THD W5 9 - 3 London Gamblers W2

Saturday 20 January 2024

Dulwich College

Match Report

‘Twas the frosty eve before the THD pub quiz, the sun had set, and a chill had descended upon the mighty DC before the final match of the day. The team did their best to throw the opposition off throughout the warmup, with Jo launching a Captain Jack Sparrow number of rings down the side of the pitch paired with a delightfully acrobatic fall from Amy in the D and we were on our way to convincing them that this would be a breeze. Top that off with Capitano Ellen uncharacteristically straying from her 80’s classics to some trending TikTok tunes.. and you could almost hear their cries “Who are these amateurs, and what have they done with the Fab Fives?!” but it was all part of our plan…

The whistle blows and our tactics have worked, they never saw it coming. Em S goes steaming down the pitch and within 30 seconds hits a screamer into the back of the opposition goal, sending us 1-0 up in the first minute. The shock on our faces said it all, this was not your regular 5’s match, this was the start of a season defining era.

The energy continued with sexy play down both wings and although we let a little break from the oppo slip through the net we recovered with vigour as Anna scored whilst simultaneously stacking, taking us into half time 2-1 up.

Now, for a team 2-1 up Ellen’s approach to the half-time talk was stern, oozing with authority and doused with the assurance that we should ‘play safe hockey, we have the three points, let’s keep them. We still win at a score of 2-1’. But dear Ellen, what did you expect from us? The thrill of the lead and the electricity in the air went to our heads… and we did what any team would do in that situation… ignored every single word.

The second half can only be described as a thing of wonder. We were a team possessed. After previously building a solid reputation as a team who cannot, under any circumstances, score from a short corner, we did the unthinkable. A gloriously silky short corner from Sophie and Dills hit the back of the net. Then why not do the exact same thing 2 more times – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Dills hitting 4 goals, paired with dreamy shots from Sophia and Sophie, truly showed that we were a team on a mission, and that mission was to get our highest score tally of the season.

We finished the game off at an impressive 9-3. I truly think the oppo was wholeheartedly shocked, but not as shocked as us. So with that, all that’s left to say is, their speaker may have overpowered ours, but their hockey didn’t.