Ladies 5's vs Staines 3's

It was a sunny Saturday morning when the ladies 5’s took on Staines 3’s once again, having been promoted together from the league below.
Maidenhead had pushback but Staines quickly intercepted and headed to our D. We jumped back and began what became a very fast paced game that stretched to each end.

Staines push hard and our expert team in defence of Helen, Jess C, Ali and Clare all worked hard to get the ball out of that danger zone. Staines managed to get a few balls in the direction of the goal but Kiera calmly and expertly kicked away. There were several defensive short corners but these were all cleared by the defensive team, even when we were a player down after Clare was a bit too eager running one and was sent to the half way line.

Our mids and forwards worked together to try and move the ball up the pitch and some lovely connections between Jess H and Cerys meant the ball found it’s way into the D where Meghan expertly dribbled around the keeper and put the ball into the net, 1: 0

We kept this energy up and had 4 attacking short corners. One made it to the back of the net but was disallowed as it didn’t quite make it out of the D from the first push in. We finished the first half 1 goal up and ready for a breather.

Coach Paul gave the half time talk, we spoke about setting our press to cover all the gaps and with this in mind went out ready to take on the second half.

The whistle went and Staines pushed back and set the high pace again. We fought hard to intercept the ball but it made it’s way to our D. Staines overloaded our D and our defensive team worked to clear the ball once again. In this half the game became heated and two players were sent off. First our player then a few moments later a Staines player.

This half became very defensive with Staines pushing hard to the D with several high forwards hanging dangerously near our D.
Staines had several short corners which we managed to clear, although one of them the ball bounced around from maids to Staines players until it was eventually cleared. Unfortunately with 5 minutes to go Staines scored off a straight strike on their short.

This meant we finished the game 1:1.

It was a hard fought game and not quite the result we wanted but everyone truly played their hardest and a special shout out to Mia and Meghan on their first Ladies game !

As we enjoyed our delicious teas at the clubhouse we debriefed and now can’t wait to see how this season unfolds!