An improving Gryphon side travelled to Shaftesbury yesterday and came away with a heavy defeat, despite a decent performance. Shaftesbury were a very strong side and their superiority showed as they won the game 7-0 thanks to a ten minute purple patch in the first half where they scored five goals.
Gryphon started the game very well, matching their opposition across the pitch and pressing the play well. Shaftesbury did however manage to threaten in the early exchanges only for the final ball to let them down. Gryphon themselves had some early chances on the counter-attack with the Bray brothers up front getting in behind the Shaftesbury defence on numerous occasions. However, the deadlock was broken around about the 15th minute where the talented Shaftesbury wingers combined to forge an opening, which the centre-forward duly obliged with a neatly finished shot.
The period of play that followed would kill off any hopes of a Gryphon comeback. Possession was surrendered straight from the kick off, and after a lovely through ball, the Shaftesbury left-winger drilled his shot into the bottom left hand corner. Two goals in two minutes and the Gryphon team were left shell-shocked. Roused by their improving display, Shaftesbury began to dominate the game, leaving Andy Craig and Ryan Bungay to do a lot of donkey work in the midfield. The movement of the Shaftesbury team was becoming too hard to handle and more openings followed which were completed with some fantastic finishing. The Gryphon needed half-time to come, and ideally, pretty quickly. By the time it had come, Gryphon found themselves 5-0 down and with a lot of work to do to halt the goals.
At half time it was stressed that the only goal that counts is the next one, and these words were taken onboard by a Gryphon team who were much improved after the break. The introduction of Jon Rose coincided with the defence strengthening and limiting Shaftesbury to only a few half chances. As the second half progressed, Gryphon gained more and more of a foothold in the game and were now holding possession against their opponents. Shaftesbury, becoming increasingly frustrated by their resolute opponents, made a number of changes to freshen the game up and this did seem to work for them.
As Gryphon naturally began to tire due to the amount of pressure they were constantly under, more chances were created and it was only thanks to some wayward finishing that the score line maintained respectable. Gryphon changed things round themselves as they searched for a consolation goal, pushing the impressive Ben Austin higher up the pitch and this did improve Gryphon’s attacks. Gryphon began to hold the ball in the final third for longer periods of time but due to some solid Shaftesbury defending were restricted to a few long-shots from outside of the area. As Gryphon pushed further forward, they were caught out by the speed of Shaftesbury’s counter attacks and Shaftesbury manage to break their duck for the half, scoring two more well-worked goals before the full-time whistle. In truth, Shaftesbury could and should have scored more but thanks to the Gryphon’s defence’s hard work and an element of complacency creeping into the home team’s play, the score stayed at a ‘semi-respectable’ 7-0.
Although the score line may suggest differently, Gryphon had put in a battling and disciplined performance against probably the league’s strongest team. It cannot be forgotten Shaftesbury reached the quarter-final’s of the National Cup last year and were always going to present a formidable task. Positively, Gryphon had kept on battling until the end as Mr. Barker famously stated, ‘there are two ways to lose 7-0; the good way and the bad way!’ If that is indeed possible, then Gryphon lost the good way.
Sixth Form football suffer double defeats to Boys School
15/03/2011
Last Thursday, the Sixth Form sent two teams down to Carey’s Playing Fields as they took on the Boys’ School in two eagerly anticipated matches.
Unfortunately, the ‘B’ team lost 4-2. The scores were level with about 10 minutes to go but after conceding a penalty to go 3-2 down, the team’s hopes were dashed.
The ‘A’ did not fare much better, losing by the same scoreline, 4-2. After going 1-0 up through Rory Bray somewhat against the run of play; Gryphon endured a ‘funny five minutes’ where they conceded after a long ball over the top and went down to ten men after Rob Helyar was sent off, only minutes after coming on.
The task inevitably became harder for Gryphon and had to run tirelessly throughout to try and maintain a foothold in the game. Naturally, Gryphon went 2-1 down but after a Ant Herrin free kick, was headed into the Sherborne net by one of their own defenders, Gryphon battled to hold onto the draw. Attack after attack came forward but Gryphon stayed resolute in their defending. Unfortunately with about 15 minutes to go, Gryphon conceded a third and after pushing forward in search of an equaliser conceded a fourth a few minutes from time.
Twynham 4-1 Gryphon 1sts
17/03/2011
Now to call a 4-1 defeat one of the best performances of our season, may reveal something about our season or it could show what a valiant effort the 6th form football team put in yesterday.
Gryphon made the very long journey towards the coast with a depleted squad of just nine (Yes, 9!) and from that nine, only two had played in the ‘A’ team last week. Discussion on the way down turned to how many would be respectable, rather than, could we win?
When we finally arrived, we were greeted by a Twynham team with a squad of 16; predominately made up of Year 13′s, while the Gryphon was made up entirely of Year 12′s. We lined up in a 4-3-1 formation, with the intention of creating two banks of four and hoping that when we were attacking either Jordan Cassell or Toby Dennett could hold the ball up long enough for the midfield to support.
The game started with Twynham wasting a flurry of chances while the Gryphon realised the size of the task in hand. After seeing their way through the first ten minutes, the Gryphon attempted to hold possession of the ball, with the front four of Adam and James Gooder, Toby Dennett and Jordan Cassell working tirelessly to put pressure on the Twynham defence and midfield. The deadlock was inevitably broken after Gryphon were out-thought by a quickly taken Twynham corner, which caught the team napping.
Twynham continued to dominate the game as it began to take a familiar feel, Gryphon doing a lot of chasing down and winning the ball back before surrendering possession simply because they didn’t have the numbers. The back four of Jon Vicary, James Choi, Kyle Gapper and Ryan Bungay were cutting out a lot of the Twynham attacks.
Unfortunately Twynham doubled their lead just before half time as Gryphon began to tire from the sheer amount of effort they were putting in. Luckily, the half time whistle went and gave the team an, albeit short, break.
The second half started with Gryphon looking the brighter of the two teams and managing to hold possession in the Twynham half. However, Twynham continued to look dangerous but were guilty of trying to over play it on numerous occasions.
Then came the moment of magic in the match, Toby Dennett managed to get away from his marker before unleashing a looping shot from all of 25 yards out from a wide left position. The Twynham ‘keeper could only stand and watch as the ball nestled into the back of the net.
Before Gryphon even got a chance to think about salving the most epic of draws, Twynham restored their two goal-lead after Alex Watts was beaten to a through ball by the Twynham striker. 3-1 and game over. There was just enough time for Twynham to score once more before the final whistle sounded.
On the face of it a 4-1 defeat looks like a bit of a drubbing, but under the circumstances this was a great resilient performance by the Gryphon team. Twynham had not scored less than five in a game until yesterday and the attitude of the Gryphon team was first-class. So much so that the nine who played yesterday have been guaranteed positions in the line-up next week.
gryphonsport 
16th February 2011
Shaftesbury 7-0 Gryphon 1sts
An improving Gryphon side travelled to Shaftesbury yesterday and came away with a heavy defeat, despite a decent performance. Shaftesbury were a very strong side and their superiority showed as they won the game 7-0 thanks to a ten minute purple patch in the first half where they scored five goals.
Gryphon started the game very well, matching their opposition across the pitch and pressing the play well. Shaftesbury did however manage to threaten in the early exchanges only for the final ball to let them down. Gryphon themselves had some early chances on the counter-attack with the Bray brothers up front getting in behind the Shaftesbury defence on numerous occasions. However, the deadlock was broken around about the 15th minute where the talented Shaftesbury wingers combined to forge an opening, which the centre-forward duly obliged with a neatly finished shot.
The period of play that followed would kill off any hopes of a Gryphon comeback. Possession was surrendered straight from the kick off, and after a lovely through ball, the Shaftesbury left-winger drilled his shot into the bottom left hand corner. Two goals in two minutes and the Gryphon team were left shell-shocked. Roused by their improving display, Shaftesbury began to dominate the game, leaving Andy Craig and Ryan Bungay to do a lot of donkey work in the midfield. The movement of the Shaftesbury team was becoming too hard to handle and more openings followed which were completed with some fantastic finishing. The Gryphon needed half-time to come, and ideally, pretty quickly. By the time it had come, Gryphon found themselves 5-0 down and with a lot of work to do to halt the goals.
At half time it was stressed that the only goal that counts is the next one, and these words were taken onboard by a Gryphon team who were much improved after the break. The introduction of Jon Rose coincided with the defence strengthening and limiting Shaftesbury to only a few half chances. As the second half progressed, Gryphon gained more and more of a foothold in the game and were now holding possession against their opponents. Shaftesbury, becoming increasingly frustrated by their resolute opponents, made a number of changes to freshen the game up and this did seem to work for them.
As Gryphon naturally began to tire due to the amount of pressure they were constantly under, more chances were created and it was only thanks to some wayward finishing that the score line maintained respectable. Gryphon changed things round themselves as they searched for a consolation goal, pushing the impressive Ben Austin higher up the pitch and this did improve Gryphon’s attacks. Gryphon began to hold the ball in the final third for longer periods of time but due to some solid Shaftesbury defending were restricted to a few long-shots from outside of the area. As Gryphon pushed further forward, they were caught out by the speed of Shaftesbury’s counter attacks and Shaftesbury manage to break their duck for the half, scoring two more well-worked goals before the full-time whistle. In truth, Shaftesbury could and should have scored more but thanks to the Gryphon’s defence’s hard work and an element of complacency creeping into the home team’s play, the score stayed at a ‘semi-respectable’ 7-0.
Although the score line may suggest differently, Gryphon had put in a battling and disciplined performance against probably the league’s strongest team. It cannot be forgotten Shaftesbury reached the quarter-final’s of the National Cup last year and were always going to present a formidable task. Positively, Gryphon had kept on battling until the end as Mr. Barker famously stated, ‘there are two ways to lose 7-0; the good way and the bad way!’ If that is indeed possible, then Gryphon lost the good way.
Sixth Form football suffer double defeats to Boys School
15/03/2011
Last Thursday, the Sixth Form sent two teams down to Carey’s Playing Fields as they took on the Boys’ School in two eagerly anticipated matches.
Unfortunately, the ‘B’ team lost 4-2. The scores were level with about 10 minutes to go but after conceding a penalty to go 3-2 down, the team’s hopes were dashed.
The ‘A’ did not fare much better, losing by the same scoreline, 4-2. After going 1-0 up through Rory Bray somewhat against the run of play; Gryphon endured a ‘funny five minutes’ where they conceded after a long ball over the top and went down to ten men after Rob Helyar was sent off, only minutes after coming on.
The task inevitably became harder for Gryphon and had to run tirelessly throughout to try and maintain a foothold in the game. Naturally, Gryphon went 2-1 down but after a Ant Herrin free kick, was headed into the Sherborne net by one of their own defenders, Gryphon battled to hold onto the draw. Attack after attack came forward but Gryphon stayed resolute in their defending. Unfortunately with about 15 minutes to go, Gryphon conceded a third and after pushing forward in search of an equaliser conceded a fourth a few minutes from time.
Twynham 4-1 Gryphon 1sts
17/03/2011
Now to call a 4-1 defeat one of the best performances of our season, may reveal something about our season or it could show what a valiant effort the 6th form football team put in yesterday.
Gryphon made the very long journey towards the coast with a depleted squad of just nine (Yes, 9!) and from that nine, only two had played in the ‘A’ team last week. Discussion on the way down turned to how many would be respectable, rather than, could we win?
When we finally arrived, we were greeted by a Twynham team with a squad of 16; predominately made up of Year 13′s, while the Gryphon was made up entirely of Year 12′s. We lined up in a 4-3-1 formation, with the intention of creating two banks of four and hoping that when we were attacking either Jordan Cassell or Toby Dennett could hold the ball up long enough for the midfield to support.
The game started with Twynham wasting a flurry of chances while the Gryphon realised the size of the task in hand. After seeing their way through the first ten minutes, the Gryphon attempted to hold possession of the ball, with the front four of Adam and James Gooder, Toby Dennett and Jordan Cassell working tirelessly to put pressure on the Twynham defence and midfield. The deadlock was inevitably broken after Gryphon were out-thought by a quickly taken Twynham corner, which caught the team napping.
Twynham continued to dominate the game as it began to take a familiar feel, Gryphon doing a lot of chasing down and winning the ball back before surrendering possession simply because they didn’t have the numbers. The back four of Jon Vicary, James Choi, Kyle Gapper and Ryan Bungay were cutting out a lot of the Twynham attacks.
Unfortunately Twynham doubled their lead just before half time as Gryphon began to tire from the sheer amount of effort they were putting in. Luckily, the half time whistle went and gave the team an, albeit short, break.
The second half started with Gryphon looking the brighter of the two teams and managing to hold possession in the Twynham half. However, Twynham continued to look dangerous but were guilty of trying to over play it on numerous occasions.
Then came the moment of magic in the match, Toby Dennett managed to get away from his marker before unleashing a looping shot from all of 25 yards out from a wide left position. The Twynham ‘keeper could only stand and watch as the ball nestled into the back of the net.
Before Gryphon even got a chance to think about salving the most epic of draws, Twynham restored their two goal-lead after Alex Watts was beaten to a through ball by the Twynham striker. 3-1 and game over. There was just enough time for Twynham to score once more before the final whistle sounded.
On the face of it a 4-1 defeat looks like a bit of a drubbing, but under the circumstances this was a great resilient performance by the Gryphon team. Twynham had not scored less than five in a game until yesterday and the attitude of the Gryphon team was first-class. So much so that the nine who played yesterday have been guaranteed positions in the line-up next week.