On a lovely sunny morning, a strong squad of 16 players gathered at Long Road to take on the Pelicans. Spirits and confidence were high – we have won most of our recent encounters against this team, and we knew that another win today was achievable, and would keep our promotion chances very much alive. The teams formed up ready to push back, except Lou who had forgotten to go onto the pitch. Well, that was the lemon in the bag, and an amusingly graceful, slo-mo fall by Polly didn’t change that.

Coach Chris urged us to take advantage of our numbers and run to the max, making use of subs when we were tired – we sure did that, with everyone demonstrating fantastic pace, energy and commitment. Nicky opened the scoring early to set the tone for the game. The midfielders were running their socks off, especially new recruit Kayley, who was always on the ball (literally and figuratively), carving her way through the opposition. Her efforts were rewarded with a great goal and a well deserved PoM award. Several other players received nominations, reflecting how well we played as a team. Our strong back line put into practice what we have worked on in training, making sure that after winning the ball, it was passed out to team mates and not panic cleared.

Unfortunately Pelicans pulled a goal back in the second half following some confusion in the D – several players assumed play was stopped following a South foul, but the umpires played advantage and Pelicans played on to score. Always play to the whistle – lesson learned! Undeterred by this setback, we were straight back on it. Polly (another PoM contender) scored twice, and then another goal from Nicky sealed our victory. May did a great job of repelling attacks coming up the right, and Sophie and Lou kept busy channelling players wide. Charlotte was hungry for a goal, and put some strong hits into the D which created chances for team mates.  The whole tea supported each other to create space and passing options, and communicated well.

When the final whistle blew, the L6s were buzzing and headed off to celebrate with our pizzas – which arrived nice and quickly. After such an awesome game, this lemon definitely isn’t  bitter.