Weekend Match Reports 24th Sept
 
Cardiff and UWIC 3-0 Marjons

Cardiff opened up their defence of the league title with a resounding 3-0 victory over ex national league side Marjons. Both sides will have high hopes of promotion this season and on this form it seems Cardiff will again be favorites for the league. Cardiff started the game strongly and took control from the first whistle. Marjons really struggled to cope with Cardiff’s pressing tactics and found it very difficult to get out of their own half. Nevertheless Marjons national league quality & organisation showed as Cardiff failed to create many clear cut opportunities. The first real chance fell after 15 minutes as Cardiff were awarded a penalty corner. Mark Gardiners shot rebounded of the keeper and fell kindly to the usually reliable Mark Ramage who blazed high and wide. Minutes after Cardiff had a goal disallowed after it was adjudged that James Astley shot was struck from outside the area. The deadlock was broken shortly after with good work down the right from Dover Samuels resulting in a penalty stoke being awarded. Tim Jones duly converted the stoke giving Cardiff the lead.
            Cardiff continued to dominate possession and restricted Marjons to counter attacks. The second goal was right out of the training ground. More good work from Dover Samuels saw his cross expertly deflected in by Jay Wilyman at the far post. Cardiff went into half time 2-0 up and looking very comfortable without Marjons really testing the Cardiff keeper.
            The games was effectively over 10 minutes into the second half as Tim Jones scored his second of the game with a neat deflection from Mark Ramages pin point pass. Cardiff then sat back and defended their lead. Discipline was again a problem for Cardiff as they went down to 9 men twice. Marjons only real chance came when a deflected shot was expertly save by Steven Gardiner when he dived low to his right to glove the ball away when it seemed he had no right to get to it.
            The game finished 3-0 to Cardiff and in truth it could have been more. It was by no means a perfect performance but Cardiff will take a lot of positives from the game whereas Marjons will be left pondering what else they could have done. Cardiff travel to Bristol University next week and will be confident of another 3 points.

Cardiff and UWIC B 1-1 Newport

Cardiff and UWIC B were unlucky not to take all three points in the first league game of the season. Playing together for the first time, it took several minutes for Cardiff to get used to the team structure (not to mention each others names!). The team was buoyed early on by some effective work down right wing with Brad and Oli combining well and it wasn’t long before Ian Stockton found space in the D and narrowly missed from a tight angle. 
As the game progressed, Cardiff benefited from some overzealous defending and won a number of short corners which they were unlucky not to convert, but it was Newport that took the lead after a quick break caught the midfield unawares. 
Goalkeeper Simon Comfort was bossing the Cardiff ‘D’ and made some excellent saves whilst Walid, Graham and Ruan provided the experience at the back and put an abrupt end to the Newport Attacks. Sam Wiggins and Jason Durbridge ran tirelessly and created a number of good opportunities which the Cardiff attack of Rob Berry, Dale Hutchinson and Crispy were unlucky not to score from. Ian stock and Tom Hutchinson made some good runs down the left and it was no surprise when Cardiff were awarded yet another short corner following extended pressure from the attacking line. On this occasion Walid Abdo was clinical at the short corner and slotted the ball past the Newport keeper to level the scores at half time. 
The second half passed in much the same way as the first with a physical Newport side showing good resilience in defense and creating a number of half chances following quick breaks from midfield. However, the game ended in some controversy after Cardiff scored a seemingly legitimate goal which was deemed instead to be a sixteen yard hit when the umpires were unable to confirm that Brad Ghilchrist’s shot had been struck within the ‘D’. 
Cardiff will be disappointed not to get a first win under their belt, but will be encouraged that such a new side was able to more than compete with an experienced and well organised Newport team. Cardiff will look to improve at every opportunity and will be eager to convert their chances early on when they play against Cardiff Uni next Saturday.
Cardiff and UWIC 5th 8-2 Swansea Bay
The newly promoted fifth, with a few changes in personnel took their time to get going in their opening match at home to Swansea Bay. The two teams went into half-time with two goals each, but in the second half it was a different matter as Cardiff played some excellent fluid hockey, with new faces combining well with last seasons crop, with Christian Phillip-Adams forming a particularly usefully midfield partnership with Elliot Morgan.  Tom Cheeseman led the scoring with four goals, while newcomer Jason, also claimed a hat-trick. Elliot added the final goal in a comfortable 8-2 victory. 
Scorers: Tom Cheeseman 4, Jason D (don’t know full name) 3, Elliot Morgan
Monday, 24 September 2007
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