9th September 2007 Beaulieu Jets v Beaulieu Rockets

Result 5-0

Half Time 0-0

"A bright sunny mourning greeted our two teams for their first seeding match of the 2007/08 season.   This first game saw our two teams drawn to play each other which was always going to be a difficult game for both teams.

This year we had made a few changes to the two line ups so this game would allow us to see how the two teams would begin to develop.

The game started at a high pace with both teams moving the ball around well.  A number of chances fell to both teams.  The Jets had the majority of these chances pushing hard although not quite managing to finish off the attacks.  As half time arrived the scoreline remained 0-0 and despite the attacking football played by both teams neither goalkeeper had been significantly challenged.

The second half started in a similar way with the Jets continuing to attack.  Finally the deadlock was broken by Matt with a fine shot from outside the penalty area.  This goal served to lift the Jets and at the same time knock the Rockets.  With their increase in confidence the Jets scored a further 4 goals, 2 for Jack, 1 for James and 1 for Daniel on his Beaulieu league debut.

Despite the scoreline both teams had performed well.  The Jets had controlled performance with all players sticking to the team formation.  The Rockets showed some good individual skill.  With a little work on their positioning and teamwork I am sure they will return to winning ways.

The Rockets man of the match was a close call between Marcus and James.  Both players performed extremely well in the positions they were given, both playing with a superb work ethic.  However, Marcus volunteering to go in goal at a time of need for his coach, clinched the award

16th September 2007

Byfleet Whites v Beaulieu Rockets

Result 0-6
Half Time 0-3

Coming off the back of a 5-0 defeat to the Jets and with their coach on his bike somewhere between Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, the Rockets travelled to Byfleet for match number 2.

By kick off the 7 players present picked themselves and stand in coaches Brian and Janet issued final instructions. The Rockets shaded the opening minutes then the late arrival of Sonny tipped the balance in favour of our lads. Joe scored his first Beaulieu goal, Matt collected one and James who had a very good game scored four.

There were good contributions from all of the team. Ronan defended strongly and stopped a couple of late Byfleet attacks. Ben was solid in goal kicking out well and then, after shuffling the team, turned striker for the last quarter. Nothing got past Sonny and Rory at the back and both had good runs towards goal. Marcus had numerous runs down the flanks skipping past defenders until being taken out by a heavy tackle.

Brian summed up the game emphasising how well everyone had played and named James as Man of the Match.

23rd September 2007 Beaulieu Rockets v AFC Brooklands

Result 1-0

Half Time 0-0

A first "proper" home game for the Rockets with the visitors being AFC Brooklands. The was a completely unknown fixture as Brooklands were new to the league this season and having joined late this was their first game.

The first half started with the majority of the possession being enjoyed by the Rockets. Good passing moves were put together and shots from Joe, Rory and Matt were well saved by the goalkeeper. This pattern continued through the first half with more chances falling to the Rockets attackers. This was fully backed up by the Rockets defenders holding good positions and dealing with any opposition attacks.

Half time came and as the Rockets sat listening to the new instructions it was not clear how the game had remained at nil nil. With the coaches latest plans explained the team returned to the field for the second half.

Again the Rockets had most of the possession putting good moves together and continuing to put pressure on the Brooklands goal. The Brooklands goalkeeper was on top form and it seemed that nothing was going to get past him today. Finally the deadlock was broken when Joe collected the ball and hit a powerful shot from the edge of the area.

For the remainder of the second half the Rockets continued to pile on the pressure with good attacking moves from the whole team. Unfortunately two of the Rockets had to leave early but despite going down to six players the team managed to continue to control the game.

Despite the Rockets controlling the game throughout Brooklands had managed to mount some of their own attacks although these were well dealt with by the Rockets defence and goalkeeper who had spent most of their time watching the game ahead of them.

Man of the match for the Rockets was awarded to Joe who had been lively throughout the match and scored the winning goal.

7th October 2007 Beaulieu Rockets v Abbey Rangers B

Result 3-0

Half Time 1-0

The season started for real for the Rockets in division 3 against Abbey Rangers B with Brian standing in for coach Kevin.  By the end of the warm up the boys were keen to impress and that is exactly what they did for the first ten minutes of the game.  In that time Abbey crossed the halfway line just once, the attack snubbed out by Rory and Sonny.  The Rockets on the other hand had a number of chances from James, Joe who hit the bar and Matt and the Abbey goalkeeper made three good saves to keep the game goalless.

Ronan came on for Matt and with his first touch of the game scored from short range.  This signalled an increased effort by Abbey but each attack was capably dealt with.  The Rockets continued to create chances, Marcus having a go from long range and Rory shaking the bar with a cracking shot, and were unlucky to be only one up at half-time.

The manager asked for the same commitment in the second half promising that more goals would come.  Ben came out of goal having had little to do in the first half and Matt took over.  Beaulieu continued to impress with some good passing notably by James, Joe and Rory, one good move setting Rory up with the second goal.  Shortly after that James got his name on the score sheet with the third.

This signalled a change around for the team with an enthusiastic Sonny being pushed up front for the last five minutes.  Ben and Marcus broke up most Abbey attacks though Matt was called upon to make two saves.  In the last five minutes Sonny had three chances the last being the best but was unlucky to strike the goalkeepers legs.

For his tireless running, commitment and good crossing from the left Joe was named man of the match.

League Game - 28th October 2007

League Game - 11th November 2007

League Game - 18th November 2007

Beaulieu Rockets v Guildford Saints

Result 5-0

Half Time 2-0

This was a re-match from the seeding round when the game ended as a 2 - 2 draw.

From the kick off the Rockets were quickly into their stride on this cold morning, attacking initially through Joe down the left hand side, then good contributions from Rory, James and Matt kept the ball in the Saints half for several minutes but with no goal.

The Saints managed to break out, Sonny intervened with a solid clearance that rebounded off a Saints midfielder and set their forward clear on goal. A great save with his foot by Ben and Marcus knocking the ball out for a corner saw off the danger.

The Rockets had a sustained spell of pressure after that in which they had four corners, Rory delivering the ball beautifully at head height into the area but just failing to find a Rockets foot for the tap in. James was contributing well down the flank getting in a cross that was put out for another corner. Marcus picked the ball up just inside the Saints half took it down the right wing and crossed for Matt who shot just wide. It was then Joe's turn for a cross shot, picked up by Rory and crossed back in to Matt who this time put the ball away for the first goal.

The next two minutes defined the outcome of the game when firstly Ben made another good save from the second Saints break and then Joe took the ball this time down the right, cut inside past two defenders and scored to make it 2-0. Saints' heads went down and our boys were on the up.

Joe and Rory continued to run at the defenders and win corners. From one Julian, on the pitch for James, battled well and passed to Matt whose shot was cleared but only as far as Marcus whose shot from outside the area went just wide. The Saints were unable to get very far out of their half and when they did Sonny put a stop to them progressing any further on goal.

Half time saw a change of goal keeper with James taking over from Ben and the Rockets had to play into what was now a very cold and quite strong wind. This gave the Saints a helping hand because after Joe had just had a shot go into the side netting the Saints won their second corner of the game. However Rory intercepted the kick, carried the ball up field then set Matt free but his shot went just past the left hand post. The Saints' clearance was sent back strongly by Ben, the ball falling to Joe whose cross shot hit the post and the goalkeeper fell on the rebound before Rory could get there. The kick out this time fell straight to Joe in front of goal who made no mistake burying the ball firmly into the back of the net.

It was nearly all Rockets now with another shot from Joe being saved, a quick pass from Rory into Matt whose shot was also saved, Ben taking the ball up the right crossing to Joe who put the ball over. The Saints briefly took play into the Rockets half and gave James his only bit of exercise of the second half when he was called on to make a save. The fourth goal resulted from another run up the wing by Rory who crossed the ball into Ben who in turn found Joe, putting the ball in off the keeper. Another Joe solo effort brought his fourth and the Rockets' fifth. Kevin rang the changes for the last few minutes with Sonny and Julian playing up front which nearly resulted in a goal for Sonny but the keeper just managed to save it.

All in all a satisfying performance from our boys to give the Rockets a four from four start for the season. In his post match summary Kevin made special mention of the passing between Joe, Rory, Matt and James as being a key feature of the game. Sonny as ever was solid in defence, Ben made two vital saves early in the game when a score for the Saints may have lifted them and there were good contributions from Julian and Marcus.

Man of the Match: Matt.

League Game – 25 th November 2007

Teddington v Beaulieu Rockets

Result 3-2

Half Time 2-1

Looking at the relative positions of the two teams in the league this should have been a comfortable match for the Rockets, on a pitch with a pronounced slope. Indeed after a brief initial attack from Teddington who were playing down the hill, Rockets had a prolonged spell of pressure going close through Matt and then a shot from wide on the left by Joe bouncing on top of the crossbar.

But then Teddington broke, their number 12 proving to be a quite elusive player and won a corner. This kick went straight across the Rockets goal and out for a throw which Teddington won back and promptly scored.

In response Rockets launched a series of attacks. Joe was becoming a marked player and was awarded a free kick which he took. The ball sailed into the penalty area but James's touch went just wide.

Teddington struggled with the goal kicks, the majority being picked off by Joe, James and Rory. Rockets had a couple of corners from one of which James went just wide again.

Teddington however demonstrated that they could be dangerous on the break particularly through their number 12 who shot just wide. Our goalkick was immediately returned by Teddington only for Sonny to block the shot on the post and put it out. Ben's next kick out after collecting the ball from the corner this time found James and with the ball passing between Matt and Rory it ended up with Joe who shot wide.

Teddington attacked again and Ben saved well putting the ball out for another corner. As the ball came in there was a bit of a scramble and Marcus was adjudged to have handled on the line though to most impartial observers it seemed to hit his chest. The penalty was put away for a 2 – 0 lead with only a couple of minutes to go in the first half.

Rockets once again got stuck in with Matt having a shot parried and Rory was on hand to put in the rebound just before the whistle.

The second half saw a similar dominance of territory and possession by the Rockets who were playing downhill. The first 10 minutes was all centred on the Teddington goal with a series of corners, shots from Joe, James, Matt and Rory. Julian was getting stuck in in midfield and showing his best form yet, and Marcus playing slightly more advanced had some good runs down both flanks. Finally a corner delivered by Rory was touched goalward by Joe, again the ball was parried and this time Matt appeared and popped the ball into the net.

This prompted Teddington to take their number 12 out of goal and put him back on the pitch to which he responded by weaving his way forward from the kick off and getting in a shot. More Rockets pressure resulted in several near misses and some good saves.

Then with just three minutes to go came the defining moment. The ball broke for the number 12 who calmly rounded Marcus and Sonny and slotted the ball past Ben into the corner of the net. Sonny was immediately thrown up front and despite constant pressure to the end the equalising goal failed to come.

Kevin concluded that everyone had played really well and that the Rockets had probably deserved at least a draw but sometimes things are just not meant to be. For his improvement in just his third week of playing man of the match was awarded to Julian