Ladies 5's vs Reading 7's

Ladies 5’s vs Reading 7’s

On Saturday morning, after losing the toss, we started our game with pushback but also the autumn sun in our eyes.
We tried to start strong, Kacey sending the ball wide the LA who pushed up to Meghan. She dribbled up and unfortunately was met by a number of Reading players who took the ball and worked together to bring it to our D. Nehal as our left back put the pressure on and Ali and Mia at the back move the ball back out the danger zone and up to our mids.

We tried to keep the ball moving up the pitch but Reading ran on to every pass as we waited for the ball to come to us. They brought the ball back towards the D. We cleared and this time Jess H as our right back moved it up to Cerys in mid who sent it high to Roo who was up in the D. Reading were straight on us and one player smacked to the ball to clear it but unfortunately it hit Roo straight on the foot and she had to come off. We continued to fight hard but reading were strong and we had to jump back to defend. They had several short corners and scored off one, followed by two more goals in open play.

As we neared the half time whistle we were determined not to let the ball in the goal which led to Pippa tripping off the oppositions foot in an attempt to keep the ball from crossing that line (which she did) but gained a few bruises and Astro burns!

We had our half time talk and were ready to go again. We felt positive as we had brought it back from 3 goals down in our first game of the season just a few weeks ago, but Reading started strong and we were on the defensive straight away.

There were several defensive short corners. Clare ran straight out and intercepted the striker the first time but the second they managed to score. As a defensive team we discussed how we had to try and clear wide as they could just pick the ball up again in the middle.
When we had several more defensive shorts, after the ball kept hitting our feet (it felt like we should be playing football!), Clare ran out putting pressure on the striker who slipped the ball left which Pippa then intercepted and cleared wide. We did this two more times in the half but the third time the ball bounced around the D then ended up at a height that was hard to see with a mask on.

We did have several breaks of our own, with Sasha, Meribelle and Lucy working hard in mid and forwards and we won two shorts of our own.
Kacey pushed out and we had several lovely strikes but didn’t managed to score. Unfortunately as we tired we left players free in the D and Reading scores several more times.

We finished 7-0 to Reading. A tough fight against a team who are currently sitting high in our new league.

Back to the clubhouse for yummy teas and a debrief. And a lovely chat with the opposition who complemented us on being such a nice team and a great game.