Thursday 7 April 2016

This weekend, this month and the future


Udney Park


Teddington Athletic Football Club is very glad to announce that it has exchanged leases to use the Udney Park playing fields in central Teddington. The initial agreement is for 18 months but hopes are high that this will be extended far into the future, and that TAFC will be able to call the 13-acre site home.

Competitive games will start from next season, but first this summer's end-of-season Awards Night should be held there, as we are at liberty to use the clubhouse (pictured). The club will be announcing further plans in due course; the first priority is finding a groundsman...



This week's training


In a change to the usual venue, this Friday's training session will be held at Udney Park, at 4.45pm to 6.15pm. Please can the girls wear their blue tour training tops, blue shorts and blue socks - and bring rain jackets just in case.

This week's match


In another change to the usual venue, Sunday's home game against AFC Wimbledon will be held at the NPL Sports Club (Queen's Rd, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 0LW) at the north side of Bushy Park. 10am kick-off, be there for 9.15am.

Remaining fixtures: the four-way fight


While in Tampa, the league finally confirmed that the November's game at Crystal Palace Reds, for which Teddington couldn't raise sufficient players due to half-term holidays, has been awarded to Palace as a walkover (three points, zero goals). Also, Teddington dropped to third as a result of Wimbledon’s walkover win against South Park, which took the deposed champions into second place above Teddington on goal difference. After drawing 1-1 in Berkshire last Sunday, Maidenhead are a point back, with Abbey Rangers two points behind that. In other words, there’s only three points between second and fifth, and each of the four teams could finish in any of those positions.

The 1-1 draw at Maidenhead was Abbey’s fifth successive winless game (drawing with Maidenhead twice, Wimbledon and Teddington, and losing to Teddington). The Addlestone outfit are struggling to fit in their remaining six league fixtures, and they might have another date to add if they beat second-tier Hampton Youth in this Sunday’s League Cup semi-final. Following that they travel to champions Crystal Palace Reds then face two more league ‘double-headers’, on successive Sundays at Crystal Palace Blues and Wimbledon, before finishing their league campaign at South Park.

Wimbledon are also busy. After travelling to Teddington they have the Surrey County Cup final against second-tier Carshalton, they travel to South Park before that double-header against Abbey and closing home game with Teddington.

After an impressive first season, Maidenhead have a rest this week then play host to South Park and Crystal Palace Reds.

If Teddington won both games against Wimbledon, they would finish above Maidenhead and match last season’s fourth-placed slot; it would also mean that Wimbledon would require at least three points from that Abbey double-header – which might in turn stop Abbey finishing above Teddington…

It’s all to play for, and the management value all parental help in making sure the girls are supported, fuelled and rested for these last two vital games of a groundbreaking season. It could be Teddington's best yet.

Click the image below for fixtures




Sunday 3 April 2016

Tampa Day 10: Twister sisters

Once more unto the breach, if that’s not an unfair description of the Ed Radice complex that has begun to feel like home for the Teddington girls. Their fourth and final game was a 10am kick-off, overcast and muggy but not exactly Mississippi midsummer and not too hot – and by half-time, it would be raining in advance of a gathering storm.

With an early alarm call and a game the previous evening, the players were perhaps understandably a little dopey; Millie T needed a third explanation during a warm-up that was eventually abandoned when the girls couldn’t get to grips with the rondo passing drill.

Even so, it has served them well, they are getting ever better at it – and, importantly, increasingly implementing the skills it teaches into match situations. They are also now self-sufficient in monitoring each other’s pre-match stretches, while today Carla Novakovic led the cardio warm-up with the enthusiasm and experience she has helped to bring to the midweek fitness sessions that have also helped the girls reach a new level.


After coming off the bench to excellent effect in the last couple of games, Carla returned to an otherwise unchanged starting XI: Ruby Rudkin in goal, a back four of Anna Kauffmann, Ella Waldron, Millie Theobald and Saskia Brewster protected by Amy Hallett. Ella Dodd and Emily Coulson patrolled the midfield with Phoebe Head wide right and Emily Bashford continuing her education up front; Sadie Day was ill but sat on the bench alongside Millie MacEacharn, Liz Kriebel and Ella Bothamley, with Ale Fairn defying pre-match injury doubts to join them later on.

All players having been briefed that a hooter would sound if lightning was detected to be getting dangerously near, the match kicked off to the atmospheric sound of thunder, the air moist but not yet raining. Having been asked before last night’s match to each set themselves a private personal target, today some of them were given personal improvements to attempt – things that might not come off, but for which they would not be chastised for trying. It’s good to report that all the players involved did so, and usually successfully.

Teddington started on the front foot, with Phoebe playing a nice give-and-go with Doddsy down the right before Anna – always a solid defender, and now increasingly creative – also sent Phoebe scampering away. The winger forced a corner which she pulled back to Jelly, whose cross to the far post found Bash but the shot whistled just over.


As is her right and wont, Phoebe then cut out the middle-girl and had a crack herself, forcing a good save from the goalkeeper,  but as per last night’s game Teddington were working the defence harder than the keeper, having majority possession without creating too many clearcut chances.

There are many weapons in the Teddington armoury and after 21 minutes, Phoebe was replaced by Boz. Soon enough the sub came close too, with Doddsy driving on from midfield and finding her in the inside-right channel, but just as Boz cut inside and shaped to shoot with her left foot she was blocked by a despairing defender. It was the story of the half: Teddington commanding the opponents’ half but generally being halted at the 18-yard line. Not a bad story to tell, all told.

One of the coaching conundrums this season has been how to get more goals from Doddsy and Emily C. Last season they plundered 33 between them, with Doddsy playing a fair few games up front and Em usually tucked into the No.10 slot; since the move to 11-a-side they have generally been selected as central midfielders, working hard for the team but perhaps at the sacrifice of goalscoring potential. But with the back four allowing the full-backs (and occasionally Jelly) to come forward and overload the midfield, the two can now get forward a bit more – and when Carla received a throw-in and cleverly worked the ball to Doddsy, her good friend fired just wide of the near post. There’s goals in them there boots.


And there’s more elsewhere in the team. One direct threat is the pace of Bash up top, and just before the half-hour she produced a little lightning of her own, knocking it past a startled defender and leaving her for dead, then outstripping another before being stopped by a third.

But when Teddington made the breakthrough, just after the half-hour when Liz and Macca replaced Em and Carla, it was through teamwork and passing – entirely fittingly for the tone of the tour. Doddsy’s intelligent diag allowed Boz to force a corner, from which she found Doddsy in the area. The midfielder’s right-foot shot was blocked, but the rebound fell serendipitously for her to fire home left-footed.

This time Teddington tightened up their game management and made it to the impending break without conceding an equaliser. The half-time interval allowed the ref to announce that the thunderstorm – whose leading edge was already dumping plenty of precipitation on the participants – was expected to hit in 15 to 20 minutes, at which point he would abandon rather than delay the game.


It also allowed Teddington to rest Bash, move Boz up top and reintroduce Phoebe, and to encourage Saskia. Unquestionably a brilliant defender – well, almost unquestionably: told she’d played well in the first half, she shrugged “I haven’t done much really” – she also has the ball skills and technical awareness to create problems for the opposition, and she was reminded that the back four allows her (and Anna) the licence to get forward and do just that.

So she did. For the first 10 minutes of the half Teddington got a lot of pleasure down the left, with Sas helping to overload the opposition midfield, and after 44 minutes she was involved in a move which progressed through Doddsy and Boz to Phoebe, who expertly lashed high past the goalkeeper.

Having battled determinedly through illness, Ale then replaced Amy, with Doddsy dropping to the anchor role before being replaced by Em, and Boz having a go in central midfield before flitting back up top when Carla replaced the ailing Ale. It’s that kind of positional fluidity that serves the team well now and should hopefully serve the girls well for a lifetime of football.


The positional experimentation and rolling substitutions – just before the hour Bash and Amy reappeared for Macca and Liz – did hamper Teddington’s rhythm a little; Tampa came into the game more than they had previously, but like their visitors in the first half they struggled to convert possession into penetration or shots. On the one occasion they did get behind the backline, Ruby was quickly onto the scene once she’d been rudely disturbed from gazing directly upwards into the gathering stormclouds. Denying a Dave-started rumour that she was catching raindrops on her tongue, she insisted “I was wondering if I was going to get hit by lightning.”

And indeed on 64 minutes, later than expected but six minutes shy of the full term, the referee responded promptly when a lightning flash was followed rather too promptly by a startling peal of thunder.

All ran to the changing rooms, where Tampa Bay United chief George Fotopoulos thanked all concerned for getting involved. An intelligent and passionate advocate of women’s and girls’ soccer, he has been a superb host; having helped develop the Teddington girls’ football, he explained how he hopes they will continue to evangelise for the beautiful game. He has certainly done his bit to make it so, and not merely by presenting the Teddington team with a trophy later accidentally broken by a horrified Boz.


By that time the team had driven home unscathed through a tornado warning. The storm passed quickly enough for the girls to enjoy a trip to the mall and present a final-night entertainment revue, singing and dancing in teams – well, except Boz, who did her own thing with typical humour and winning self-mockery. The girls have had a wonderful time on a brilliant tour, and are coming home not just better players but better people.

 

TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ruby Rudkin, Anna Kauffmann, Ella Waldron, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster, Amy Hallett, Phoebe Head (1), Emily Coulson, Ella Dodd (1), Carla Novakovic, Emily Bashford. Subs: Liz Kriebel, Millie MacEacharn, Ella Bothamley, Ale Fairn.

Saturday 2 April 2016

Tampa Day 9: Close but no Cuban cigar

After a baking-hot April Fool’s Day morning around the pool, the third of Teddington’s four games was played on a gorgeous Floridian evening. The opponents this time were Tampa Bay United’s U14 Premier team, the ‘second string’ to the nationally top-rated Elite squad but a state-division top-flight side in their own right, and maintaining the pass-and-move ethos stamped throughout the Tampa club. How much would the visitors have learned from previous encounters?

Liz Kriebel returned to the squad after illness, but with another game in the morning, Ale Fairn wasn’t asked to risk aggravating her troublesome back/shoulder problem. Continuing in the recent 4-1-4-1 formation, Teddington included a couple of new starters who had earned their places with strong substitute appearances: Emily Bashford up front and Millie MacEacharn wide left. Phoebe Head switched to her favoured wide-right slot, with Ella Dodd and Emily Coulson in front of Amy Hallett in midfield and the usual back four of Saskia Brewster, Millie Theobald, Ella Waldron and the increasingly impressive Anna Kauffmann protecting goalkeeper Ruby Rudkin. Liz, Carla Novakovic, Sadie Day and Ella Bothamley made up a strong subs’ bench – and each would be involved.



Teddington started the match as they would go on: impressively. Patiently passing and probing for weaknesses, they had the majority of possession and almost broke through when Phoebe’s cross was inches away from a flying Bash, who is diligently learning the centre-forward ropes and already showing she’s very capable of playing that role. Tampa’s only early chance was ruled out for offside, but Ruby also started as she meant to go on, coming off her line much more quickly to extinguish the threat anyway.  

Before the quarter-hour the visitors started to rotate their squad, with Doddsy and Phoebe given a breather while Liz and Sadie added Teddington’s own American (and half-American) midfield flavo(u)r. At the mid-half water-break, Carla came on for Emily C and Boz for Macca, with Sadie switching to left midfield, which placed her nearer her watching family – although her twin brother got a bit too close for Sadie’s liking in the second half, coming over to annoy the subs’ bench before being shooed away.



Sadie played a full part in a continuing impressive Teddington performance. With the ever-improving Anna stepping out of defence to add overloads, the visitors were starting to play some nice triangles without quite penetrating the defence or troubling the goalkeeper – so on the half-hour, they expedited a pre-planned switch to a back three, with Jelly pushing on into midfield.

Reaching half-time satisfied but not satiated, Teddington continued with the back three but rang the changes, pushing Doddsy up top with Em just behind her, Phoebe on the right and Carla on the left. Jelly and Liz held the midfield, with Amy the insurance in front of the back three. And for the next quarter of the game, Teddington were dominant.



Within a minute, they’d had their first shot on target, Liz following up at the edge of the area with a solid effort. Then Doddsy, having been beaten to a through-ball by a centre-back who’d nipped in front of her, executed instant revenge by doing the same back, expertly laying off for Phoebe to tear down the line and cross to Em, whose shot was pushed onto the bar. A minute later, Em was in the right place again but her shot was deflected to Carla, who shot wide.

It wasn’t just that Teddington were now creating genuine chances; they were genuinely creative. Carla – playing in her sixth different position of the tour, having already done well in central midfield, defensive midfield, left midfield, left-back and (almost unbelievably, considering she’s three foot nowt) centre-back – combined well on the left wing with Doddsy and Em, playing those Tampa-like triangles, then recycling through the anchoring Amy to Jelly to Phoebe to find Doddsy on the edge for a shot desperately deflected.



So it was no surprise when Teddington took the lead 10 minutes into the second half, and again it was delightful football. Having been pinned back down their right side by Carla, Doddsy and Em, Tampa were happy to clear it 30 yards out – but there was Amy again, tidying up with a five-yard diagonal ball to Jelly, who did the same to find Phoebe. A one-two with her friend and skipper sent Pheebs through on goal, where she instantly hammered into the bottom corner.

Tampa might have equalised within a minute when the otherwise superb Millie T fell over in possession, John Stones-style, but Ruby roared off her line and panicked the striker into shooting over. A minute before the water break, Liz suffered a nosebleed so Carla tucked inside and Bash re-emerged on the left, immediately linking up well with Doddsy and feeding Jelly, who took her time and went for the top corner but saw her shot well saved by the goalkeeper. Once again Jelly had done almost everything right and been unlucky to be denied, as she had been by the woodwork in the second game shortly before the decisive third goal.



So it was, to quote baseball legend Yogi Berra, “deja vu all over again” when Tampa went up the other end and scored. With the last attack of the third quarter, the home side worked their way along Teddington’s back three probing for an opening – and with the visitors’ midfield not sufficiently helping out, they found one, breaking through the inside-left channel to fire high past Ruby.

Shuffling their players but maintaining the 3-4-3, Teddington rested Amy and brought on Boz (alternating with Bash on the left and up top, with Doddsy in a midfield anchored by Carla). And to give them their due, Tampa had the better of the final quarter, pushing up their wide players to get around the defence: twice Ruby had to be very alert to dash out of her six-yard box and block-tackle a striker. Giving it the death-or-glory, Teddington stuck to their attacking guns and could have won it with four minute remaining but Jelly, fed by Phoebe and Doddsy, despaired to see another good shot well saved by the goalkeeper.



So it was honours even, and perhaps it’s revealing that Teddington felt a tinge of disappointment as they shared empanadas (reflecting the Tampa area’s strong Cuban heritage) with their affable opponents and their welcoming parents. It says that the fast-learning visitors are earning the right to live with their vaunted hosts by applying their new knowledge, but must remember to keep doing all those simple things which any team must commit to muscle memory – digging back, covering for each other, working hard.

If they can do that – and find a way to balance the defensive diligence which has seen them concede just 15 goals in the last 14 league games with the attacking élan they displayed for much of this game – then they will have a good chance, not just in tomorrow’s tour closer, but in the two remaining league games against top-four rivals AFC Wimbledon.  



TEDDINGTON ATHLETIC Ruby Rudkin, Anna Kauffmann, Ella Waldron, Millie Theobald, Saskia Brewster, Amy Hallett, Phoebe Head (1), Emily Coulson, Ella Dodd, Millie MacEacharn, Emily Bashford. Subs: Carla Novakovic, Liz Kriebel, Sadie Day, Ella Bothamley.

Friday 1 April 2016

Tampa Day 8: Busch rangers

A second day of rest and relaxation for the girls, with a trip to Busch Gardens, a "venerable amusement park" founded in 1959 by the folks who brought you Budweiser. Cheers!



The girls were predictably fearless in their choice of thrills, taking full advantage of their express passes to enjoy rides like Falcon's Fury, which dropped them 335 feet face-down in five seconds. Your reporter stood making notes.


The girls stuck together in groups of five or six and came together for lunch...


...and eventually returned to the team vans.


Then it was off to Applebee's for an all-American evening meal, followed by milkshakes paid for by Anna's tie-dyed T-shirt business. (Waitress: "Your girls are absolutely wonderful.")

Then there's only one thing to do: jump out of the vans, dump your stuff by the pool and...