The ladies 1s met a 10 player Rutland team on a lovely sunny day at St Catz for the second cup game of the season. The team played very well in the first half with some strong passing play in attack and solid defence right across the pitch. Alice's goal came from a well worked move that took the ball to the baseline then up to find her on the penalty spot to finish cleanly with a sweep shot.

In the second half the South players' physical fitness let us down and rather than settling down to consolidate our advantage, ambition led the team to continue to press forwards. As a result, there were big holes in the middle of the pitch with numerous unmarked players proving too much for the South back line. Rutland skillfully took the advantage with passing play (just the kind of stuff we'd done well in the first

half) and scored two goals on the break, with Loopy having little chance left one-on-one against the through runners.

South need to take the positives (excellent passing, good press, lots of pressure on goal) from the first half and learn the lessons from the second. That is, either turn up with fully charged batteries or be ready to play boring, defensive hockey and hang on to a lead when we are tired. Bex put in man of the match winning performance in attack with super-charged batteries and creative running and passing with Lindsey's solid defence and smart distribution also deserving praise.