Match Report by Sue Cameron
Win 4-2
vs OMT W1
To say our team captain was slightly nervous about Saturdays match may be classed as an understatement. No idea why, playing against a notoriously physical team on a day they asked to change with no subs… what was there to worry about? We left the late Friday night conversation with the final text…”let’s focus on just getting out of this one unscathed”….
We had 11, and we were grateful for 11. Our back line was solid with Olivia Rick in goal, Rhi, Lena ( now simply known as “The Wall”) , Daisy having simply one of the best games of hockey I’ve seen her play and Jo B who was both CB and on pitch coach the whole match.
Our midfield was slightly depleted and with no Lucy or Oliva available Millie was moved into CM. With Gen T on the left and Annabelle Korth joining us from the fives, Niah, Michelle and Mon made up the front line this week.
We changed our tactics and decided to start more defensively and held the oppo at bay for a good half hour – Gen T somehow dealing with two players on her most of the time. Olivia in goal again demonstrating both her superb awareness and skills in keeping OMT from scoring.
Our first goal came from a SC beautifully injected by Gen T to Michelle. OMTs scored soon after but a smart pass from Niah to Michelle meant we happily went into half time 2-1 up.
Half time chat was mainly disbelief that we were 2-1 up and we were all still in one piece, I’ve never seen two bags of sweets demolished so quickly.
OMT scored very quickly in the second half when we could only be described as caught napping ..! 2-2. With ten minutes to go the ladies upped the pressure and pressed again and again until Millie found Michelle 3-2 and then just to make sure did the same again 4-2.
This match was one when every player had to be on their A game – there were no subs and no room for errors and it was another superb team performance. Rhi calm and controlled smartly slowing the passage of play down to suit us in the second half, Michelle scoring all the goals , Lena as always simply superb at the back, Mon always available for the pass and Niah playing on despite a nasty knock to her ankle.
Final Score 4-2, earning the team three points and moving the ladies back up to fourth in the league
MVP – obviously in a match like this everybody truly deserved a vote but for playing the whole match out of position as CM, creating two goals and not getting into the fight with the oppo, despite their best efforts – the team voted Millie as MVP this week.