Sirens Enjoy Close Game with London Eds

Sirens 1 – 2 London Edwardians L5

Let’s take a trip to the movies…

On Saturday it started raining and it didn’t quit. We played through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin’ rain… and big ol’ fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained during tea.

The first half started with both teams proving to be fairly evenly matched and running up and down the pitch we were telling ourselves to ‘just keep swimming’ as very quickly we were soaked through. Surbiton made some great plays in defence, with our on-loan goalkeeper Annie from the 7s (thank you!) keeping the ball firmly out of the goal on a number of occasions. With some clever passes Surbiton made a break… ’Run Jane Run’… Jane scored a blinder to give us the lead, hasta la vista baby!

At the same time the Edwardians were very much in the mindset of, ‘We’ll be back’ and followed up with a goal of their own. However, as we always do, we kept calm and carried on! Surbiton were awarded a short corner where we gathered at the top of the D to make it look like we knew what we were doing, in reality we were catching our breath. After a great corner and several attempts at goal, none of them were able to, ‘show us the money’. This was soon followed by a short corner at the other end of the pitch, where a foot on the line gave us our first ever penalty flick. Houston (Surbiton) we have a problem! This was it, just one on one… Annie was just a girl, standing in front of her goal, asking the ball to love her… unfortunately this time it wasn’t meant to be and the score remained at 2-1.

Half time came and Claire gave Tracey a good talking too, telling her to pull herself together, I imagine this as, ‘C'mon, get'cha, get'cha head in the game, you gotta get'cha, get'cha head in the game’. We weren’t exactly, ‘singing in the rain’ but when you’re stuck with a day that’s grey and lonely, you stick out your chin and grin and Annie says, ‘Man mark in the D!’ So, for the second half we decided to keep our friends close but our enemies closer!

The second half saw some excellent play from defence! Your defences were therefore as flexible and inventive as the Edwardians we seeked to undo. There were some excellent passes round the back from Lisa and Hayley, some brilliant breaks upfield from Laura and Jackie and some compelling golf swings! Despite this, there is always one, and during a short corner Tracey broke the line… Mama says, 'Stupid is as stupid does'! Just kidding Tracey – we love you but that was the award for the Moist Mug!

Surbiton remained aggressive as we deserved another goal. Well say hello to my little friend l’elbow. Jackie insisted this was her friendly play, Jane was diving in the D like it was football, Lisa and Laura took a beating from the ball and Kate took to yelling in people’s faces through pain. There was some questionable play from Cuddy as she found herself surrounded by several players but made short work of them as they ended up on floor expressing some angry expletives and still won us a free hit… the first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. Due to Edwardian’s high defence and their need for speed we were unable to execute some of those great chances and ended the game at 2-1. Well nobody’s perfect.

We were all very keen to make it in for tea where the tent made an offer you could not refuse as wet shirts were flying off at all angles, frankly my dear we didn’t give a damn, we just wanted to be warm and dry. To be honest though, many were just there for the jugs, Surge had her jugs out on full display for a picture. After enjoying the tea, many of us made our way home for hot showers and baths as there really is no place like home.

POM: Laura Maginnis