant but their was still plenty of time left and the Hebburn Town outfit were not going to give it up easily.From the kick off they came forward again and forced a good corner after a superb tip over from the fingertips of Harry Lapsatis. Jacob Mac Shane had waited patiently to get his chance and he was in straight away with an excellent clearance right up the centre of the pitch. The ball was not cleared and the Hebburn centre forward thumped the ball goal bound only to see Harry pull off another fine block on the line which he forced out of danger with some nimble hand work. Dx played with professionalism and kept the ball for the last few minutes and kept it out of the danger zone.The whistle sounded to relief and joy and we lined up Monktonesque to shake the hands of the Hebburn Town side who had been a credit to their manager and club.Man of the Match Harry LapsatisPeter Haney Best Attitude Award Jackie CrambRef 5/10 too much indecision. Saturday September 29th 2007 1.05pm Kick OffSAFC 24/7 Whites 1 Torpedo Consett 1After a first half battering in the previous game Torpedo needed a good performance here and they got one. This was a game full of blood and guts and some of the challenges by the opposition were at times not just late but disgraceful. Torpedo opened well with some crisp passing from Blackpool Elvis who had recovered from a Friday night mystery virus to play full of vigour on Saturday morning. On three minutes an unusual mistake by Big Joe Hume the Langley Park Birthday Legend let the SAFC 24/7 attack into the box but they were not reckoning on the Cat being as agile and he produced his first great save of the match. He took to his feet immediately with a wipe of his face with his sleeve (a hereditary condition passed on from his dad) and scowled at the opposition in typical Cat fashion. George Lovett was playing some great balls down the right and covered all the ground keeping the attackers at bay.One minute later and it was in the opposite box and the ball fell to Elvis who got a good shot on target but it was blocked by a defender. He did not give up but chased the ball and unbelievably won it back and played a crisp pass to the Burnhope Grump who was in fine form today. Liam took the ball onto his right foot and let one fly only to see it narrowly pass the left hand upright. The SAFC 24/7 (it's a bit of a mouthful isn't it!) attack was swifty broken down with a great tackle by Hippy Wilkinson who played in Ben with a good first time flick of the ball. James gave a good account of himself and is growing in stature every week.Against the run of play a long ball caught us napping down the middle and although Big Joe was breathing down the strikers neck he got a shot on and the Cat got a hand to it but it was already goal bound. Drat and double drat!Cameron Hume opened his portfolio which is growing by the week with an excellent challenge from which he emerged with ball but the opposition player was left in a rather untidy heap on the ground. Fair challenge Ref was the cry and a sporting kick was given back to the Torpedo box by the Sunderland outfit.We then won the battle of the middle ground with Joe Zico Robson getting stuck in and playing some good stuff with Liam. Joe took the ball wide on 14 minutes and I was shouting for him to play in back in to George who had ventured forward but he had other ideas and beat the defender comfortably before unleashing a hard low drive that caught the keeper unawares and he was able to see it come off his glove into the net. Great goal at a great point in the game. Half time was blown and we were back in it. The second half seen some great football , combinations from Cameron, Liam, James and Joe opened up the defence with shots going wide. It was non stop and end to end and it was the SAFC 24/7 goal that was likened to the siege at Sebastapol as we peppered the goal with shots. Liam went close from a free kick and his corners were superb. Ben Parkes was excellent and covered for Geoprge who had to rush off to do the Junior Great North Run. Ben's vision caught a sly move by the opposition to leave an "injured" player in our half who was I think called Lazarus.Big Joe put three players into orbit with the Langley park special and we had two shots cleared off the SAFC goal line. This was a moral victory but only one point when we deserved three.Man of the Match Ben Parkes

Peter Haney Best Attitude Award Cameron Hume

Ref 8/10 controlled the game well and stamped down on abusive language from one of the opposition.