Women’s 6s 2 - 1 Ashford (Middlesex) 1s (A)
By Helen Waugh
The Womens 6s arrived in Ashford bright, early and ready for the rain. Captain for the day Fee gave us a strong team talk: ‘Convert our opportunities and mark players on the post’, all seemed pretty simple, meanwhile Ceci handed out white tape for numbers (for white shirts….) which more worryingly Taryn accepted!
Ashford put us under pressure from the start, their speedy players attacking quickly and efficiently down their right, Eve making some early diving saves in the slippery conditions. Eventually we succumbed to the pressure and Ashford went ahead. After last week’s close defeat we weren’t going to give in easily, we closed off their options on the right, Amber flattened one of their players on the left and Ceci took a ball to the butt cheek.
As the half time whistle went Fee had arranged our new formation, high forward, go out determined not to lose this close game. Ashford came out fighting but we maintained the pressure and won a number of penalty corners, by this point we’ve slipped left/right/back to no avail so ignoring coach’s ‘no straight strikes’ there was only one option left – the golf swing from the top and finally we scored – absolute scorcher of a strike – if only I could do that every time and not approx 1 in 10!
At 1-1 in the rain the game became a little unwieldy, some of both teams could have been mistaken for forestry workers with the levels of choppy tackles. Val: ‘Up there in my top 5 worst tackles ever’ sums it up! The game could have gone either way but Eve steadied the team from the back, Lauren took out their defender without even flinching and Fee’s continuous work rate meant we had one final opportunity. After a dubious stop of the ball, Val sneaked the ball in past their keeper far post for the winner! Thankfully Val didn’t argue with the umpire on this one.
We ended the game victorious, some missing chunks of our sticks (Val), some with peachy bruises (Ceci) and some looking like warriors post battle (Amber/Lauren)
POM – Eve (for the many diving saves, keeping us in the game)
DOD – Taryn (for the white tape / white top debacle)
Notable DOD mention also to Jen – missing the game to see S Club!?
Scorers: Helen W & Val B