THD W3 1 - 0 London Accies W2
Saturday 25 November 2023
JAGS Sports Club
Match Report
A wise man once told me “The 1-0 wins are often the most impressive” and he was right. Who needs or wants to win 5-0? Not us!
W3s have had a strong start to the season but Saturday’s game was the make-or-break. Playing the top of the league Accies we knew we’d need to fight hard. Good thing coach Dan was coming down to help… or was it. Last time he coached our captain got a ball to the face and a cracker black eye. But it probably wasn’t his fault.
The game started with a lot of stress when our keeper (read DOD) went to the wrong pitch, arriving 5 mins after the game was meant to start. But she strolled onto the pitch, and her first touch was a save that would give even Maddie Hinch a master class in GK'ing.
I was nervous though. Circumstances meant G, last week’s DOD, was our in position as our solid CB and that could go either way. But she went to bed early this week and truly redeemed herself with goal-stopping tackles and play-making passes for the hall of fame.
A very special mention to 2 star defenders from the W4s who joined us this week. Hennie and Anna M (also known in her MoM votes as not the Captain) schooled Accies forwards. And of course our team star junior Carla Bennett outran literally everyone on the pitch.
Now, let’s not forget Dan’s impact on the defensive line up. Oh yeah, Dan was there and our captain got injured again and ended up in crutches. But not before he asked her to go back on. Okay yes, a lot of talk about the defence. Well I’m a defender, and games are won or lost by defence (right?).
We had beautiful runs from our forwards, including a sprint across the pitch that was so fast we almost didn’t see it. The competition for our fastest forward is tight and it was Claire vs Rox vs The Ball. Claire won, creating a 2v1 and a beautiful chance. Sadly it didn’t convert, and we remained 0-0. It was tense.
Our midline dominated, no surprise there. Eleni did decide she was so good at hockey the rules didn’t apply to her but with Tom on the umpiring line he was having none of it. No chat. “Don’t even start!” and of course, out came the cards and off goes Eleni.
But then guys, we did score!! Well Rox did. It was magical, game changing and thank god when her hubby + friend was there to watch. She’s assured them she really is quite good at hockey!
1-0 down with 20 minutes to go, Accies started to panic. And even though we’ve spent weeks practicing the half-court press for just this occasion Dan decided it wasn’t necessary. Good coaching? I’m not too sure. But oh boy, the pressure built but we kept our calm. We kept the ball. And we kept the lead.
So, with a game less that 1st and 3rd in the league, we remain undefeated (oh god let it last!) and swooped ourselves up to top of the f***ing league.
And yes, this is a long match report but I have a feeling “democracy” will stop us winning again.
MOM - Redeeming herself from last week’s hungover DoD went to G (and thank god she won’t have to bake again)
DoD – even though she’s a junior, making it 2-for-2 Kitty wins.
Special MoM mentions for great hockey to Hennie, Anna M, Kitty and Erin. (and Claire cause it was her birthday)
Special DoD mentions to Eleni for the green card, Tom for giving Eleni a card and shouting at Dan, Anna M for lobbing the ball at G, Erin for buying a mouthguard en-route and Clare C for specifying she wasn’t voting for Anna the Captain for MoM.
Written by Anna Robinson