Early end for the Ladies 5s

We turned up to a very damp Newbury with only 1 sub and could barely find the changing room, not the most auspicious!!! All of us knew we’d have to work hard and work together against a very young and dynamic opposition.

They got first pushback but from the off we pressured them. The ball was soon picked up by Jess and then on to Annabel and Taylor and before we knew it we had our first trip in to the D! We had 2 forwards this week and Rippon and i had our fair share of attempts on goal but couldn’t sneak it past the goalie. Catrin too didn’t want to miss out and also had a couple of attempts as did Taylor and Annabel.

We had a very good press on hit outs and didn’t get too far back. Jess W made great use of her hit round the back or brilliant aerials across the pitch.

Amelia got us a short corner and Jess let it rip but it was literally saved on the line and cleared away!

Annabel showed great skill in picking the ball up and by passing the Newbury defenders.

When Newbury did get a break away we moved down as a team and our back line of Sophie, Hayley and Jess picked it up and fielded it up the pitch or let it run off the back.

We had some good determination shown by Amelia and fab skills by Katie pushing in to the D time and again. But we just couldn’t find each other in the D. This was also due to a lot of the opposition defenders in the D and this soon lead to another short corner, once again cleared.

We all worked very hard and knew that half time was coming and would give us an opportunity to regroup and come out stronger and win. It wasn’t meant to be though!
Jess took a free hit on the halfway line, what promised to be a great aerial. Unfortunately one of the opposition players was not 5 yards and her head connected with the ball. She went down and although still lucid we had to call and ambulance. I am happy to report that after a visit to A&E she is doing ok.

The Captains then felt as both sides were very shaken up that we would call the score at half time and just play on for fun, so we had to settle for a draw