Given our last match against Bourne Deeping in October had gone so well for us, we went into this game reasonably confident. We aimed to play calm and collected hockey and this paid off, making this match report mainly a string of goal reports. Not bad going!

We started off strong and spent the opening minutes in the attacking D, with several attempts on goal and multiple short corners awarded. Mo kicked off our scoring with a goal in one of these shorts, and soon followed it up with a goal from open play. Despite this she was frustrated because the strikes that went in were a little scrappy, while her really nice top corner shot was saved in an impressive move by the Bourne Deeping keeper.

Nevertheless we soon got our third goal from another short corner - Connie tapped it in from a scramble in front of the keeper, first hitting the top bar before getting it firmly behind the line. Wanting in on the action - or perhaps wanting her own back for being on the receiving end of some barging in the D - Cat collected the ball from a pass in and executed an impressively composed roll-out to expertly slip the ball past the keeper for our fourth goal. Those training drills for scoring when up close against the keeper are clearly paying off. So at half time we were 4-0 up.

The second half was off to a dramatic start: just as Bourne Deeping were taking a pushback Naomi collapsed to the ground with sudden cramps in both legs and had to be carried off the pitch to recover.

Thankfully Naomi was soon back to fully functioning, just in time for her to come back on and score our fifth goal: Becky pulled off a snazzy move at the top of the D, facing away from the goal and sending it behind her without turning round, which Naomi neatly deflected in.

Bourne Deeping were pressing back whenever they could and managed a few breaks, skillfully fended off by defenders Annabel, Nicole (of birthday fame), and Vicky (second job: keeping Zoe entertained, who didn't touch the ball all match...)
Hannah, Becky, and Katy, all in midfield, kept us driving forward throughout with amazing interceptions, runs, and calculated passes.

This translated to more attempts on goal, including when Mo went to sweep the ball in the D and flailed because her shoe fell off. We have photographic evidence of the whole event. LOM-worthy, but even more so was foolishly telling us all this before the POM/LOM vote, when none of us had noticed yet. Daisy, playing upfront for the first time, managed some minor acrobatics as well by the goal post, putting her knee defenders against grazes to good use.

Our penultimate goal came from lots of work in the 23, culminating in Cat sending the ball across the D where Bethan had run to the far goalpost for a deflection round the keeper.
And finally, Daisy polished off her impressive first performance upfront with a lifted slap in the D which the keeper managed to touch with a hand but ultimately not stop - taking us to a final score of 7-0 and earning POM.