One Year on - Gary Speed

In the coming months we will post an article regarding the mental problems faced by professional sports people. These issues can be during their career but most of all in retirement and realisation of reality. Most professional sports people don't finish as multi millionaires, nor are the wealthy amuned from mental problems. The coming article will explain how sporting organisations are battling with this problem, an issue all too familiar with society in general.

We notify you today of this article as its the 1st anniversary of the passing of Gary Speed. Our thoughts go to his family and to all those who have suffered the tragic loss of a loved one or friend,  through depression and other mental illnesses.

Sol y Futbol: Lanzarote turn the corner.

Ian Lane reports from Arrecife as Lanzarote continue on their winning ways - at last.

LANZAROTE   2   ESTRELLA CF   0

The Rojillos record their first home win of the season with a goal in each half and make it two wins on the bounce whilst keeping clean sheets from their leaky defence on both occasions.

Welcoming back the Piña (Pineapple mascot) and the drums whilst the Lanzarote Zumba ladies entertaining us with a half time boogie added to a festive atmosphere for the Rojillos largest crowd of the season.
Lanzarote began the match similar to the confident side of last season who only suffered one home defeat the entire campaign. In the 13^th minute striker Rosmen forced the Estrella keeper into a very good save from his headed effort.

The Gran Canarian side looked strong in defence and sharp on the break. Knowing a win against Lanzarote would lift them into a playoff spot they were never going to be an easy side to beat.

In the 26^th minute Toñito had the opportunity to cross on the edge of the box however he cleverly feigned a cross and took on his opponent, the defender was a second too late and took away the Lanzarote winger’s foot and after a hard stare from the well placed official he pointed to the spot for a penalty.

The Lanzarote captain and playmaker Jotha stepped up and neatly tucked the ball beyond the keeper and into the right hand corner and the team celebrated their 1-0 lead by diving all over the Piña.

The fifth placed side began to threaten, though last season’s tight defence looks as though it has returned and were not allowing the visitors a second on the ball as the score remained 1-0 at the break.

The home side came out for the second half in a desperate search for that all important second goal. Ten minutes into the second period and Lady Luck who has not been shining too much this season dramatically shone in Lanzarote´s favour. A cross from the extremely impressive right back Kamara deflected off defender Omar and with the keeper completely wrong footed the ball gently rolled in between the unguarded sticks to give the Rojillos a 2-0 lead.

The visitors tried to assert some authority and began to hold possession but nothing was getting through the Rojillos stubborn defence. Late on and on a break Alex Yunes had a great chance to increase the score but shot straight into the arms of the Gran Canarian keeper.

Lanzarote comfortably held on to claim all three points and move one place up the league table to 16^th. The Rojillos are away next week versus 7^th placed side Vecindario but then have five of the next six matches at home. First up at home is the game which has failed to take place on two occasions against SD Tenisca. This match will be played next Thursday 6^th December at 12.30pm followed by the Sunday match 9^th December versus lowly UD Telde at time to be confirmed.

GOALS
1-0   min 26 Jotha (Penalty)
2-0   min 55 Omar (Own goal)

Front Row: Hoppa returns to Harpenden RFC

Thank you to our friends at Harpenden RFC and PhotoBucket for the following post and picture.

London 2 NW.  24 Nov 2012

It Rains and it pours but Harpenden win local derby

St Albans 11 Harpenden 16

Possibly against the run of play, within 10 minutes Harpenden opened the scoring with a penalty from centre Aaron Wilde. This made up for an earlier miss at goal. A further penalty award three minutes later – from, in the circumstances, an optimistic distance of 40 metres – was also unsuccessful. So, too, was a strange decision by the Harpenden player who attempted a drop kick into the wind from almost 45 metres out! Was he on drugs the crowd was asking?

With the wind behind them from the kick off, St Albans had used the elements to their advantage by drilling the right-hand touch, and catching Harpenden out of position more than once, on a day that seemed totally unsuited to a running game. Nevertheless, credit must go to both teams who tried their best to fling the ball about whenever they could. Eventually, they discovered the limitations of such a game plan as the continuous rain made handling an unwelcome challenge.

Twenty minutes later in a contest riddled with missed chances, St Albans applauded fly half Mark Kentish’s penalty kick that brought the sides level; it was at this stage that the home side’s pack was beginning to exert itself and Harpenden were probably lucky to still be on level terms. Kentish then put the supporters into an even happier frame of mind with a fine exhibition of raw speed as he chased down the left wing, following a kick ahead, to touch the ball down with elan. It looked as if St Albans were now in the driving seat but two penalties later from Aaron Wilde – one of which was taken from just inside the St Albans 10 metre line – meant that the sides turned round at half time with Harpenden again in the lead, this time by 9 to 8.

Not much changed after the restart: though Harpenden now had the wind behind them: unlike St Albans, they did not have the tactical nous to use the elements in a beneficial manner. Accordingly, the home side was able to snuff out any threat to their line and a second penalty from Kentish - a very good kick in the circumstances – saw the game swing the way of the home team leaving Harpenden now trailing by 11 to 8.

 The visitors’ nerves were further tested when Harpenden’s  ‘Stitch’ Payne was  shown a yellow card for an offence he apparently didn’t commit (the referee from Devon had, unsurprisingly misunderstood something Stitch had said to a team mate). So now it was ‘backs to the wall time’ and Harpenden’s character was tested to the full. But, with a few minutes remaining, and back to fifteen men, Harpenden’s fly half, Joe Tennant, optimistically hoofed the ball high into the air near the St Albans 22 metre line. Centre Aaron Wilde gave chase, got hold of the kick as it fell to ground and scored under the posts. He converted his own try and soon afterwards the whistle was blown for full time. Despite the appalling weather, it was a fitting end to a well-fought local derby.



Hoop Zone: Barking Abbey mixed weekend.

Thank you to our friends at Barking Abbey for the following post and picture.

Brentwood Fire 56  Barking Abbey 68

Barking Abbey escaped with a victory in VCars.co.uk Division 4 action on Saturday evening, defeating Brentwood Fire 68-56 away at Shenfield Sports Centre.

Abbey were behind throughout, but a huge 20-7 fourth quarter allowed them to take their first lead of the game with under a minute remaining and hold on for the victory.

“It’s always good to bounce back with a win,” said head coach Frank Holloway after the game. “We didn’t execute in the first half like we normally do, but made some adjustments at halftime and came out in the second half with more energy.

“It was a tough fought win tonight, Brentwood played well and are a very good club.”
David Akibo led BA with 22 points, whilst Roy Downey added 14.

BA will look to build upon their win when they face Croydon next week, on December 1 at home (6.00pm GMT tip off).

City of Sheffield Hatters 89 Barking Abbey 59

Barking Abbey Senior Women suffered their first loss of the VCars.co.uk Division 1 regular season on Saturday evening, falling 89-59 at the hands of City of Sheffield Hatters.

The Hatters, who feature a number of Great Britain internationals and were undefeated coming into the game, had too much firepower for BA who put in a valiant fight.

“Obviously you are never happy to lose by 30,” commented head coach Mark Clark after the game. “But we played very well at times and are ahead of where we expect to be at this time.”

“Sheffield have so much experience and look to be the best team in the league at the moment. They expose any weakness. We developed from last week and it was pleasing to get minutes for Beth Sarson and Imani Whittington. Shanice Norton continues to develop.”

Shequila Joseph led BA with 16 points, whilst Georgia Jones had 11. BA now stand fourth in the league table with a 2-1 record.

BA now have three weeks before they face Leeds Carnegie (December 15, 3.00pm GMT tip at Leeds Met Uni sports centre).

Front Row: Aviva Premiership Round 9 review.

Thank you to our friends at Aviva Premiership for the following post and picture.

 

London Irish director of Brian Smith was left cursing absent friends as his side slipped to a 27-23 Aviva Premiership defeat at the hands of Exeter Chiefs.

 

With eight players on international duty, including star first-teamers Jonathan Joseph and David Paice, and another eight out injured Irish welcomed an almost first-string Chiefs side to the Madejski Stadium.
The Devon side's strength was epitomised by the fact that they could afford to leave released England flanker Tom Johnson on the bench.

And the Exiles certainly found it tough work at home as they got off to a disastrous start, watching as Phil Dollman crossed for a try and Gareth Steenson kicked three penalties.

Luke Arscott extended the Chiefs' lead before Leo Halavatu and Topsy Ojo started an Exiles fightback.
Ian Humphreys kicked Irish ahead late on but Steenson replied to boot Exeter Chiefs to a first away win this Aviva Premiership campaign.

"We had eight players away on international duty and we have got another eight players injured so in many ways we had to fight with one hand tied behind our back," he added.

"But we knew that at the beginning of the season and the guys who played all had a crack and gave it 100 per cent and as a coach that's all you can ask for.

"It was just a case of getting a bad start. We made defensive errors because it was a little bit slippy and it cost us tries but it's very rare that a try is scored from one error, it's normally a chain reaction.

"It's an error that is compounded and sometimes there's three errors in a row that lead to a try being scored.
"When you have 15 blokes running around defending you can cover other people's errors but not here, when we made a mistake we got punished for it."

The other Sunday game saw London Wasps sneak past Leicester Tigers 14-12 to maintain their 100 per cent record at Adams Park this season.

Tom Varndell scored an early try before Nick Robinson and half-time replacement Lee Thomas cancelled out the boot of Leicester's George Ford in reply, much to director of rugby Dai Young's joy.

"We gave a lot of penalties away which kept them in the game but some of our young guys out there were great," he said.

"The two young props Simon McIntyre and Phil Swainston did very well, James Cannon in the second row really stood up, Elliot Daly was a real threat out wide and Sam Jones came off the bench and contributed to a good back-row effort again."

Basement-boys Sale Sharks were downed 29-3 at Kingsholm, Akapusi Qera crossing for Gloucester Rugby's only try with Aviva Premeirship Rugby player of the month for October Freddie Burns kicking the rest of the points.

Fly-half Gordon Ross kicked London Welsh into an early lead against Northampton Saints at Franklin's Gardens but the home side came roaring back to win 23-16 thanks to a try from Ken Pisi and the boot of Ryan Lamb.

Top-of-the-table Harlequins suffered their third defeat as Bath Rugby ran out 21-18 victors at the Rec on Friday night.

But Saracens failed to leapfrog them as they also tasted defeat that same evening, going down 12-3 at Worcester Warriors, and director of rugby Mark McCall insisted his side had no excuses.

"Both teams cancelled each other out and there was no flow - it was very depressing. They kicked their goals and we didn't quite kick ours. We made a lot of individual mistakes, not all of them were forced, and our scrum was under pressure," he said.

"We'll have a few players back available next week and some back from injury, possibly Charlie Hodgson could be one of them.

"It's very early to say too much about Jackson Wray's injury, but it is a sprained ankle for now and we'll know more in the next 48 hours."

Sol y Futbol. Lanzarote taste victory after nearly 3 months.

Ian reports, as finally Lanzarote end their poor run of form.

U.D. GOMERA   0   LANZAROTE   3

One week shy of three months and the Rojillos finally return to winning ways. An extremely comfortable win with two goals for striker Rosmen and a cracking free kick from Captain Jotha move Lanzarote out of the bottom three and with six of the next eight games at home this gives the Rojillos a fantastic opportunity to climb the league table.

The Rojillos dominated this match from the outset with the Lanzarote keeper being almost a spectator throughout the 90 minutes.

The first good chance fell to Jotha in the 13^th minute; his powerful free kick was well saved by the debutant goalkeeper Francisco but with total possession it still took six minutes before the break until the deadlock was broken. A hesitant Gomera defence allowed Rosmen to nod home and give Lanzarote a 1-0 lead to take into the half time break.

Two minutes into the second half and another header from Rosmen to make the score 2-0 virtually sealed the match for the Rojillos. Lanzarote dictated the pace of the match from there on and in the 87^th minute Jotha finished off the job with an unstoppable 20 yard free kick to give the score line a more deserved look of 3-0.

Lanzarote leapfrog Gran Canaria side Villa Santa Brígida and move out of the relegation zone courtesy of goal difference. This Sunday Lanzarote host fourth placed side Estrella CF. Kick off time has been confirmed at 12 noon.

The club is seeking help from the supporters and with the island having one adult in every three unemployed they have decided to allow free entrance to this match to anyone who is unemployed or who is a student. Furthermore to attract parents to bring their children to a match any adult who brings a child with them to the match will receive a discount of 2 Euros off the 5 Euro admission price.

GOALS
0-1   min 39 Rosmen
0-2   min 47 Rosmen
0-3   min 87 Jotha

Front Row: L.V Cup Round 2 reviews.

Thank you to our friends at Aviva Premiership for the following post and photo.

 

London Wasps director of rugby Dai Young couldn't hide his delight as his side got back to winning ways against Worcester Warriors.

 

Young's men were beaten in Cardiff last time out but got a first LV= Cup win under the belts 28-19 against the Warriors with tries from Simon McIntyre, Jack Wallace and Charlie Davies.

 

Young said: "We played against a very experienced Worcester team and we are delighted with the result.
"It wasn't a perfect performance but I was pleased with a lot of aspects of our game."

Elsewhere on Sunday London Irish went down 22-15 to Leicester Tigers with George Ford scoring 17 points. The Tigers were reduced to 14 men due to Boris Stankovich's red card but held on for the win.
And Northampton Saints ended their recent losing streak with a 30-20 win over Newport Gwent Dragons despite a hat-trick from former Springbok winger Tonderai Chavhanga.

Gloucester Rugby bounced back from defeat against the Ospreys a week ago as they thumped London Welsh 46-20.

No.8 Ben Morgan went over for a hat-trick and said: "I think in the first half we showed that when we start holding ball and going through our phases we can be very dangerous.

"Second half we threw it about a little bit more and to be fair to them they came back and put some real pressure on us but we ground out the result.

"That is what we need moving forward. We need guys in the squad who, no matter who is playing, can step into the role and keep the Gloucester movement going forward."

Exeter Chiefs racked up their second win from as many games with a hard-fought 23-13 success over the Ospreys, Will Carrick-Smith and Myles Dorrian going over for their tries.

And in an all-Welsh affair the Scarlets saw off Cardiff Blues 22-16 thanks to a powerful scrum and some accurate kicking from Aled Thomas.

On Friday night Harlequins kicked their way to a 21-12 success over Bath Rugby with newcomer Louis Grimoldby stepping up to the mark in the second half.

Kiwi Ben Botica had earlier slotted five penalties to give the Aviva Premiership champions a 15-6 half-time lead, Stephen Donald knocking over two penalty attempts for Bath.

Six more points from Donald and then Tom Heathcote brought Bath back to within three more points before Grimoldby slotted two kicks in the final quarter of an hour to secure the win for Conor O'Shea's men.
Meanwhile Sale Sharks picked up a hard-fought win over Saracens as they edged home 25-23 to build some momentum ahead of next week's Aviva Premiership trip to Gloucester.

Mark Cueto and Fraser McKenzie scored tries for the Sharks with Rob Miller's late penalty earning the win after Joel Tomkins and Kameli Ratuvou had crossed for Sarries.

Sharks chief executive Steve Diamond said: "There's still things we've got to work on, but the size of the squad and the way Saracens put their squads together it's very good to beat them in any competition.
"For us it's momentum going into the league next week when we're at Kingsholm which is never easy and then Northampton, so we've got good preparation for it."