It’s Saturday at last! The first league game of the season (not that Tuffers realised) to start the campaign for promotion for Cambridge South 2s, welcoming Haverhill 2s to Long Road on a rather damp afternoon.

We all gathered for the pre-match team talk in the changing rooms with one person forgetting their kit (all of it)…instant Lemon Award to Tuffers!

Off to the pitch we all go to warm up/observe a flypast by the Red Arrows, which set us up nicely for the start of the match. Whistle blows, the match is underway with South pressuring from the start. Great attacks from Eimear and Izzy towards Haverhill’s defence, who struggled to get the ball away from their twenty-five yard line. A great run down the right by Rebecca brought the ball into the circle resulting in a short corner struck by Izzy. The Haverhill keeper made her first of many great saves to deny South a goal. More pressure was put on the Haverhill defence; we kept their keeper busy making save after save from strikes from the South forward line. One such save resulted in the ball ending up the keeper’s shorts! A quick breather while it was extracted.

Play resumes at last with some great midfield play, resulting in Jess surging through the middle to the top of the circle and neatly putting the ball into the right-hand corner of the goal: one-nil. Now with South upping the pace it doesn’t take long before Lauren passes out to the right to Eimear, who drives up the left, into the circle to cross past the Haverhill keeper for Tuffers to slot home calmly into the goal making it two-nil just before halftime.

Into the goal for a half-time talk with jelly babies (note attached by noticeably absent co-captain, H: apparently half marathons are more important than hockey!) and water before getting the second half under way.

Whistle blows and the second half is under way. Off we go with South passing the ball fabulously around the defence to Ellie, through the midfield to Annie (with a very tiny stick, although not THE tiny stick) who makes some fantastic runs up the left side of the pitch to Izzy who crosses the ball into the circle to Jess, who makes another brilliant strike into the goal to make 3-0.

South had nearly all the play at this point. Lauren had a fab game as sweeper, spreading the ball around the midfield to Irina who brilliantly takes the ball down the right towards the circle, taking on the defence to cross the ball to the penalty spot for Izzy to slot home goal number four.

Haverhill tried to make a quick attack from the push back, but not quick enough for Louisa who stops them in their tracks, lays the ball out to Rebeca who neatly passed it Eimear on the edge of the circle to get a shot away for their keeper to save, but the ball falls to Izzy who sweetly puts it past the defender on the line to make it five-nil.

South are now all-out attacking, camped in the Haverhill half winning short corner after short corner, but being denied by the Haverhill keeper who was stopping everything that came her way, and with some very lucky defensive clearances off the line the score stayed at five-nil. After a great bit of midfield passing from Jess to Grace, Grace then drove up the middle of the pitch to the circle passing square to Tuffers who slotted it past the keeper into the goal to make it six-nil.

A few minutes left on the clock, South were goal hungry. Haverhill’s defence were panicking to get the ball out from a hit out, only for the ball to go to Jess who passed the ball to Irina who drove around the circle, to strike a fantastic ball into the bottom corner of the goal making it seven-nil.

Whistle blows! Great game with mostly all South possession, some fantastic passing play by all the team and a great win to start the hunt for promotion! Dilly Dilly!

MOM – Goes to Jess for great distribution of the ball and two fab goals.

LOM – Only ever going to be one contender goes to Tuffers for forgetting her kit, not realising it was a league game and couldn’t even blame it on a hangover!