Category: Sports News

RACQUETS November one-day tournament was definitely a case of quality over quantity, with fantastic nail biting matches being played by our the club’s junior entries.

Having smaller draw sizes meant Racquets’ players got the opportunity to play matches best of five, challenging both their endurance and mental strength.

The tournament was split into two round-robin competitions, with four players in each. The B tournament included 10 year-old Jack Turner who fought hard to win one of his matches, despite only picking up a squash racket for the first time eight weeks ago – a young talent to look out for in the future!

Grit and determination was shown by the youngest entry, Myles Glover, approaching every match with a positive attitude and a big smile! The B tournament was eventually won by Thomas Taylor who kept his cool throughout the whole event, finishing with a convincing 3-0 win in the final, over Richard Wheeler.

The competition couldn’t have been tighter in the A tournament, made up of four improver players from Racquets. Wildcard, Anthony West, rocked a few boats with a powerful forehand, and managed to take games from the club’s more experienced players; another one to watch out for!

Representing the girls was Allegra Michopoulou who was placing the ball well all day, and was involved in one of the most exciting matches of the tournament, playing eventual winner Artie Shrimpton. Both players were hunting down the volley and attacking the ball at every opportunity. Coach, Chloe Marshall, commented: “who knew one of the first matches of the day would be so thrilling! Both players showed great awareness of the game, attacking the ball and hitting into space.”

After a string of tough matches, Artie secured his gold medal, defeating good friend and rival Alex Glover 3-1.

A positive afternoon of hard work for Chinnor Ladies saw them complete the league double over Launton, and complete a run of three games against the two teams.

Chinnor Ladies managed to win the toss and played with the wind behind them. Launton had rung the changes by drafting in some of their more experienced players and looked a lot stronger from the outset. Chinnor were unlucky in the opening moments, forcing Launton’s replacement keeper into a diving save from Charlotte Cairns. Launton’s keeper was called back into service, with shots from Jess Gradde, Nat Phillips, Nat LM. Passing and confidence was on the high, with Nat P capitalising, by managing to lob the goal keeper from an acute angle, her first if the season, to make it 1-0.

Chinnor continued to push forward and could have easily doubled their lead with Cairn’s pace, but the oppositions keeper was equal to it. Chinnor continued the second half as they did the first, but Launton started to increase their mark on the game forcing Chinnor’s keeper to make a save. Charlotte and Nat Phillips continued to cause the Launton defenders problems, with the former hitting the post and a lob gliding just wide, and then the latter forcing the keeper into a magnificent save to keep Launton in the game.

Chinnor managed to see the game out, and pick up their first clean sheet on the season. Chinnor Ladies would like to thank Launton for their hospitality, and wish them all the best for the rest of the season.

Chinnor Ladies, in conjunction with the Chinnor Junior Club, will be hosting a Girls Football Festival, an event which is aimed to increase female participation in the sport. The event will take place on the  November 11, at Chinnor’s Community Pavilion. Chinnor Ladies will be supported at the event by former player Anneka Nuttall, who is Women’s Super League 2’s Captain for Watford.

SOURCE: Contributed

IT was always going to be a tough test for Chinnor on the road at Barnstaple, as the Barum boys boast an impressive home record this season.

Chinnor started the game in business-like fashion with Chinnor dominating the opening period of the game sending the Barum scrum backwards, and the backline finding gaps in the Barum defence. It was only seven minutes in when Harry Mosely drove over to score Chinnor’s opening try which Jonny Bentley converted. Chinnor maintained their pressure and Kieran Goss sliced through some weak defending to dive in at the corner to make it 0-12 . Scoring at a point a minute it was an impressive start.

Barum then began to find their stride and utilised the full width of the field to try and stretch Chinnor’s defence. There was great ball retention by the large Barum pack who went through a number of short phases and eventually inched over the Chinnor (LINE?) with Jarrad Hayler scoring near the posts.

The response from the Chinnor was immediate with a period of sustained pressure in the Barum 22. Persistent offending resulted in a yellow card for Petheridge and Mike McDonald took advantage to snipe over for a try on his first start on the season at Scrum Half, giving Chinnor a 7-17 lead on 21 minutes.

Then the pendulum swung and for the second game on the trot, Chinnor began to be on a different wavelength to the officials with a number of decisions going against the visitors and George Oliver seeing yellow (possibly mistaken identity) for a perceived misdemeanour. Barum slotted the penalty. The Barum forwards kept play simple and effective and with the ability for Chinnor to compete removed, for fear of another yellow, the Devon boys went over shortly before half time to even up the scores with a converted try. With a few seconds left on the clock, Barum were awarded yet another penalty but the kick came off the upright to leave it all square at the break 17-17.

Chinnor started the second half the brighter exerting some control over the game. Alex Bradley galloped in on 43 minutes to put the Oxfordshire side back in front and Jonny Bentley’s successful conversion made it 17-24. Just eight minutes later Jamel Hamilton capped an excellent performance by dotting down on 55 minutes to give Chinnor a two score margin 17-29.
The Barum side, spurred on by their vociferous following, refused to lie down and took the game to the visitors with wave after wave of forward barrages .Their scrumhalf finally scampered over the line on 60 mins to reduce the deficit to 24-29.

Chinnor showed good game management under pressure for the final quarter, frustrating the Barum attack and retaining possession well when in the Barum half, and were rewarded with a penalty in front of the Barum post just outside the 22 which was then made 10 metres simpler through back chat. Bentley duly obliged and gave Chinnor a 24-32 lead which was robustly defended to see out the game. With seconds on the clock, Barum were given a penalty in the Chinnor 22 and took the penalty despite the possible serious foul play against a Chinnor player (which the video footage will possibly verify), to secure a losing bonus point with the last kick of the game. Full Time, 27-32.

Already ecstatic with another hard won five points on the road, the news of Chinnor’s neighbours Henley inflicting a first defeat of the season on Taunton, made the long trip home a lively one! Chinnor are now the only unbeaten side in National 2 South, but face another potential banana skin next week when new boys, Wimbledon, visit Kingsey Road.

SOURCE: Contributed

CHINNOR Ladies FC faced Launton for the second time in three weeks on Sunday (Oct 22), this time, in the Oxfordshire County Cup.

Storm Brian was also involved in the game for both teams, and at times risked making it a total lottery. Chinnor managed to win the toss and played with the wind behind, but took a while to penetrate Launton’s defensive third, but neat passing and keeping it on the ground was a massive positive, and saw the team grow in confidence.

Nat LM found her stride and danced around a couple of the opposition players and fired the ball beyond the keeper to make it 1-0. Moments later, Katie Thorp made it 2-0, with Nat Philips playing well to hold up the play, and bringing in the midfielders. Thorp found herself one-on-one with the goal keeper, but rolled agonisingly wide of the goal mouth. Chinnor didn’t have it all their own way, with Launton pulling one back just before half time, to make it 2-1.

Confidence grew even with the wind in the ladies’ faces, with Jess Gradde and Jo Deverson linking together, supported by Chinnor’s defensive unit. Kayleigh Knight scored her first goal for the club after bundling the ball over the line from a corner.

Chinnor saw out the rest of the game to their best ability, with Launton pushing more and more players forward and at times, gambling with two at the back.

Chinnor now advance into the second round of the Cup, which will be drawn over the next couple of weeks.

For more information about Girls and Ladies football in the Chinnor area visit https://www.facebook.com/ChinnorLadiesFc/

CHINNOR RFC maintained their strong start to the season with five tries in a game dominated by Storm Brian. Kieran Goss and Orisi Nawaqaliva scored either side of their opposition, Broadstreet’s first penalty try. George Walsh went over for Street but Greg Goodfellow’s and Rory Mason’s tries restored Chinnor’s lead. Broadstreet were awarded anther penalty try but Ben Turner sealed victory with a try in the final minute.

Chinnor withstood sustained Broadstreet pressure for the first quarter of the game with a well organised, defensive display which thwarted a barrage of Street attacks. The men from Thame may have regretted constantly kicking the ball back to their opponents when working so hard to force the turnover. When Chinnor finally decided to keep the ball in hand, Kieran Goss broke from his own 22 to slice open the Broadstreet defence and leave Jonny Bentley with a simple conversion.

Broadstreet still dominated possession and levelled when referee, James O’Brien, awarded a penalty try and sent Goss to the sin bin. But Chinnor ‘s response was to keep possession and finally go through some phases which opened up a simple opportunity for Orisi Nawaqaliva to power over score a try with Bentley converting. HT 7-14

After half time Broadstreet came out the blocks the faster and brought it back to 14-14 with Walsh’s try which Hogson Converted. Chinnor then had Goss return from his 14 minutes in the bin and made the decisive double substitution which bought dynamic prop, Tom Price, to the game. Price immediately made a number of decisive carries giving some real purpose to the forward line, leading to Greg Goodfellow reacting well to score Chinnor’s third try with Bentley again converting.

Chinnor then settled into their stride and extended their lead to 14-26 when Mason scored the bonus point try. With the game seemingly in the bag a speculative “Brian” assisted kick from Street put Chinnor under pressure, and yet again had the referee running under the posts at the first offence, but this time he kept his cards in his pocket. 21-26

Street pressed forward from the restart but Chinnor’s disciplined defence came to the fore and forced the error which enabled the men in Black and White to break downfield and play the game out in the Broadstreet 22 .Victory came when Turner went over to seal the game 21-31 with the final play of the game.

Man of the Match was Tom Price- Game changing performance!

SOURCE – Contributed

FENCERS From Thame Duellists Fencing Club had a succesful weekend at the Bucks, Berks & Oxfordshire County Championships last weekend. The event, which attracted around fifty under-18 fencers, took place in Moulsford last Sunday.

Thame had no adult entrants this year but four junior participants walked away with three medals between them. In the under-fourteen boys category, Hal Seed won the event comfortably, with teammate Isaac Sallé finishing not far behind in fifth place in his first event at the under-fourteen age group. In the girls’ under-twelve category, Rebekah Seed matched her brother’s performance, winning the event in her first competition in the under-twelve age group. Having started slowly, her performance got stronger over the course of the day.

In the boys’ under -ten category, William Nethercleft had a similar experience, with a difficult first round in which he scored against all his opponents but struggled to convert those hits into wins. He fenced much more strongly in the knockout stages, though, comfortably beating an opponent he had lost to in the first round, to take a bronze medal, matching his performance at last year’s championships.

Club coach James Kingston said: “I was really pleased with the result, of course, but more so with the great attitude our fencers showed, working hard and coming up with their best fencing against the most demanding opponents. It’s a great platform for the regional champioships in the Spring.”

Thame Duellists meet at Thame Leisure Centre, 6:45pm – 9:20pm on Thursdays (6pm-7pm for under 11s)

Term dates for the Autumn term are as follows:
Term starts 14 Sep 2017
Half term (no fencing) 26 Oct 2017
Last session 30 Nov 2017

RACQUETS, Thame, are inviting registrations for its Christmas Open Squash Graded Tournement 2017, on December 16/17, 2017

Entries via Sporty HQ at http://www.racquets-fitness-centre.com/open-graded-squash-tournament-1617-december-2017/.

Any questions, contact Tournament organiser, Chloe Marshall, via chloe.racquetsfitness@gmail.com. Entries close on December 12, 2017.

It’ll be fun but competitive. All standards welcome.

Please spread the word among your squash-playing and there’s a poster on the Racquets website www.racquets-fitness-centre.com for you to print for your club noticeboard.

If you need accommodation for the weekend – go to thame.net