MHC Ladies 1's vs Salisbury 1s

Maidenhead’s 1st XI suffered a disappointing defeat this Saturday (7th October) away to Salisbury. We started the game in a similar manner to the previous week, conceding a short corner within the first 2 minutes which was bravely defended by Amy Martin. This led to another short corner which was parried away by goalkeeper Katie Hudson, but unfortunately little could be done when Salisbury found themselves in a 2 v 1 on the break which they utilised to make it 1-0.

Maidenhead were struggling to get the ball out of their defensive half until the final 15 minutes of the half, when we started to string passes together much more effectively and found our players in great positions. This improvement in performance was rewarded with a short corner won by Jen Martin on the half time whistle, which Chantal Frost brilliantly converted to make it even going into the second half.

The second half was punctuated by an excellent short corner routine by Maidenhead, the ball being pinged to the injector and back to the P spot where the shot narrowly missed the target. Yet this momentum was to be stifled when Salisbury once again scored on a counter attack, giving them a one-goal advantage.

Maidenhead’s bad luck with regards to officiating culminated in a penalty flick being awarded to Salisbury, which they converted to make it 3-1.

Maidenhead were not discouraged and continue to improve as a team. We won a vital short corner which was expertly smashed into the top left corner by Bex Miall to bring it back to 3-2.

Maidenhead pushed on, finding their rhythm once more. A short corner was won by a beautiful play that started with Hannah Stone passing the ball out to Amabel Hills on the left, who floated the ball down the line to Eddie Westacott, who then used her 3D skills to pass the defender and play a one-two with Jacqui Bird. Eddie then narrowly missed the deflection on the far post.

The combination of two Maidenhead goals being nullified by advantage not being played, and an excellent performance from Salisbury’s keeper sadly meant that Maidenhead lost 3-2. Our performance was not rewarded with the points which were deserved but there were still many positives to take into our home game against Henley next weekend.

Congratulations to Maddy Dobson who won Man of the Match convincingly and to all the team for continuing to battle to the final whistle.