Ladies 4s 4 - 2 Hampstead & Westminster 3s (A)

Game prep started on Wednesday morning with a rabies check after an altercation with a fox who told Strachan that Hampstead & Westminster were going to beat them.

Doctor clinically advised her to stop arguing with them. 500k civvies agreed.

After a ridiculously long drive, we arrived to Hampstead and Westminster’s furthest pitch (on purpose we think). They offered us little space from sideline to gate, but it wasn’t going to stop our tenacious attitude on the pitch.

Five minutes to pushback, no goalie, 12 players there, chaos was about to break out. Oh no, Tilly Gibson runs over - one shoe in hand… having lost her battle with a north London fox. No need to fret, Strachan is a pro with fox altercations, she managed to get the shoe back with two minutes to spare. Barney tried to start the game in a bib, our heads were well and truly in it.

Pushback. Sian. Goalie off. In that order.

Much to Hampstead’s dismay, we capitalised on their misfortune. Only minutes later Sian had tapped one in the back of the net. Just a few more, she scored another banger. All the while a poor H&W outfielder was trying to kit up to get them back to ten outfield. Not that this was going to help them much.

Keeper on. The equilibrium had somewhat returned, Mimi nearly lost her head, Sloper was telling everyone to forget the five minutes of tactical advice she had just given. Time restarts, the keeper was still working out how her gloves worked - unknowingly, she was about to receive the wrath of the Gibbo. The H&W defenders didn’t even see her coming. Almost as fast as a fox’s bite, she had smacked a reverse hit into the bottom left of the goal. Half time whistle goes. 3-0 Surby, what could possibly go wrong from here?

Some seriously inspirational words from Carole. Second half, H&W had clearly composed themselves, we arguably started a bit too complacent. Subsequently they scored about four minutes in. We didn’t let it get to us too much though, some seriously good defending from our fullbacks - Sloper stood her ground, Duns took absolutely no prisoners. Sophia and Nat doing some absolute shifts as half backs. Unfortunately we struggled to connect, so another fell into our goal.

We shook it off, heads got back in the game. Barni informed us of what the fox says, some cracking play forward - Strachan and Gracie lose it and manage to win it back. Quick ball to Carole and it’s smashed into the bottom right corner. We’re back baby.

It’s 4-2, we have about ten minutes left to play. We focused on defending, Savill has run a half marathon at this point, and wasn’t going to give up for the last push. Carole shouts, ‘Gracie no foul’, two seconds later, she got one of the most deserved green cards I’ve ever seen. Mimi narrowly escaped a card due to a zip malfunction in the first half, but her sass did not go unnoticed and it came back to haunt her. The umpire worked out how to open her pocket and Mimi was off.

A few unsuccessful corners at both ends but things were looking hopeful. Final whistle goes and we’re ecstatic. Truly needed the W to keep us up in the top four in the league. MOM, Gibbo… unbelievable game, but we hadn’t forgot about earlier … one pitcher courtesy of Mrs. Gib, as her wonderful daughter also received DOD.