13th Nov
Match Report : Jo Price
Result : Southgate 4-0 H&MH
The biggest concern this week was whether we were going to get eleven players onto the pitch. At 9.30 on Friday evening ten looked like our best hope with nine a definite possibility. However, every option was explored and with perseverance from Kim we were actually able to field twelve.
Clare, fresh from her BTH debut on Friday evening, found herself playing again just hours later and Andrea, hot-foot from Glasgow, was back just in time to make her second appearance for the 5s.
It is fair to say that player for player we were stronger than our local rivals, bossing much of the possession in the first half with plenty of forays into our attacking D and a number of shots on goal falling just wide of the target. Annette W, now back with her original club, worked hard to orchestrate the play through midfield but they found it difficult to break down the Southgate defence.
Eventually pressure told when a strong cross from Mon found Anna on the left post and maintaining her composure she despatched the ball cleanly onto the backboard. Moments later she again found herself in front of goal striking a hard ball through the goalkeeper’s legs and we finished the half with a 2 goal lead. As Kim said at the break, a good start from a team that didn’t all know each other.
In the second half the home side found a bit more rhythm and were able to force a few short corners but could not convert. With only one sub and several of our players carrying niggles or recovering from illness it was inevitable that some tiredness would creep into the SG play, but we kept our focus to create some good passing phases with Anna again latching on to a good ball to complete her hat-trick.
With minutes to go, a good through ball from Sarah in the centre found Mon on the right and she duly cracked the ball home for goal number 4 and our third win on the bounce.
A good all-round team performance with a big shot-out to everyone who played despite not feeling their best and to Andrea and Clare for turning out to play at such short notice The vote was close again with Ella producing her best game to date but our MVP for this week is Anna for a well-taken hat-trick.
Next game, 20/11/21 at 10.30 home to WH&E