This website uses cookies. By continuing to browse, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

I accept
Call

Sloths Shuffle Into Round 2 of T1 Cup

Gameday: 27th October 2024

By Beckie Middleton

SHC Sloths 1 - 1 Teddington Tornadoes (H)
Sloths win 2-0 on shoot outs

EH Tier 1 Women’s Over 35s Championships

The Sloths assembled on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Sugden Road ready for another game against local vets rivals Teddington. A 4-4 draw against the same opposition a fortnight earlier suggested it might be a close but exciting encounter, and despite a lower scoring affair this time around, so it proved…

Once she’d got through the first ten seconds and realised that hockey is much easier if you aren’t looking at the corner flag when your team mate passes to you three seconds after pushback, Ceci put in a fantastic performance at centre back and was deservedly voted Player of the Match. It has to be said that her calmness and canny intercepts were offset by a colourful insight into the Spanish language throughout the game, but sé tú mismo Ceci…

The Sloths backline was excellent throughout, with Jane and Fee calming distributing the ball around the back and into the midfield pockets, Courtney battling a back injury to get up the pitch and join the attack, and Sunny putting in a trademark composed and skilful performance to glue things together in the middle of the pitch.

Some of the attacking build up play from the Sloths was really enjoyable to be part of, with several Man City style passing moves resulting in circle entries and shots. With the umpires insisting on what can only be described as maximum precision for the position of every free hit and long corner, sadly the same couldn’t be said for some of our efforts on goal.

The Sloths did open the scoring midway through the first half. Following a midfield turnover, Sian was put through… but had support on the way. Readers may be shocked that Sian, freshly back from her WO40s World Cup exploits, was prepared to give up on a chance to add to her Golden Stick tally… but she committed the keeper, sent a reverse flick sideways and the supporting midfield player was relieved to pop the ball into the net. The crowd went wild, momentarily drowning out the sound of a baby Sloth / mascot on the sidelines who clearly wasn’t enjoying the game quite as much as everyone else.

Emily, Lisa and Jen were making inroads with their attacking ball carries and defensive energy to shut down a skilful Teddington dribbler in midfield, while Val and debutant Kerry made some brilliant leads for the ball and forced the Teddington backline into some mistakes with their pressing and hassling.

I’m still not quite sure whether our captain was wearing bat ears after the game because she was DOD, or she was DOD because she was wearing bat ears after the game… but either way, it’s been a big week for Charlotte with Ofsted and rumours of a post-Ofsted Saturday night out, so fair play to her for getting us organised as well as battling through the game and connecting some circle attacks well despite a possible 'slight headache'.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first - pretty evenly matched with some nice play as both sides searched for the game’s next goal. After a flurry of penalty corners, Teddington found an equaliser from a slick slip hit move and it was anyone’s to win going into the last fifteen minutes.

Another Sloths attack late in the game was stalled by a whistle overhead from the other pitch… cue confusion and then a sense of mild panic as we realised we’d stopped, the Pink Ladies hadn’t and they were counter attacking the other way. Thankfully this was repelled and the game did eventually end with the score still level at 1-1.

There was quite a bit of discussion about whether it was flicks or shoot outs, could we toss a coin instead etc etc. The umpires were quite insistent that it being 2024 (and with other modern rules like no offside and no hand stops at short corners now in place) the shoot outs were happening. Thankfully, it appeared that Marlijn had significantly more enthusiasm for this decision than the two sets of outfielders combined, and she channelled her inner Maddie Hinch to great effect, saving four from four. Lisa and another Sloth who shall remain nameless scored their attempts, meaning that the Sloths joyfully? reluctantly? slowly? shuffle into a Round 2 tie in November.

As always, big thanks to the Sloths supporters crew, the umpires and the clubhouse team for some bonus pizzas at the end of the game. See you next time!

Team: Marlijn, Jane, Ceci, Sunny, Fee, Courtney, Lisa, Beckie, Emily, Jen, Sian, Charlotte, Val, Kerry

POM: Ceci

Scorer: One of the midfielders / the match report writer