The U18s played their first home league match yesterday against Juventude. They scored the opener from a penalty corner and added two more goals before the interval: the second of these came from a weaving run along the bye line and a stunning flick into the roof of the net from an acute angle.

Although the Casuals’ domination continued in the second half, they were only able to add one more goal from a flowing passing move. Their frustration was exemplified by a shot coming off the Juventude crossbar and the rebound coming back off the post, but 4-0 was still a good result.

The Men’s league fixture against Carris saw an exciting first half end 2-2: Casuals opened the scoring, only for Carris to equalise from the new own goal rule, when a strong centre into the circle found the edge of a defender’s stick. They scored again 2 minutes before the interval, but Casuals were able to level a minute later.

Ten minutes into the second half Carris took the lead from a penalty corner, only for Casuals to force the ball over from close range. However, despite some much improved play from the Men, Carris scored twice in the last 12 minutes to take the game 5-3.

In their two matches against Futebol Benfica, the U12s won the first game 5-1 with some good passing moves – all from open play. However, in the second game their inevitable tiredness meant they forgot the passing game and were soon 0-2 down at the interval. To their credit they fought back from 1-3 down to take the lead 4-3 a minute from the end (3 goals from open play, one short corner). But, with seconds to go, Futebol Benfica got the equalizer they probably deserved, to draw 4-4.