“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a team in possession of some great players, must be in want of a goalie, with a goalie kit!”

Jane Austen had it right (unfortunately we did not)! 

It was a cold, wet and windy day in the fens! And not just any old wind, Storm Bert was a brewing. But that couldn’t dampen the L5s enthusiasm and commitment, or maybe it could! 

Captain Elly was still poorly sick (or didn’t fancy storm Bert maybe) and Goalkeeper Pedzi got the timings wrong (or was trying to spend less time with Storm Bert) and so was running late. 

We realised upon team briefing in the changing rooms that we had no goalie kit, and that it wasn’t on its way (unlike storm Bert). 

Nicole our super supporter begged the lovely Ely team and they very kindly offered up a spare kit from their kit store, a large man’s Kit, but beggars can’t be choosers! 

Problem one solved-ish, but still no Goalie, cue LOM award to Pedz! 

We warmed up (well not really it was very cold) and with 3 mins to spare Pedzi arrived and managed to get into the oversized kit with 1 minute to spare! 

We had a very enthusiastic sticks in from stand-in el captano Fi and a big reminder of how slow Ely’s pitch is, so we would have to run lots (no problems as we needed to keep warm for sure)! 

We started and Ely were strong and descended on us, being used to their slow pitch and us not quite having a handle on it. Pedzi made some great saves and Vicki, Sammy, Hayley and Charlotte were marking and clearing the ball really well at the back! We were just not able to get it further up the pitch as the slow pitch allowed for lots of intercepts! 

After 8min Ely hit the net and 1 brought 2 and 3 quickly, as sadly the kickers on the large man’s goalie kit didn’t fit Pedzi’s feet and kept falling off, making it very difficult to save anything or even move! After the third goal, we stopped time and strapped and taped Pedzi in much more successfully! 

Then the match improved somewhat, and the rest of the first half (21mins) ended with a 1-1 score line, following a beautiful run from our forwards Holly and Elodie and then our firecracker Anna hitting the back board just before half time! 

This gave us some much needed “umph” as Sophie requested, and we had a good team talk, a slight change in formation and we were back on with our heads held high! 

Then came some beautiful hockey, finally on board with the slow pitch, we were making lovely triangles and keeping possession much better in the midfield: Tilly, Harriet and Nicola were intercepting everything and then bringing the ball up to Fi and Sophie! Holly, and Anna were running everywhere and putting pressure on the Ely circle and Elodie was making some brilliant runs up the wing (trying to keep herself warm she informed us, but earning her a well deserved POM)! 

Hayley and Charlotte were running excellent channels from the back and Sammy and Vicki were mopping up anything that came towards them, with some cracking dives and a huge top left corner save from Pedzi! 

This earnt us 26mins of a 0-0 score line and in total it took Ely 35 mins (a whole half of hockey) to score again. 

I will briefly mention they did score again from a penalty corner (and twice more). But I don’t think we need to say anymore about that, as no one is still quite sure what happened in that last 8 mins, as Bert was in full swing! 

The score line really doesn’t reflect the hockey played and the middle of the match was a very even game (if we ignore the first 14mins and the last 8mins, the score was 1-1)! 

I think when we host the team (with a correct goalie kit this time and maybe less storm) on our much chirpier pitch, it will be a much closer fought game! 

Once more into the breach!