INTRODUCTION
To all intents and purposes the weekend’s games marked the end of the season (except of course for the appearance of our U12 Boys in the final of the Onondaga Cup on Sunday 28th April and our U16 Boys in the final of the U16 Plate on Saturday 27th April. Support for our teams will be greatly appreciated).
It has been a testing season in many ways. Our senior men’s and women’s teams have probably come up short from where they had hoped to be but all of the teams have produced some top-class performances but have suffered from erratic availability.
Our junior programmes have generally had good seasons with the Girls teams being particularly impressive. Pride of place certainly goes to our U15 Girl’s team who won their League and have now gone 3 years undefeated as a group.
Our U19 Boy’s team had a good season with some excellent wins but were not quite as good as SNL who were one of several combination teams in the tournament. I wonder whether the people running these teams fully appreciate the damage they are doing to the game?
On our boy’s programme the U16 struggled for numbers but even when short they were generally very competitive and enjoyed some encouraging wins over good teams and fought their way through to the final of the Plate.
Our U14 Boys had a curate’s egg of a year. They have some excellent players and when they were good they were very good but when they were poor they were awful.
For the U12 it was an unexpectedly successful year winning through to the Onondaga Cup Final and having some epic games with Cheadle and Mellor.
The U10s and the Saturday morning Starter Sessions continue to be popular despite the great competition from other sports.
Next season will be a rebuilding one so thanks and congratulations to Greg Sandy for taking on the role of 1st team Captain and a huge thank you to Jason Armstrong for his commitment and loyalty to TLC – a great captain.
Lastly, a big thank you to TSC for creating some of the best grass pitches in lacrosse. With them and two ATPs we undoubtedly have the best facilities in lacrosse.
Lacrosse has a number of issues but the strength of the game depends on the strength of the clubs and undoubtedly the club of the season has been Mellor who are doing more things right in my view than anyone else.

MATCH REPORTS
SAT 30TH MARCH

MEN’S B TEAM V WILMSLOW A (A) LOST 18-5
It was the end of a tough season for the Men’s B team but they have played with spirit and commitment.
Fielding a B team has been a real struggle this season despite the tremendous efforts of John Hirst and Adam Henbury and others. This is despite the huge numbers of players we have on our books.
There is much talk of Timperley fielding only 2 senior men’s teams next season. In my view that would be a huge mistake. Having spent over 50 years helping to run Lacrosse Clubs running the bottom team is always a challenge but it has a role in the club just as important as the 1st team.
This season has been a struggle for our senior men who have generally been tested by a level of Lacrosse that is at the top of the standard for each team.
As has been usual at TLC the end of each season we have lost a number of players who have gone to University. That is the problem with having clever kids. Some return but a lot don’t.
For some reason, which does escape me, we have a bigger problem in getting our senior players to stay with the club and play on lower teams and help bring on younger players.
We clearly have a crisis and it would be great if some of our older players would agree to turn out, if only occasionally and help us to continue to run at least 3 senior teams.

TIMPERLEY U12 V BOARDMAN AND MELLOR
Timperley U12 vs Boardman (WON) 7-1 VMELLOR (WON) 8-5
The first of our triangular games on this warmer spring morning allowed us to give more time to our less experienced players against a younger Boardman side. The scoring was opened by Lukie Brennan assisted by Mattie, but Boardman evened the score line soon after. George Rommel closed the 15 minute half a goal ahead by pushing through their defence to score. 2-1
Mattie ran through from midfield, taking advantage of a smaller defence to open his account. A pass from George to Lukie gave him his second of the day. Tom Hayton scored before Mattie drove through from behind goal to get his second. The game ended with an assist from George to Tom, ending the game with a comfortable 7-1 win
Timperley U12 vs Mellor 8-5
Mellor beat Boardman in the middle game, taking us to the headline event and it didn’t disappoint. After losing to Mellor last week we knew it would be close and Mellor were well organised for their first 2 goals, the second from a tight angle. Tom got one back for the Blues, but again, good passing from Mellor and some weaker marking left Mellor clear in front of goal to score. Noah demonstrated his strength and pace on the break, and spotting Sam in a great position, passed for him to score. Mellor got one back, but Noah and Sam combined to replicate their previous goal and Mellor heads were dropping despite carrying a small lead into the second half 3-4.
Noah scored another, then provided the assist for Sam, before Mellor levelled 5-5. Noah deserved the MoM, unstoppable with 2 further goals, one after a big clash with 2 Mellor lads bouncing off him. The game finished with a Sam assist for Lukie to score.
Well done to the boys – a great team effort with better positional play and passing. You should be proud of how you came back from behind with Mellor to win, and if you play as well as that vs Cheadle, I’ll be driving back with a shaved head!

U16 BOYS
Another tri-game for the final weekend of the season against Cheadle/Norbury and Sheffield A/B
For the first time in memory, we had our full squad of 11 fit and playing.
Cheadle/Norbury 5 vs. Timperley 3
Cheadle/Norbury are one of the Flag finalists so a tough game was expected. The lads started slowly but defended well against a constant barrage of attacking play, with George making some truly exceptional saves. The half ended, 4-1 down. The second half was a different matter as the team came together and fought hard to maintain the ball. Timperley winning the half, 2-1.
Sheffield A/B 1 vs, Timperley 9
We went straight into the 2nd game and the lads were a little tired so we borrowed a couple of the Norbury lads to give us a squad of 13 against 15 from Sheffield. The team played superbly and never let Sheffield get into the game at all. Jack O was in sterling form, scoring 5 of the 9 goals.
It was a great way to end the official season and now the lads need to knuckle down and train for the next 4 weeks before the plate final.

SUNDAY 31ST MARCH

GIRLS U13 V MELLOR (A) WON 14-10
Sunday saw the U13's travel to Mellor for the final league game of the season. An early start of 8.30 was needed to make sure that the mach could go ahead but it was well worth the early get up with Timperley emerging as worthy winners 14-10.
It was a tight, physical match with both teams determined to win the fixture. Timperley trailed in the first quarter by 4 points to 2 but came back fighting to regain the lead, which they did not lose. Total commitment was shown by all the players, with outstanding performances all over the field against a very strong Mellor team. It was a fitting end to a great season for this U13 team, who have consistently played excellent skilful lacrosse and exhibited a wonderful team spirit.
Goals;
Tilly 7, Karina 3, Grace A 3, Laura 1, Esme 1
Assists:
Karina 3, Grace A 3

GIRLS U15 TOURNAMENT
Timperley u15s finished off a great week by winning the JNGL U15s Club Tournament, which was hosted this year by Cheadle.
It was a close tournament with tightly fought games throughout.
Timperley got off to a solid start with a 5-1 victory over the hosts Cheadle. It was Mellor next, in a couple of tough opening games, and a 5-5 draw.
An 11-2 win over Stockport meant it all came down to the last game, with both Mellor and Timperley tied on points.
The girls knew it was going to be down to goal difference, with Mellor playing Stockport and Timperley against a Heaton Mersey team that had competed well in all their games.
In truth, Timperley hadn’t warmed up well and hadn’t played at their best in the early games, but they really got it together in the last game and thrashed Heaton Mersey 10-1.
With Mellor winning their last game 13-2, the final positions we’re eagerly anticipated – and great news that Timperley had won on goal difference.
By my reckoning (not the official result), Timperley finished +23 and Mellor +1

GIRLS U18 V STOCKPORT LOST 15-8

CONGRATULATIONS
Great congratulations to Alice Allan. Alice is a member of our outstanding U15 team and last weekend she made her international debut when she played for Scotland U19 in the Home International Tournament.
Scotland drew with Germany, lost to England but beat Wales 10-9 with Alice scoring her first international goal. She gave a great account of herself and was given a good amount of game time.
It is a tremendous achievement for Alice and if she continues to work hard at her game than she will have a long and successful career. Making her debut as a 15 year old she will eligible to play U19 for another 4 years which means that she will be eligible for at least one World Cup! Who knows what else?
Timperley LC is very proud of you Alice. A great season for you and the squad.

TIMPERLEY SPORTS CLUB EGM AND PROJECT 18 UPDATE.
On 28th March a well attended EGM passed unanimously the resolutions needed to transfer Timperley Sports Club to Timperley Sports Club Ltd – a Community Benefit Society with tax exempt charity status.
This has been the successful outcome of a tremendous amount of work by the Club Executive and in particular Alan Holdsworth (Chair), Nick Burnett (President) and Shelagh Everett (Exec member).
This is a very important step which will, I am sure, take Timperley into a successful future.
At the meeting there was an encouraging update on Project 18 and the ideas on Club development which are being discussed. In particular the Club had received an extremely positive letter from Trafford MBC which committed them to a very proactive working partnership with TSC. There was a very different tone to the letter than we had had from the previous Trafford administration.