On a cold December morning the L1s set off on a two hour trek north to Spalding.

We arrived to a cold clubhouse that left a lot to be desired and decided against getting changed in the shipping container on offer. We opted for the toilets but some of us - Kim (Miss Cooil) - locked themselves in. Having rescued our captain, we located the pitch after a lovely walk down a country trail and watched some stroppy hockey from the Spalding men.

We started the match strong, scoring two goals in the first ten minutes. The first from Robyn McLean (yes, she is a defender) with a beautiful sweep from our first short of the game. The second came from Alice Hug finally breaking her curse (thanks, Jan).

Roisin, seeing that Robyn could score, decided to give it a go herself only she was at the wrong end of the pitch and it was as into the back of our own net… A great deflection from a short nonetheless. Half time ensued and Kim complained that the Minion Haribos she had brought were a downgrade from the usual jelly babies.

We decided we had to come out strong in the second half and we did, linking some lovely one-twos up both wings. The goal evaded us in the second half but we still had shots on.

There were injuries; both Alice H and Kim lost a hand. Kim actually subbed herself off (to the shock of the rest of the team) so it must have hurt. The pitch was very slippery, there were many falls (assisted or otherwise). MoM Robyn Murray decided that she wanted to get in on the falling action and took herself out; it was a good effort. Maddy, Mel, Robyn McLean and Hannah all took a tumble (or five, in Robyn’s case). Roisin managed to stay on her feet despite the treacherous conditions, however her earlier goal sealed her fate as Lemon.

Our hard work and constant battling was at last rewarded with three points and our first win in a good few weeks.

By Roisin, Izzy, Mel and Maddy