QE A vs New College Durham

Coaches Corner – Marshy’s View  (New College Durham – Home)

It was 5pm late afternoon, my fine self and Sam Read were relaxing on a couple of deck chairs with an exotic cocktail in hand enjoying the Los Angeles sunset after a stressful term at University. Out of the blue we received an unexpected phone call from an old friend ‘Mark Scott’ who explain he needed our advice and expertise for the final home game of the calendar year against New College Durham. Extremely excited by the opportunity Sam booked his private jet for the two of us to return to Tees Valley airport that same evening.

Wednesday 17th December 1.12pm (Managers Office, Abbey Road)

Scott hands over a piece of paper to Read which includes the QE Squad: (4-4-2) Melling, Bates, Bell, Nelson, Grocott, West (MOM), Clark, Wright, Lorimer, Edwards, Denny. Subs: Deacon, Middleton, Maddison.

After an inspirational pre match speech and a well-structured warm up the teams were on the field of play, with the visitors kicking first towards the Westbourne Grove End. The pitch was ‘sticky’ which saw little football being played and lots of tackles flying in. Robert West was a constant thorn in the side of the opposition with his extremely direct runs and pin point crosses. QE created a lot of chances in the first half, with some questionable finishing from the usually clinical forwards Edwards and Denny. It was a set piece that broke the deadlock, towering centre back Grocott striking the ball low and hard into the bottom corner leaving the keeper no chance.

What most impressed Sam Read was the performances of the first years who weren’t fazed by the many senior personalities present in the technical area. Both full backs looked extremely comfortable and young midfielder Lorimer covered a large distance in the middle of midfield. The game took a negative turn for QE when on 36 minutes forward Hal Denny who worked day and night to complete his Sport and Leisure coursework so he could play in the game, was sent off for what can only be described as GBH on the New College goalkeeper, recent reports suggest they have managed to reconnect his leg back to his body.

The second half began with the visitors still not threatening the QE goal, arguably due to the tactical wisdom of Read at half time. QE took a 2-0 lead when young defensive prospect Nelson who had previously worked under Read at Longfield smashed the ball in from 5 yards after showing great strikers instinct to be in the right place at the right time. Players started to tire being a man down so Scott made full use of the substitutes he had available. The third goal came after fine work by captain marvel Nathan Wright who played a cultured ball down the line for the young Maddison. As this ball was played Rob West made his way into the penalty area from the right flank and when the ball found him he made no mistake. His Shefki Kuqi celebration gaining a great reaction from the crowd.

The game ended 3-0 and I personally was very impressed with the QE team. A good blend of experienced professionals and exciting new prospects who should have no problems picking up results in the second half of the season under the guidance of Scott and Wright. Best of luck for the rest of the season gentleman.

Marsh

QE C vs Stockton Riverside

Sorry this match report is coming to you late but its difficult being an adolescent with vast academic potential who dabbles in the art of ballin’ on the side . Also apologise for the match reports I haven't done. If anyone else wants to do them you are more than welcome.

This game was a game we simply needed to win because basically they were rubbish and rock bottom of the league. The usual pre-match routine was carried out, Jack with the music and Luke with the terrible banter. We went out to warm up and Macca had a special warm up sorted with cones and bibs. Just a simple pass and move exercise that had roughly 23.8% intensity to it followed by shots at the keeper. They were running late so we had the pleasure of watching the B team getting their “bottoms” handed to them by a quality Gateshead side. Eventually they turned up and we were ready to go we lined up with Thompson in goal, Davo Connor and Nath in defence with Brad and Murph at wing backs and me Doug and Teddy in midfield and finally Jack and Luke up front. No Sam ‘Gshore’ Williams in the squad as he betrayed us yet again for the B team. Poor. We started extremely well with a nice root 1 ball that sent Jack clean through and a smart finish under the keeper. That allowed us to settle our nerves and play some good football which paid off not long after with a good cross from Jack down the right and a wonderful header from the edge of the box from Luke. 2-0 and cruising. However they did get on the scoresheet through some lets just call it ‘continental’ goalkeeping from Thompson, trying to beat his man on the edge of his box and failing. Despite this goal we continued to dominate and had several chances including a Birksy bicycle kick (alliteration) which was very amusing to watch. Nevertheless he put it wide. We scored our third from a corner which Nathan won the header and it fell to none other than Richmond Town’s finest Andy Davidson who smashed home the knock down. Just before half time we did concede a penalty from a very suspicious dive from their striker in which they scored. Half time 3-2.

Positive encourage from Macca at half time and a few changes which introduced Ali Bari New, Harry Raglan and bad boy Max Tennent who was banned from the B team. We picked up where we left off and not long after scored through Harry who looks remarkably like Scotty T, he took the ball from left to right and smashed his shot home from outside the box. As the game went on it started to get nasty as they knew the contest was slipping away from the them. Jack put one of their lads on the weights and the whole thing went up the air. As captain I calmed Jack and everyone down which was the sensible thing to do, not because I was scared of their team. We scored another 2 goals before the end of the game and I really can’t remember who scored them, sorry lads. Oh and Jack missed a penalty.

Full time 6-2, a quality win with some great goals.

Motm: NOT Sam Williams.

Harry played well when he came on and scored a great goal, also Ali Bari New made some great pacey runs but I would have to give it to Harry.

Cheers,Curtis.

Again sorry about not doing half the match reports but I'm dedicated to my A2 studies.

QE Girls vs Tyne Met

An away game to Tyne met was shared with the A Team, a different experience to say the least, with their choice of conversation and music. After dropping them off we finally arrived at our 3G pitch with only 11 players, again no goalkeeper. We started the game 4-5-1 with Kate as the lone striker and Tanisha starting the game in goal. The first 9 minutes we saw what we were up against with their striker getting two goals but we carried on fighting with some good attacking play. However, Amber jumped infront of a shot and with the rebound of her leg flying back hitting Kelsey in the face we were down to 10 whilst she recovered and also asked if her teeth were still in. The game continued and with a powerful strike from one of their players Tanisha after making a great save hurt her wrist and is now out for 3 weeks after going to hospital. Another injury. The list is now longer than our actual squad.

Emma offered to go in goal and at this point the score was probably 5-0. Then goals 6, 7, 8 came just before half-time. The whistle blew and whilst we were down to 10 players the team were still having a laugh.

There were some good opportunities for attacking play for QE but with no outcome, the second half did prove extremely difficult but Beth and Eleisha offering to go in goal and some good saves from Beth we struggled on. All the team played very well due to the circumstances and the final score could have been more if we didn't go in for tackles and close the ball down.

Goals 9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16
and finally 17 followed.

This proved a short match report due to the final score, however I would like to thank the girls for still going on even when we were getting beat. The haribos will be back for next weeks game. Get well soon Tanisha and I hope Gary had fun at hospital for the second week running.

Woman of the match is still pending.

QE A Team Vs Tyne Met

Another Wednesday another football match. The lads were really up for this one as it was at Tyne met. Meaning a decent trek listening to Denny informing us about the girls he's been grafting for this week. Although he looked rather happy when he seen the girls football team come on the bus.  Without our normal manger this week, we were eager to show him some 'barca style of play'. We finally got to the pitch after trek through the Tyne met beck! So the game kicked off and QE looked the better side, keeping the ball well and pressing Tyne met well. Which was rather unusual as we normally play the 'West Ham' way, or the as the gamers would say the 'Lb Y' spammer. The game went on we made some good crosses, but no one was there to convert. The Tyne met striker broke through our defence, took it round jamma, but he was there to quickly make the ground back up and pull of a good save keeping the score level. Apart from that we kept solid, and we're hard to break down. The second half started and the opposition looked much more threatening, with there winger showing off some of his pace. But nelly, with his shorts as high as his dignity, kept on his toes putting some good tackles in and blocking crossers. The game went on and josh out of know where placed a wonderful cross  which missed everyone out apart from pesty westy who wrapped the outside of his foot round the ball, which flew into the bottom corner giving the keeper No chance. Nathan and Jamie, in the middle of park caused a lot of bother to Tyne met by  putting some good tackles in and passing to both full backs( nelly and belly). the clock was clicking and eventually Qe got a corner where Nathan whipped a good ball in which bounced around for a bit. Until Denny shrugged of the centre back and powered it underneath the goalkeeper. So 2-0 to Qe, the looked over as we kept the ball well preventing Tyne met from touching it. Until the game turned, where Alex who had been solid missed kicked the ball which landed to there striker who curled a great shot passed jam, making him look like a 'fool and a waste of time'. With our heads down things got worse as they scored practically straight away levelling the score. Jose, aka PC, thought it was time to make a tactical change. So he brought on rickie nashers lambert, or brad as most people know him. We looked more lively putting Craig though a couple of times who made some horrific shots which didn't even hit the target. A couple of minutes later bugs bunny popper up from no where and smashed the ball into the back of net, putting Qe back ahead. The defence, which was made up of three gingers and a lamppost kept it tight, holding on to the three points. The whistle has went and it was all over, Qe had done it! Their first win in the league! So the lads had a smile on the face, which had nothing to do with the girls on the bus. The morale was high and the banter was flowing on the way home. As Denny was showing us why he should be on the xfactor, singing some Adele and Mike. Which was a good end to a good day!