It was a sunny but brisk autumn morning, as the backdrop to our first league game. Although we were playing away, it was only a short jaunt across the Bedford border to our opponents St Neots 3’s. Having never played this team before and also with many new people to our team, we were unsure of what to expect but had our usual L5 enthusiasm (well except for the most youthful team players Daisy and Camille, who were found lying down in the changing rooms after a busy evening the night before, claiming their hatred of early starts, as all good teenagers often feel).

We began to warm up and dynamic stretching was suggested, with the first round being ‘feed the chickens’. Fi unleashed her dislike of dynamic stretching, preferring to stretch the old-fashioned way and declared she would ‘just feed her own chicken thanks’, earning herself LOM of the match.

The game started and for the first 10 minutes it was the usual slightly nervous settling in time. The ball was passed back and forward between both teams with no significant breaks of play either way.

We then settled and began to make some good breaks of play, however our defence were also tested and were playing really well with Vicki, Julie, Rebecca and Daisy providing a great wall of force to stop the oppositions very young legs breaking through. With a quick flurry of 3 opposition short corners, Claire made some great saves to keep the Saints at bay. Daisy was driving the ball up the pitch really well with vision and precision, though despite getting the ball up the pitch, we were struggling to get the ball into the D. The pitch was particularly slow and sandy and we were having to adapt our play to getting in front of their defenders, as the ball would not travel with any speed through.

A drive down the wing and a cross to the top D worked well and Nicky got the ball onto the foot of a defender but there were to be no shorts for south in this half, as questionable advantage was played but with no shot achieved on goal and their defenders taking the ball with a break that sadly resulted in a St Neots goal. We went into half time at 1-0 down, but keen to improve and fight back.

We talked through our issues like 21^st century humans, focussing on resetting our press as we have been practicing in training and infiltrating their press with our midfield. We were buoyed up, despite the lack of nutrition as Captain Louisa had left the sweets in her bag, too focused on the team talk!

The second half started well with pushing forward and doing more 1:2’s to support each other with the slow pitch. Unfortunately, in quick succession, St Neots made 2 breaks off our attack and scored two quick goals. We weren’t to be deterred and we came back out fighting for the final third of the match.

The defence were passing the ball out well and Daisy was making further great drives up the pitch earning herself her well deserved (and almost unanimous) POM of the match. The midfield of Camille, Fi, Louisa and Harry were working well together to push the ball up the pitch and were crossing the balls well. The forwards In Olivia, Helen, Holly and Nicky were making some great drives in the D and were putting serious pressure on their defenders.

We managed to get 4 short corners but sadly no conversions on these, which again wasn’t aided by the slow pace of the ball that we weren’t used to. To add to the drama, the captain of the Saints got a cheeky card for repeated stick tackles and she was sent off to observe the match on the side-lines for 2 mins. We took advantage of this numbers deficit and we attacked their goal heavily. Nicky sent a ball to Holly on the left post, who dummied the goalkeeper leaving an open goal, but then selflessly avoided taking the goal credit by trickling the ball across the goal to a surprised but fierce Helen who sunk the ball onto the baseboard giving us our first goal.

With the breakthrough made, we carried on pressuring. Captain Louisa contested for LOM by calling for the ball in the D and then promptly falling onto the ball instead of hitting it. We were fighting hard and got some injuries from the other team, with Nicki being hit on her upper arm with a high ball and Fi being tripped over by a Neots player but we kept the ball in their 23 and D for the remainder of the half, though sadly we didn’t manage to convert again on any further chances.

It was a game of three thirds: First third neutral, second third to St Neots, third third to South.

We made some good gains as a team and a 2-2 score line would have better reflected the match play and so we look forward to improving and learning together as a team in the next few weeks as the basics are definitely promising. We look forward to hosting the Saints on our pitch later in the season to show off our improved teamwork and take the win.