Urmston Beavers 2 Neston Beavers 1

Neston travelled to Urmston on the outskirts of Manchester for the return fixture, Urmston having won 4-0 at Neston. With eight of the Neston team having played in the first game it was a good opportunity to measure the progress that has been made in the last couple of months.
Neston started the game well and were pushing the ball around in midfield with Chris Hall and Tom Honeybourne linking up well with Syd Roberts and Ben Crane on the right. A through ball saw James Knight get into the circle and narrowly miss. Another cross from the right saw a sharp shot from Ben Crane saved. Urmston broke away and a through ball was missed by the defence and the Urmston forward beat Alex Davies. Neston looked for an equaliser and James Fennah and Ben Crane nearly found the goal. Urmston again broke away and won a short corner, the shot was defelcted home of a Neston stick. 2-0 at half time slightly flattered the home side.
The second half started with Neston on the attack and a sharp shot from James Knight was saved high to the goalkeepers right. A couple of short corners followed with shots missing the goal. An attack up the middle found Ben Crane who found James Knight on his right, James moved into the D and beat the keeper with a low shot. More Neston attacks followed and a Syd Roberts cross was nearly pushed home by Ben Crane. Ben then got away in the middle forcing the keeper to come out and dive at his feet to get the ball away. In the last ten minutes good defending from Max Dutton, Greg Chester, Tom Fisher and James Chester kept Urmston out, when they got shots on goal Alex Davies saved well. The game finished 2-1 to Urmston, with the large number of parents watching all commenting on what a good competitive game had been played, with a high level of skill shown by players on both sides.
A really good perfomance from the whole team, showing how much everyone has come on, improving their game over the last few weeks, we can look forward to more competitive matches in the New Year.
Men of the match Max Dutton for an excellent job organising the defence and Chris Hall for a hard working game in midfield.
Our next match is away to Oxton, starting at 3.45 on 6th January.
Happy Christmas
Peter

Neston Beavers v Urmston Beavers

We visit Urmston on Saturday to play the retrurn fixture against their Bevers. In the game earlier in the season we lost 4-0 at the Rec in a game where we were very unlucky not to score our first goal of the season, so now we know where the goal is we should be able to show them how much we have improved over the last couple of months.
We will meet at Neston cricket club at 11.00am.
Players confirmed;
Alex Davies (goalkeeper)
James Chester
Peter Harrison
Greg Chester
Alex Greenhalf
Tom Fisher
Max Dutton
James Fennah
James Knight
Syd Roberts
Chris Hall
Ben Crane
Tom Honeybourne

This will be our last fixture this year, so lets finish with a win!

Neston Beavers 2 Northern Beavers 2

Neston entertained their counterparts from Nortern at Stanney. On the coldest afternoon of the year so far Neston started well and with debutant Tom Honeybourne getting lots of ball in midfield looked for an early goal. A near miss from Scott Barry nearly put Neston in the lead but it was the visitors on a rare attack scored first. Neston went looking for an equaliser and substitute James Fennah (recently arrived from a school match in Liverpool) scored his first of the season. Sam Dewey continued to push from midfield and Greg Chester started to move forward from defence but the score was still 1-1 at half time. The second half started with Neston again on the attack, but Northern looked dangerous on the break and Sophie Bezant in goal was called upon to make a number of saves. A poorly defended short corner led to Northern scoring again. Neston immediately went looking for an equaliser and Syd Roberts pushed the ball home to level the scores. Both sides had their chances to win the game and Sophie made a crucial save in the last minute to keep Northern out and the final score 2-2.
Man (lady) of the match Sophie Bezant for a number of excellent saves in the second half.

Neston team - Sophie Bezant, Alex Greenhalf, Peter Harrison, Chris James, Greg Chester, Greg Hughes, Tom Fisher, Syd Roberts, Tom Honeybourne, Sam Dewey, James Fennah, Ben Crane, Scott Barry, Harry Sanguinetti

Final match before Christmas is against Urmston away, we will be meeting at 11.00 at Neston ready for a 12.30 start in Manchester. I will be contacting you on Wednesday.

Neston Beavers v Northern Beavers

Our next match is against Northern at Stanney (next to the David Lloyd Tennis Centre near Cheshire Oaks), meet 11.30 for a 12.00 start.
The following have confirmed their availability;
Alex Davies (Goalkeeper)
Sam Dewey
James Fennah
Greg Chester
Scott Barry
Syd Roberts
Greg Hughes
Peter Harrison
Chris James
Tom Fisher
Ben Crane
Alex Greenhalf
Tom Honeybourne

If anything changes please give me a call,
Peter

Neston Beavers 0 Oxton Beavers 2

Neston lost to their local rivals in a close game at the rec. In bright sunny conditions Neston started quite brightly with Sam Dewey and Max Dutton pushing the side forward from the centre of midfield. Although Neston had quite a lot of the ball they couldn't create any chances. Oxton started to get into the game and won a number of short corners and it was from one of these that they took the lead. Neston defended the initial shot well but couldn't get the ball out of the D and eventually Oxton gave keeper Alex Davies no chance with a firm shot. Neston went looking for an equaliser and unfortunately forgot to mark the lone Oxton foreward who broke away and slipped the ball home to make it 2-0. Neston then created their best chance of the half when James Fennah found some space in front of goal, but his shot was saved. The second half started with Neston on the attack some good moves got the ball into the D but Scott Barry, Ben Crane and James Knight couldn't test the Oxton keeper. The defence of James Chester, Greg Chester, Peter Harrison, Greg Hughes and Chris James did a good job of keeping Oxton out and when they did get a shot on goal Alex Davies made a number of good saves. Syd Roberts worked well on the right. The game ended 2-0, so for the third week running we kept a clean sheet in the second half, better concentration in the first half may have led to a different result! Overall a solid performance which unfortunately did not lead to enough good goal scoring chances being created.
Men of the match - Alex Davies for an excellent perfomance in goal and Chris James for a solid debut in defence.