Waking up Saturday morning, everyone was really excited for the match against Cambridge Nomads, until we looked out the window to see the terrible weather outside! It was raining, windy AND super cold, but that wasn’t going to stop our Ladies 3s from playing a banging match!

We came to the pitch nice and early, and did a good warm up; Dave would be proud! Although we all agreed the pitch deserved a Lemon vote, for the little hill roll down on one side, the leaves all over the side lines and the prickly shrubs that the ball got lost in.

The L3s started off the game with a strong attacking force, looking like the stronger side by far! There was some good passing and calling for the ball through the midfield all the way up to the attackers, with some really good dribbling into the D by Irina, earning herself three MoM votes. But the Nomads weren’t going to make it easy for us and attacked back, scoring the first goal of the match, taking the score to one-nil. But that didn’t let our ladies down, we knew we could counteract that, so the ball quickly made it’s way across the pitch towards the Nomads goal with some triangle passes between Lauren, Louisa, Rhi and Zara into the D and into the GOAL: it’s one-all!! Cambridge South started to celebrate, when suddenly the call was changed to no goal due to some fouls in the D… So we were back to one-nil, determined to equal that score out again. Unfortunately the Nomads where quick to react, and scored their second goal of the match.

The defence and goalie (welcome to the team, Ana) had a lot of work to do in this match, but the defensive line was strong with Maria, Janette and Laurie saving some great balls from the defensive-mid positioning. Laurie had some cracking shots from the sixteen yard line, earning her four MoM votes, and Janette earned herself one MoM vote for handling some great aerials that were heading straight for her.

After a very cold and soggy half time chat, fuelled by delicious berry jelly babies, we were back at it. Charlotte and Hannah working well on the defensive wings, earning Charlotte the MoM victory with five votes, for some wonderful drives, spacing and good positioning. There was good passing between Emma, Hayley and Lou in the midfield, towards the front to Emily, who was ready to run into their D, earning us some attacking short corners. But Nomads didn’t let any balls in, and straight away got themselves a short corner, through which they shot and scored; now it’s three-nil. We had to keep going, and keep powering through the terrible weather.

At this point, one of the most memorable moments in the game happened, which earned Lou the winning LoM title with six votes for her. At the top of the Nomads’ D, Lou had the ball, no defenders around her, and unfortunately fell over after passing the ball!

Nomads weren’t stopping, they were goal hungry, and unfortunately scored their final goal, bringing the score up to four-nil. The girls were starting to get very wet and cold, and were looking forward to the end of the game. The umpires made the two minute call, so there wasn’t long to go, and then the Nomads got themselves another short corner. Now it was important to avoid any more goals, this was the last play, so pressure was on. The strike the ball top of the D, pass over to the left where Ani was defending, went through her legs and off the pitch - PHEWWW… game was over!

Everyone soaked, ready to go home and take a nice hot shower, or to teas to have some hot food, but guess where Emma was going? Rowing… Due to her craziness, she earned herself four LoM votes: what was she thinking?!?!

All in all, it was a really good game, and the score does not reflect on the play of the game, as we felt that both sides were quite even in strength! With so many different MoM votes, this shows the nice team work within the entire team. I’m sure that once everyone gets to know each other through the year, we can have a great comeback against the Nomads in our second match, and show them what we’re made of!