ALBURY EAGLES Football Club

Albury Cricket and Football Club

Annual Dinner Dance

Albury Heath

Saturday 26^th April 2008

The annual get together for the whole club.

Tickets are £22.50 per head. It would be really great if we could get together one table of 10 per each Eagles age group – that’s eight tables sorted then?!

Reservations – please contact Tim Wall at

tim.w@dnxmarketing.com

Albury Eagles Fun Day

Sunday 22nd June 2008

Albury Heath

Noon til 4pm

Tournament play for all members

Barbecue, Bar, Ice Cream

We are approaching the end of the season now, and a very good one it has been too.

U14s looking good for promotion, U13s sitting third, U12s promoted, U11s currently top of Div C.

By the way, last games on the Heath this season will be played on Saturday 19^th April, before ACFC begins the final prep for the cricket season.

Albury Eagles under 12's ended their 2007/2008 season on a high note by beating Heron Olympic 11 - 1 in this last game of the Horsham and District under 12s League. Nathanael Farrant opened the scoring with the first of his six goals after only 3 minutes and not to be outshone, Christopher Brooks scored a hat-trick to complete a total of 33 goals this season and gain the club’s under 12's top scorer title. Tom Cantoni and Harvey Marshall netted a goal apiece which took the goals scored by the Eagles team to 100 in all matches that they have played this season.
Solid defensive play by Miles Hamer and Tom Gill meant that keeper Freddie Wall had little to do in this match but when called upon, Freddie made a superb diving save to his right to finger tip the ball around the post.
This was another great all round performance by the team, not only for this match but for the whole of the year and they will now go into the top flight league next season with the knowledge that they are more than capable of matching the best in their age group.

Albury Eagles under 11's final league fixture saw a vital away tie against St Pauls Panthers who had proven the Eagles bogey side in previous games. Albury's squad who have taken 3 trophies in the last two years faced a difficult start to the season in the Horsham League after losing 2 key members of the squad, but have recovered from an inconsistent start to take 22 points from the last 24 available putting them right back in the hunt for promotion.

Albury made an excellent start with Fraser Millis, Matt Foster and Harry Collins dominating the centre of midfield feeding the Robbie Daniels/ Oli Stephens strike force who have already hit 50 goals between them this season. Early attacks prompted by Fraser Millis and Harry Ford saw the ball break into the box for Harry Collins to give the Eagles an early lead. St Pauls went close from a corner when Captain George Mackenzie made a superb goal-line clearance miraculously getting his head to the ball lifting it beyond the attackers. Albury broke out and within the minute took a deserved 2-0 lead when Oli Stephens shot from outside the box curled low past the keeper into the right hand corner.

Albury were comfortably controlling the game when just before half time St Pauls grabbed a goal back when the ball stuck in the heavy mud for St Pauls to poke the ball home from close range.

The second half saw Albury take a stranglehold when Oli Stephens, out wide on the left, broke inside the box and slotted the ball past the keeper’s nearside inside post for his second of the game. Constant attacks resulting from some superb passing from Harry Ford and Joe Mapp saw both Daniels and Stephens each twice go close again, both being defied first by the keeper and then both shooting wide.

Adam Clarke was composed in goal and centre half Ryan Lintott dominated all before him as player of the week captain George Mackenzie led his team to a memorable victory that sees Albury Eagles as favourites for promotion.

Our last match of the season, and fittingly it was against Brockham Reds who held second place in the League. In the first half we played our best football of the season, and up the hill got to 3-0 at half time. Goals from Billy Cory-Wright and Peter Doherty resulting from some fantastic passing which opened up the defence, and a long range effort form Rhys Trevelyn, which I suspect the goalie is still wondering where it came from. The second half was not as impressive as we lost our shape in midfield, and even with the hill in our favour we seldom threatened their goal. But the defence held solid (as they had all season), and the match concluded 3-0 to the Griffins.
Men of the match (and the season) were:
Rhys Trevelyan
Charlie Singleton
Nicholas Esselen
Peter Doherty (c)
Josh Van der Meulen
Michael Upfold
Billy Cory-Wright
Tom Shoen
Alex Schumacher

Also thanks to Bruce, Jamie, Howard, and Wills for their stints in the early part of the season.
The end of a very good league season. A great set of results, but also a lot of enjoyment. I can't imagine we could have had a more pleasant and fun group of boys in the squad. I was always proud of the respect they showed towards both the referee and the opposition. I was also proud of how the boys, without exception, bonded as a team ensuring everyone was included, supporting each other, and building each others confidence. A special group of boys who showed some wonderful attributes (lets not also forget their football talents as well)
We have all been able to turn up on a Saturday and enjoy a mornings football because of the work that Adam does organising the season, the matches, pulling together the team and running the training. We all owe you a big thank you.
Finally, thanks to the parents who were all part of the team and part of the season.

Griffins Season:
Played 18
Won 17
Drawn 0
Lost 1
For 89
Against 18

That rounds off the last match report for the Griffins - Under 9 Tadworth B league Champions 2007/8.
Well Done.

Before I start, some of my more keener readers spotted an error in my last report. What can I say, it’s a tough job being a pseudo, would be manager. You know the deal board on your back, Russian backers wanting results, T.V. companies wanting the best pitch and on and on.

So here goes in a hopefully error free epic. Go Lions!! Another great performance from the Lions on a sloping, sticky pitch and an equally matched opponent, who played 7 up and 7 back. They had obviously studied Rommel's defence of the North Atlantic Sea Wall to get the defence they had!

An early goal from Holmbury was not to put the Lions down, they soon got one back from the magic boot of Harry. It then turned into a long slog of 1-1 until Sam fired home the second goal. All looked good until Holmbury made it 2-2. Then with great team playing, excellent passing and thoughtful moves from the Lions, the able boot of Sam tipped it onto Thomas who put it home to make it 3-2 to the Lions.

Good play across the pitch from David in goal, Chris and Max in defence and variously Oscar, Thomas and Harry in midfield and Harvey, Will and Sam upfront.

Take pride Lions you played a great match and worked hard to break the defence of the Stripes on many occasions. The game was not without a few injuries, hope your knee is better Max, your stomach better Thomas after stopping that cannonball of a shot and Sam your jaw better after having a size 3 Holmbury football boot stuck in it.

Man of the Match goes to Sam for quite literally taking it on the chin or jaw and carrying on and for a superb run up the wing to create yet more chances.

A very big well done to the Griffins for an amazing season, watch out next season ‘cause the Lions are coming!!

I think one match to go, you are on great form at the moment and things are looking good.

We knew this Semi-Final Vs Hurstpierpoint, the top team in U14s Division ‘A’ was always going to be a difficult tie. With our top striker missing and only the bare eleven players available it was always going to be an uphill struggle. When Hurstpierpoint scored with only 40 seconds of the game underway the scene was set for the match. The boys playing did the best they could against a good Division ‘A’ side. Losing 3 – 0 at half time there were good displays from Zac Smith in defence and Ben Walter in goal. Hurstpierpoint scored a further 5 goals in the second half as the Albury boys tired. But it was a good learning curve for the boys.

Albury Eagles under 12's dream of returning to the cup final for a second time in two seasons ended after the defeat by the league A team, Hurstpierpoint Colts in the semi - final of the Frank Giess Memorial Cup. Although disappointed with the result, the Albury team matched and showed that they could compete with the best in the under 12's league. Two goals from Christopher Brooks ( the second being a spectacular strike on goal ) were not enough to see the Eagles through to the final but Albury's determination right to the final whistle showed an excellent spirit.
Neil Marshall

A delay to the start meant we got our first training session in for months. Luckily this tampering did not seriously affect the Griffins play and we won comfortably 7-0. The main competition was between Billy Cory-Wright and Peter Doherty to see who would come away top scorer. In the end it was three each with a long range bullet from Michael Upfold as well.

Men of the match went to Peter Doherty and Billy Cory-Wright, but thanks goes to the defence of Alex Schumacher , captain Charlie Singleton, Josh Van Der Meulen (who all did a stint in goal) and Nicholas Esselen for keeping the concentration and denying Holmbury a goal (as significant as scoring 7 the other end).

All set up for our last match away next week against Brockham Red who are currently second in the league.

"Upon this wind blasted heath a great battle woth fought!" With huge apologies to Mr Shakespeare.

Well done Lions a windy, rainy and chilly battle against a tough team who were hungry for an early goal. Holmbury Black carried out attack after attack and only a mixture of good defending from Max Bewsey and Christopher Rogers and help from the midfield of David Hill and Rhys (thank you for stepping in at the last minute Rhys.) and some great goalkeeping from Oscar Saxby kept the ball out. That has been verified by the Guiness Book of Records as the world's longest sentence!!!

Finally Holmbury broke through and made it 1-0. Not to be out done an excellent team play by Harry Hayes and Sam Moldon upfront soon got the equaliser. Put home on the left boot of Sam who found the gap in the Holmbury defence. This match saw the Lions really come together and they passed the ball around and set up some good moves.

Will Melhuish and Thomas Sayers came on later and both played a solid game in both the midfield and upfront. In the second half Max Bewsey went in goal for Oscar and kept the score at 1-1. The Lions had some good attempts at goal though to his credit the Holmbury goalkeeper proved to be a tough opponent.

Good one Lions, I think one more or maybe two matches to go. Though, before that, time for a practice session or two, and time to hone those skills. Have a good week and well done.

Match-day Refreshments

Did you know that you can now get a match-day refreshment at the pavilion?

The breakfast ladies are always looking for extra hands to share the work out.

Just bowl up and see what you can do to help.

It also generates some useful cash for the club!

Situations Vacant

Your club committee is seeking a responsible parent to take on the role of Child Welfare Officer.

John Duff, our u12 manager, has handled this position for a number of years now, but would now like to pass on the baton. The position requires some paperwork, and the attendance of one or two meetings each year.

If interested, please contact Club Secretary, thank you.

have your say on the future of grassroots football in Surrey with a Top-name Guest Presenter

Surrey County FA is inviting everyone involved in grassroots football in Surrey to come and share their views on how football in Surrey should be developed & governed over the next 4 years up to 2012.

if you have some opinions and views on how you would like to see the game developed and you are a referee, a club secretary, a manager, a player, a coach, a league official or a volunteer involved in the grassroots game then please come and tell us at the following event:

NEWSLETTER