London Eds W3 1 - 2 THD W4

Saturday 11 November 2023

Kings Sports Ground

Match Report

We turned up on a sunny day (some might say too sunny for November) in the part south London only able to be accessed by the P4.

Found the changing room  (numbers are on the windows, not the doors) where Ruth announced we were about to play top of the league. Turns out they were never top of the league but we didn’t find this out until the end of the match.

During the first half liquid hockey was played. Subs were seamless, the keeping was top notch and after some speed and an excellent break, Emma took the goaly on 1v1 and scored a goal. Ending the first half 1-0 up, we thought the biggest drama was going to be shooting into the sun however, after a team talk with a Christmas themed snack we had no idea what was to come.

Eds came out all cylinders firing but after another attack by Emma including getting wiped out by the goaly we were awarded a flick and Emma tucked that one away too. 2-0 up and Kitty our goaly was unwell and had to come off. After a chaotic discussion on the sideline about who would be willing to sub and more importantly could fit in the kit JT decided to send an extra player on in defence.

The defence fended off multiple short corners sans goaly including one stopped on the line. Flick called but uh oh the ball split in half and flick doesn’t stand. Defence smash another defensive corner to keep us at 2-0.

Unknown to those on pitch, JT decided to make her grand pitch return as a goaly and was half dressed before a mere muggle on the oppo sidelines decided to snitch that JT was getting goaly kit on and that this wasn’t allowed. The umpires called captains over to discuss the rules at length. To sub, JT would have to be on the team sheet and they were insistent that this couldn’t be the case as she looked like our coach. JT was on the team sheet but she arguably she does look like manager material in her puffer coat.

We could have done with the pads soon after when an actual flick was awarded against us. Umpires had some more discussions about what’s safe. Judy didn’t care, she faced it with no face mask and stick in hand.

They did score taking the score to 2-1 but we were all sure there couldn’t be long left in the game to hold on to the lead. We were wrong, with all the stoppage time we were far from the end and JT made the call to park the bus. Forwards off and 5 mids on, we held on the lead and cheered very modestly when the final whistle went.

Final score 2-1. Our first win!