Despite a chilly breeze in the air, South started strong with a play down the right to force an early short corner but the Ely goalie showed her skills straight away. The first ten minutes saw continued pressure on Ely’s defence as a great pass from Shree set up a strong run by Mo. South were clearly wanting to build upon our victory from last week!

However, after a short attack from Ely and a great save by Selene, another break led to an early lead for Ely after 10 minutes.
This turn of events only encouraged the 4s to continue the pressure on the Ely goal and after a few good chances a determined Mo pushed a goal past their keeper only 7 minutes after Ely had done the same. We were back on track!

Play continued with a few attacks for both teams but neither put great pressure on either defence.
Eventually a great run from Cat made it all the way to Ely's D and forced another short corner for south. It was a great save from the keeper but this only fired up our forward line to pile on the pressure. Finally a play was pushed through for a great finish by Alex (despite initial confusion about the goal after the umpire gave a sixteen! This was soon corrected in our favour!). This was the lead we had been deserving all game!

With a few minutes to go before half time Ely managed to get a short corner at the very end of first half but there was a great save by Selene and the ball was cleared by myself so we went into the second half feeling pleased with our narrow lead.
The second half proved a bit more frantic from both teams. With Ely wanting to pile on the pressure, there was quite a few scrappy pieces of play. However, South kept calm and managed to secure another short corner but this was once again saved by their keeper.
Pressure continued by South led by Cat and Louisa. Grace also made a great run but was stopped in her tracks when her shin pads fell off! It’s amazing this didn’t get lemon! More shots from Becky went just wide and it seemed like another south goal was fast approaching.
Yet, once again, a short Ely attack pressed down the left and played into the D for a decent finish by their forward. We were back to square one with the score at 2-2.

The pressure was now on to get a last minute goal with 15 minutes to go. South did our best. A great run from Mo led to a great chance but no goal. Another shot by Alex ended up not quite on target but on the knee of Ely defender! South continued to push hard on their goal but we were unable to finish.
However, eventually play got into the D and South got a short corner...and then another short corner. The second attempt saw the ball flying into the goal and cheers from the sidelines! Yet unfortunately Naomi’s goal had been carefully watched by the umpire who had seen that her amazingly hard and accurate deflection had not come off her stick but instead her foot...! A sixteen it was.
 

We all held our breath as Ely made a final break but Selene stood her ground and no goal was scored (despite both the attacker and Selene ending up on the floor!).
For the last few minutes of the game south pushed hard to get a few more shots but it wasn’t to be. The game ended with a 2-2 draw.
POM was a draw between Shree and myself for our defence. LOM was close between Grace’s flying shinpads, Naomi’s kick into goal but the winner was Nic once again for her multiple attempts to chase a ball on the sideline!