Sun was out, wind was blowing the pitch was slowwww. The opposition played some abba as we warmed up. Anne Marie’s sauntered in a tad late and Lydia lost track of her glove. But we went out confident we could get something out of this game. 

In the first 10 minutes we had some great chances, a near miss of the back post had st ives a little rattled. 

However as the game cracked on it become increasingly well matched. It took a whole team effort to keep them out of our third. The defenders were great at working the ball out of danger and using a big switch around the back. Not an easy feat on such a slow pitch.  There was lots of running, lots of pressing but frustratingly no goals. We won a short, didn’t manage to score. Not long before half time st. ives won a short corner or their own and a really slick routine saw them out one away.  

The whistle went and we stayed confident. Despite being 1-0 down we loved how well we were playing and felt that if we could maintain intensity and keep our heads up we could still get some points out of this.

The second half started to get a bit more aggressive. St ives we’re frustrated not to be more dominant. Tess want standing for this and channeled Tim’s mantra to disrupt play and tactically foul. It’s possible she took it too far and found herself on the half way line with a green card. The girls punished her with a LOM vote. This was however shared with Lydia not only for forgetting her glove but also for a spectacular slow mo dive. Meanwhile Erin broke her finger, not ideal on day she’s moving house. Not to fear however, as Hannah says ‘she’s a VERY competent person’. Proved by the fact she drove herself back and went on to move house. 

In the closing minutes st. ives we’re really hungry for another goal. As well as repeatedly shouting about how much better than us they were - one one free hit bellowing ‘ it can go straight in’. Well they did try but in response Hannah screamed ‘NOT TODAY’ and slapped it out to safety. Iconic. 

Overall ‘not today’ just about sums up the game. We played fantastically and we’re really unlucky not to come away without a draw, it just want quite our day. Never mind - we’ll smash the 2s instead!! 

POM - Hannah: ‘not today!’ 
LOM - Tess: green cards. 

Many notable mentions, POM votes for Lucy, Suzi, anne Marie, tess and Anna. Just goes to show how much of a team game it was!