Maids U14 A squad v Amersham and Chalfont EH cup

What a lovely game of hockey between two evenly matched teams. The lead changed hands four

times and the result was in doubt right up to the last four minutes.

In the end, A&C’s pressure play won the day with two late goals and we were left to rue the counter-

attacks and one-on- one’s with their keeper which we did not convert in the second half.

So, sadly a second successive defeat at home…but this was a much better display with positive

performances all over the pitch and plenty of team effort to please the coaches.

We wanted our girls to work better together, to improve their positional play and support each

other with more movement to give the player on the ball more options for passing going forward.

And – by and large – that’s what we got, certainly in the first half. We started brightly with Emily

having a short corner shot saved, followed by Maddy trying to set up fellow-forward Evie with a

chance in the D which was snuffed out by their defence.

We had a bit of a scare when A&C found an unmarked forward free at the back post, behind our

defence, but her shot went wide.

But it wasn’t a surprise when we scored in the ninth minute from another short corner, injected at

pace by Lizzie and rifled home by Emily.

What was surprising was that A&C then took charge for the next 10 minutes, equalised with a short

range shot at the far post in the 11 th minute and went ahead soon after when their right winger got

behind our wing-back Anna and her cross-shot was deflected into the net by Zara.

With a bit of tinkering on the touchline we slowly started to regain control. Attacking midfielder Amy

made one of a number of driving forward runs and steered the ball through to Tilly who – on her A

Team debut - tried to divert it past the oncoming keeper but saw her shot saved.

However, Tilly was not to be denied. Five minutes later she was in exactly the right spot in front of

goal, to finish off the move of the day. Emily started it from right midfield, Maddy made a great run

down the wing and squared it across the D and Tilly gave their keeper no chance.

Then, with the last play of the first half, we scored again from another short corner set-piece. This

time Lucy injected, Emily’s shot was blocked but Tilly was there again to shoot home. 3-2 to us.

We were back on top at this stage and what we wanted after the break was another goal to give us

some breathing space. What we got were several chances on the break with Maddy shooting wide

and Tilly have a couple of one-on- ones saved by their advancing ‘keeper.

In midfield Amy, Lizzie, Hannah, Lucy and - in particular - Tilda were having good games with strong

tackles, good interceptions and supporting runs. But in defence we were needing Maddie to pull off

some good saves and blocks as A&C slowly built up more pressure in our half.

Finally, with just 10 minutes to go, A&C scored from close range to level the scores. We counter-

attacked at speed with Tilly having another go against their keeper; then Tori blocked a shot on the

line, before A&C hit the post. It was gripping stuff!

Eventually, something had to give, and it was A&C’s ability to keep the ball in our half which lead to

two late goals, both from short corners, in the final five minutes.

It sounds like a heart-breaking finale, but actually it didn’t feel too bad at the time because it had

been such a cracking game with both sides playing good hockey.

Where did we go wrong? In those final minutes we had trouble getting the ball out of defence. We

continued to tackle well, but our clearances went straight up the middle of the pitch, which meant

we lost possession, and A&C were able to launch another attack.

It’s something we can work on in training, starting next Sunday at Braywick at noon! This was our

last A Team game before Christmas but we carry on with our Sunday sessions right up until 18

December and the Christmas party.