SHC Snails 2 - 1 Ashford (Middx) WO45s (A)
By Amanda Akelma
On Sunday the mighty Snails played Ashford HC in the South Masters Women’s O45s league.
In the first half the Snails went 1-0 up with a cross from Mandy followed by a superb tap in from Jo.
In the second half Ashford managed an equaliser which spurred Charlotte, Sinead and Rachel into a rapid retaliation goal which they managed within about a minute of the Ashford equaliser. Charlotte dazzled everyone by sprinting down the right wing, beating two defenders only to reach the baseline and cross it to Sinead for a shot on goal which was tapped in by Rachel. The score was now 2-1, which was how it stayed until the match finished.
Another excellent win for the team under the superb stewardship of the captain Sinead - who had even used AI to create a detailed schedule to manage the rolling subs to the minute. This was excellently managed by an injured Val on the sideline - thanks for the organisation and moral support. There was however a moment in the game where this perfectly arranged schedule nearly fell apart when Debs seemed to be refusing to respond to Jane's calls to sub on for her... she was using the poor excuse that she had heard but was just busy defending, Jane was not impressed!
Votes for Player of the Match went to Ellie for her well-timed, accurate tackles, Charlotte for her all round versatility and on-pitch organisation and Mandy, but the most votes went to Rachel for her excellent attacks and the pressure she put on the Ashford defence.
Votes for DOD went to Jane for forgetting to wear her mouth guard for the first ten minutes of the second half, to Ruth for forgetting her shinpads (and keeping very quiet about it) but the runaway winner of this title was Mandy for not only missing the goal once but after receiving two golden crosses from Charlotte, swinging and missing... twice! The fact that Jo went to the wrong place for the match was rather forgotten about during the votes, but she still managed to arrive before everyone else and she scored so she more than made up for it.
A great team effort putting us at the top of the table, well played everyone.