Ladies 4's vs Phoenix Reading 3

We needed a win this week, so armed with a thorough pre-match briefing from coach Bex and her trusty pinboard, we all knew what we had to do - get into the hot zone, shots on goal, protect the middle, high intensity and quick passing (to white shirts).

From the whistle, motivation and commitment to the ball gave Maidenhead the upper hand, with excellent pressing, great teamwork and lovely creative play to get the ball up to the forwards. Solid defending from Izzy, Caitlin and Gill kept the ball from Charlotte in goal, pushing the play through a strong midfield of Fran, Ellie, Lucy and Lydia, who fed excellent balls up to the forward line (Frankie, Alice, Bella, Shreya and Ruth), who in turn displayed some fast paced runs and shots on goal. The opposition keeper and defenders had to work hard to keep out the onslaught of shots from the forwards ( next time Ruth!). Finally, persistence and determination paid off with a fabulous open-play goal from Shreya, followed by a well-executed short corner, which saw Caitlin hit the backboards from a hard struck shot from the top of the D.

The same intensity and creativity of play continued in the second half, with Charlotte deftly clearing the opposition’s only decent shot on goal. Ongoing forward play finally led to goal number 3 to secure a healthy lead and final score of 3.0 for the home team.

It was a true display of high-energy teamwork from every player, with all the excellent coaching from Bex over the past few weeks finally coming to fruition.

Lucy