Jan’s challenge to the L5s was to repeat the ‘icing on the cake’ 6-0 hammering we gave the Saints back in December 2020. So much has changed in the world since then, but it’s nice to know that the St Neots pitch remains the sand-fest it always was, and that the L5s can still inflict a touch of hammering, thanks to excellent passing, pressing, comms and ‘going home’ when needed!

After the usual New Year’s struggle to find sticks (Hattie picking up LoM before she’d even left home), strap the goalie kit onto Georgia the right way around, tie knots in the bits of goalie paraphernalia that snapped on contact with the sand, and then recall how the hell a ‘3-man weave’ actually worked, we were away.

As a defender who took her role of eating mince pies quite seriously over Christmas, I was relieved that we were able to hold the ball high up in the Saint’s half for the first 10 minutes. The Saints did try to smash through using their big hitters, but our press was super tight and picked up pretty much everything. Because the St Neot’s keeper was a ninja, South’s individual strikes were not going in and after 15 minutes of attacking play we changed tack and put together some great passes around the D between Nicky, Holly, Louisa and Sarah, that resulted in Hattie scoring a lovely goal.

The mids and backs shepherded stray balls and runners away from Georgia as needed for the rest of the first half.  Pressure built, apparently Hattie got pretty excited and Nicky established that ‘Helen wants’ leading to lots of crosses from Helen, as well as Vicki (PoM nom!), Louisa, Hattie and Harry. Ultimately Sarah put Holly through on goal and we went into half time 2-0 up.

Starting the second half we won the ball immediately and pressed on. Louisa, fired up on haribo and oranges, scored two lovely goals in quick succession -deservedly winning PoM; lovely job Captain!

However, the Saints had switched their team around for the second half giving them more width and they had a bit of a stronger spell. They made some runs down their right which allowed Julie to get her steps in and work with Lauren (PoM noms!) and Louisa to nip any threat in the bud. The Saints also tried their left, however Polly and Vicki ably recycled the ball back into the Saint’s D. I had one of those awkward stick-snagging tussles with the oppo mid pitch (hello LoM nom!) and then stepped on the ball to concede a short corner. However, this was probably for the best to keep Georgia awake; she made a suitably imposing presence in goal and kept a sparkly clean sheet (hello PoM nom!).

In a lovely bit of teamwork, Harry (PoM noms!) then put Sarah through to score our fifth goal, cementing/icing the win.

Well played all and Happy New Year!