LATEST MATCH REPORT: LADIES 6TH XI - SEASON 09/10
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The first properly autumnal morning of the 2009/2010 season saw the ladies 6s venture into deepest Surrey where were playing without the benefit of friends on the sidelines. Obviously though the ducks were there, in the travel bag, Sally never leaves home without them. This weeks “bring a parent to the match” player was Hawks, who brought her Dad along to marvel at our silky skills. I think we can all agree that Hawks snr is rather dashing.
Warm up routine went underway as normal, the girls refusing to be put off their stride by the local kids trying to join in. This being lovely Surrey it did look like they actually wanted to be part of the fun rather than provoke a reaction. Oxted ladies were overheard marvelling at the dynamic warm up, noting that none of their other opposition bothered with it.
Oxted Ladies are enjoying the top stop in the league and after a turbulent couple of results we were a little nervous coming into the match. However we have cheeky Charli Giles as captain to rev everyone up for the big games and after encouraging chat we pushed back and started the game looking alert and keen.
The key, apparently, is to really want to win. I think it’s fair to say that we really really wanted to win this one. The start of the match saw the defence soaking up a lot of pressure, coolly and calmly dealing with the attacks and the seemingly never-ending awarding of long corners.
Gradually we moved play up to our attacking D. The mids were switching the ball around and keeping possession brilliantly. A couple of strikes on their goal didn’t come up with the preferred result and halftime saw the game very evenly matched at 0-0.
Halftime sweets consumed and positive encouragement doled out we came back sensing that we could topple the team at the top and that this is where our winning streak could begin.
Certainly we had some great runs of play. A number more attacks on goal and short corner awards saw us come dangerously close to getting the goal we needed. However Oxted are top for a reason and they were also making breaks as play became more stretched out over the pitch. Special mention should be made of Larissa’s valiant efforts on defensive shorts, nearly sacrificing an arm at one point, later wiping out when channelling her player and then tripping up whilst collecting the ball for a 16. Happy birthday Ris.
Our other birthday girl (Liz) was also having a cracking game. Her new favourite trick of performing aerials was proving useful as Oxted didn’t really know what to do with those. Mr Hawks was bemused as he thought we couldn’t lift and Sally agreed that usually we can’t but in this case you could, cause it was Ladz, and she has a superior level of control over them (clearly the ball that nearly made it over the fence was an aberration and shall never be spoken of again). Also a new technique in defensive play, drop your stick into the middle of a tackle; there’s nothing anyone can do about it!
Sadly yet another short was given and the ball was slipped back to the post where two attackers were able to fire it past our one defender. This was in the dying minutes of the game and the goalless draw we had worked so hard to achieve turned into a 1-0 defeat.
Possibly this defeat is a bitter one as we had sensed that we were more than equal to this team and could beaten them. Weirdly this may have helped us as we are now a more confident, cohesive team as we know that we can give the top team a real run for their money.
We also enjoyed the best teas of the season so far.
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