Patcham Tournament 30th August 2009

Patcham Amber 3 - 0 MPWFC

Scoreline here does not reflect an overall performance that wasn't in fact too bad. The boys played some nice football, but Patcham took all of their chances really well, including two cracking headed goals which gave keeper Stu Ellmer no chance. For Place, Ads Chilcott came closest with a long range shot that was easily held by the keeper.

Hollingbury 0 - 0 MPWFC

Despite being all over Hollingbury from the off, Place failed to convert any of their numerous chances and this was definitely two points dropped. Iwan Griffiths (twice), Oli Gillam and Ads all went close as the boys again played some neat football but it ws not to be. Stu had nothing to do in this game such was the dominance.

MPWFC 0 - Rottingdean 1

After a scrappy first half where neither team created much of note, Place came close to scoring first after Jack Bishop was unlucky not to score after a good hard chase. Stu then made a couple of execllent saves before the pressure finally told, Rottingdean snatching the points by a single goal depsite the exceptional defensive work of Joe Russell and Josh Crow.
 (Note - Rottingdean later beat Southdown Rovers 7-1)

MPWFC 1 - 1 Southdown Rovers

The boys were strangely quite up for this game against their schoolmates and matched them in every department. Place were unlucky to go behind, but wasted no time in equalising through Ads who planted his shot in the bottom corner from outside the box. There were a few anxious moments for the manager towards the end but a draw was probably a fair result

Withdean 2 - 0 MPWFC

After a couple of early scares, Place soon went behind to a cracking goal scored from distance, and the constant pressure from a lively Withdean team led to a second goal before half time. Place had a much better second half and were unlucky not to get at least a consolation

Patcham Black 2 - 1 MPWFC

By now Place were going to be eliminated from the tournament, so the Manager rang the changes, putting James Atkins in goal (despite one or two protestations) and Stu in midfield.  Patcham took the lead with a somewhat speculative shot before Ads equalised with a composed finish. He was less conmposed a few minutes later when one-on-one with the keeper, allowing the keeper to get a hand to his shot and pushing it wide. Just after this, Patcham grabbed a late winner

A return of two points from 6 games doesn't look too good, but the boys played much better than this suggests in what was a useful pre-season runout. Expectations were low as we never do well at Patcham and so it proved. Positives from the day include an excellent performance from Stu in goal, wholehearted effort and some great tackling from Joe, Oli and Josh and a couple of good goals from Ads.

Squad

Stu Ellmer
Joe Russell
Jack Bishop
Ads Chilcott
James Atkins
Iwan Griffiths
Oli Gillam
Josh Crow