11:45-12:39 Katie runs us through the many pros and cons of Milton vs. Thriplow tips at breakfast kindly provided by Jenny.

12:40 Drive over to Long Road. Avoid being in same car as Katie.

12:50 Feel flat and tired in the changing room. Listen to people moan about various injuries, illnesses and hangovers.

12:55 Jenny and Kate announce that we shall be changing formation as not fit enough for the new one (with only 2 subs), which is probably a fair assessment.

13:04 Izzy smashes Lucia in the foot in the warm-up at point blank range.

13:32 A quick positive start and good build-up play resulting in a short corner awarded to us. Beautifully lifted high drag flick into the back of the net by Izzy to put us in the lead.

13:44 Tamsin plays an inch-perfect ball up the line, picked up by Izzy who drives along the baseline and (Claim 1) pulls it back towards P spot. I volley it in, tennis lessons finally paying off. There is an alternative narrative (Claim 2), that it was Maddy instead that picks up the ball from Izzy, lifts a shot at goal which bounces off the keeper before being knocked in. The all-important assist sadly remains unconfirmed.

13:47 The dark side of Lucia rears its ugly head once more - green card for knocking the ball away. 2 in 2 weeks, time for some intensive classical conditioning at training to break the habit.

13:55 City score a beautiful goal, a hard strike into the corner giving Loopy no chance.

14:33 Lovely cross from Lucia to Izzy who kicks the ball in the goal instead. Sadly disallowed.

14:41 Yellow card for a clumsy shove on a speedy young player and another 5 minutes off, sorry pals.

14:15-14:50 Undoubtedly not the prettiest half of hockey. Limited attacking chances, and expert saves from Loopy, combined with last ditch defending and wonderful tackles from Anna, Jenny, Tamsin and Hannah to deny City from evening the score. Endless running from the midfield of Saz, Katie, Kate and Lucy. Izzy told a city player to grow up, Lucia ran the ball the length of the pitch not once but twice, Maddy made a tackle, Annie cheered us on. We held on despite the sustained pressure, displayed some beautiful game management, and fought hard for each other in the face of a City team who played 11 outfield for the last 5 minutes.

15:20-16:30 Watch L2s also smash City, heckle Nichola.

15:43 Kate declares herself to be disappointed by the lack of reaction to her celebratory GIFs

15:45 Caught off-guard, Jan reveals umpire assessor declared the yellow card to have been be extremely harsh. Vindicated. (Ed - the Assessor hadn't realised Alice had already had a green for the previously clumsy shove in the back... at which point it was agreed that yellow for the repeat offence was appropriate!)

15:51 MOM vote wrapped up – a very even spread reflecting the team effort. 3 deservedly joint winners of Kate, Hannah, and Jenny

18:15 Cver myself in blood and fur, ready to celebrate

22:03 Claim 3. Lucy V – you know it was actually me that assisted your goal. No further details given but for some reason I believe her

The final stats:

Goals – Izzy 1, Alice 1

Assists – Kate 1 (beautiful stick stop to set-up the short corner strike), Lucy 1

Cards (deserved) – Lucia 1, Alice 1, City 2;

Cards (undeserved also deserved) – Alice 1

Happy winning players - 13