The Ladies 2nds picked up a fine friendly victory in the teams first match following their reformation this summer. Hard work saw us gather a team together, with skipper Vicky’s efforts aided by some sterling recruitment from Perse teacher Cat, bringing some of her pupils along with her, who all went on to put in impressive performances.

We won the toss and picked to push back. Saffron chose the ends and as it worked out we were shooting into the sun for the first half. Ellie took the push back and the game started. Saffron pushed hard into our half and we struggled to defend the attack. The first ten minutes were very hard due to the fact that we had never played together as a team. We didn’t talk to each other or support and not knowing each other compounded that fact. After the initial attack from Saffron, 3 players switched positions Lou went to RB, Vicky to CB and Phillippa to CM. That change made a big difference to the team as we pushed forward harder and kept them at bay in their own half.

We took the lead towards the end of the half, when Helen intercepted an Saffron 16-yard-hit, showed a nice trick to beat the first tackler and reach the circle, from where a good clean early hit found the far corner. This goal gave a positive vibe to the half-time teamtalk, with Vicky asking for more calling, movement off the ball and encouraging her team to look for the short pass rather than the big hit, especially from defensive 16’s. Cassie from her role as ‘keeper asked the team to make more use of width, as most attacks were going down the throat of Saffron’s strong central defence. The final point from Cathy & Jo was that we were playing too nice, with Jo summing it up with a neat aphorism, “We need to be first in the queue, so go and fight for the ball.”

The second half started with Saffron having the push back and they started to attack, but with our new found confidence and also playing with the sun on our backs, we pushed forward into their half. Helen doubled the lead when she drove down the right channel, and crossed the ball onto a defenders foot, from where it looped really high in the air. Everyone stopped, except Umpire Emma who correctly waited to see if the ball would land anywhere advantageous before blowing for the penalty corner, which it most emphatically did, coming down with snow on it into the Saffron goal.

Goals came thick and fast as Cat slotted a third, rapping home a loose ball in the circle, followed by a very sneaky shot from Emily that bounced off the post and went in, a very popular goal with her teammates. Finally Ellie scored with a clean hit from the edge of the circle, which was a real boost for her as she had worked so hard throughout the game.

For the last ten minutes again we had to battle to keep our clean sheet, but with Cassie holding fast despite all the short corners being conceded we won the game 5 goals to nil.