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What should the new Wednesday team name be?
Bispham Celtic
13 votes (65%)
B & S Celts
2 votes (10%)
Bispham Wednesday
1 votes (5%)
Anything Starting with Bispham
0 votes (0%)
Anything Ending with Celtic
2 votes (10%)
Other
2 votes (10%)
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Fassioms Brothers Make Sure Bispham Stay Up
 | With this game being billed as the biggest of the season and manager David Martin stating that it is the most important game since becoming manager, the six players that turned out certainly rised to the occasion.
Before the match it did not look as though it was going to be Bispham's day with only a starting line up turning up with no subs available. As the game kicked off there was some belief and true spirit in the Bispham team that they could win against the odds and survive from relegation in the process, this was especially shown when Arkwright went close with a shot going just the wrong side of the post after 3 minutes. Another important contribution came from the defence as both Rick and Dave Fassioms along side Ste Ratcliffe made vital tackles and interceptions that made Martin not touch the ball for the first ten minutes.
Shortly after the 10 minute mark Santus got on the end of a Ratcliffe ball and placed the ball into the corner passed the right hand of the despairing goalkeeper. For a long time the score remained at 1- nil as C.E.F came more into the game until C.E.F had a shot which Martin saved only to come back out to another C.E.F forward who placed the ball to Martin's left hand side to make it 1 all.
From there the game was a see-saw affair with chances coming at either end. It was close and the next goal was very important and it took a bit of flair from Santus to beat two players and blast the ball that found its way passed the C.E.F goalkeeper. This strike seemed to have woken C.E.F who scored another equaliser shortly after when a shot got passed Martin and R.Fassioms nearly cleared off the line. At 2 all the game looked like it would finish a draw. Dave Fassioms clearly had other ideas with one of the best strikes of the season as the ball fell to him he softley curled the ball to the far corner which looked for certain to be the winner. However a shot by a C.E.F went passed Dave Fassioms and took Martin by surprise and somehow squeesed past him. Again the game was in a stalemate that was finally broken for the last time by a freekick cleverly taken and perfectly placed. With score at 4.3 the game took another twist that would place more pressure onto the Bispham team as Santus was sin-binned after kicking out at the C.E.F forward after a great deal of provocation. for the last 4 minutes the team played with man short but were able to hang on to another great victory.
Team Line up
D.Martin, R.Fassioms D.Fassioms S.Ratcliffe J.Arkwright A.Santus
Scorers
Santus (2) R.Fassioms D.Fassioms
Fosters Referee's MoM Award
R.Fassioms
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Santus Late Strike Completes Revival
After last weeks humiliation to Angel Delight, Bispham were hoping to bounce back as they so often have done in the past. Assistant Manager Adi Santus made a number of changes that included a different game plan and a new formation. However for the first twenty five minutes it looked as though there was not a chance of any dramatic change in fortune as Springfield completley domminated the game. With some delicate passing and great movement off the ball Springfield took a deserved lead after 5 minutes shooting across Martin at a narrow angle. However shortly after Bispham Struck back wih a pin-point ball from Martin to Ratcliff who clinically finished the opportunity to make it 1.1. Then came the Springfield ambush with dommination of the ball and the ability to take a number of chances that made the score 6.1. At this time a repeat of the previous weeks humiliation was on the cards for Bispham, this was until a goal from Firchild gave them hope.
Santus returned to the match which effectivley give the team a lift with that was also boosted when he took a half chance superbly, which was followed by a strike by Stafford. Shortly after the game certainly become a competition when Firchild struck his second of the game which took the score to 6.5 which it remained until 5 minutes to the end.
Just as it looked as though the great defence and counter-attack tactics from Springfield looked to pay off Arkwright powerfully low drive took the goal keeper by surprise to give Bispham the equaliser. The final few minutes were hectic from end to end with both sides having a number of chances each until Santus took on two defenders to slot the ball into the bottom left hand corner beautifully to score not just a fantastic individual goal but arguablly the most important goal of the season. With a few moments left Bispham were able to hold on to make the score remain 7.6 in one of the most dramatic matches ever played by this club.
Bispham team
D.Martin A.Santus J.Arkwright S.Ratcliff P.Firchild D.Fassioms R.Fassioms M.Stafford
Scorers
S.Ratcliff P.Firchild (2) A.Santus (2) M.Stafford J.Arkwright
Referee's Fosters MoM Award
D.Martin
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Slow Start to Season for Bispham (vs Poynton Alstars, 28/8/03)
Prior to the game Bispham suffered a number of major blows by finding out that Assistant Manager Adi Santus, Rick Fassioms, Matt Stafford, Malcolm and Stephen Ratcliffe were all not going to be able for selection. The start of the season obviously looked bleak with only 7 players selected one of which was debutant Stephen Carroll.
As the game kicked off both teams looked comfortable on the ball with good pass and move tactics played by both sides. It took a mistake by goal keeper/manager David Martin for the deadlock to be broken as it was his pass that was intercepted by the Poynton striker who played the ball square for his fellow team mate to slot away. The promising sign was that Bispham continued to play to their style and always looked dangerous as shots were close by Dockett and Carroll. There were a number of good chances for Poynton who brought the best out of goalkeeper Martin who certainly made up for his earlier error with a number of reflex saves that started to frustrate the Poynton coach.
The game looked like it had the possibility of finishing 1- nil for so long and it took an unlucky deflection from an attempted tackle by P.Carroll for Poynton to find their second goal. This was very quickly followed by another ... goal as a sweetly timed ball was played through the Bispham defence, for the striker to finish. Martin brought Fairchild back on from the bench at this time to spring a bit of life into the Bispham team and to make sure there was no chance of their heads dropping. The Bispham team responded brilliantly with a perfectly placed curling shot by J.Dockett into the corner to make the score 3.1 shortly followed by a powerfull shot by Paul Carroll to make it 3.2 and Bispham suddenly had a chance of taking something from the game that was until the match breaking goal which was blasted across the Bispham goal to the far corner to make it 4.2 quickly followed by another powerfull shot to make it 5.2. Again Bispham did not give up with some chances coming from Fairchild and Arkwright but it was P.Carroll who was to get the final say of the day with nicely placed shot that beat the despairing keeper's dive to his left to make it 5.3 as hard as they tried the Bispham just could not break down the Poynton defence.
Final Score Bispham Celtic 3 Poynton Alstars 5
Team
D.Martin, D. Fassioms, J.Arkwright, P.Fairchild, P.Caroll, S.Carroll, J.Dockett
Scorers
J.Dockett & P.Carroll (2)
Fosters MoM
David Martin
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Commando's Ambush Leave Bispham Reeling
Today was meant to be the kick start of the Bispham season after an excellent win over Springfield Blacks and the return of many regulars. However the truth was that this game was to become Bispham's low point since David Martin and Adi Santus were placed in charge of the team. Martin stated that he was gutted with the performance and result which he felt was worse than the match against Angel Delight in the peak of the previous season. However Martin also believes the charactor in the Bispham side is exceptional as they do have a tendency to bounce back from results like this.
The match could not have got off to a worse start for Bispham with game being played at a typically high pace commandos took an very early 2-nil lead with both goals coming from wicked deflections that left Martin in the Bispham goal helpless. From here the Bispham team feared that they needed to score quickly to get back into the game and pannicked leaving gaps at the back for the Commandos forwards to take advantage of which they did to take an embarressing 5-nil lead. Bispham's passing was very inconsistant at one moment it could be superb and the next shambolic. at 5-nil some of the best passing was displayed as Santus was able to drill the ball home but all chances of a comeback were shattered as Martin let a soft shot underneath him to let Commandos have their sixth. It was clear that the game was over as a contest however the charator of the team were shown again as they continued to play some football and was richly rewarded as Malcolm was able to place the ball diagonally past the goal keeper. However Commandos rubbed salt into their rivals wounds by scoring another 2 to make the score 8.2.
Team
D.Martin, D.Fassioms, R.Fassioms, A.Santus, J.Arkwright, Malcolm, S.Ratcliffe, P.Carroll
Scorers
A, Santus Malcolm
Fosters MOM
Went to the opposition forward
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Late, Late Strike Hurts Bispham
After last weeks poor performance against Commandos there were questions being asked how the team were going to recover. The answer to the questions were looking negative before kick off with Bispham only turning up with the bare team with no subs.
However after kick off the answer looked more defiant with the team playim very patient and looking very solid in defence which started with the two forwards Santus and Arkwright applying great pressure on the Hitchen defence. For the first five minutes the game was going at steady pace with Hitchen having much of the ball but little to count for thier pocession.
The game needed a bit of living up which came after the 15 minute mark when Stafford took the ball of a Hitchen attacker and started a counter attack taking on 3 would-be-defenders using flair and stregnth to get past and cooly slotting the ball past the Hitchen goal keeper for one of the goals of the season. This goal opened up the game with runs being made by both teams, with best chances all falling to Bispham with the Hitchen goalkeeper making a number of great saves from Santus, Arkwright and Stafford. Eventually Arkwright played a delicate ball through the defence for Santus to get on the end off and to place past the keeper to make it 2-nil.
For so long the game seemed like it was going to remain at 2-nil which would suit bispham perfectly until a weak shot some how found its way passed the Bispham goal keeper Martin. The game was back on. With the game entering its last 10 minutes Santus started to keep the ball in the corner killing time until on one occassion he spotted the perfectly timed and placed run of Fassioms who was left unmarked on the edge of the box who placed the ball into the undefended net. Things were looking good for a Bispham win even when Hitchen scored a powerful free kick to make it 3-2 as Celtic defended outstandingly and attacked very well with chances either blocked or saved. The game looked certain to finish 3-2 which would have been a deserved victory for the hard work Bispham put in until the Hitchen goal keeper who had kept his team in the game placed the ball down and shot to somehow find its way passed everyone including the unsuspecting goalkeeper Martin to score the most unusual equaliser. As Bispham kicked off the final whistle was blown and the scenes around the pitch looked like the promotion hunting Hitchen had just won. Not drew. Bispham Better take this performance and continue to progress in this manner, if they do there is no reason for why they can not get promoted themselves.
Team line up
D.Martin, D.Fassioms, S.Ratcliffe, M.Stafford, A.Santus, J.Arkwright.
Goal Scorers
M.Stafford, A.Santus, D.Fassioms
Foster's MoM
M.Stafford
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Steady in the Face of Adversity (v.s Steady Nigel 16/10/03)
After a traumatic week with the strain of the 'game' vs Funkey Monkeys, which left manager offering his resignation, it was going to be very interesting to see how Bispham was going to react against an excellent team in Steady Nigel who are chasing promotion. It did not take long to see that the reaction of the whole team was very very positive with early chances falling to both Santus and Arkwright.
There seemed to be true charactor amongst the whole team that they enjoyed playing from the back to the attack. The first real break through of the game came when Santus played a near perfect to the feet of Arkwright who placed the ball well away from the keeper only for his goal to be disallowed for entering the box. This disallowed goal seemed to awoken the sleeping giants of Steady Nigel who almost immediatly went up the other end of the field and place an exquisite chip to the side of Martin who could only get his fingers to the ball and see it fall inside the post. This great goal did not dampen the spirits of the Celtic boys who where very vocal coming from Ratcliffe and Santus.
Within minutes the reply came from a typical Matt Stafford power run to the edge of the box taking three would be defenders on and then powerfully place the ball to the keeper's right hand post. This seemed to lift the Bispham team even more as within a minute of the kick off a fantastic team goal was scored which started with Fassioms dispossesing the attacker giving the ball to Ratcliffe who made one of his many dangerous darting runs, who then played the ball to Santus who immediatly played the ball square to Arkwright who comfortably put the ball away.
For a long spell it remained 2.1 to Bispham with chances falling to both sides Steady Nigel had most of the ball and failing to do much with it due to awesome defence from the back three Ratcliffe, Fassioms and Stafford also with some good stops by keeper Martin who pulled a save off that looked certain to be the equaliser as he covered the entire goal at full streach to tip a shot round the post. As Steady Nigel were looking for the equaliser Bispham were hitting them on the counter attack which eventually paid off when the ball fell to Santus who went 1on1 with the goalkeeper, as usual Santus was able to place the ball away with ease to make it 3.1 and the comfort gap was opened.
This gap was soon to be closed however when a shot took a wicked deflection off Ratcliffe who was closing the attacker down and went to the opposite post to what Martin was going to. This goal lead to a game of tit-for-tat as Santus played the ball perfectly to Arkwight who was only happy to get his second goal of the game and his fourth in two games. Shortly followed was the Steady Nigel's third with excellent defending in vain. Bispham almost immediatly replied with another great powerful tackle from Fassioms who set up Santus to blast the ball past the dispairing goalkeeper to give Bispham that comfort of a 2 goal lead at 5.3.
The game seemed like it was going to finish this way as Steady Nigel pressed for a way back but defending starting from great tracking back from Awkwright and commanded by the three defenders Ratcliffe Stafford and Fassioms left Steady Nigel asking how can they break them down. There was always the threat of a counter attack as Ratcliffe's and Stafford's pace and skill on the ball kept forcing Steady Nigel back. With less than five minutes left the goal of the game maybe of the season was scored by Ste Ratcliffe who deserved this goal which was his first of the season. Ratcliffe dispossessed one of the Steady Nigel attackers then taken three players on the right wing, cut inside taken another two on, as he tried to put the ball on to his favoured foot he cut out again to take on another two defenders then to powerfully strike the ball home which left the entire soccerdome in awe of the goal people behind Martin's goal were shocked and was a fiiting way to finish what was a fantastic performance by Bispham.
Team Lineup
D. Martin, M. Stafford, S. Ratcliffe, D. Fassioms, J. Awkwright, A. Santus
Goals Scored
Stafford Awkwright (2) Santus (2) Ratcliffe
Fosters MoM
S. Ratcliffe
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