January 6th : v Derby 1st X1 2 - 0
We almost arrived at the right place, but had to drive back round the car park. By the time we were ready Derby still only had 10 men so the Umpires agreed to delay the start. The initial impression was that Derby did not appear to strong and so it proved. Even though they began with 10 men I do not believe the result would have been any different. Beeston's first goal arrived at their first penalty corner. A slip move left to Matt Taylor saw him fire home into the bottom left hand corner.
Not long after, at the second penalty corner, Steve Brooks almost scored but feet on the line gave Matt a chance to score his second from the stroke. Fifteen minutes gone and already 2 goals ahead and no pressure. Their eleventh player eventually arrived and slotted in at centre forward. I must admit he was a quality player who knew exactly what he was doing and exactly where he was going especially round and round in circles until he crossed the goal line. Pity that you are supposed to stay inside the lines. He was almost as greedy as the sweeper but not as noisy. In actual fact the sweeper was lucky to stay on the park when one of his colleagues was less fortunate.
The game tended to drift along with no outstanding quality. That is apart from the passing of Biddlecombe and the tackle from Aylwin.
The second half continued to meander along in a similar vein but there was one instance when the sweeper pushed forward. Defenders queued up to get him but even Andy Smith missed.
Ali Hartley
Phil Hall
Steve Brooks Gary Steeples Richard Aylwin
Andy Smith Clive Biddlecombe Robin Schmidt
Phil Sully Matt Taylor Robert Taylor
Goalscorers : Matt Taylor [2]
January 13th : v John Players 2nd X1 ( A ) 1 - 4
Beeston had a choice of fixtures. Either this strong fixture against a 2nd X1 or an easy one. With the League in mind Steve Brooks went for the tough one. Initially it looked a good choice as Beeston held their own and even took the lead through Mark Sully. Unfortunately it didn't take Players too long to equalise. As expected Tony Birchmore left Phil Hall at pace and a dubious third party decision failed to get him off the hook. Soon after Players gained the lead as they slowly took control of the game. This they comfortably held until half time as Phil Sully and Matt Taylor failed to make their usual domination. Credit has to be given to the opposing defence.
Midway through the second half Players increased their lead. Breaking through 3 missed tackles the forward entered the circle and conned the sweeper into delaying his tackle to fire the ball home. The final goal was late on in the game when the right winger skipped along the goalline and netted from an acute angle. In essence this was a fair result, but in reality this was a poor performance. It is to be hoped that this is not the level to be found in the second half of the League season.
Paddy Dawson
Phil Hall
Steve Brooks Gary Steeples Richard Aylwin
Andy Smith Clive Biddlecombe Robin Schmidt
Phil Sully Matt Taylor Robert Taylor
Goalscorers : Phil Sully
January 20th : v South Notts (A) 0 - 2
No report from this game but from all known accounts this was rubbish.
Paddy Dawsom
Pete Fenton
Tim Davis Richard Aylwin Matt Edwards
John McCullen Clive Biddlecombe Jonathan Brett
Phil Sully Matt Taylor Brad Harvey
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January 27th : v Chesterfield (A) cancelled