This week can be summarised as 70 mins of various ways of ending up on the floor: lots of slipping, an injury (caused by slipping), and an aggressive opposition. With roadworks and a long journey contributing to the late arrival of nearly every member of the team, meaning we arrived into the changing room as the Pelicans were leaving to get onto the pitch, the start of the match could have left us playing catch up - and before we’d even started, we’d had one fall on a very slippery pitch already, which was a sign of things to come for Rachel. However, the first 10 mins were a real credit to the whole team, with lots of pressure in the Pelicans’ half from all the midfields and forwards and a few very close shots on goal. A Pelicans’ short corner about midway through the first half put them ahead, although Boo was on fire blocking some really powerful shots (in the words of Rhi, shoo shoo to the ball). The slippery pitch continued to claim victims, including Nic taking a sixteen, as we learnt how to deal with a couple of strong Pelicans players hanging around in the midfield. Some missed opportunities for capitalising on unseen Pelicans’ fouls were frustrating as we closed off the first half, but we knew going into the second half that this could definitely be a draw, as long as we stayed calm and used each other on the pitch.
Early in the second half the Pelicans extended their lead to 2-0, but the team responded really well. Using the second tackler to step up to deal with their key players was working much more effectively, and up front Sophie, Lucy, Maddy and Jess were giving us a steady stream of close shots on goal. Towards the midway point of the second half things generally livened up a bit: Maddy got a warning for mouthy comments to the umpire (coming full circle after being run into in the mouth by a player in the first half); I slipped over receiving a transfer round the back from Rhian and even a valiant attempt to get the ball before it went off couldn’t save me from lemon; Jess had a short corner goal disallowed for it being too high (the jury is out whether we agree with that!); Anna and Lucy tag-teamed to deal with one of the Pelican’s best players; and Rachel capped it all off by rolling her ankle both ways while slipping over during/after being tackled. (Thank you Maddy for driving her car home!)
Generally it was a frustrating match despite the mandated fun from our ‘speedy speedy dictator’ Jenny, and the score doesn’t reflect how well we played as a team. A long drive home gives plenty of time to reflect on both the annoying and the good parts, but I really hope everyone goes into training next week with their heads held high!