Queens' 1 Churchill 1

Honourable result, but a draw between 2 of big guns in the MCR virtually gifts the league title to Jesus (as long as they overcome corpus, catz and selwyn which they are very likely to).
It was a close tight game with very few chances, though we were controlling possession in the first half and went 1-0 up thanks to a Matt Wells goal which owed more to poor keeping than good shooting, but they all count! We had a few other chances in the first half but couldn't make any of them count but churchill were working hard to close down space and make it difficult, and the referee wasn't helping (but i'll moaning about the ref for later...).
Second half started well, we were playing nice football and churchill weren't doing much and we had a good disallowed for offside (very late, and wrong, call!!!)
and then came the incident which ruined the game, when the referee (who had for some reason decided to ignore fouls for most of the game and instead focus his attention on booking people for dissent, hence people were getting more annoying at his lack of decision making!!) decided to send off Paul and one of the churchill players for pushing. Normally, a good referee in a college game would defuse the situation with talking to both players and captains and asking for peace, but no, straight away, the referee went to his pocket without thinking and them both off.
After this, straight away, churchill equalised from a cross and we defended well for the last 30mins to keep them at bay, though injuries caused us to lose our shape and we didn't pose enough attacking threat.
In end, a draw reflected the game play, though if the referee wouldn't have made that error, i think we would have held on a victory....

Team: Dan C, Pete, Me, Adrien, Simon, Matt W, Dan B, Paul, Stefan, Tom, Gabriel, Bob, Dan S.

Goal: Matt Wells

Bookings: Me, Dan B,... lost count
Sending off: Paul

P.s. Refs name was Daniele Dosi and he certainly was (he even had the temerity to turn up late and not bring a watch to the game). I would not recommend him...

Queens' 4 Corpus 0

Comprehensive victory in our first home game of the season against a battling Corpus team.
We dominated possession for most of the game, Dan in goal didn't touch the ball at all in the first half of the game (not even for goal kicks), but most of our play was in the middle third of the pitch and the final ball was not quite there. I'm not sure of the order of the goals, but i know that, for the first time this season (and maybe even ever!), that neither Tom nor Gabriel managed to score a goal. I reckon they were saving them for Churchill this sunday ;-)

Team: Dan, Chris, Me, Adrien, AndyB, Dan Bolland, Herve, Paul, Stefan, Tom, Gabriel, Ian.

Goals: Stefan, Herve (though hint of O.G.!!), Dan Bolland, Paul (who would like me to point out that 4 has scored in the last 5 games).

Churchill this sunday is going to be the Big One so make sure that you can make it!!
Plus, Football formal this thursday where we all get drunk and so don't feel like drinking again till after the Churchill game!!

Queens' 2 Selwyn/Robinson 1

A very satisfactory win away against a very good Selwyn team who definately gave us the most physical and competitive game this season. The pitch we played on seemed very small and this didn't help the flow of game, nor did the 4-5-1 formation favoured by Selwyn which stopped us playing the passing possession football that we have been doing.
We had the better of the first half chances, with Tom, Gabriel and Stefan having clear chances to put us ahead but it took a well-taken goal from Paul after a great through ball from Tom to put us ahead just before the half-time whistle. In the second half, we had alot more space to play football after Selwyn switched to a 4-4-2 and their dominating aerial presence moved into defence rather than midfield. We had a more chances in the second half though Selwyn were more dangerous on the break with alot of pace on the wings and upfront. We managed to goal ahead with a clinical finish from our mini-mexican Gustavo and that goal seemed to seal the game and but we continued to play football in an attacking manner. However, Selwyn were always dangerous from setpieces and they scored with a few minutes to play direct from a free-kick, but we held on for the 2-1 win put keep us top of the league :-) Next week, we have Corpus at home, and yes home actually means Queens' pitches!!!

Team: Dan Cook, Pete, Andy H, Adrien, Matt Miller, Gustavo, Paul, Herve, Stefan, Tom, Gabriel, Andy B, Daniel Shaw.

Goals: Paul, Gustavo

Queens' 4 Clare/Fitz 1

Another game, another win, the Queens' Machine carries on rolling. Game started tight with Clare pressurising Queens' possession game, but then Paul broke through into the box and was hacked down and our FA qualified referee correctly gave a penalty.. which i duly converted past the keeper for my second goal of the season :-)
We dominated possession in midfield for most of the game, with Clare's game based on by-passing midfield with long balls to their quick strikers, but our defence dealt with this tactic well and played the ball out to Paul and Herve.
Paul managed to win another penalty, but unfortunately the keeper made an outstanding save to claw the powerfully placed shot away from the goal deny me :-( ah well, Gabriel scored from the resulting corner so it all worked out OK.
Shortly after this, Paul broke through and (for a change) wasn't hacked down in the box so he neatly lobbed the keeper for a 3-0 half time lead.
Second half was more of the same, we dominated possession and Clare were getting frustrated and some of their challenges were getting a bit late but the referee did a good job of calming it all down and gave out 3 yellow cards over the course of the game. We managed to get a 4th goal midway through the half through Tom after a great two touch move involving almost every queens' player which began from dan's throw out, and were comfortably holding on possession and playing nice passing football. In the last minute, after a long ball through, dan and their striker collided in a very innocolous challenge (if anything, it looked like a foul on the keeper!) and Ed decided to ruin our nice clean sheet by giving a penalty to Clare (despite noone else on the pitch even asking for one!!!) and then put that one in to make it 4-1.
In the end, a nice win with good football throughout

Team: Dan, Pete, Me, Adrien, Matt, Andy B, Paul, Herve, Stefan, Tom, Gabriel, Yue

Goals: Andrew Hawkins, Gabriel Paternain, Paul Conduit, Tom Baden