QE A Team Vs Sunderland

Our big game had arrived, the second round of the national cup, and the boys travelled to Sunderland looking for revenge after their 3-1 victory over us previously. The banter on the bus was as usual, Denny and others telling stories from the weekend, with Denny himself sharing his classic! (If you want to here it find him behind Royal Mail). We arrived at our destination with our hopes up, although the weather put a slight downer on things. We went out to the referee telling us that we had to start right then and there, which gave us no time to warm up!
This lack of warm up was our downfall in the early minutes as Sunderland caught our defence on their heels and scored an early goal. As we got into the game our pace came through, with pretty boy Tom pushing through an injury. Our wingers were getting the better of their full backs and lead to us having some good chances! Cookson couldn't handle getting his hair wet for any longer so asked to be taken off, and was replaced by debutant Sam Mann, who started brightly with some great pressure from him and Aguero up top, and this pressure paid off as a free kick was won just outside their 18 yard box, with Alex G stepping up and putting the ball just infront of the keeper on a wet pitch which the keeper couldn't handle and just like that we were level! As the first half went on, we put a lot of pressure on them and could have scored from a number of chances! Our defence held firm in the first half with some good interceptions from full backs belly and nelson, and the centre backs clearing anything that came near them. The whistle went and we settled for level pegging at half time. Our usual team talk from Scotty got everybody pumped for the second half, which is becoming a frequent part of our team talks! This definitely gave us a boost as we went into the second half with more pressure onto their defence, which lead to another free kick won by our new striker Mann, who cleverly turned his man before getting snapped. This lead to another free kick for Alex G who was given instructions by captain Wrighty to hit the ball at the wall, with this looking a silly plan the ball ricocheted off the wall and past the keeper who had clearly been done by the deflection, and for the first time we lead! After this we started to defend a lot which was eventually our downfall, with Sam tracking back well but was to eager to get the ball and gave away a free kick. The free kick was put at Melling, who at first looked to have grasped the ball but lost it and the ball went through his legs and into the net. Straight away they won the ball again and sent it up field, winning a corner. The ball in was good and the header simple for their unmarked player to put in away, and our lead had been turned around. We needed to attack now, and mark took off belly after he started to cry after a horrible tackle from their winger, with his studs going into his knee. Batesy came on and was put on the right wing with a new look back three of nelson, alex and lorimer, but this proved to be too much for them to handle as they scored 3 goals in quick succession to kill off the game. We never stopped challenging though, and made a few good chances, but the game had already gone. The pitch had been suspect from the start with puddles on the pitch, and this got worse as the game went on, with the left hand side of the pitch being very hard to keep upright on. The game ended with us being defeated 6-2, although it wasn't a real showing of how the game could have ended up. A disappointment of today will have to go down to some players letting it down, although we can't name names... Maddison and Middleton have some explaining to do for their unavailability for the game. Man of the match had to go to alex for his goals, although both down to some misjudgements by their players.

QE Girls Vs East Durham College

With the weather as expected for the middle of November is was time for Amber and Charlotte to lighten the mood with a Domino's pizza and a packet of smurf haribos. Again due to injury we didn't have a named goalkeeper so Aimee Black offered to go in first half and because of the nice team we are playing only 9 player accommodate the lack of players the other side had. We lined up with a 3-4-1 formation with our star striker Kate being up top.

East Durham started the game strong and taking the lead quickly into the first half, but after some good play down the right hand side from Eleisha to Kate who then went down in the box from a bad tackle we were awarded a penalty. Who no-one was up for taking so Amber nominated Eleisha which proved a good choice considering she put it away nicely in the top corner. Some good defending from Beth, Kaye and Beth saw East Durham struggling to score, and after numerous chances we managed to get the ball back into their own half. Charlotte Conn running down the left hand side breaking in between the defence and had a chance to score shyly missed the near post to get us into the lead. Suddenly one of their girls made a miraculously recovery so we could play with 10 players now lining up 3-4-2 as manager Gary saw an opportunity for us to take the lead. Good midfield play from Amanda and Kelsey provided us with another opportunity but we with a good save from the keeper we were denied. With 10 minutes remaining a sudden loss of concentration made the opposition have a chance of scoring in which they used to their advantage. 2-1. Half time came and with a short team talk we were back on the pitch and ready to go with a change of keeper Tanisha went in.

We had built-up a small group of spectators on the sideline consisting of the rugby lads who were great supporters and with their encouragement and us being awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box Eleisha again scored for us in the top corner put us level with twenty minutes to go. The remaining minutes were battled out with some tackles flying in and missed opportunities from both sides. There were definite positives to be taken from the game and from an overall perspective the team played well.

QE A vs Hartlepool

The lads set off to Hartlepool FE, slightly disappointed by the lack of female companionship on the bus. However, buoyed by our excellent victory in the previous game against Wakefield, there was a good atmosphere in the dressing room despite Cookson’s poor choice of tunes. To further improve the mood- icon, leader and skipper Nathan Wright returned to the squad following his injury lay off the previous week. However he was kept out of the starting line up by our new midfield dynamo Hal Denny following an impressive display in the previous game. Mark named an unchanged XI in the hope we could build on our first victory of the season last week. We made an impressive start to the game and looked the superior side for the first 20 minutes; dangerous on the counter and the defence looked much more solid than in our previous league matches as a consequence of our clean sheet last week in the cup. Around the 20th minute mark, however, Hartlepool hit us with a quick counter down the left and it was finished well by their dangerous winger who was the main threat to us throughout the game. Despite this, we didn’t let our heads drop and Craig ‘Mop Head’ Edwards got through and continued his scoring streak with a quality left footed finish. But, disappointingly, we switched off again and Hartlepool scored from a quickly taken free kick which should have been cleared however goalkeeper Jacob Melling was disappointed to have not kept the fairly tame effort out. But to continue an enthralling first half, we scored once again! Josh Clark latched onto the end of an uncharacteristic killer through ball from centre half Alex Nelson and slotted calmly round their onrushing goalkeeper. On the brink of half time, pretty Yorkshire boy Tom Cookson appeared to pull his hamstring and limped off which meant Brad not so pretty Middleton had to be substituted on. Following his introduction he was presented with a couple of golden opportunities to give us an invaluable lead going into half time. However he struck them both straight at Hartlepool’s Craig Edwards look alike goalkeeper between the sticks, this earned him plenty of stick from the lads at half time (deservedly so). At half time, Mark Scott delivered his typically inspiring team talk and announced the Alex G would be replacing Batesy who’d had a difficult half dealing with their impressive winger in a hope that Nelly could move over and use his extra pace to nullify the threat. As usual, Mark’s team talk had the desired effect and we came out flying for the second half. The midfield, which contained Denny, Clark, Maddison and West, continued to work hard and they got their reward through Hal Denny himself. He burst through the Hartlepool defence and stayed on his feet despite their defender pulling his shirt and shorts on the way through to fire past Hartlepool’s very own mop head who’s positioning was very questionable. This further emphasised his impressive new lease of life as a central Midfielder following questions about his inclusion in the A team squad the previous week. He made sure Robyn was told about the goal on the way home. Following this goal Mark made a couple of changes, one of which was enforced as Nelly (who’d done a good job of marking their winger) hobbled off injured to be replaced by Batesy which meant we now had two injured gingers on the bench. The other change was to see the long awaited return of skipper Nath Wright in the hope of solidifying the midfield. However the changes didn’t really work and Hartlepool hit us with two quick goals to retake the lead for the first time in the second half. The first of which was as a result of a poor challenge from John Lorimer within the area, which meant they had a penalty which was placed right in the top corner. Following the penalty incident, Batesy had some kind words to say about the area of Hartlepool and was reprimanded by the referee. Unfortunately we lost our heads a bit and Hartlepool scored a well worked goal which meant the score was 4-3. The final 10 minutes were end to end and both sides looked like scoring. Following an extremely feisty period, John Lorimer went straight through the back of a Hartlepool midfielder and despite exclaiming how he was ‘so so so so so sorry’ and that ‘I didn’t mean it, promise’ the referee had no sympathy (probably because he’s ginger) and showed him a yellow card. John subsequently offered a handshake to their player however it was rejected and he was called ‘Ron Weasly’. From the resulting free kick, Jacob Melling pulled off an impressive double save to keep us in the game. Craig Edwards then scored past his counterpart at the other end which appeared to have levelled the game. However, the referee wrongly chalked it off and we failed to create any more chances in the last 5 minutes despite Matty Bell’s Iago Aspas esque corner. Consequently we went home with a disappointing result despite a decent performance in which we deserved at least a point and probably should have won. When asked to pick a man of the match, Hal Denny unsurprisingly picked his idol personal Robert West.

QE A Team vs Wakefield

It was a cold, wet day over at our home known as abbey road. The rain was on and off all day and the lads were disheartened by the absence of their idolised skipper. With this tragic loss the A team lads pulled together and decided to put in a good shift to make the skipper proud. Rob West supplied some good crack before the game putting on some up beat songs along the lines of 30 seconds of summer with John Lorimer suggesting to put fire on to get the lads up and mentally prepared for the big game ahead. Once out the team was led by substitute captain Rob West taking charge as Hal Denny and Craig Edwards turned down the role. The Wakefield lads came out to warm up in their full gear looking like a premier league side. This made QE nervous before the game. But, another great team talk from the gaffa Mark Scott pulled the lads together once more and off onto the pitch they went. The home side were put under serious amounts of pressure in the first 10 minutes as the lads tried to adapt to their new roles with Hal 'maestro' Denny in the central midfield and John Lorimer filling in at centre back. With Nelson giving away a penalty moments into the game heads were dropping. Out of no where Jacob Melling pulled a save that easily dealt with for the well struck penalty placed into the bottom corner. The game went at a furious pace after the save with Jamie Maddison, Josh Clarke, Craig Edwards and Tom Cookson all pressing to get a goal. Tom then broke the line of defence and was 1 on 1, the keeper pulled off a good save to deny Tom. The ball fell to Craig Edwards as he slotted the ball home to make the score 1-0. After a few more minutes of play the ball got put on a plate by Westy for Tom Cookson and he magically turned the defender and put it past the keeper to make it 2-0. The lads were thoroughly pleased with the performance, as was skipper who was watching them from the side taking notes for improvements in future games. Suddenly a burst of pace from Josh Clarke down the left side made the oppositions defence weary and he played the ball down to pretty boy Tom Cookson who tested the keeper and he reacted with a good save, only to fall to Josh Clarke who controlled the ball then went for power from the edge of the box. The ball pinged past the keeper who happened to be out of position and smashed the net to make the score 3-0. The lads went in at half time over the moon and the morale was through the roof. Another cracking team talk from Scotty made the lads realise that the opposition might get back into the game. The second half was a long and arduous one. The lads were holding the back line with exceptional discipline with Matty Bell putting in another shift to keep their strong winger at bay. The winger was also scared of Matty with his intimidation throughout the game. Brad Middleton replaced Josh Clarke to get some fresh legs down the left side. Brad was running up and down the left flank to keep the lead making some important defensive tackles along with some outstanding dribbles whilst doing so. The last 15 minutes of the game finally came and the score was kept at 3-0. Wakefield applied a period of high pressure putting the defence on edge, Alex Nelson was making some fantastic interceptions to keep them out. The home team conceded a free kick and their striker managed to get there before Melling, but like all good defenders Callum Bates anticipated the worst case scenario and cleared the ball off the line in a great fashion. Once again the A teams morale was replenished and they held it out till the end of the match with Alex Grocott replacing Jamie Maddison in the central midfield, ensuring our victory was secure with some decisive interceptions. Unfortunately, our newcomer Cameron Edgar didn't get on but did a good job of warming the bench. The final whistle went and the lads were overwhelmed with their massive victory! PC came on and led the pitch invasion with Marc Scott closely following, it was a quality performance from all of the lads and everyone made the college and Nath proud. MOM Jacob Melling

QE Girls VS New College Durham Girls

On what was a cold Wednesday afternoon we set off to play New College on 3G with only 10 players. A drop-out from our goalkeeper also meant that we would need to change up half way through which we knew could be a big problem for us. After arriving we only had 5 minutes until kick-off, whilst Amber bought her pre-match crisps the team was ready to have a little jog over to the other side of the pitch as a warm-up, great start.

We lined with a 4-4-1 formation with Kelsey being the lone striker, we found in hard in the first ten minutes having the one less player and after giving away a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area New College were 1-0 up. Straight from the kick off from some good play out wide to Kate Merryweather we managed to get a throw-in near to their box. Kate threw the ball to Amber, and with a great showboat, backheeling it between two defenders back to Kate and with an outstanding strike from outside the box she lobbed the keeper, we were back in it. However, straight from kick-off down their right hand side their winger got the ball and scored in the box. Half time 2-1 down.

Gary changed the keeper and Emma went in goal, we then put Kate upfront and Kelsey on the wing. The main aim “just get the ball to Kate” as quoted from the manager. Which is what we did. After some good play by the midfield and ball through from Amber to Kate she took a shot with 3 players around her in which the keeper parried it into her own net. 2-2.

Amber broke away with a good ball from Eleisha but as the sun was beaming in her eyes she couldn’t see and with a great save from the keeper she was prevented what would have been the vital winner. Good defending throughout the game from Beth, Kaye, Aimee and Amanda made sure New College were denied the winner.

5 minutes later and with only a few minutes left Kate broke again down the right hand side after good play from Charlotte Firth, Kate managed to get round 4 players one after the other and score the winner. A great team performance and a well-deserved win going into the next game. Haribos all round next week!

(wo)man of the match –Kate Merryweather

Beth Edgar

Aimee Black

Kaye Deighton

Amanda Ormston

Emma Tummelty

Charlotte Firth

Kelsey Holmes

Kate Merryweather (3)

Amber Hemming (C)

Eliesha Singh

QE A Team Vs Sunderland

On a pleasant, but cold early November afternoon, we welcomed the visit of Sunderland college. Skipper wrighty led the warm up as Mark flicked through his iPad for one last time before the game. We started with our familiar 4-3-3 formation, and this didn't really come off in the first half with Sunderland gaining the upper hand and scoring 2 very easy goals on our behalf. At half time, mark made a couple of changes, bringing on the pretty boy pairing of Maddo and Cookson, and changed the formation to 4-4-2, and we played a more direct style of football. Finally in the game we were starting to click and play some very good football, when all of a sudden Grocott decided to tangle legs in our penalty area with their striker and a penalty was conceded. Jamma got a strong right hand to it, however it wasn't strong enough and the score went to 3-0.
Grocott then made up for this 5 minutes later when he played an outrageous through ball to Mophead Edwards up front, who ran onto it and slotted it past the keeper. Denny compared him to Thierry Henry in his prime but I wasn't so sure on the idea. This goal sparked us into life and all of a sudden we were winning every ball in midfield through JL and NW, and in turn, creating lots of openings. Craig hit one straight at the keeper from 2 yards, justifying my disagreement with Hal, and Hutchinson just failed to get on the end of a very good ball in from Wrighty. Despite all of the pressure, we just couldn't score.

Final score QE 1-3 Sunderland.

We take the positives and move onto a massive game against Wakefield in the National Cup. Come on the lads in pinky purple!

Man of the match; John Lorimer and Nathan Joint