Ladies 1 vs Stevenage 1

I’m going to give it away before the rest of this report because I’m so happy about it. WE DREW, AGAINST 3RD IN THE TABLE.

If you weren’t already aware, the L1s had a tough first half of the season. We were going through a drout , a long one at that and spirits were understandably dampened. Coming into this game though, we’d all had a few weeks to reflect, take stock and bring a refreshed sense of enthusiasm for what will be a challenging second half of the season.

Two good training sessions started our week off right and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a full squad on the team sheet (minus Kim who had the nerve to go skiing with her RAF buddies this week… show off). 

We navigated the escape room changing rooms at Clarence park successfully ( best time of the day stands at 42seconds for anyone who wants to challenge the top spot)and we had a new playlist for our warm up, so far so good.

A change in formation saw us setting up 4:4:2. More defensive but with our goal difference being what can only be described as “ a bit woeful” we needed to try something else. 

We started off positively, adopting a man to man marking tactic which caught Stevenage a bit off guard. They have been used to being able to run off our players into pockets of space to collect the ball, but not today, and they struggled with that from the off. 

Plenty of physicality throughout the game, expertly judged and managed by QC and Piercy made for a cracking competition. Everyone was putting a shift in, lots of calling and link up play throughout which built our confidence in the first half. 

The only down side was their goal. Don’t worry, Karen got heavily fined at teas for not only kicking the ball 3 times at the top of our D, but in the absence of a whistle then proceeded to disengage from the situation completely allowing their centre forward to collect the ball and have a free strike on goal. One she expertly slotted into the corner past a stretching Gemma. 

Damn.

It didn’t deter us though and we saw out the first half without too much further incident. 

So , we’re one- nil down but Stevenage were rattled and we knew it, we needed to focus on keeping possession and patience .

We came out fighting again in the second half, upping the intensity and demonstrated even more physicality, something that Stevenage really weren’t happy about. Lots of complaining to umpires, lots of Astro turf was eaten but it made no difference. A piece of delightful build up play saw a ball hammered into the D , hitting a Stevenage foot. Short corner , here we go. After a little bit of D faff, it came to Emma W who from the most impossible angle managed to hit the far side of the goal exactly 201 minutes since the last time we scored. 

YYEEEEESSSSS! Genuinely nearly tore a vocal cord with my celebration and someone nearly floored Emma by jumping all over her. We. Were. Elated.

We needed to be sensible now, slow the game down. Let’s keep this result. 

We compacted the middle, marking out some of their key players and Stevenage were fast running out of ideas. Their frustrations heightened, their finesse diminished and we just batted them back time after time. We conceded a few short corners but our defence was flawless and they couldn’t break the deadlock. Clare however did take a leathered shot to the thigh, which required hypnotic breathing and a few minutes of stopped time before she could carry on. 

It felt like forever before the final whistle blew but finally it did. What a game. What a fight. A point further away from the bottom of the league and we feel confident to give the top of the league a battle next week. 

⭐️Player of the Match : Donna

🌦️Weather reporter Bryony : 1.4 degrees, 0.4 dewpoint and 94% humidity ( the weather vane she got for Christmas is in her garden in Berko though so take that with a pinch of salt)

📝Additional notes: the new changing rooms at Clarence park 💯 and the water temperature is the same as the surface of the sun. Luvly jubbly. 

🎙️Quote of the day : QC “bottle that strength and take it into the game every week

❌ 🎙️Worst quote of the day : Vijay “Kels, I’ve worked out you’re one of the oldest in the team now” 😒

💙Special mention to all the supporters that came down to watch and the Men’s 3s who’s roaring helped us home to a very deserved and much needed point. 💙