As we made the long and winding journey to the back end of Bedfordshire, for our third outing against Huntingdon, we were feeling positive. We had been improving as a team week on week and the previous games had been narrowly fought.

After some team tactics on the press and the short corners, we made our sticks in chant, with Fi about ten seconds delayed in the cheer (slow reactions post-night shift). The game commenced and it wasn’t long before Huntingdon scored one goal in the back of our net.

This was the fire that South needed and we got our heads up and began to pass well amongst each other. This led to some lovely positioning and passing between Sophie, Bex, Anna and Fi in the front diamond, (luckily Fi’s slow reactions only extended to her vocabulary and not the hockey) and it wasn’t long before we equalised and then pulled ahead with a lovely goal from Sophie and another beauty from Anna C. Not happy with this one goal lead, we pushed on and all the midfield became involved with moving the ball up the pitch. There were some beautiful drive throughs from Polly, Emma L and Olivia J and these allowed the ball through to Anna C again, who finished off a spectacular run with a second goal for her and third on the score sheet. She celebrated with an accidental swan dive (despite buying new trainers to try and stop further Lemon falls).

There was excitement in the air and the energy was palpable. There was some excellent back line tacking from Phil and Laura, which allowed more drives up the wing again, and this gave Anna another beautiful run up the wing and a fantastic strike on goal, which was maybe a shade too wide. However thanks to some excellent post work from Bex, this hit the back board too, giving South their fourth goal of the half.

We went into half time with our heads held high and keen to continue.

In the second half Huntingdon came out stronger and managed to slip one past our very sturdy defence, which was unlucky but South again rallied. Ana was effortless in goal, saving goals with ease and grace and producing some strong passing kicks to our midfield. Annabelle and Hannah produced some spectacular tackles and were clearing the ball well and Iona was an absolute lynch pin, adapting her usual forward position very well, to playing a high centre back. This positioning by Iona produced some good driving up the pitch and was crucial in South’s continued pressure on Huntingdon. Emma L also kept the pressure up right ’til the end, continually driving the ball up into the opposition circle. Sadly a fifth goal eluded South. However as the final whistle blew everyone was delighted, if slightly exhausted.

We were rewarded for our efforts with chip butties, where Olivia J thought she had accidentally eaten her PoM and LoM nominations (when she had misplaced then) and Polly (our vice captain) had a senior moment where she forgot not only the match fee price but also how many players in one team were on the hockey pitch…the answer is eleven for anyone wondering, hehe. Despite both these epic fails, and nominations for Anna C’s falls, the LoM award was still ultimately won by Fi for her slow vocabulary reactions post-night shifts. Player of the Match went to Anna C for some excellent goals, skills and positioning, with strong competition from Iona in second place with new found defence skills.