Women’s 6s 1 - 2 Spencer 6s (H)

This weekend the Women’s 6s hosted our Spencer counterparts for a chilly late pushback on Pitch 2.

Spencer W6 have had a strong start to their season, but confidence was high in the Surbiton dugout after a convincing win at Richmond last weekend. Fee was back from injury, Lauren had the right top on, and Coach Tarek was on his way…

The opening ten minutes saw Spencer come out of the blocks faster, forcing some early great saves from Eve, but we soon got into our stride and matched their slick passing game with our own. Fee was a settling influence in CM with her strength and distribution while Sinead - unleashed from her usual central defensive position - was doing some great forging play up the right.  

At 13 minutes, however, we were unlucky to go 1-0 down when some confusion at the back saw Spencer just manage to scramble the ball over in a goal-line melee. 

Rather than let our heads drop though we responded by turning up the pressure and were the dominant side for the remainder of the half. At the back, our transfer was working brilliantly between Sammy, Ceci, Aoife and Sinead, while at the other end of the pitch our press was continually forcing mistakes and pushing Spencer off the sidelines. Jess was creating opportunities with some brilliant runs into space and baseline carries while Val and Jen did some superb chasing down and interceptions, not giving the Spencer defensive line an ounce of let up. 

With momentum behind us, the reward finally came in the 28th minute when Serena was given space to drive at the D from a quickly-taken free hit and pass to Lauren inside. With two Spencer bodies on her, she deftly turned to find Helen free and clear for a 1-on-1 with the keeper. In true Helen form she absolutely smashed it, burying the ball in the back of the net to draw level: 1-1. 

Despite our high spirits and great pointers from Tarek at half time to reinforce a clear game plan, the second half got off to a stuttering start: Spencer grabbed the lead back after only three minutes when a lapse in concentration and marking at the back allowed them to convert a baseline run and delivery across the face of our goal into a textbook finish. 

Again, though, we responded with relentless pressure. Newbies, Bessie and Lois, surged forward with some confident attacking play and we kept the lion’s share of possession for the rest of the half. Our passing game remained slick, but composure in the final 25 was lacking, with Spencer packing it with bodies preventing us from finding a way through. Having had none in the first half, short corners now came thick and fast but we just couldn’t convert them. 

In the end, a disappointing 2-1 loss despite some really positive periods of play, and some clear things to work on in training!

POM this week unanimously goes to Lauren for her dominance in midfield as well as her fantastic ability to both use and create space - she proved a constant handful for Spencer throughout.

DOD this week also unanimously goes to our absent colts for going trampolining without us!

Huge thanks to Serena, Bessie and Lois for stepping in brilliantly to fill our gaps, as well as to the ever-wonderful Tarek for his valuable coaching.