Congratulations to Wimborne Town with their win at Hurn Bridge against Moneyfields in the Sydenhams Football League Cup Final held at Christchurch FC on Saturday 3rd May 2008. Images from this match are available to view on the John Wright Digital Imaging website.

Congratulations to Moneyfields and Wimborne Town who have reached The Sydenhams Football League Cup Final to be held at Christchurch FC on Saturday 3rd May 2008 kick off at 3pm.

POMPEY GLOOM

As the clouds rolled across the leaden Portsmouth sky on a raw afternoon the lads looked to put the disappointment of the Wimborne drubbing behind them. The midweek friendly against AFC Bournemouth had been full of positives so Kempie must have been confident that he would get a response from the team and get back the winning ways.

The Moneyfield Ground nestling in the terraced streets within the roar of Fratton Park demands competitive edge and as the game unfolded it was clear that the Church defence really wanted to be at home with a cup of cocoa watching Gillett Soccer Special rather than face a chilly afternoon against a team who wanted to actually engage in some physical contact. The Church defence felt that it much better to avoid such nastiness and stand aside to let the Moneyfield boys past.

Three goals later with the Church defence generally looking at themselves and wondering how long it was to half time the game as a contest was long gone. Kempie, nerves shredded didn’t know where to start in his half time team talk the hair dryer seeming so inadequate for all the team. The reception needed was more suited to the industrial dryers at the end of the car wash than the modest output of a hair dryer.

The first minute of the second half saw a bright start but as the game moved into the 46th minute it soon evaporated as Moneyfields took charge of the game. Christchurch were left wondering how they would keep warm for the rest of the game given that running around was clearly out of the question.

Gary Funnell who stood out on the pitch as a beacon of skill in a sea of mediocrity showed touch and movement that bewildered his team mates. He scored a goal of great technique but like a drowning man in quicksand the 21 other players on the park soon sucked him back to their own level.

While Moneyfields were no world beaters they did appear to have mastered the basics of the game namely a degree of passing and moving and a will to actually compete to the best of their ability. A really disappointing display after the disappointment of the Wimborne game which highlighted how fragile confidence can be.

The season has been littered with false dawns of consistency and great displays followed by two or three poor displays as the team struggle. There is no doubt that the team can compete with any team in this league on their day and the close games against Poole and Totton showed that we should be beating virtually all the teams outside the top six.

To prove the point a much improved display saw the team take all three points against Brading on Tuesday evening and although I was not able to attend it was by all accounts a much better performance. Come to think of it many of the good performances which the team have put together have been on evenings when I have not been able to attend so perhaps I should stay away more often to ensure a greater tally of points.

I never like to pick out individuals for praise or criticism as ultimately the performances are a team game where every member of the team has to play their part for good or bad. I must say however I was pleased that Martin Lawrence got on the score sheet against Brading with our late winner as Martin has this season been an excellent clubman both for the first team and the reserves and unfailingly gives his all for Church. For example last week I had the pleasure of watching him in action on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening when he played for both the first team, reserves and first team again in our friendly. He is always also prepared to help out in the reserves and is credit to himself and the club.

Peter Rolph
Chairman

Whichever you you try to look at it a five nil loss is a heavy defeat and when you look for positives there were not many last tuesday when Wimborne came to Hurn bridge. An early own goal conceded started the rot and a failure to equalise soon after with a good chance the lads were up against it. Wimborne are a fine footballing side who pass and move with players of top quality at this level and are rightly pressing for the title and we wish them well. I know Kempy was unhappy with some performances and there were some harsh words in the dressing room.

The team had an ideal chance to bounce back on thursday evening when a hastily arranged friendly saw the first team take on AFC Bournemouths under 18s/youth players. It gave AFC Bournemouth the chance to look at their players and get some match fitness and was ideal to get the heavy defeat out of our systems. It proved to be a good run out and ended 1-1 with both sides objectives fully met. I certainly hope it marks a closer link between the clubs.

Tims reserve side got back to winning ways on wednesday 3-0 against Brockenhurst reserves. It was good to see Colin Dand back from injury and see the emergence of a new young exciting striker called Steve Hillier. Yes. Fudge playing upfront swivelled in the six yard box to smash an unstoppable shot late in the second half. It was one of those " I was there" moments and in all seriousness the influence of senior players like Fudge and Lee Hodder in the team are absolutely invaluable and the young players learn so much from these players.

Can i remind everybody that the casino night is coming up next saturday and everybody needs to come and raise some serious funds for the club.

I am writing these notes before our game at Moneyfields so i hope we put in a good performance. We welcome our friends from Brading who have made the long midweek trek from the Isle of Wight. Our victory at Brading earlier in the season set us on the way after some indifferent results so we hope to complete the double and move up the table as we have some really winnable matches coming up and we are still looking for a top ten finish having already exceeded last seasons points total.

Whatever happens enjoy the game and we wish our visitors a safe journey and an enjoyable stay with us.

Peter Rolph
Chairman

Football generates different emotions in different people....in my case different emotions depending on the team im watching. I always remain impassive while watching the first team or reserves unless my son is playing. When i watch my son in the under 18s i make ian holloway look like sven. Last sunday the under 18s won through to the Hants Cup Final which will take place at Fareham FC on 30 March against Moneyfields.Andy Mills and Tim Collins have worked so hard with this group of young men that they deserve some silverware and being top of division 1 in the league means we should give the team support for the rest of the season. Come along to the cup final and cheer the lads .The semi final where we beat Totton 4-1 was not without incident and anybody who wants the full story must look at the match report on the website.

Last saturday the first team gave Horndean a three goal lead in the first 20 mins and wondered why it was hard work to get back into the match....at 3-2 the game was there for the taking but with further generousity another goal was given to our visitors and we ran out losers 4-3. On tuesday kempy took a large squad to Gosport for a friendly and in what has been described to me as brilliant ...awsome...magic..Church ran out 3-0 winners against a strong Gosport side who dont like losing at any time.

Such superlatives could certainly not have been used when watching the Reserves against Ringwood play out a insipid 1-1 draw . on wednesday ...i have spent more exciting evenings watching paint dry As a person who has a pathalogical dislike of DIY in its many forms my wife was surprised when i returned from the reserves match to ask if she wanted the house painting...and i was prepared to start at once. It was a game they should have won with one arm behind their back....unfortunately most played as if they had one leg tied behind their back as chance after chance was missed by players who really are experienced enough to play better.Poor Tim Collins must be at his wits end with the chances going begging every match and points dropped every week .

The first team took their good form into the last match against Hayling Island on saturday and started the match at a terrific pace and should have been at least 4 up at the break rather than the solitary own goal that separated the teams .A quick goal straight after the break killed off the game and although we missed a hatful of chances a late goal saw us very comfortable at 3-0.

We welcome our friends from Wimborne tonight in what will be a very stern test for the lads.Wimborne are pressing for the title and with the clubs having shared many players o ver the years and the warm welcome we always enjoy when we visit make this fixture a particular favourite.Wimborne play the game the right way and after tonight we wish them well for the rest of the season.

Finally i must confess that i love stats of almost any type...a real sttato...Our win on saturday took us past our total points for the whole of last season [ 38games] after 31 games.We have this season to date won 12 games against a total of 9 all last season......we have scored 53 goals as against 59 for all last season.....Now i know last season was in many respects a poor season with managerial change and disruption but it does prove what the committee have known since may 2007 that we made the right choice of first team manager and our 3 year plan on the field is well on course.With the youth players continuing to shine its a good time to be with Christchurch
Enjoy the game

Peter Rolph
Chairman

Following an unfortunate incident during todays game young goalkeeper Dan Loader was taken to hospital with a broken leg. The injury occurred in an early second half collision with an Alresford forward. There was no malice in the accident and following a wait for an ambulance play eventaually continued after a 30 minute break. Dan had secured his place in the first team this season and had been a consistent performer every match. Only recently the likable keeper had been invited to train with Aldershot Town.

All at Christchurch Football Club wish Dan a full and speedy recovery.

More information on Dan's injury will follow as soon as we receive it.
The latest information on Dan and comment from the young man himself are in the Forums.

It is with regret that I have to inform followers of Christchurch FC, of the sad and untimely passing of former Christchurch FC Player and our Under 18s Youth Team Manager, Graham ( Smudger ) Smith.

Graham unfortunately passed away on Tuesday 29th of January, in the McMillan Unit at Christchurch Hospital, at the young age of 52, having bravely fought a long and hard battle with cancer. Graham was a typical Christchurch stalwart, both as a player and Manager he always done things the CFC way. He had a great talent in his managerial times for spotting and coaching good quality young players. Apart form his footballing ideals, he was also a kind and caring family Man and someone you could always have a laugh with, as well as his interest in football, he also turned out on the odd occasions for Christchurch Cricket Club, however, he by his own humerous words, “was only their to make up the numbers my highest score was 0 not out”. Our thoughts at this sad time, obviously go out to Angie his lovely Wife and sons Gary and Mark, who also donned the blue and white Christchurch strip for us a few season ago, just like his Dad. The funeral is set for the Bournemouth Crematorium on Thursday the 7th of February at 11 30am, followed by a Family and Friends gathering at our own sports club at Hurn Bridge.

Rest in Peace “ Smudger”, you will be sadly missed by all of us at Christchurch Football Club and all others that knew you.

Mick Ryan
Director of Football

The new web site is live. The site has been re-designed and coded to improve the usability and layout. There are a few new features but the biggest from a user perspective is the introduction of a Forums section. There are still a few links to make live and a few to bring into the new format but we felt the benefits of getting it live now outweighed any drawbacks. Enjoy it and please let us have your feedback.

John

The Image Gallery is being updated to use a dedicated hosting site. This should make it a bit more flexible and functional in use and also provides a good archive system for the growing number of images we have of the club teams. All the latest matches and events will be in the new format and I will be slowly working my way back through previous matches.

For those interested we have chosen Zenfolio for this hosting after a considerable amount of research and testing. As well as providing a very good display interface it also provides back up for the original full size images and is very reasonably priced. For all who have any images or collections of images which are important to them I strongly recommend using a back up system. I currently back up to a RAID server and two external archive hosts (Zenfolio and Photoshelter). I can strongly recommend Zenfolio and a basic account is cheap.

Should you chose to use Zenfolio please use the following referral code when signing up - you will get a $5 discount.

http://www.zenfolio.com

A6A-8CG-CCR

If you value your pictures then back them up.

John