Match Reports 2002/03

5 October 2002 - Hillcroft at home

The biggest change at Purley this year is the move to their new ground at Walcountians, but on the pitch there is little change. Out goes last years captain Scott Nicholls, off to work in Canada before returning to his native Australia. In comes Mike Barrett, returning from a year playing in League North at Stockport, Denham Pope returns after a season and half out through a knee injuries, and Mark Dingfield joins from the good old US of A.

There was also little change in the results column, as Purley dominated Hillcroft to run out comfortable 20-1 winners in their first game of the season. Hillcroft have lost a couple of players during the off-season, and though they are well organised thanks to coach Ray Nash, they didn't have the experience necessary to trouble Purley. In fact the scoreline could have been a lot worse. Steve Flint in the Hillcroft goal had several good one-on-one saves to keep the scoreline down. Also Purleys ace attack man Tim Richmond suffered a knee injury during the second quarter and had to sit out the rest of the game, though Purley new boy Mark Dingfield had an impressive debut in attack, top scoring with six goals.

Scorers: Mark Dingfield 6, Jamie Tasko 5, Matt Payne 4, Mike Barrett 2, Chris Spence 1, Tim Richmond 1, Graeme Holland 1

19 October 2002 - Cambridge Univ. at home

With serveral novices on their side, Cambridge we always going to be up against it. Add to that the fact that Purley's midfield & attack were in majestic form, and a big scoreline was looming. Thought the students battled hard, there was no way they could stem a constant flow of Purley goals. Final score 36 - 0.

In the Purley midfield Stuart Green showed his continuing improvement with 2 goals. New Aussie recruit Sam Bugeja showed impressive form in his first game with 7 goals, becoming the third player from Camberwell LC in Oz to play for Purley in recent years, and in attack Jamie Tasko filled his boots with 10 goals.

Scorers: Jamie Tasko 10, Sam Bugeja 7, Mark Dingfield 5, Matt Payne 3, Mike Barrett 3, Stuart Green 2, Mike Husey 2, Darren Novell 2, Chris Spence 2

26 October 2002 - Heaton Mersey away, Iroquois Cup

Spending 6 hours in a minibus crawling up the motorway, and only arriving half an hour before face-off, it wasn't surprising that Purley made a very slow start. Mersey dominated possession in the first quarter, and pressured the Purley goal almost continually for the first five minutes. However, a combination of poor shooting by Mersey, and spectacular keeping by Paul Terry in the Purley goal kept the score at 0-0. Purley weren't helping their own cause, and turned the ball over far too often with handling errors, and elementary mistakes such as being caught offside. With that much possession it was only a matter of time before Mersey got their shooting boots on, and the quarter ended 0-4 to Mersey.

The second quarter was much of the same, though there were some encouraging signs for Purley, and they did manage to break their duck to take the score to 1-8 at the half.

Purley rallied in the second half, gaining much more possession, competed for the ball more, and showed more of what they are capable of. Chris Spence and Jamie Tasko both scored sweet goals, but at the other end Mersey were now in full swing, and their goals kept flowing.

Though the final score line of 4-18 may have been a tad harsh on Purley, it wasn't far off an accurate reflection of the game. Mersey are undoubtedly a good side, but Purley will feel that they didn't do themselves justice on this occasion.

Goals: Jamie Tasko 2, Mark Dingfield 1, Chris Spence 1.

2 November 2002 - Mellor at home, Wilkinson Sword

In the second game in two weeks against teams from up t' North, Purley faced Mellor, winners of League North, for the Wilkinson Sword trophy. This week it was Purley's time to play at home, so Mellor had the joys of getting up at the crack of dawn to make their way down the motorway. However, the long trip didn't seem to bother Mellor as they started strongly, and though both teams had opportunities, Mellor were much more sharp when scoring chances presented themselves, and they eased into a 4-0 lead after ten minutes. Purley weren't about to roll over to Northern teams two weeks in a row, and upped their game. By the end of the first quarter they had managed to pull the lead back to 4-3. Then at the beginning of the second quarter Darren Novell drove from behind goal, beat his man, decided to take on another, and amidst the calls of 'pass, pass' did what attackers often seem to do when they hear that cry, and took on one last man and slotted the ball just under the crossbar to bring the score to 4-4.

With the hard work to get back on level terms now done, Purley then seemed to just lose concentration. The defence was lack-lustre, the attack gave the ball away too easily, and in a period of five minutes, which would prove to be the difference in this game, Mellor scored three goals without reply. After a time-out Purley steadied the ship, but the damage had been done, and at half-time Mellor was back to a four-goal lead at 8-4.

With a comfortable lead going into the second half, Mellor could now afford to relax a little, and though Purley continued to pressure them, they could never manage to narrow the gap, and the teams traded goals to give a final score of 7-12. One of the hard lessons Purley has learnt in the last two weeks is that if they are going to beat any of the top Northern sides, they will have to be at the top of their game for every minute.

Goals: Jamie Tasko 4, Mark Dingfield 2, Darren Novell 1

9 November 2002 - Bath away

Purley made steady, rather than spectacular, progress against Bath with quarter time scores of 4-0, 8-0 and 13-0. Bath had squandered several excellent scoring opportunities, but got their just rewards in the final quarter, with Nick Roberts bagging both of their goals. But at the other end Purley were having their best quarter, with several sweet passing moves which left the final shot into an empty net. Final score 20-2.

With Purley's two top attack men taking a week off, the midfield needed to take on the scoring responsibilities - and both Sam Bugeja and Matt Payne obliged, with tallies of 8 and 4 goals respectively. Even the defence helped out, as Andy Booth scored after a nice change of hands. In attack new recruit Matous Hilar, from the Czech Republic, fitted into the side nicely, and scored 2 goals on his debut.

Goals: Sam Bugeja 8, Matt Payne 4, Darren Novell 2, Matous Hilar 2, Andy Booth 1, Stuart Green 1, Mike Husey 1, Mike Barrett 1

23 November 2002 - Spencer away

After heavy rain during the week, the Spencer pitch was covered with copious amounts of surface water. Conditions like these can cause a disjointed game, and reduce the effect skill has on the outcome the game. However, Purley were alive to this possibility. With determination from the entire midfield in fighting for ground balls, and Matt Payne gaining most of the face-off possession, the result was never in doubt. Final score 21 - 4.

Goals: Matous Hilar 5, Chris Spence 4, Sam Bugeja 4, Jamie Tasko 3, Matt Payne 3, Mike Husey 1, Stuart Green 1

30 November 2002 - Reading Wildcats away, Senior Flags Semi-Finals

The Reading pitch is built for good, fast flowing lacrosse - and helped produce a well fought, enjoyable game. Purley started well, and with Mike Barrett dominating the face-offs, went in at the first quarter with 4-0 lead. Reading responded in the second quarter, limiting Purley to only one goal, but at the other end they failed to breach the Purley defence, so at half time it was 5-0.

In the second half Purley managed to get into their rhythm again, and the goal tally started to rise. Reading always threatened on the fast-break, with their keeper looking for the fast outlet pass, but in six-on-six attack they only seemed to have a one-pronged attack, and though they moved the ball well round the perimeter, found it difficult to penetrate the Purley defence. By the end of the third quarter it was 9-0, and Reading had to wait to the final quarter to get the just rewards for their perseverance, and get their names on the score sheet. Final score was 14 - 2.

Off the field there was good news as well. Ace attack man Tim Richmond, who injured his knee in the first game of the season, has been given the all clear, and should be back playing in the New Year.

18 January 2003 - Hampstead away

With both Purley and Hampstead unbeaten so far this season, and them due to meet in the Flags Final in a few weeks time, there was everything to play for in this game. At the start of the first quarter Purley went out to a 2-0 lead, only to be pegged back to 2-2. Twice more Purley took the lead, but each time Hampstead responded, and at quarter time it was 4-4. With both teams competing for everything, and pretty evenly matched, this game was looking like it would go to the wire. In the second quarter Purley stepped up a gear, but despite having the majority of possession, they could not make the pressure on the Hampstead goal count, and though they kept a clean sheet at their end, they could only manage to add one at the other, taking the half time score to 5-4.

Whatever Hampstead said in their half-time talk must have been something, as they completely dominated the third quarter. Making good use of the low winter sun, which was by now shining almost directly down the pitch into the Purley keepers eyes, they managed to tally 8 goals in the quarter, giving themselves a seemingly unassailable lead at 7-12. And for most of the final quarter it looked like they would run out comfortable winners, despite Purley now having the marked advantage of Hampstead's keeper now having the sun in his eyes.

With six minutes to go, and each side having adding a goal to their tally, Purley were still five goals behind. But Purley are made of stern stuff. Soon it was 5 minutes to go, but only 4 behind. Then Mark Dingfield got his shooting boots on, and with 3 goals in less than 3 minutes, there was only a single goal in it. And then with 2 minutes to go, the Hampstead keeper had a rush of blood to the head which resulted in an expulsion foul for him, so Hampstead had to put a defence man in goal, and play the remainder of the game man-down. Surely the Purple and Gold could at least tie the game. On the ensuing man-up the first shot went just wide of the pipe, the second just inches wide and above, but before they could have another they lost possession. As the Hampstead keeper cleared, a Purley player was called for interference and sent to the sin bin, so both teams were now a man down. After play restarted Purley pressured the ball, and managed to check the ball out of a Hampstead stick, but while both teams were scrambling for the ground ball the final whistle blew. Final score 12-13 to Hampstead.

So, Hampstead finally brought Purley's 4 year unbeaten League run to an end - the last defeat being at the hands of Kenton in December 1998. If this game is anything to go by, the Flags Final should be a cracker.

25 January 2003 - Spencer at home

After last weeks close loss, it was back to winning ways as Purley comfortably defeated Spencer. With seven goals in the first quarter, and another seven in the second, the Purple and Gold had the match tied up by half time, with the score at 14-1. Spencer rallied in the third, only losing it 2-1, but another six in the final quarter saw the final score at 22-2.

Scorers: Jamie Tasko 5, Tim Richmond 5, Matt Payne 5, Mark Dingfield 4, Ryan Lynch 1, Darren Novell 1, Chris Spence 1

1 February 2003 - Walcountian Blues at home

There has always been an intense rivalry between these two teams, and the current ground sharing arrangement gave that rivalry another edge. The Blues were definately fired up for this game, and from start to finish they fought hard - at most ground balls it seemed that the Blues had their second man there before Purley.

In the first quarter the Blues used the advantage of playing downhill, and got their names on the scoresheet first. Perhaps sensing an upset, the Blues continued to press hard, but Purley managed to get their noses in front by the end of the quarter to lead 3-2. The second quarter was an entirely different story, as the Purple and Gold attack moved into first gear, and scored 7 goals without reply. The Blues responded in the third quarter, which they only lost 2-1, to take the score to 12-3, but Purley had left the best till last. In the final quarter they completely dominated, moving the ball swifly and accurately in attack, and with many well worked goals in the 11 that they scored. Final score 23-3.

The one factor that seemed to have a major effect on this game was the slight slope on the pitch from one goal down to the other. It's only a gentle slope, but for some reason it had a remarked effect on the scoring - with Purley playing uphill in the first and third quarters the Blues kept the game tight, only losing 5-3, but when playing downhill Purley seemed to score at will, racking up 18 goals without reply.

On the down side, Purley's Chris Spence broke his wrist, which looks like it will rule him out of the Flags Final.

15 February 2003 - Hitchin away

With both teams only having 10 players, and no ref available, it was decided to play the game without a referee. This can sometimes lead to tension between the two sides, but on this occaision both teams acted in a very sportsman like manner - it was a very clean game, but when there was a foul both sides sent their own players to the sin bin, even when the other team would probably have let the foul go.

The Purley attack were in their usual majestic form, and with 9-1 first quarter scoreline the game was effectively over. Purley continued their domination in the second quarter to take the score to 18-1, but Hitchin rallied in the third only losing the quarter 3-6, and it looked like they might keep the Purple and Gold below the thirty mark, but Purley managed that with only seconds to go. Final score 30-4.

22 February 2003 - Hampstead at Reading, Senior Flags Finals

See the report

8 March 2003 - Reading Wildcats away

Reading's decision to play a zone defence seemed to be paying off in the first quarter. Normally the Purple and Gold attack rip a zone to shreds, but in the first quarter poor ball movement, too many outside shots, and some good goal tending, kept them at bay. Though Purley did score first, at the other end the defence were pressuring too far out, and Reading capitalised on the empty crease area with a good cut and feed to draw level. At the end of the first quarter it was 2-1 to Purley.

In the second quarter Purley put things right. With slick ball movement, the Purple attack probed the Reading defence until they worked a good opening, and were clinical in the finishing. And when the ball did get down the other end Purley's defence was mopping up the ball. With six goals already scored in the quarter Reading reverted to man-on-man defence, but it didn't help much as Purley scored three more to take the half-time score to 11-1.

After that Purley coasted to the win, never really able to capture the excellence of that second quarter. Final score 19-2.

Goals: Tim Richmond 4, Graeme Holland 4, Sam Bugeja 4, Jamie Tasko 2, Ryan Lynch 2, Darren Novell 1, Matt Payne 1, Mike Barrett 1

15 March 2003 - Hillcroft away

Hillcroft are a hard-hitting and competitive side, but with only one serious attacking option goals were hard to come by. Despite not being on top form, the Purple and Gold managed to pull out a comfortable 23-5 victory - with Sam Bugeja showing the way with 9 goals.

Goals: Sam Bugeja 9, Tim Richmond 7, Darren Novell 3, Matt Payne 2, Mike Husey 1, Ryan Lynch 1

5 April 2003 - Hampstead at home

With Hampstead still having a perfect record in the league, and Purley's only defeat being a 12-13 loss to Hampstead, a loss today would give the championship to Hampstead. No doubt with this in mind, Hampstead came out fired-up at the start of the first quarter, and for the first five minutes looked to be unstoppable. The Purley attacked hardly managed to touch the ball, and at the other end Hampstead notched up three goals, admittedly the second being rather fortuitous as the ball hit the post and went in off the keepers foot from the rebound, but the way they were playing they deserved that touch of luck. However, Purley steadied the ship, and started to gain more possession. Goals from Tim Richmond & Jamie Tasko brought the score back to 2-3, and then a minute before quarter time Tim Richmond drew the Hampstead cover, and fed an open Greame Holland who drew the scores level.

With the score 3-3 at quarter time, it was looking like it would be a tense game, but Purley had settled now, and though the game was still tight they started to take control, taking a 6-3 lead before Hampstead pulled back to 6-4 with a man-up goal just before half time.

With the game still in the balance, Purley knew the first goal in the second half would be vital - and within a couple of minutes Jamie Tasko duly obliged. The Purley ride was working especially well, which helped Purley to gain long periods of possession which they used to good effect to build up the lead to 10-4 at three-quarter time.

If Hampstead did have any hope of pulling back a 6-goal deficit in the last quarter it was rapidly dashed, as within a minute Mike Barrett had put Purley 11-4 up. The goals continued to flow for Purley, including a sweet right-handed shot from Tim Richmond (he seems to be proud of that for some reason), taking the final score to 15-4.

Goals: Jamie Tasko 4, Sam Bugeja 3, Mike Barrett 3, Tim Richmond 2, Ryan Lynch 2, Graeme Holland 1

A special thanks must go to both refs - Simon Peach had been at a meeting in Germany in the morning, and arrived directly from the airport, and Ray Nash had originally just come to watch - but stepped into the breach when it seemed Simon wouldn't make it on time. Thanks.

26 April 2003 - Six-a-Sides at Croydon

The SEMLA Sixes took place on Saturday 26 April at Croydon LC's Foxbury ground in Chistlehurst. Purley fielded a strong team to try to defend their title. Our first game was against Poynton, who were down for the weekend on a Southern tour. We started strongly and were soon a few goals up, but in the second half Poynton came back at us and the game ended 8-4 to Purley. Our second group game was against Reading, and by this point the Purley Pride were moving the ball well and creating good scoring opportunities. Reading battled hard but the Purple and Gold were just too strong winning 7-0. Our final group game was against a well organised Hitchin team. They made us work for every goal we scored and some good goalkeeping helped them keep the score down, but the Purple defence was also playing well and kept Hitchin's chances to a minimum. Final score 5-1 to Purley. This meant that we had won our group and had qualified for the final.

The other Division in the Senior competition was much closer with Hillcroft beating Hampstead and Croydon but losing to Walcoutian Blues. And Hampstead beating Walcoutians and Croydon but losing to Hillcroft. At this tournament you gain an additional point for each goal scored and Hampstead ended up qualifying for the final as they had scored one more than Hillcroft.

The Purley - Hampstead final was lively and drew quite a crowd! Hampstead recruited the American LDO from Hitchin for the game (even though all teams had to hand in a team sheet to the organisers at 11.45) and were now looking like a strong team. In the first half Purley struggled with subbing and Hampstead picked up two goals, both because Purley were playing man-down defence while trying to get a long-stick defender on. At the other end Purley were playing well but not as well as earlier in the day and the score just before the end of the half was 3-2 to Purley. Purley looked like they needed some inspiration to move them up a gear. This came just before half time when Hampstead's Dave Leach was sprinting down on a fast break with Purley's Sam Bugeja hot on his heals and beginning to catch him up. Suddenly Purley's Ted Whitehouse appeared on Dave Leach's blind-side and timed the hit really well, knocking Dave to the ground. Purley recycled the ball and Graeme Holland scored in the final seconds to make the halftime score to 4-2 to Purley. The second half was a excellent demonstration of how both teams can play, both creating excellent scoring opportunities and taking it to the cage as quickly as possible. Purley just had the edge with Mike Barrett dominating the midfield, backed up by the speed of both Sam Bugeja and Ryan Lynch and keeper Paul Terry came up with a couple of big saves to help Purley win their third Sixes crown in as many years. Final score - 10 -7.

We'd like to thank Centurions Lacrosse Association for organising the tournament and Croydon Lacrosse Club for hosting it.